Using Stick Jars to Execute Your Plans

I’m a planner. You know the type. Lists, notebooks, journals. I’ve got lists of the lists I need to make.

Can anybody out there relate?

And planning is a great thing. You identify potential problems and ways to prevent them. You make things happen that probably wouldn’t otherwise. There’s really only one drawback.

You have to execute the plan.

That’s where I struggle. I have loads of ideas for what to do, but just a pinch (ok maybe more than a pinch) less motivation to actually do them. I mean, there’s so much planning to do I can’t be bothered with the executing. Please tell me someone can relate!

But then there’s the opposite side of the coin – maybe you are the doer and not the planner. Maybe you like to wake up and seize the day not knowing what it holds. As great as that can be, it can lead to problems as well. A beach trip without sunscreen, a hike without water or a charged phone.

Where Planning Meets Execution

Well no matter which side of the boat you’re on, I’ve got a solution for ya. Ok, maybe not a whole solution, but a method that will breathe some new life into your planning and executing activities with your kids.

I call it “Stick Jars”.

Fancy, huh?

Here’s how it started:

We just moved to a new state (Utah!), and there are loads of places to visit. But we found ourselves in one of two scenarios – we either kept going back to the same places or we didn’t go anywhere at all. For my planning brain, spontaneously going somewhere just wasn’t going to happen. So I planned.

I researched tons of places to go. Some were just for me and the kids. Some included Dad too. Some were close, some were day trips. They were great plans.

But then came – as it always does – time to execute. And I froze. How could I choose what to do first? What if one of the four kids wasn’t interested in that? What day would we do it? It was all too much!

Enter the Stick Jars.

While this idea was floating around in my head, I found craft sticks and these perfectly labeled jars at the Dollar Tree. Every place to go got its own stick, I put it in the jar, and every weekend we draw a stick for the next week. The rules are that we have to do it, weather permitting. No one can complain or say they didn’t want to do that – not even me.

And guess what? It’s been great! We have visited some places we never would have otherwise. Sure, we had a bust a time or two, but at least we did it. The Stick Jars have revolutionized our free time as a family.

Getting Creative With Categories

And now – here’s a bonus for reading this far. If you are a planner like me and want to take the Stick Jars to another level, get a few of them. Separate your sticks into categories for different sets of experiences. Here are mine:

Things we can run out and do in an afternoon

Things that will take a whole day (like museums or places a little farther from home)

Things that we will do with Dad too (for when he’s off work)

Rumor has it that there is a restaurant jar in the works. (Let me tell you, whoever starts a restaurant chain called “I Don’t Care” is going to have an immediate following.)

There could even be a Date Night jar coming up.

You can even separate the free things from the paid things. Add a jar for road trips. How about dessert places?

Make It Work For Your Family

Hey – this idea is crazy flexible. Whatever you struggle with getting done, write it on a stick and throw it in a jar. The only thing you have to commit to is actually drawing out a stick! Eventually you’ll get through all of them.

I add sticks to the jars as I find new ideas. And I’m holding on to the good ones that we do so that we can start over once the jar is empty. You don’t even need fancy jars. A plastic cup from the cupboard will do! Just grab yourself some sticks and breathe new life into your week!

What ideas are you planning to execute?