One of the Time Management Tips for Whites from the Color Code Cards is to “set proactive agendas rather than reacting to agendas others set for you.” This is something I need to work on. Although I’m a core Blue, I have a lot of White, and I struggle to be a little too satisfied with letting other people do the planning while I just do the participating.

Growing up, my very Blue mother was fantastic at making fun plans for the family. I was always happy to go along for the ride. Now, my Yellow husband is good at planning fun things for us to do. Once again, I’m happy to let him do it.

However, I’ve realized letting other people do all the planning for me can lead to a more boring life for me when I’m alone and it gives me lower confidence. When I’m the one who wants to go out and do something, I struggle to think of ideas, or if I have spare time, I’ll find myself wasting time online because I can’t really find the motivation to go out and make a plan for myself.

Recently, I made a small plan that paid off big time. My sister and her kids are in town visiting our family for a couple of weeks and my husband and I went up to my parents’ house to see them. Of course my mom had a fun day planned for the kids, but before their plans really started, I invited my nieces to go on a walk with me and to the park.

Even though I feel I am helpful with my nieces and nephews and I play with them, I oftentimes don’t really instigate the activity. This time, I took it into my own two hands to make a plan, even if it was a simple one, and it helped me feel so much more productive and fun, and I noticed how much my nieces enjoyed it.

Throughout the following week, I thought back on that short, simple walk with my nieces with fondness. I hope it’ll be something I’ll remember forever. Time is precious, and it’s important to take advantage of the time we get with others, especially while we are able. I want to commit to using my time more wisely by setting proactive agendas for myself, and I want to challenge other Whites to do the same.

This week, take just one day to plan out an entire productive morning, a fun afternoon and a service-oriented evening, or whatever it is you feel you need to do to be more proactive with your time.

Megan Christensen graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho in 2014 with a Bachelor’s degree in communication. She is the digital content manager for the Color Code.