Alan Lakein said, “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” That’s a great way to say it. When we sit down and think about our lives, what we want and need to do, how we’re going to get it done and when, we bring the future into the present and increase our opportunity for success.

A new year is coming up in a few days, and I am committed to making 2010 the “Year of the Plan.“ Let’s write it down and get it done.

Since my personality is the opposite of planner, I need some tools to help. Writing it down on a calendar may work for you, but for me, I’ll just ignore the calendar and go on with my life.

I plan to use the following tools to help structure my 2010:

• OpenOffice Calc: Calc is the free alternative to Microsoft Excel. You can use Excel if you it; they’re virtually the same. I use it to make a planning spreadsheet for the year. I have 4 tabs in the spreadsheet :
  • Projects - This is a full list of personal projects to be completed in 2010. I list the project and month I would like to take on the project. The list mostly includes weekend projects such as re-organizing my tool shed, recording music, and decorating for holidays. This will help when adding projects to the calendar.
  • Goals - I make a list of personal goals and when to have them completed. This is very similar to the projects tab but includes things like losing weight, personal finance goals, books to read, etc.
  • Monthly Budget - I’m using the personal monthly budget Excel template and modifying it to fit my needs, but it’s pretty easy to make your own if you can do basic functions in Excel.
  • Annual Time Block - This is a spreadsheet put together by Michael Hyatt. I love it, and it should be very useful in planning time for important things before others plan my time for me.
• Google Calendar: I use Google calendar for one thing: reminders. The calendar has an option to email you a reminder [or multiple reminders] when an event is coming up. Dates bills are due, birthdays, projects and items from my annual time block, etc. are listed in the calendar. I’ll get email reminders at the time I specified to make sure I stay on top of things.
• Daily Wisdom 2010 Planner: I got this planner unexpectedly as a Christmas gift. I’ll use it to write down important items for those times when I’m offline, then add them to my Google calender or spreadsheet later. It also has great quotes and Bible verses for me to digest along the way.
• Moleskine Notebooks: I love love these notebooks. I plan to carry one everywhere and use it for journaling, note-taking, idea-making, and even doodling in 2010.

There you have it. My simple, geeky approach to planning and getting organized to make things happen in 2010.

What tools do you use? What advice can you give to those of us making 2010 the “Year of the Plan?”

[Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links.]