Guess what? A planner can only be useful if you use it! I know!! What a discovery, right? I kind of knew that. But I didn’t internalize the concept. I stumbled on this deeper realization because of my distress about being so overwhelmed, unorganized and forgetting so many things. As I tried to find answers, I found ways of doing things that work for me.
I created the questions (see “What Matters Most”) that I can answer whenever I need to, to ground myself and redirect my efforts, if needed. I have figured out how to make prioritizing work for me (see “Daily Simplicity and Prioritizing”) since I never was able to relate to other’s approaches. This has made a huge difference!
Last week I was able to type up all of the things that I want to routinely do daily and weekly. Instead of writing “do the laundry” every day, I just added it to this permanent list. Then I laminated the list. I do have to give Flylady credit here. I discovered Flylady.net many years ago and while I still struggled, it made a huge difference for me! Making my list of routines last week was pretty easy because I have been working on that for years.
After typing my daily and weekly routines in small font so that it would fit on one page, and color coding each week day so that they stand out better, I laminated the page and punched holes in it to fit into my planner. I cut slits from the edge into each hole so I could slip it over the coils of my planner. When I trimmed the lamination, I left some at the top so it would stick up like a tab that I could easily find. Now I just put it into the current week and it is right there with my weekly calendar.
That’s when I made my discovery that it was all working because I am looking at my planner several times a day and using the systems. It’s a bit embarrassing to discover something so obvious. But it’s also nice to have hope that this can really work. I just have to plan and then refer to the plan throughout the day. Not rocket science. Just common sense.
Now I’m toying with the idea of creating a custom planner for myself. Hmmm… That sounds fun! And it would be nice to have a customized planner with my systems that I have discovered work best for me. And I will have it all in one place. That’s another things that I discovered was helpful during this process.
Next I want to tackle my finances. Now that’s going to be a challenge!