Using a planner for #ROW80
tl;dr for A Round of Words in 80 Days participants –
My one word for 2016 is FOCUS and for the first round of ROW80 I am concentrating on my routines. January’s focus is on my morning routine. I’ve had more success completing my morning routine in part thanks to my planner. The End.
I have always used a huge wall calendar to keep my family’s appointments straight. It typically hangs where all household members can access it easily, so we can stay informed of the daily goings-on in our lives. This works fairly well for everyone. It works particularly well for me because if it’s on the calendar, that lets me off the hook as far as trying to remember upcoming events.
“What time are we supposed to be at Nana’s house on Thursday?” asks a dear loved one.
“You’re standing right by the calendar,” I respond, whether or not I know the answer. I’m trying to train them (where “them” = a grown-ass man AND our 11-yr-old) not to look to me for that kind of information. Asking me is a cop-out. It allows them to avoid responsibility. To their thinking, as long as Mom knows times and dates, they are free of even attempting to know anything at all. Funk dat. I needs help, y’all.
The wall calendar has been a wonderful help. But it’s not enough. It’s just the first step. I still find myself double-booking events, and it’s not like I’m even a social butterfly. I’m a fucking recluse but you’d think I’m a celebrity by the way I stack appointments.
“There’s a family get-together on the 23rd at my mom’s. Can we make it?” Yes. Yes, we can.
“Hey, let’s plan to meet on Sunday and work on our writing. Sound good?” Yes. Yes, it does.
I say yes to both, and then I figure out the morning of Sunday the 23rd that THEY ARE THE SAME DAY. So clearly I need to carry a calendar with me at all times. I started doing that and it was… meh. Since I only needed it sporadically, it seemed like a seriously extraneous item to add to my purse on a regular basis.
Besides, I had another calendar I used for bills. I’m a visual kinda gal, so a list of dates is nice but seeing them laid out in physical relevance to due dates and pay days is really helpful.
And since I’m trying to get back to regular blogging, I have a calendar for that, too.
I also like to keep track of how well I am FOCUSING on my routines – my one concession to a New Year’s Resolution was to choose one word for the year and then decide how to apply it.
All these various calendars and lists and trackers were getting out of hand. So I went on the Great Planner Hunt of 2016.
And holy shit, y’all. So did the rest of the world, apparently. I have never seen so many different styles and tips and DIYs for a planner.
There are even entire blogs dedicated to the subject! And yeah, I now follow them religiously because they are kind of awesome if you’re what’s called a PlanNerd. Haha, yeah. That’s a thing. And I’m one.
My favorite blogs for planners: Planner Fun, Planner Perfect, and Giftie Etcetera.
I knew I would need a Do It Yourself deal because I’m all about going against the grain. I don’t want a space for addresses and phone numbers. Please remove the page-a-day things because I WILL NOT USE THEM – and worse, I will feel guilty for not using them because wouldn’t that be a great place to journal? And then I would stop using the entire planner. Ridiculous much? GUILTY. AS. CHARGED.
I wanted to be able to see the entire month on a two-page spread, with squares large enough in which to write regularly scheduled events like babysitting every Saturday.
And if I was consolidating my other calendars and trackers into this one Holy Grail of Planner-dom, I would need space to jot down pay days, due dates for bills, planned blog posts, etc.
My mental daily squares were already getting clogged.
So I knew I’d need to keep things short on the monthly layout.
Which meant I’d need some space to write more details that wouldn’t fit into the squares on the monthly layout.
Ergo, I needed a weekly layout, too.
Which is cool because one of the things I wanted to start trying this year is a weekly review.
This wouldn’t be too difficult to find. The tricky part would be choosing a planner I could tweak – I want to be able to add lists and trackers and other pages if the whim strikes.
Lucky for me, planners are THE THING right now. For once, I hopped on a trend right as it began trending. I didn’t realize it was trending, so please don’t think I’m merely following a trend. I’m not. I wanted a decent, useful planner before I realized that the rest of America wanted one, too. Our interests are coinciding.
BUT. Since planners ARE trending, they are fucking EVERYWHERE.
Even the scrapbooking community has hopped onboard.
WAIT WHUT.
Remember slam books? Or crush books? Or memory books? Whatever you call them. They are like a combination of journaling and scrapbooking. You stuff the pages with memorabilia and doodles and ticket stubs and ephemera.
My sister and I tend to stick with Close to My Heart papers and decorations when we get together to work on scrapbooks, because they are decent products and our favorite scrapping spot, Your Scrapping Cafe, is run by a consultant.
Imagine our joy at discovering Close to My Heart now carries not just any planner, but the planner of our dreams!
My sister and I each ordered a Close to My Heart Everyday Life Album immediately and we’ve been glamming them up since they arrived.
I’m still experimenting and learning new tricks to make it work, and I don’t always stick to my routine, and I don’t check my schedule daily like I should.
HOWEVER! At least a couple evenings per week, I pull out my planner and write in it, or decorate it, or add pages, or create new lists. And that’s making me be more creative, more often. It also means I’m looking at my goals more often. Which means I’m reminded of my One Word {FOCUS} more often.
The upside? Sure, I get lazy and fall off the wagon for a few days. But I keep coming back to my morning routine, which is something I used to skip more than just a couple days. Looking at my intentions on a regular basis encourages me to get back up and try again.
Here’s another reason I keep getting back on track: I’m being extremely generous with my gold stars. I literally place a gold star sticker on the days I’ve completed MOST of my morning routine. Because doing my morning routine once every few days is a lot better than only doing it once every few months – or not at all.
Another trick to keep in mind? Admit I’m lazy. I schedule two days “off” every week, generally the days my husband is home from work. These are days I am not penalized for lying around being a bum.
Finally, the ROW80 update…
You know what? In looking back over the first three weeks of January, I see I am regularly maintaining my morning routine (or at least a large portion thereof) three days per week. If you know me at all, you recognize that this is fucking phenomenal!
Three days per week I am FOCUSED on taking care of myself, my home, and my family. As opposed to zero times per week.
My morning routine?
- Drink water upon waking.
- Make bed.
- Eat breakfast.
- Yoga & shower.
- Brush & floss teeth.
- Do dishes.
- Plan dinner.
- Do laundry.
- Swish & swipe.
- Scoop litter box.
My FOCUS for the rest of January is to not only complete my morning routine at least three times per week, but to get it done before noon. If I throw in a load of laundry at 10pm, yes I still count it is “done” but we both know that’s cheating a bit. There’s generous and then there’s straight up lying to myself.
What is your morning routine?
How are your ROW80 goals coming along?
Any tips and tricks for planners you’d like to share?