Building Consistency Without Burnout: Tips from Planning Expert Wenda Benavidez

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 263, our final episode for the year 2025. In this episode we're going to meet Wenda Benavidez together. I found her on TikTok planning away with her paper planner and I was just fascinated and entertained and educated by everything that Wenda shared. She is a productivity and planning systems coach, the mom of three and also the founder of Wendeful.com she started her business to help women take control of their busy lives with simple, realistic planning systems. Through her digital planners courses and YouTube channel, she teaches practical ways to stay organized, focused and consistent without overwhelm. After our conversation, I really reflected that her techniques are lovely. They are really person centered.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:04]:
They are not about being stressed and all that. They are about being real with your time, with your energy and with your real life. Let's go listen to this episode together now. Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:59]:
Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hi my friends, we are back for another episode of Make Time for Success and this happens to be our last episode of the year and I am so grateful to welcome my new friend and colleague Wenda to the show. I met her in quotes on TikTok and I was really drawn to to her videos. Each one has some action going on. She's a major planner and planning expert and I just invited her to come on to the podcast. She has very kindly agreed to the invitation and I'm so excited to welcome Wenda to the show. Wenda, thank you for being here with me today.

Wenda Benavidez [00:02:47]:
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. This is exciting. I'm glad to be here.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:52]:
Thank you so much for taking the time and for accepting the invitation. Please let us know what got you into the planning space.

Wenda Benavidez [00:03:03]:
Okay, so now I help women, you know, use their planners like their paper planners in a way that works for their real life. So I got into planning originally as a stay at home mom, you know, when I suddenly had no schedule telling me what to do. I had my two toddlers, my two little boys at home, and that's when I realized that I wanted to make my days feel more like, have more of a purpose. So I started planning, sharing my stickers online, and then blogging about it. But that's when I realized I got. I started getting a lot of messages from people that were struggling with the same thing. Like, they needed routine, they needed a schedule. They started paper planning as well, but they just couldn't stay consistent with using their planners all year long.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:57]:
Okay, and have you always been someone who has relied on planners?

Wenda Benavidez [00:04:04]:
Actually, no. I have never really used a planner before this. I only started when I didn't really have, you know, a set schedule. I didn't have, like, work or school. So it really only started when I became a mom.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:20]:
Okay, and when you were at work, how did you tend to go about your tasks and obligations? Was everything organized? Are you a naturally organized person? What is your style typically?

Wenda Benavidez [00:04:36]:
So I'm kind of all over the place usually, but I kind of learned over doing this for many, many years. So I never really gravitated towards paper planners or to do lists or anything like that. I was more just like, I would just have my Apple Calendar or Google Calendar, and that was about it. And then most of the time, I just relied on my memory, which, you know, wasn't really a great idea, but I managed to get by. But now that I've been learning, you know, how to use paper planners, it's just made my life so much easier and.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:09]:
Okay.

Wenda Benavidez [00:05:10]:
Way less.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:11]:
Okay. This is terrific because I think we're hitting on the thing that I wanted to interview you about, which is kind of why paper planners? What is the magic, if there is any, in doing pen and paper?

Wenda Benavidez [00:05:25]:
So I just. I love paper planning. So I. I kind of did digital planning for a little while, but I went back to paper planning because I feel like with paper planning, you're just more focused. You don't have any of the digital distractions. So with paper planning, I get to be more mindful, and I get to kind of reflect on things a lot more.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:45]:
Okay, and how did that help you with the little ones?

Wenda Benavidez [00:05:51]:
So when I started planning, I would use. I would have my schedule set out. I would be like, oh, in the mornings, I wanted to do, like, a learning session, and then I wanted them to have outdoor play. And then in the afternoons, we would, like, run errands together. So I kind of just made a schedule and a routine for them, and that's when I Started, like, making printables for my blog with, like, routines, because everything I made for myself, I would just share it on my blog. So I have, like, these routines for, like, morning, afternoon, and night, and the kids would just follow it. So I think it helped the kids as well as it helped me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:34]:
It sounds beautiful. I'm thinking about the life of an early childhood mom and how it can really feel like you don't have even a minute to spare and that in that minute, you just want to rest. And so the fact that you were blogging and sharing resources out is really impressive. What have you learned from being. Being online as a planning expert and hearing the distress or the anxiety or the upset of people who really are not so in control of their time?

Wenda Benavidez [00:07:08]:
So I think a lot of people would, you know, they would message me that they just weren't consistent. They can't follow through, they can't stick to their plans that they wrote. And I think mainly it's just because we usually set up our planners in a way that, you know, it's for this perfect person who's, like, always high energy, always motivated, and most of the time, real life is not like that. So I think, you know, the reason why setting up your planner in a way that's more realistic will help you stick with it more.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:43]:
I love that piece of wisdom. So thank you. Have you always been kind to yourself when it comes to the ideal self or the ideal schedule? The ideal life?

