The Power of the Planner

Hi, I’m Brianna and I’m a planner addict. Some might say I’ve got a problem, but honestly, is the insane desire to organize your life with beautiful paper and pretty pens truly a problem? I say, “Nay, nay.”

Ever since I was a little girl, I have had a love affair with office supplies, particularly writing supplies. I must have at least fifty journals and notebooks that I bought because they were pretty and were just perfect for whatever I planned on writing at the time. Pretty pens are the natural companion to pretty journals, and I’m the first to admit I’m a bit of a pen snob. No boring ballpoint for me! My favorites are roller-ball or roller-gel pens; they write really smooth and are usually very pigmented.

Naturally, planners always interested me because they’re not only pretty, but they also have the power to help me be organized. Double-win! So almost every year, I bought a planner with high hopes of using it to organize my life. I’d start off super strong in January, writing down my schedule, commitments, assignments, etc. I would be really good at it for a couple months, but then I’d start to forget to write things down and eventually the beautiful planner would lay forgotten on a shelf, collecting dust until it became outdated and I finally threw it away.

Then came the Great Planner Awakening of 2016. I’d just started a new job that required I be extremely organized due to deadlines, multiple projects, and weekly meetings. I decided that this was the year I would make a planner work for me. My husband had bought me a pretty, inexpensive, pink and white planner with gold accents for Christmas. It was extremely basic with a monthly view, and a weekly spread with places to write daily tasks. I promised myself that if I used it for an entire year, then I would reward myself by investing in a higher-end planner for the following year.

There’s nothing like the promise of writing supplies to get me motivated. It took some willpower, but I made through that entire year and rewarded myself by purchasing a gorgeous new planner. It was super fancy and had tons of space to do goal setting, time blocking, and so many other things. We will discuss all those fun things in a later post, but for right now, I just want to introduce you to the power of the planner.

Why planners are powerful

If you’re anything like me, your life is pretty crazy most of the time. There are so many things to get done each day! And if you’re married and have kids, the craziness is even worse because more people equals more crazy (Ahem! I mean, more love and fulfillment). There is laundry to do, meals to prepare, activities to get to, people to connect with, and so much more. Would you believe me if I told you that your planner could help you manage all these areas of your life? Here’s how:

Organize your schedule

The most obvious use of a planner is to organize your schedule. The majority of planners have a monthly view as wells as weekly/daily pages. The monthly view is handy because you can see your month at a glance. This is where I write birthdays, anniversaries, paydays, and when bills are due. In the weekly/daily pages, I write out my appointments, time block my work time, write out Little Man’s feeding and nap schedule, and keep track of our weekly commitments.

Reference

Writing down all these things helps me to remember what I have going on each day of the week and month. I even write down things that happen every week, like church, Bible study, and Sunday dinner. Even though I know all these things happen every week at the same time, I still write them down so I remember when making plans do do other things. This eliminates the need to remember every single appointment and commitment.

I can’t tell you how many times I double-booked myself before I started using my planner. Now, I normally take it with me wherever I go, so when a friends wants to schedule time to grab lunch, I flip right to the date and can see what days and times will work for me. Or when I’m making a doctor or dentist appointment, I turn to the monthly view to see if I have any conflicts.

Avoid over-commitment

Writing everything down also helps me to avoid over-commitment. I always look at my weekly/daily view when making plans. So if we want to volunteer for an event at church, I check the planner first. Because I’ve written everything down, I can tell if the week is going to be really busy. In that case, I can decide whether or not we should commit to that particular event. This really helps avoid activity overload and burn-out.

Manage finances

We will talk more about this in-depth in a later post, but I can’t tell you how much using my planner has helped me manage our finances. In the monthly view, I write down when each bill is due and when each payday occurs. That way, it’s super easy to figure out which bills need to be paid when. For example, if we get paid on April 13, I can see which bills are due between that day and the next payday and budget accordingly.

Use it!

Now, I can tell you how great planners are and all the benefits they have, but it doesn’t mean anything unless you actually use it. Don’t be like I was and get lazy about writing stuff down. It takes a little time, but eventually it will be second nature.

I find that it’s easiest for me to map out my week on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. Just take a few minutes, less than twenty, and just figure out your schedule for the coming week. This will get your head in the right place and you’ll know what to expect.

Then, every morning take a couple minutes—I do it when Little Man goes down for his morning nap—and just look over the day. This helps you to know what’s coming and how to prioritize your tasks.

Using a planner is a fantastic way to organize almost every aspect of your life: schedule, finances, meals, chores, etc. The most important thing is not the brand, what the cover looks like, or how it’s laid out. The only way you can harness the power of the planner is to actually use it. So my challenge to you today is to get out that planner you bought back in January when you had grand hopes of becoming organized, and actually utilize it!

How do you use your planner to organize your life? Let us know in the comments!