I’ve used a day planner since I was 18 or 19 years old. I’m not even sure when or why I started, but I loved writing things down in my handy planner. It helped me remember things. And for someone with ADHD, that was a super big deal. One of my earliest planners was a simple spiral-bound, 8 ½” x 11” daily that broke down into half-hour increments. It was plain, grey, and not that attractive, but it helped me keep track of my college classes and my work schedule, along with any important assignments and events. Oddly enough, I still have it, as well as several other old planners I used. They’re like a window into my life from days gone by. I find day-timers and planners to be an excellent way to document not only what will happen, but also to track what already has happened. I’ve journaled in them, added photos, decorated some of them, and even added more functionality by inserting various lists and trackers. Over the years, my planners have evolved into everything from an assortment of pocket-sized books to my Palm device and iPhone to what I now use – a Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas.
I love my current planner setup. I’ve been perfecting the system for several years now, and it is so streamlined that I can run through all of it automatically every Sunday when I sit down to go through the plans for my next week. My weekly planner setup actually includes everything from meal planning, grocery list making, and errand running plans down to what days I will work on editing our podcasts, writing blog posts, and what crafts I will work on during my Thursday Zoom crop. I also use a brain dump system to help plan household tasks, I run through my PowerSheets© tending lists, and I even do a little computer maintenance. It’s a whole process, and it works very well.
I mentioned in the podcast that I’ve taken a digital hybrid approach to decorating and utilizing my planner. During the COVID lockdown, I got tired of setting up a planner with all the stickers and nothing to write in it, so I entertained myself by creating a digital template of my regular weekly set-up, and then I simply run the pages of my Happy Planner through the printer. It saves a lot of time (and money) over hunting for just the right sticker to use, and the possible color combinations are endless.
For several months now, I have been running through this process over Zoom with my daughter, Christen. Since we both plan on Sundays, and since our activities often intersect, requiring us to plan together, it works in our best interest to just do it at the same time together. It has been a great motivator, and I feel like we’ve had more family activities and better coordination since we started.
Last week, while we were working our way through our weekly plans, we realized that our Modern Musings topic was going to be “Planners” this week, and we thought it would be a great idea to share our planning session with you. Normally, we would do it on a Sunday, but for this week only, we are going to do it on a Friday via a “Plan with Us – Live” session on Zoom. The session will be a slightly condensed version of what we normally do, but hopefully, it will give you an idea of just how organized we can be when we use our planners fully. We hope you will join us, and if not, then the replay will be on our YouTube channel in a few days.
Plan with Us Live connection info here:
Time: Apr 29, 2022, 08:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82850006280?pwd=TEdMb0xxN25XOUxPUzAzaENFakNzUT09
Meeting ID: 828 5000 6280
Passcode: PLANLIVE
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+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
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Meeting ID: 828 5000 6280
Passcode: 34662039
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbXhu1dp9H
Thanks for dropping by this week, and we hope you’ll join us for the LIVE “Plan with Us” session. If you are interested in seeing more about my custom planner templates for Happy Planner, or any of the other supplies I use, please send us an email using the email form in the sidebar, or hop on over to the MMC Chat Facebook group to continue the discussion there.
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