Latest / Life Without a Filter: Practical Strategies for Life After 22 / Episode 19: Keeping it all together- Why I rely on Plan-a-Palooza for annual planning

Transcript

Episode 19: Keeping it all together- Why I rely on Plan-a-Palooza for annual planning · Life Without a Filter: Practical Strategies for Life After 22

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hi everyone and welcome back to Life Without a Filter, where we talk about life as parents of young adults with disabilities, navigating the transition to adulthood, and figuring out how to build a meaningful life beyond the school years.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Cheryl, and as both a parent and an assistive technology consultant, I share what I've learned along the way, including the things that have worked, the things that haven't, and the things I wish someone had told me sooner.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Today, I want to talk about something that might not sound particularly exciting at first, but I promise it can make a big difference in your day-to-day life, planning and organization.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, I want to share a planning tool that has made a real difference for me as I manage our family life and else participant directed program.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Plana Palooza.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: And before we get started, I do want to be very clear that I am not affiliated with the program and I don't receive any compensation if you do decide to sign up.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sharing it because it has genuinely helped me over the past three years, and I know how overwhelming it can feel when you're trying to keep all the pieces of your life together.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about why planning matters, what I found helpful, and a few things you might want to consider as you develop your own systems.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Parenting a young adult with a disability comes with a lot of moving parts.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're navigating a participant-directed program, there can be even more to manage.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: For anyone who is new to this podcast, participant direction, sometimes called self-direction in other states, is a service program model that gives individuals more control over how their services and supports are arranged.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: In Massachusetts, that can mean taking on responsibilities related to programming, staffing, budgets, scheduling, paperwork, and making sure the services were arranged and continue to support Elle's goals outlined in his person-centered plan and ISP.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's on top of everything else going on.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's work, there's family life, there are appointments, household responsibilities, and all the everyday things that need to happen.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And somewhere in there, we're supposed to find time to take care of ourselves too.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Over the years, I've tried different systems and strategies to keep everything organized.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to find that perfect solution that would help me stay on top of everything.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: But I often felt like no matter how hard I tried, something was always falling through the cracks.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And when we started our journey with self-direction, I realized that I needed to approach planning differently.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't just about keeping track of appointments or remembering to pay a bill.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I needed to think about the bigger picture.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: What were our priorities for the year?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: What needed to happen to support Elle's goals?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Were there upcoming deadlines or responsibilities I needed to prepare for?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And how could I make sure that I wasn't spending all of my time responding to the next urgent thing?
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I needed a system that was realistic, flexible, and doable.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to be proactive versus reactive.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: At about the same time we were starting Elle's participant-directed program, I was listening to a podcast that featured Megan Summerl, who owns a company called The Pink Bee.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Her work focuses on time management, organization, and productivity for women, focusing on how we manage all the different responsibilities in our lives.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: As I listened, I connected with her approach because it wasn't simply about squeezing more tasks into an already busy schedule.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't about just finding a pretty planner and filling in the blanks.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was about figuring out what matters most and creating a plan that reflects those priorities.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how I discovered Planapalooza.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Planapalooza is a three-day guided planning workshop designed to help you map out your year and think intentionally about your priorities, commitments, and goals.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what appealed to me was that it encouraged me to step back and look at the bigger picture instead of constantly focusing on whatever needed my attention that day.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I want to make an important distinction here.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Planning doesn't mean that we can predict everything that's going to happen over the next 12 months.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: If there's one thing I've learned as a parent, it's that life rarely follows a perfectly organized calendar.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Plans change, needs change, budgets change, staff schedules change, and sometimes we have to change direction entirely.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: The goal isn't to create a perfect plan that never changes.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to have a roadmap that helps you make decisions when things do change.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: That shift in perspective has been incredibly helpful for me, and it is something that Megan focuses on in all of her planning platforms.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, why does this kind of planning matter so much when you're managing a participant-directed program?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: For me personally, it comes down to three things.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: The first is that it helps me see the big picture.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: When we're caught up in the daily details, it's easy to lose sight of our longer-term priorities.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: We might be busy scheduling staff, tracking expenses, managing paperwork, or coordinating activities.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Those things are important, but they're the day-to-day pieces of a much bigger picture.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I also need to think about El's goals, the activities and experiences that matter to him, and what he is working toward over time.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Annual planning gives me a chance to step back and ask: are the things we're doing actually supporting the life we want to build as both the whole family and individually for Elle?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And for families preparing for transition, this is a valuable question to start asking early.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: What does your child want life to look like after high school?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: What experiences do they want to have?
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: What supports might be needed to help make those experiences possible?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to have every answer today, but thinking about these questions can help you move from simply planning services to planning for a meaningful life.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Secondly, planning helps me anticipate responsibilities instead of constantly reacting to them.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: When you're managing a participant-directed program, there are a lot of details that need attention.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: You have the annual ISP meeting.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: You have payroll every other week, and budget monitoring monthly.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Staffing schedules and needs, paperwork, and other responsibilities that come around at different times of the week, month, or year.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: If everything lives in your head, it can feel as though you're constantly trying to remember what you might be forgetting.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And for me personally, that is exhausting.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Having a plan helps me identify important dates, think ahead about busy periods, and break larger responsibilities into smaller steps.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of waiting until something becomes urgent, I can start preparing for it in advance.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said earlier, I intentionally want to be more proactive versus always being reactive.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And don't worry, there are many times when something unexpected comes up, and I do have to be reactive to the situation.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: But with annual and weekly planning, I have a better sense of what is on my plate and what might need to shift.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Third, planning helps me make room for myself, and this is an important one.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: When you're a parent and you're coordinating services and supports for your young adult, it is very easy for your own goals to slide to the bottom of the list.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: There is always something else that needs to be done.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: But throughout this process, I've learned that my goals matter too.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: My work matters, my relationships matter, and my own well-being matters.