I love the word “intentional” and I long to live every day of my life in an intentional manner. Unfortunately I am far, far from that. One discipline that gets me closer to living intentionally is having a life planning date with my husband. I am a firm believer in this and have had several people ask me about it so here is a slightly more instructional blog than what I usually write.  I hope it helps you to live a more productive, intentional, peaceful life!

My husband and I usually do our life planning date at the beginning of the quarter (January, April, July, October) but will occasionally do it more often. We plan on discussing the coming three months. You don’t have to wait until the beginning of the quarter and you don’t have to plan out three months ahead if that seems overwhelming to you. You can start small but I encourage you to start SOON.

• You must leave your house!!! On Mondays I work through lunch and am done seeing patients around 2:30 so we like to have our life planning date during this time. Set aside two hours and pick a restaurant that has big tables where you can relax. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT attempt to have a life planning date at your home. Even if you send your kids away you will be too distracted and/or will not take the exercise seriously. Make this an event and something to look forward to. Maybe even go shopping or out to a movie afterwards (but not before!)
• It’s important to have the right tools for the job. I recommend a legal pad, writing utensils and of course your calendar or planner (paper and/or electronic) Even if you are a very digital person I recommend having the legal pad and pen so you can scribble notes while you talk. You might have some great brainstorming moments!
• Discuss what you want to accomplish. This is going to be different for everyone but here are some suggested topics to plan: kids activities, church activities, work projects, work trips, vacations, home projects big and small, financial goals, personal goals, holiday plans…
• The goal is for you both to be on the same page and know what activities are coming up and who needs to be where and when. Hopefully you’ll both come away with a prioritized to-do list and an accurate calendar.

If you’ve never done something like this before it might seem weird or awkward at first. Your spouse (or you!) might think it’s a silly idea. I’m not sure what my husband thought about it at first but now I think he looks forward to it as much as I do. A note to my single friends: this can work for you too! I took myself out to dinner a few weeks ago because I needed to be very focused on making some lists and planning some important things coming up. Getting yourself out of your familiar environment and intentionally concentrating on tasks at hand can be very productive!

I hope this exercise helps you as much as it has me. There’s something very empowering about setting aside time to talk about goals, come up with a plan and walk away feeling prepared as a unified team. I would LOVE to hear about your experience with life planning dates! Share in the comments below!