Regina Morrison empowers professional women to plan ahead

There’s no question that the act of ‘adulting’ is becoming much harder than it used to be. Many professional women are consumed by the multiple roles they occupy. So, how do you cope with achieving a right balance? The planner in Regina Morrison propelled her to create a book that she didn’t see on the market. Her hope is that it inspires other career women to plan ahead for the job.

“Organising is a big thing for me. I like knowing what I want to do [and] when I want to do them. And I enjoy getting things done in an orderly fashion,” Morrison told Living.

Growing up in Kingston, she was raised by her grandparents. She attributed all of her planning skills to that of her aunts, who had a big influence in her upbringing as well.

While attending high school at Ardenne, and later, The Queen’s School, she recalled being the ultimate planner for group projects. “I was always the one with the plan and I never had a problem doing this by myself,” she added.

So, what exactly inspired the professional to create work planners? The world shifted two years ago, and with it came an uncertainty that would throw any woman off her game.

“One of the driving forces behind doing anything is when you see a lack thereof,” she said, adding that she was always a fan of having notebooks and writing things down, because she has a poor memory. What she discovered in her research is that some women would write in several books, not remembering where they had what exactly. So, when it came time to retrieve that information, they would be unable to. For Morrison, who went from earning her degree in anthropology to starting her career in project management, this was not an option. The project assistant to the local coordinator of the DIA project ‘Unleashing the Potential of Jamaican Youth through Empowerment & Training’ in Jamaica, under the Trust for the Americas, decided to throw her hat (or planner) in the ring.

Her desire was to find a journal of sorts solely for work that would incorporate sections specific to phone call messages, email responses, meetings, lunchtime, the start and end time of the day, as well as the tasks achieved during that time frame. Thus, For The Job was born.

“It consists of 52 weeks and it starts out with a commitment statement that you’re only one person. Yes, you want to be organised, but you’re only one person; it’s to tackle one thing at a time and create that balance,” she shared. Each weekly layout gives you a section for your top priorities, emails to send and respond to, phone calls to make and documents to review and prepare. Additionally, it was important to include a faith element. So there’s a motivational page after every four months, which is also enclosed with scriptures.

Since going on the market in May of this year, the feedback so far has been well so far. Many women are pleasantly surprised by how how it captures their daily duties. Morrison went with women because this book is very personal to her and she wanted to encourage other women with similar needs to know that they are not strutting alone. It is Morrison’s hope that her innovation will assist other women on their professional journey, “I want these planners to make a difference in the lives of women who use it. I want them to say that ‘this has made my life a little bit easier’.”

She also aspires to create more options over time and design a planner for men in the future. “A little organisation didn’t kill anybody,” she added.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com

Here are a few tips from Morrison on how to get organised:

Focus on one thing at a time

Sometimes we are overwhelmed by all that we have to do and you get so demotivated because you don’t know where to start. And that delays you even more. My advice is to [just] start: Just pick one item that you don’t mind doing like a simple task or one that is repetitive. That way you can just get into it.

Write things down

This has helped Morrison during her years of working with the government and private sector. Write down your tasks and your to-do list. It helps you to remember. And write them in a place where you can always find it for future reference.