Back in January, I wrote a ridiculously long piece and titled it, Confessions of a (Recovering) Planner-Free, Freespirit. If you read that entire post, back in January, I salute you. Today, I’m sharing an update on me and my planner, and I hope to hear how your planner year is going, too. It’s a good time to evaluate. Fall is just around the corner, and I’ve actually seen 2017 planners on the shelves in stores!
I added a planner to the mix this year because I was feeling a need for more structure in my life. I wanted to stay on top of my writing deadlines and speaking engagements. I don’t think anyone is more surprised than me that I am still using my planner. Here’s why it’s working for me:
- All my appointments, deadlines, and responsibilities are in one place.
- I don’t need wi-fi, a charged cell phone battery, or cell service to access this planner.
- I haven’t missed a deadline this year (although, if you follow me on Facebook, you know I almost missed an appointment, but only because I didn’t write down the details—details matter, yo!).
- Writing down my appointments, deadlines, and responsibilities links the events to my brain more securely. I talked about the science behind this in my post back in January and I am even more convinced about its validity now.
Next year, I’m excited to use a new planner from DaySpring’s beautiful selection of planners, to help me get the job done. I got a first-hand look at these planners when I was at the Incourage meetup in Missouri, earlier this year. DaySpring has a complete line of planners, calendars, journals, and journaling bibles! In addition, Dayspring’s Illustrated Faith line offers all the crafty elements so many of you love to use: stamp pads, washi tape, stickers, markers, and more.
When I wrote that ridiculously long post about planners, back in January (and this post on Facebook), I realized I had hit on something about which people feel strongly. You chimed in with an amazing volume of comments about your love for planners and planning, planner designers, and companies. Back then, I had no idea. But, I feel you now.
Some questions for you: Today, I’m curious to know how your planning is going. Let us know in the comments, okay? Is your planner working well for you? Why or why not? What suggestions would you offer a planner newbie? What has been the greatest advantage for you of using a planner to help organize your life? What planner plans do you have for 2017?
Credit: Illustrated Faith image from the DaySpring website.
I {heart} my planner! I’m not even necessarily brand loyal although I WILL say those Dayspring ones look super cute, and I love anything fun by Katie Daisy, and I have thoroughly loved the Erin Condren planner my girlie got me for Christmas!
My Day Planner used to be super bossy… but we have come to an understanding over the years and I completely agree… writing it down helps my brain to hold on to it!
I still use the calendar on my phone –but I just add things at the beginning of each week. Having a place to write all the things months out helps me stay mostly in touch with my sanity. Honestly, it also shows me what I have done and that I am, in fact, doing things during some seasons where there is just nothing truly tangible (yet) to show for my time. My Day Planner reminds me of my priorities! (And how was coffee? I was so tempted to show up!) 😉
My daughter just received her fancy Erin Condren planner. It nearly made me break out in hives—way too structured for me! I love the way our planners reflect our personalities. And yes, looking back through my planner is a fun way to remind myself of all that happens in a year.
Coffee was great! 😉
Ah yes– I just have the At A Glance planner and I am SURE that I am not using it right… Lol! But it works!
I can’t imagine ever not using a paper planner! I hope they continue making them for the rest of my life. It helps me remember what I have going on and I like not being so dependent on technology.
Oh my goodness! The idea of paper planners going away isn’t anything I’d ever considered! Yikes! I hope not!
I just got a Day Designer at Target. Book planners appeal to me but I have a hard time keeping up with it because I want one place for my life/homeschool/spiritual plans. The day designer has the hours labeled, plus lots of extra space. So far I’ve enjoyed it but I got a school year one and we’re all in summer mode still.
Oh so hard to make that transition when you’re still in summer mode. I say, don’t rush it. Enjoy the moment. Your school year planner will be there when you need it!
My daughter loves her planner. I need one b/c I’m dropping balls left and right.
My daughter is a plan-a-holic. Has been, since she was a little girl. And yes, my planner definitely helps me feel more in control and less anxiety attacks that begin with, “Am I supposed to be somewhere right now? Where am I supposed to be?”
I love having a paper planner. My electronics are good for managing my appointments. But, my planner is good for managing my intentions! I order pages from DIY Fish on Itsy and have then printed. I like them because I can keep the size planner that I want, but get the pages more customized for how I want to use them that year.
I would recommend that a person consider how they want to use the planner. That will help determine the size, layout and format that you pick. If the planner will stay on your desk and will be used for notes and thoughts through out the day, the a larger planner with more open space maybe a DTP (day on to page) planner will work best. If it goes everywhere with you it may need to be smaller… I like a DTP without time slots (because I keep my appts. electronically). But, I like to have the month at a glance on paper and a weekly summary task list. Then I can assign those tasks to days of the week.
I decided 2 weeks ago to go back to a paper planner. The calendar on my iPhone & iPad were great but I realized I missed jotting down notes and personalizing my days. I LOVE using my planner and it’s funny but I feel more confident in my day to day life and meeting those everyday goals. Now I’m just trying to figure out if the planner I have works for me or if I need to research some others and start a using new one in January.
I’ve actually just decided to go back to a paper planner. I’ve been using Google Calendar for the last several years and while I like it and will still use it to manage my appointments, I’ve discovered that I’m in need of a paper planner to manage so many other things in my life. I’ve custom-ordered a Plum Paper Planner, so it won’t be here for another couple of weeks, but I’m super excited to get started with it!!