Wenda Benavidez [00:07:57]:
I feel like I. I do give myself a lot of grace. And then, you know, I also have, like, a very supporting husband who. Who's always just like, don't worry, you don't have to, you know, you know, just take a break today. So I think that having that support system helps too. But I feel like I always do kind of give myself grace and, you know, say, like, oh, today, you know, you're tired, so let's just do the bare minimum as long as you keep moving forward.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:27]:
Okay, beautiful. I'm really glad to hear that. And I would recommend that everyone follow Window's habits of showing yourself grace and having supportive partners. It's also really lovely. Okay, could you share with us some strategies for planning with flexibility in mind? So you want to get some things done. They're pretty important to you, but you may have a lot of other obligations or kids or other things that are asking for your time as well. How do you do this with a paper planner? And how do you keep an open mind about all of this?

Wenda Benavidez [00:09:04]:
Okay, so I really think when you first start Planning. A lot of people, when they start paper planning, they want to do everything. They want to have like six journals or they want to have like, they want to start tracking their meals, they want to start tracking their exercise, they want to start tracking their finances, like everything all at once. But I think, but I think the main thing is to just focus on your schedule. Like, you know, what time you wake up, all of the anchor items, like, you know, what time you eat breakfast, what time you eat lunch, and use those as your anchors of the day and like your appointments and then kind of work around that. And for me, my biggest thing is always leaving a lot of like white space in my schedule. I don't like to over pack things. Like, I always talk about setting only like two or three goals per day and just like the main things that I want to get done.

Wenda Benavidez [00:10:00]:
So I don't want to over pack my schedule. I just want to make sure that if those three things get done, then my day is a, is a success.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:10]:
Terrific. So the reason why we both chuckled a couple minutes ago was because I was pointing to myself when Wenda mentioned those people who want to track their habits and track their exercise and track their water intake. I'm that kind of person. I feel like I'm someone who should have three or four journals. I happen to only have one, which I love. I do love my paper planner. But what would you say to the woman like me who really has this kind of running desire to have everything sorted and what do you do with that energy and that desire?

Wenda Benavidez [00:10:47]:
I think, you know, it's great to have that, but I don't think it should be part of your like, everyday planning process. So I think if you have like a notebook, you can put all that in there. But when it comes to planning every day, for people who want to be consistent with planning, you really need to just stick with like the monthly, weekly and daily scheduling. So, and setting up systems for that. Like we can have goals like, you know, I want to work out more, I want to grow my business, stuff like that. But I feel like the system is what your real days are going to look like. So, you know, I want you to start setting up a system instead of, you know, relying on just the goals and the schedule.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:33]:
So the system is more important than all the details of what you're tracking. It's that you want the overall feeling to be in line with your energy and the time that you have.

Wenda Benavidez [00:11:46]:
Yeah. So like setting up systems when I. What I mean by that is like removing the decision Making, removing the pressure of having to restart all the time. So I feel like people quit because they feel like they're starting over every time they get a planner and they like fall off and they start a new planner. But I feel like a system gives you something to fall back into. So, you know, every morning, if you set up your system right in the beginning of the year, you're not going to wake up every morning thinking like, what should I do today? You know, how do I catch up with everything? And I feel like if you have a system set up for you, it already answers that.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:28]:
I am feeling very calm just listening to this. I love this. You mentioned daily, weekly and monthly plans. Could you talk a little bit more about that?

Wenda Benavidez [00:12:39]:
Yeah. So most planners have like, you know, the yearly, the monthly, the weekly, and some have like the daily planning setup. So, you know, once you have your system set in place, I feel like planning just gets so much easier. So like, for yearly, I usually just keep my goals really simple. Just, you know, I pick one to two things per year and that's kind of like my vision that I kind of guide towards. It's like my filter. So if anything doesn't belong in that filter, I kind of try to ignore it or try to save it for later. For monthly planning, I like to set, you know, a goal that's related to the main goal, but it's also where I just put my main appointments and like, you know, things that would typically go on your Google calendar.

Wenda Benavidez [00:13:31]:
But I feel like weekly and daily planning is where the consistency happens. That's where the system is. So like weekly planning, it's more like what's going on in your day to day life, how much energy you're having that week, what you can actually accomplish. So I actually have energy menus in my planner. So like stuff that I can do for high energy, medium energy and low energy. So for example, if my goal was to, you know, get more subscribers on YouTube, a high energy task would obviously be recording a YouTube video. But if I'm not feeling, you know, like high energy that week, then maybe I can just do a low energy task like outlining a video.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:19]:
Beautiful. So again, this kindness to yourself.

