Saturday, January 5, 2019

Planner Love.

Do you use a planner?

I absolutely LOVE having a physical planner to put all my schedule and to-dos in. Does it actually help me be more productive? I'm not exactly sure.

In our main living area, where the hallway opens up into the living room, I have a dry erase calendar that I update every month... usually before the first week of that month is over. I put up the kids' schedules, any meetings or other events we have going on, and all of that of stuff. Mark and I also use our iCal and put in that stuff too, but since I don't predominately use our iCal to dictate my days, I like having the dry-erase calendar where everyone can see it.

But still, I feel like I need something else to help me manage my to-dos that isn't on my phone and isn't quite as public as my wall. In college, I used to write out all of my assignments the first week we would get our syllabus in each class. I'd even write when to start a rough draft, or go to the Library to get some research done, or prep for a test. I try doing that in my yearly planners now, but life is a bit more crazy and a LOT less predictable.

Homeschooling definitely throws a wrench in things and I am not nearly as dedicated to the length of time we spend on our work as I am about the amount of content. This means when I plan for a lesson to take 30 minutes and then take a 5-10 minute transition, it doesn't often work out that way. After doing this for six years now, I have a pretty good idea about how long we'll spend on things, but it just isn't that simple.

I should say, I actually like it that way though. Sometimes the kids need more attention, sometimes they need less, and that is one of the biggest blessings our homeschooling gives us: the ability to take the time we need.

Back to the planner now. I love using stickers for certain recurring activities, like CC, CrossFit, and Jovi's gymnastics. But it can sometimes drive me crazy to have something changed and I have to either rip out my sticker, or just cross it out, or even worse, leave it there when we're not going to do it! Haha! I'm thinking I might invest in some erasable pens and use them exclusively for my planner. I'm always looking for a good excuse to buy more pens anyway :)

All this to say, I just got my planner for 2019 today and I'm excited to fill it in while also trying to remind myself that is it okay if plans change. I am trying to remember that planning my year will help me be more flexible with change, as I will know better what lies ahead and what I'm responsible for. I still went with an Erin Condren planner, but the hardbound one with a little less bulk. We'll see how it goes!




Do you plan your year? And how? I'd love to hear what kind of planner/system you use!

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad that my love of planners, notebooks and pens has been passed on! I love my current planner, which is a Quilter's Planner with special pages for projects and lots of fun extras for quilters. I'm not always great about using it, but I feel much more organized when I do!

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  2. I use an old school paper planner/diary/appointment book. I am using it for appointments, tracking several things, and to remember my 2019 spiritual focus and resolves. It is interesting to look back on your calendars/planners. I look back at how crazy, busy and over-extended I was earlier in life and realize, no wonder I got sicker and failed in my growth in God. It is good to pen in some rest time and time alone with God. I'm finding my desire to love God more intentionally really far-reaching in my life. I need to reflect it in my plans and planner. Praying for us both.

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