#2 - How to Choose a Planner – How to Start Planning in a Planner

You should now have a decent-sized list of life main and subcategories, and more specific areas you want to keep track of. I want you to continue to add to that list for the next few weeks. Whenever you do a task, I want you to think about, is this on my list, how often do I do this and how long does it take? I want you to also start thinking about who I am now, and who I want to be. Start making a list of the weaknesses and strengths you have and how they can be improved. I want you to start diving deeper into your categories and get even more specific.

I want you to walk around your house and notice all the areas that have been neglected and write it down.

I want you to go to your job and start writing down what your responsibilities are building checklists and writing down your processes. Have a conversation with your coworkers and supervisors and see where they could see your improvements. Show them what you have written down and see if they can help make any changes to your responsibilities or checklists.

Start looking into your routines and where you can change them. If you want to build a new routine, sit down and write down the routines you currently have, including how long you’re doom scrolling. Then write down what you want your new routines to look like and how long your new actions or activities might take. Then start doing the new routine and timing it to see if it’s doable or where you need to adjust. All while writing down your notes and observations.

Where you are writing these things down can either be in your brain dump journal, your tablet, or your planner, it doesn’t matter at this stage, what matters is that you are getting a chance to recognize the little tasks you’re constantly forgetting or recognizing certain patterns and behaviors that you have. If the “I do this too much” pops into your head, then write it down in a I do too much of this list.

Writing down our thoughts, ideas, and actions is doing two things, getting you used to writing things down and making sure you’re getting your SH*T done. Yes, as simple as that can be, this simple step of putting it in front of your face and the action of writing it down and checking it off helps you get more done. In later topics, we will talk more about procrastination, how to break down your lists, and how to get even more done, but right now we are focusing on the habit of planning. The habit of writing down our thoughts, ideas, and what we need to do. The more you write down the less you will forget, but you will continue to build whatever tool you’re writing in as a reference and make sure we get what we want or need done. We start to recognize how much time we have, how long an action takes, and how much time we are wasting.

It also brings to your attention how much information and data you are going to be tracking. How extensive are your checklists and routines? Are you a single person who only tracks themselves or a mother running after 4 little ones? Getting a fully comprehensive list of our lives, all our responsibilities, and routines gives us the key to finding the best planner and layout that will work for us.

I originally started with one planner, and I’ve grown into multiple planners with multiple layouts. So how do you know if you need one planner or multiple planners or what layout will work best? We are going to work a bit backward to get our answer. I am going to start with the types of planner options you have, then I will go into the layouts and how they can be personalized to your categories and subcategories and then from there, we will be able to see if we need to break down our categories into different planners themselves and which layouts work best within those planners.

By working backward we can plan our planners, we can choose how we want our information divided, which then helps us choose the layouts and then from there if we need more than one planner. These steps help make the choosing and buying steps so much easier because you learn exactly what you need instead of guessing and making the wrong choices. Take that time to plan out your planner and it will go so much more smoothly.

So, with so many different options on the market making it truly overwhelming, let us start breaking some of this down!

Physical or Digital

The first choice you’re going to face is choosing between a physical or digital planner. There are many pros and cons to both so which one is the best for you?

Physical planner pros

·         Lots of people swear that by putting pen to paper they are more likely to remember and follow through with what they wrote down

·         Some people love the idea of unplugging from technology and having fewer distractions

·         Does not require charging

·         Fewer options in designs and layouts

Physical planner cons

·         Takes up physical space so storage could become an issue

·         Gets expensive when buying supplies and accessories

·         Limited space in some planners

·         Some are not as easily portable as others

Digital planner pros

·         Very portable

·         More options are available between apps, online, and pdf versions

·         Can be accessed anywhere on any device (depending on the one you’re using)

·         Less expensive because you can often reuse the same planner, layouts, and stickers, and you don’t need physical supplies.

Digital planner cons

·         Bigger learning curve when using a PDF annotation app

·         Some people find it hard to associate the digital with physical and although they write or type it down, they still often forget or have trouble with follow-through

·         Storage is digital so data could be lost if not saved or backed up properly

·         More distractions while planning if notifications are on

·         Needs to be charged

Dated and Undated –

The second choice you’re going to face is dated and undated planners. Most planners in stores are going to be dated. If you have old planners lying around, they can be redated. If you buy an updated planner, you can decorate it with stickers or just use pens and highlighters, but you are responsible for putting in all the dates, including the month, week, and day into the layouts so also keep that in mind when purchasing. Most planners are going to start on Sunday like a common calendar, however, there are options for a Monday start or honestly, you can start any day that you need if it makes sense to you.

That’s about it, honestly. Yes, there are so many different types, but the differences there are what they provide, the category they are more geared towards and the design layout. I don’t want you to get hung up on the types of planners, that’s why we are taking these steps to understand our planning needs and still writing in your brain dump journal if you’re still apprehensive about writing in your planner.

In the next couple of posts, we are going to start to break down each of the induvial layouts and the beginner basics of how to plan in them. You will be able to apply almost all my tips and tricks in any planner you choose. You can even take my time-blocking tips and apply them to Google Calendar and use them as your planner. I truly believe in the concept of BYOP (Bring Your Own Planner) because the mind is such a complex design that no two minds work alike. Planning is also a very personal experience and even if you choose to use both a physical and digital planner there will be no judgment here, I promise.

I am Sylvia, The ACME Planner, helping you to achieve the ACME in your life! Bye for now!