#1 - How to Begin Planning – The First Step to Start Planning in a Planner - Life Categories Brain Dump
You have that brand new planner sitting in front of you – either physical or digital – it’s a blank canvas staring at you – your mind starts to RACE. What do I start writing down? I don’t want to mess it up. The idea of now setting up that planner has become overwhelming, so you put it aside for another day…. which never comes.
I have been in that same position. I was excited by the illusion that I would get my life together and that this thing in front of me would somehow help. Then being on the other end of the spectrum, “I’ve tried planners before, and they have just never worked for me.” I had problems with procrastination, prioritizing, organization, and poor time management skills. I was a work-at-home mom, getting ready to begin the homeschool journey, when I was forced to look outside the box. I needed help, badly.
In the very beginning, I had just wanted to track our homeschooling attendance and lesson plans. I was becoming responsible for the education of my two children and that just seemed like one of the most significant undertakings I would ever take, and so I had to be successful at it, I could not fail them. I was late diagnosed with ADHD, I had learned to manage my anxiety, but I still struggled with decision fatigue that would put me into freeze mode where I was unable to do anything. I knew what I needed to do, and thought about it so many times, but I just couldn't make it happen. I just needed something to help keep me on track.
Then one day my mother saw a very simple Excel spreadsheet that I saved as a PDF and was writing on it as a beginner homeschool planner. It had five rows and three columns, the rows representing the five days of the week and the three rows representing the family subjects and my two children’s subjects. That’s when my mother put the seed into my head “You know you can sell planners”. “I already have a business, and I just started homeschooling, I don’t want to put more on my plate than I can handle.” She replied “Well at least think about it and look up planners and planning videos and see what you think”
THAT EVERYONE IS WHAT STARTED MY COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION INTO THE ACME PLANNER!
I became completely engulfed in how the world of planning had changed. I grew up with school organizers, Franklin Covey and Palm Pilots, but now there were stickers, washi tapes, and different layouts that you could customize to fit your whole life, not just one area of it. I became a little more serious about how planning could help me with my problems, so I sat down and started to jot down all areas of my life that I needed and wanted to improve.
I looked at the small business I owned with my significant other and I started to write down my responsibilities. I looked at our bills and wrote down their due dates. I started tracking how much the business was bringing in and how much we were spending. I made a family budget that I was able to stick to and gain even more savings. I started writing down the daily household chores, and the weekly chores, and since I already had my data in one spot whenever I thought of something new, I knew where to put it. I started to look at myself, and what habits and routines I wanted for myself and my family. It got me to think about what I wanted to do with my time, what I was writing down, and what worked and what didn’t work. I was reading more books and mastering more areas of my life.
We are now starting our fifth year of homeschooling this year and my planning and planner have changed significantly throughout that time. I will go into my categories, subcategories, what I track and all the hows and the why’s in another post, however, this brings me back to you. How can we help YOU start your planning journey? It starts the same way I started, sitting down with pen and notebook or tablet and stylus, and doing a brain dump.
Let’s go ahead and break this down into 2 steps
STEP 1 - MAIN CATEGORIES
By breaking down the areas of your life, you’re able to be more personalized, and differ from the higher priority areas and lower priority areas of your life. For example, is HEALTH a high-priority or low-priority area? For some, HEALTH is a subcategory while for others it’s a main category that requires more attention. The most common categories are PERSONAL, WORK, HOME, FINANCE & BUDGET. Also popular FAMILY, FAITH, HEALTH/FITNESS, SOCIAL MEDIA. The least common but also used could be SCHOOL/HOMESCHOOL, GARDENING/HOMESTEAD.
Brain dump example with the most common, popular, and least common life categories.
When you have started this list, it doesn’t even have to be a full list of your categories (you can continue to add to it as you go) you can start on the next step.
STEP 2 – SUBCATEGORIES
From here you are going to start looking at each individual main category and deciding what within those areas you want to track, these become your subcategories. This again is very personalized. I am giving a very general description of what topics are typically tracked to help give you some ideas. If you start to notice that one category is getting bigger than others or a little mix of topics, then try breaking it into two because this is a good indication it’s a main category.
o PERSONAL - health, menstrual cycle, habits and routines, goals and hobbies
o WORK - schedule, checklists, deadlines, due dates, meetings, project management, individual businesses
o HOME – chores, meal planning, home maintenance upkeep, or home project management
o FINANCE&BUDGET – bills due and paid, income, savings, expense tracking
o FAMILY - family schedules, practices and games, pickups/drop-offs, individual children & their data
o FAITH – bible study, bible reading, prayer/scripture, sermon notes, devotional reflections
o HEALTH/FITNESS – symptoms, appointments, diet, hydration, workout, weight
o SOCIAL MEDIA – followers/subscribers, analytics, organize content, releases, project management
o SCHOOL/HOMESCHOOL – student or teacher, homework/lessons, due dates, grades, attendance, field trips
o GARDENING/HOMESTEAD – Frost dates, planting dates, harvest dates, food storage, preservation plans, garden maps, garden notes
o GOALS – progress, steps, tools & techniques, motivational quotes, review and refine, celebrate/reward
o JOURNAL/DIARIES – emotions/feelings, reading, gratitude, daily doodle, word/quote of the day
Brain Dump with Subcategories filled in.
Your primary focus right now is taking the time to evaluate your life. What are the main areas you struggle with? Do you want to take care of yourself better? Is there an area that always seems to be neglected? Do you want to get out of the house more and build your social circle? You are writing down anything that pops into your head. Be as general or as specific as needed and continue breaking these subcategories into smaller and smaller categories and your comprehensive list will continue to grow.
You will slowly start to see what to plan. Then when the drs appointments start to get scheduled, write it down. When your shift changes at work or you log overtime write it down. When you make a purchase, or you get paid WRITE IT DOWN. Do not be afraid to just begin, with no stickers or minimal stickers, let your planning style show progress as you grow in your planning style, and let there be mistakes (or go digital to relieve that anxiety), but just start using your planner.
The best advice I can give to any beginner planner is to start making it a part of your life, everything goes into it, it’s a companion that should consistently be with you and you’re always referencing it. I have had my periods of neglecting it and then picking it back up again, which is completely normal because sometimes life just happens, and it's not a priority to me that week or that month. I have been so close to planner peace, just to have some major changes and shifts that knocked me completely off course that I had to completely rebuild my path again. Life is a journey and having that companion along for the ride is so beneficial, it serves as a constant reminder in future years of how much growth and perseverance you have. As weird as it sounds, my planner and I have grown together, and honestly in times of depression, anxiety, or unknown circumstances, it's very comforting knowing I can still make a plan and execute it. That I can sit down, clear my mind and be able to get down to the steps that I need to take. I can recognize periods when I am not taking care of myself, and I can get back on track. So, start seeing your planner as a necessary tool in your everyday life, and you will start to see the benefits of it.
If you’re still apprehensive about writing in your new planner stick to your brain dump journal for now. In the next post, we are going to start getting more in-depth on how to plan, and how to choose your layout if you’re still undecided on which one is best for you. I always say you can’t figure out your layout until you know what information is going into it! Stay tuned and comment on a topic you would like to cover or a question you would like me to answer.
I am Sylvia, The ACME Planner, helping you to achieve the ACME in your life! Bye for now!
