We let things slide.

We check our to-do list to see what’s most important. Work? Family? Health? Clean up the last project or brainstorm the next? All need attention. If we drop a ball, who will notice? We’ve all felt it.

We’re not alone.

Everyone is dancing the same dance, putting out the everyday fires of life. How can we find time to make a plan that has nothing to do with today, but everything to do with the future?

College funding, retirement, extended care planning. They sound vaguely important, but they’re so far off. Meanwhile we need groceries, fresh laundry, ski plans for the school break. A presentation for work, a haircut, a doctor’s appointment. And many of us care for aging parents.

We will know we can handle it.

Get control

Take a deep breath.

How much worry is caused by uncertainty about the future? If we could just get a grip on where we stand and make a plan, the uncertainty and fear might just drain away so the demands of daily life become more manageable. We will know we can handle it.

So put financial planning on the to-do list, along with the dry cleaning and the trip to the vet.

But maybe it will slide.

Maybe you’ll let it slide this month. And probably next month, too. But keep moving that item ahead to each fresh to-do list until one day — maybe in the fall or the new year? You’ll see that item on your list for the umpteenth time and think, yeah, now we’re ready to take that step. When the time is right, you’ll make the call, start the process, and bit by bit the pieces will fall into place.

And before you know it, you’ll feel so much better.