I am an big time planner (married to Captain Spontaneous, so that’s fun! Ha!) and planners/ calendars make my heart flutter 😉 This year I started using a bullet journal as I needed something super flexible – as a SAHM some weeks are super busy, some are not at all. I also wanted a way to organize my lists and to-dos that I was always forgetting or losing. My bullet journal is not as structured as many you see online and I have forced myself to not obsess over making it pretty and fancy but I really, really like the system and want to keep at it for 2017.
Oh my! What a timely post for me!!! Just this week I decided I was going back to a paper planner. I keep appointments in my phone with an alarm, but I decided I wanted to make other notes, see things on a larger scale and I thought writing it down would help solidify it in my memory. AND…when I cleaned out my parents house after my mom died this year I found so many journals and calendars where she had recorded her day’s events and I enjoyed reading them. Anyway, I love knowing that I am not alone in wanting to use a paper planner, but my oh my…SOOOO many choices!! It is mind boggling! How much do I spend? How big do I want? What color? Lined or no lines? Seriously??? I’ll figure it out eventually and I am grateful for this post friend!!
Morning Deidra, this is my second year using Emily Ley’s Simplified Planner: Love the colors, styles, paper weight, etc. It grounds me, writing down appointments, notes and mini-goals. They’re a great investment. I posted a few pics on my Instagram feed of the style I purchased. Happy Planning, even though God gets the final word, lol!
Yes yes and yes. I am working on a post about planners and how I use them. Currently I’m using Google calendar along with Whitney English’s Day Designer. You are spot on the reasons for using a paper planner.
My paper planner and I are friends for life. I keep track of all my kids’ doings, upcoming blog posts and book reviews, appointments, a daily do-list, my grocery list, and even write top-secret gift ideas for Christmas and birthdays in the back pages. I realize that the tip of my pencil cannot pin the world down into peace and order, but it sure helps my brain to stay organized.
I love having a planner, mine is from kikki.k, a Swedish paper store here in Australia. I don’t use it to organize my life as much as I use it to keep track of what’s going on. The alarm in the phone thing never ever works for me. I find that the work of writing something down in a planner also helps me remember (for now my memory is fairly good.. not expecting that to stay the same way as I get older, though!!). It’s simple but effective. The bullet journal craziness just seems so complicated to me. I love the old fashioned calendar squares. Works for me :).
I just started using the Sacred Ordinary Days Planner and love it. It’s set up to I can reflect my life from a year, a season, weekly and daily. There is enough elbow room to muse. And it’s got the daily office and lectionary as part of it. The book is set up to help with spiritual practice and daily life. It has helped me gain focus and find a rhythm to my days and get out of Facebook so I am starting to do the things I want to do. The Facebook group is very supportive. (I had a planner before and would write down a to do list and ignore it. I even forgot a hair appointment!) The peace of the Lord be with you as you walk towards the next season.
I’ve heard of this Katie. glad you like it.
Deidra, you’ve gathered kindred souls here, as usual. 🙂 Ah, planners. How we love them and hate them . . . in that none is completely perfect, and I’m sure there is always something we’d add or delete. We should each plan our own, huh? And, of course, that’s how new ones emerge on the market: Designers were not satisfied with the status quo, and, therefore, created their own perfect planner which the rest of us consider less than perfect. 🙂 That said, who has time or money to develop her own customized planner. Granted, you can go the DIY route, but there are still many lovely planners available. I first started using one after reading Anne Ortlund’s Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman. She called it her “notebook” and lived by it. As I consider that wonderful little book that I read as a new Christian, and having used a number of planners since, it seems to me that Anne’s notebook was really a prototype of planners like Franklin-Covey, Dayrunner, and Daytimer. Hers was a DIY notebook, till her ministry actually developed one. But, of course, hers had a Christian emphasis. I used the Dayrunner and customized it per Anne’s guidelines. It worked very well for years. But eventually I began using Planner Pad. I loved using the funnel method and being able to see the week at a glance; plus, I love the inclusion of a year-at-glance planning calendar, plus month calendars and the weekly spread. I stopped using Dayrunner because I mostly journal in actual journals, fully dedicated to writing, and have other places for full-length development of goals and an address book. Still, Planner Pad allows for some of that. But last year I went with iBloom. It’s $20 more than Planner Pad, so it’s pretty pricey, but it has better paper, color throughout (I love color), Scripture verses, and a number of customized features for planning life and business. I love not only its Christian emphasis, but its founder, Kelly Gore, who sees her business as a real ministry. When you buy the planner, she guides you through a free (and excellent) online planning retreat, which is saturated in prayer. She also has a FB group where she shares her expertise. The ministry also sells many helpful books. The quality of her planner is excellent. Some of the other week at a glance planners simply don’t afford the space one needs (in my opinion obviously) for adequate planning. I believe that Kelly has a an online video which shows you the various unique features of her planner (including a “vision board). It’s just a class act! Another funnel planner is Passion Planner. You can Google any of these. Happy planning, Deidra. There is nothing like tactile planners, where you can additionally draw and color and collage and journal your dreams. But iBloom also helps you plan your biz and to make regular assessments in writing. And I think nothing beats the funnel method. Kelly expanded on what Planner Pad began and customized it for the Christian. So lovely to see your ministry expanding. May God continue to bless you and your vision.
Love
Lynn