Brian Sumbot

I started using the Franklin Planner when I was in College in 1990. When I got my first package in the mail, it was accompanied by a tape with some training. That training has stuck with me my whole career, and not just my work career, but my family career as a father and provider.

The one thing that has stuck with me all these years is the emphasis on goal setting which then contributes to the prioritization of one's daily, weekly, monthly, and annual activities. To effectively prioritize, one must first have a vision of their “Why”. As Simon Sinek has so emphasized, most people know how to do what they do and what the result will be, but too few have a vision of why they are doing it. Without knowing your “why”, you will not succeed in the long game. Once you have that goal fixed in your everyday thought process, it drives all the tasks you perform or delegate to others.

Computers, smart-phones, and the internet have created a global virtual world. As a result, many of the new generation have lost contact with the paper and pen. As one of those old-school pen and paper planners, my world was transformed when I became computerized. But I have come to learn that the pen and paper are still just as essential today as they were before the virtual world. My Franklin Planner is still important to me and has become much more powerful as I have learned to harness it to that virtual world.

One of the primary goals I made while keeping records in my Franklin Day Planner was to benefit my posterity in the distant future. To preserve these records, I have been scanning my handwritten Franklin Planner Archives to digitize them. In doing so I have read many of my past entries. As I have been considering present obstacles in my world, I have come to realize that my journal archive is just as valuable to me now as it will be to my future posterity. It has been amazing what I have forgotten! And because I kept a journal, I have my old self to talk to now. It has renewed my commitment to the principles I learned and applied to keep that journal up to date and make it part of my daily, monthly, and annual planning.

This is emphasized by the current course my career has taken with regards to my journey to Operational Excellence which requires effective and efficient planning. Operational Excellence is not a destination, but rather a journey that requires a clear vision of the road ahead and the effective response to obstacles that have already been avoided and are now behind me.

The daily planning and execution of things I did in the past are a life lesson in hazard identification and risk management for the future.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” In further emphasis to Benjamin, I add this from the Roman Philosopher Seneca “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity”. I would add that a Franklin Day planner has prepared me to succeed.