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if my entire calendar is built around everyone else's needs, I'm eventually going to feel the effects of that.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things I appreciate about this planning process is that it encourages me to look at life as a whole, not just the responsibility associated with Elle's program.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: I need to plan for the things that are important to me too.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that I really did stick to this year was that I participated this summer in a women's golf league that takes place on Wednesday nights, and I treated it as a priority for me.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does my planning routine look like?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Each October, I sign up for Megan's event, Plan a Palooza.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Then I set aside time in October and November to work through the annual planning process and start mapping out the upcoming year so that I have an outline of a plan by January 1st.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is so helpful because I feel like I can start the year off on the right foot with a plan already in place.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: I put all of the big things that I don't want to forget, like what month we should have the annual ISP, when are progress notes due, when is a guardian care form due, items like that which would be so easy to slip through the cracks or come up really quickly, then we are scrambling to get things done.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that the annual planning has you do is quarterly planning, which again has you break down the year into four quarters.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is particularly helpful because I can look at the year in chunks.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: In June, I do a mid-year review.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: That timing is particularly useful because it falls just before the start of the new Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services or DDS budget year in July.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: That June review also gives me an opportunity to step back and ask: where are we now?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: What's changed?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are our plans still realistic?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: And do we need to make adjustments based on our budget or other responsibilities?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Megan also offers a companion program called the TOP program, which focuses more on monthly and weekly planning.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a different level of detail and something I'll talk about another time.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: I also appreciate that Planapalooza includes a live workshop experience along with access to recorded sessions.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's face it, most of us don't have three uninterrupted days to sit in front of a computer and absorb hours of information.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Having the ability to return back to the recordings, pause, and work through the material at my own pace has been incredibly helpful.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could revisit a section when I needed to, process what I was learning, and come back to it again later.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have to figure everything out in one sitting, and I could work through the process in smaller chunks, which made it much more manageable.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that flexibility is especially important for parents who are already juggling work, family, and the responsibilities of coordinating supports.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Another thing I appreciated was the reminder that planning isn't about doing more.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's about making intentional choices about where we spend our time and energy.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't mean we can eliminate every stressful situation or make every week run smoothly.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But we can create a little more space to think ahead, recognize when we're becoming overwhelmed, and make adjustments before everything feels urgent.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, that has been a meaningful change.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, even if Planapalooza isn't right for you, I want to leave you with three practical ideas you can start using with whatever planning system you already have.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: My first takeaway is start with your priorities, not your to-do list.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Before you start filling in your calendar, take a step back.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Ask yourself what matters most to me and my family over the next year.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: For your young adult, that might include employment, community activities, building independence, or exploring new interests.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: These are all outlined in the ISP via your person's person-centered plan.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: For your family, it might mean preparing for the transition out of school, understanding adult services, or putting systems in place to manage a participant-directed program.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said before, don't forget about your own priorities.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Once you have a clearer picture of what matters, you can start figuring out how to make room for those things.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: The second takeaway is put important responsibilities on the calendar before they become urgent.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: So think about those deadlines, annual meetings, and recurring responsibilities you know are coming.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you manage a participant-directed program, that might include payroll dates, the ISP meeting date, staffing needs, or when to complete the pieces of the person-centered plan.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to map out every detail of the year in one sitting.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Start with the dates and responsibilities you already know about, then identify a few steps you can take ahead of time.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Even a simple calendar or spreadsheet can help you get those responsibilities out of your head and into a system you can refer back to.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And my third takeaway is make sure to schedule time to review and adjust your plan.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: A plan that you created January and never look at again isn't going to be particularly helpful.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I set a little time each month to check in with myself.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I ask questions like what's working?
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: What's changed?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: What needs attention?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Is there something that I can take off of my plate, postpone, or approach differently?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, your goal is to make sure your plan continues to reflect your priorities and real life.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So start small.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need a fancy system or a full day of planning to make a difference.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: You just need a place to begin.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, would I recommend Planapalooza?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it's been a valuable tool, and I'm sharing it because I genuinely believe in the difference that intentional planning has made in my life.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a parent navigating self-direction or you're preparing for your young adult's transition into adult services, you might find it helpful to have a structured way to look at the year ahead.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I also want to be realistic.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: A planning workshop isn't going to solve every challenge that comes with navigating adult services.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: It won't replace the need to understand your state service system, manage your program specific requirements, or get help when you need it.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: What it can do is give you a framework for organizing your responsibilities, thinking about your priorities, and making a plan that works for you and your circumstances.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I found valuable.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're not sure if Plannapalooza is for you, Megan does offer a free training.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I've put a link to that web and I've put a link to that in the show notes so you can always check out her free training to see if this is something that you might be interested in.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: As we wrap up, I want to leave you with this thought.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you're navigating the transition to adulthood and managing supports for a young adult with a disability, there can be so much to think about that it's easy to spend all of your time reacting to whatever comes next.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I've certainly been there.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I've learned that taking time to step back, think about what matters, and make a realistic plan can help me feel more prepared and more confident about the year ahead.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And the plan doesn't have to be perfect.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have to account for every possible challenge.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: It just needs to give you a place to start and a way to find your footing when things change.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So give yourself permission to find a system that works for you.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Start small, revisit your plan, and remember that your goals belong on the calendar too.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for spending this time with me.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember you don't have to have everything figured out today.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: We're learning as we go, finding our way, and building the next chapter one step at a time.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks for listening, and I'll talk to you soon.