Wenda Benavidez [00:14:23]:
Right.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:23]:
The whole purpose of having a system is succeeding. It's not burning yourself out. We want it, we don't, we do not want to head in that direction. Absolutely. Yeah.

Wenda Benavidez [00:14:33]:
So it's definitely more about, you know, still doing the bare minimum to keep yourself moving forward towards your goals, but not feeling guilty about not getting the high energy stuff done every Single day.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:47]:
I love it. No guilt. A lot of kindness. Perfect. What would you say has been the biggest lesson of becoming consistent through this system that you've developed?

Wenda Benavidez [00:15:00]:
So I feel like since I've been doing more consistency in my, like, business and everything, I mean, I've been doing this for almost 10 years now. I've been to conferences and everything, so. And I think for me, it was just always coming back. So I was never really consistent, like, in that I was making videos every single week or doing anything, but I would still move forward even if it was really tiny.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:28]:
So you were able to. It sounds like business growth and social growth and kind of just expanding your own breadth of. Of reach.

Wenda Benavidez [00:15:39]:
Yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:39]:
Was. Was through your consistency. Okay. Beautiful. Just wondering what your thoughts are about. How come consistency isn't something that we're directly taught?

Wenda Benavidez [00:15:50]:
I think most people, we should focus more on frequency than consistency.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:56]:
Okay.

Wenda Benavidez [00:15:57]:
The more we come back to it, the more consistent we are. It doesn't have to be like every day or every week as long as we do keep coming back. And I think that's why setting up a system is really important, because you need to have that system there so that you can come back without starting over and starting fresh.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:16]:
So it's basically, don't quit. Teach yourself not to quit.

Wenda Benavidez [00:16:20]:
Okay.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:20]:
Okay. I love that. And yeah, I feel like that is a skill that many people don't get to experience when they're in their earlier years and then they're moving into a lot of adult responsibilities like childcare and career stuff and managing household affairs and it's all a lot. And then you feel like quitting frequently and it's not a personal failure, it's just that there's no system. And you haven't really been in the habit of not quitting.

Wenda Benavidez [00:16:52]:
Yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:52]:
Because quitting does feel easier in the moment. So when I are just supporting everyone who's listening and just know that there's a system out there that can really help. There's a paper planner out there that can be really cute and really help you get all the stuff out of your brain so your brain can be free to problem solve, to take care of the important things in life and to take care of yourself a little bit better. Wonderful. Could you share with us how you work with your clients? And I know you have a free download to share with our audience too. Could you talk about both?

Wenda Benavidez [00:17:29]:
Yeah. So with my clients, I run an online course, actually called the Productive Game Plan and one called the Time Finder Fix. So I just do mini courses Teaching people how to create their systems, how to plan out their goals, from yearly all the way to daily. And the checklist that I'm offering for free today is a planner setup checklist. So it kind of goes through the four main things that every planner setup should have so that you can be set up for success for the year. It's a great addition for anybody who, you know, want to get started with planning but don't know the main parts that should go into a planning system.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:13]:
Okay, terrific. We have set up a URL so that you can get Windows free download of that checklist and that is maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/wendiful which is w E N D A F U L which is the name of Wenda's business. Again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/Wendiful and Wenda, could you let us know what your TikTok handle is so that people can see your beautiful videos and follow you there too?

Wenda Benavidez [00:18:44]:
Okay. Yeah. It's Wendiful planning. So W E N D A F U L Planning.

Dr. Christine Li [00:18:51]:
Beautiful. So, any last words? We're wrapping up the year. We're looking forward to 20, 26 words of inspiration, hope, ease, whatever you've got for us.

Wenda Benavidez [00:19:03]:
Yeah, I think, you know, instead of trying to plan perfectly next year or trying to find the perfect planner, you know, stop trying to fill every single page, stop over committing and kind of make your planner easier to come back to. You don't need to fix your motivation. Just try to set up a system that is forgiving and that you can come back to even when you are feeling like the worst, you're having the worst day ever. That one shift will just change everything for you next year.

Dr. Christine Li [00:19:35]:
I love it. I love it. Stickers are really helpful too. Really. Have fun. Yeah, yeah. Come back to your stickers. Come back to your life.

Dr. Christine Li [00:19:44]:
Come back to you. Don't give up on yourself. Absolutely. When that. You are lovely. Your tips were amazing. I am so glad I reached out to you and so glad you accepted the invite to come over to this party over here. So, Wenda, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:01]:
You've been an awesome guest.

Wenda Benavidez [00:20:03]:
Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:05]:
All right, everyone. I want to wish you a very happy new year. I'm looking forward to greeting you in season six of the Make Time for Success podcast next week. I'll see you then. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also Visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mention on the show.

Dr. Christine Li [00:20:40]:
Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.