Today’s topic: how to
plan out 2020 without pulling your hair.
Well, I have news for you...
You cannot, but you can look like you are an expert, but
first, let’s talk about planners.
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| Image by Jess Watters from Pixabay |
Please note: there
are so many planners out there and no one has the same style and technique in
that is ideal for everyone. So, guess
what? You must find it yourself. I am not being mean about it. It is like journaling, which is why I am
including it with journaling. Also
please note: I am not an expert in
this. The only way I can teach you is
from my experience. So, here is my
experience with playing with planners.
I have had many different types of planners. The one I started with is called DayTimers. It is nothing fancy about this system at all. I worked with this system from the smallest
to what was called, the folio size. I
ordered it faithfully, and with its boring green and white style, you could
order it in daily only and weekly only. Both had the monthly layout with them, but you
can also order just the monthly layout as well.
What I liked about this system was I could archive it. The layouts came in both spiral and binder
style. The last style I ordered was in
2006, and it came in a daily, spiral style, with a monthly layout feel to
it. All the style allowed you to plan
things by the hour, which is a plus if you had clients to meet with, not so if
you had an event that ran all day.
I stop ordering them and did not keep up at all. I had no clients, just a job at Archiver’s,
and my schedule was easy to keep up without a calendar, paper or digital. That failed miserably.
Fast forward to 2014.
I was getting bored with entering my dates into my phone. I was not looking at it half the time, as
well as forgetting to enter the date in the first place. I had all these papers that I carried around
in my purse, which started looking like a briefcase. I had to curb that ish quick. I was looking at the Daytimer’s website
(only because I received a catalog in snail mail, begging me to come home), and
I learned that Franklin Covey (yes, THE Franklin Covey), had bought the
Daytimer’s line. I did not like Franklin
Covey when I first started planning and my mind were not changing on how I was
feeling about the brand, which to me was a little on the “Old man” side of
planning. So, I started
researching. I needed something that
made planning fun, and NOT a chore.
Enter Erin Condren. I
looked at it and thought that for a cute planner, it was expensive. Well, so
was Daytimers. I had not learned about
Happy Planner at that time and that was 2015 when the Erin Condren website had
a sale because it was in the middle of the year. So, I went for it, and at $35 (as a comparison
to the normal $65) I decided to order it.
I was happy with my purchase, and it went nicely with some stickers that
I also ordered it. I have been with the
Erin Condren Life Planner ever since 2015, and I love it. Most of the time, I order when it is on sale,
and as long as I am not too late in the year.
If I am, I order next year. I
also like to decorate the pages, more on that later.
The first question is, are you a planner person? If you are, great, you are ahead of the
people who want to learn. If not or you
want to learn some tricks of the trade, sit back, grab a cup of your favorite
beverage (mine is either coffee or water), and prepare to learn.
1.
Choosing your planner.
There are really two types of
planners: paper and digital. Digital
planners are on your phone, your tablet, laptop, or your desktop. They can also be on your TV since televisions
are slowly becoming the family hub center.
You access your planner through an application or app.
Paper planners, on the other hand,
were once a dying thing. There are many
planners to choose from. I have mentioned
4 already: Franklin Covey and Daytimer’s
are the oldest planners, and the Erin Condren life planner and Happy planner
are some of the newest planners that came into existence in the past 10 years.
There is no style that is wrong for
it is a matter of preference. The best
way to choose is to think about what you want to do with the planner. For instance, I have an Erin Condren as I said before.
The way I plan my planner could easily transfer to a Happy Planner,
which I have plans to try for next year.
It is cheaper than ECLP, and I can go to any craft store for one. This leads to to….
2.
Price
When you first start using a planner, you
do not want to go overboard with price.
One reason is if you get bored with the planner, you do not want to feel
like you are stuck with it. You can get a fairly cheap planner monthly calendar
at Walmart for $5.99 (not sponsored by the company)
3.
Are you a decorator or “Stick it in” person
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| Image by David Schwarzenberg from Pixabay |
Here is the difference. Are you are a decorator, then you will want
to purchase stickers, use colorful pens and markers, and have all the accessories
that your little planner can handle. If
this is you, again, do not go overboard, or your $20 worth of stickers, pens,
and accessories can rack up to $500 in a heartbeat, and you will wonder what
you got for that much. Trust me, I have
been in your shoes, and I still, am. The best
bet is to set a budget stick with 1-3 brands and go with it. I am on Erin Condren’s, Oh So Paper’s, and Happy Planner’s list. I have also tried Planner Society, but I did
not like the idea of renewing the subscription plan every three months. I also tried other subscription plans with
the same result, and I told you about my beef with Daytimers.
Now if you are more of a “stick a date in
and forget it” type of person, you have no worries. You might want to use a colorful pen or two,
but no stickers and accessories are at a minimum if any. That is ok too. this means that your planner
orders are going to be a whole lot less than “the decorator’s”, and your budget
will thank you too. I. just. have. not. gotten. that. point. Yet. This brings
me to…
4.
Watch the budget.
My suggestion no matter what your basic kind
of planning is to have a budget. Once
you pick your planning system and your “stuff”, make a plan on how you are
going to plan, and so forth, please price them out on your budget sheet, and divide
by 12, and put that amount in your budget.
For example, if you plan on spending $1000 for the year, divide that by
12, which equals out to $83.00 per month.
On some of the months, $83 would be going towards a planner and some
months the accessories.
5.
Have fun.
I am going to say this but have fun
planning. If you are stress over things
that leave you ready to smack someone, then you should not be planning at all. I look at it this way, it is your way of
decorating the books. Anyone can have
fun with the project; men, women, and children.
This project does not have any age boundaries. I hear all kinds of stories about a person
who gets organized and loves it.
There are no set rules of time management,
except the following according to Entrepreneur:
1.
Start your day off right. Not only be positive but meditate, have a
daily routine, do not rush to get things done
2.
Plan for what you want to accomplish. Have a to-do list. Make that list obtainable and reasonable. Going out to get ice cream is not a goal, but
saying spending time with Angela, who is your 10-year-old is a short-term goal.
3.
Have a set time and day to set up your week. I
try to set up my week on a Saturday before.
Well, this is it for right now. Take care.
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