Happy New Year! The beginning of the year usually means the beginning of a new planner for me, and I love a new planner! I’ve been a paper planner person for about 20 years. Years ago I tried keeping track of everything digitally, but it was short lived. I love paper planners.
Being the beginning of a new year, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my favorite planner tips. Many of you may be experienced planner users but others of you may be using a planner for the first time this year. Either way hopefully some of these tips are helpful!
1. check planner at night
To utilize your planner in the best way you need to write down everything. You also need to check your planner regularly. This is my #1 tip. Look at the next day in your planner before you go to bed. I can’t stress this enough. This has saved me many times. It also allows you to prepare for the following day ahead of time if needed.
2. Check it again in the morning
Not only is it a good idea to stop and look at the next day in your planner it’s also a good idea to look at it soon after you wake up. If you check it at night and first thing in the morning you are much less likely to forget anything or miss any appointments.
3. Use pencil or erasable pens
I love all sorts of pens. I have had dreams of owning a paper products store where I carry all sorts of journals, pads of paper, planners and tons of pens and highlighters. That sounds amazing to me! But I digress. 🙂 For years I used a pencil in my planner because I am somewhat frightened of writing in permanent ink in my planner. Plans change! Then a few years ago and I found these Pilot Frixion ERASABLE pens and they changed my life. You’re welcome. 🙂
My frixion pens in action:
4. Color Code
This one is personal and some folks only like to have one color of pen in their planners, period. That works for some, but if you are visual like me – then color coding makes life a little easier for you. I have used color coding for years and since the Pilot Frixion pens come in a ton of colors that has been easy to do. However, recently I’ve decided to go with one main color – this navy that I love. Then I use these Frixion highlighters – yes you heard that right – they make highlighters too! I do my color coding with the highlighters and they come in pastel and primary. I’m currently using the pastels. Here is a look at my current planners monthly spread for January.
5. use sticky notes and flags
In addition to my love for planners and pens, I love sticky notes. Did I mention how much I love paper products? 🙂 Sticky notes save my sanity. I use them around my house to remind me of different things (ex: a note on the door so I don’t forget to bring something with me) and I use them in my planner. If I don’t know exactly when I need to do somethin, but I don’t want to forget it. I will put a sticky note in my planner so that they next day I can transfer it into my planner in the appropriate place. I recently found Cloth and Paper transparent sticky notes (see picture below) and I’m in love! They are so beautiful and fun to write on. They do best with a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point.
I’ve also used the post it flags for meal planning. I write the meals for the week on the flags and if needed I can move them to different days of the week. We all have those days where there is a change in plans with dinner. 🙂
6. Be reasonable with to-do’s
This is a big one for me. I’ve learned over the years about how much I can realistically do in one day. I used to write out 10 or more to-dos for one day and then get frustrated when I couldn’t fit them all into one day. Ugh. So now I space things out based on the rest of my day and how much time I actually think I’ll have available for each task. This practice has helped me not feel as overwhelmed and frustrated at the end of the day. You can also go by the Top 3 rule and only write out your Top 3 tasks for each day. Since I use the Franklin Planner system I just assign the Top 3 with A1, A2 and A3 – everything else gets assigned B1, B2, C1, C2, etc. Being realistic with your day will help you be successful with your planner.
These are my most important tips for you and your planner. I hope you have found these helpful. Using a planner daily and actually working the plan you have for each day can definitely create more peace in your life. Stay tuned for more planner posts throughout the year. It’s definitely a topic I love to focus on! 🙂
Happy Planning!
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