My Planning Journey
I was thinking about how people feel about planning, and all the different ways to plan and keep track of your life. It also made me feel like talking about why I do what I do. Not only do I LOVE it, but I’m also consistent with it and I keep with it day to day.
When I talk to other people, I hear a lot of reasons why people don’t bother planning. Some of these include:
I keep all the things I need to do in my head (aka: remembering everything)
Don’t have time
waste of money
It is a known fact that planning can save you money. It can make you a more organized and timely person. It can help you de-stress and save you time as well.
I have always had a planner. When I was in school, it started out as the school agendas that you got for free. Once I graduated and started attending university, I starting buying my own from Staples. I didn’t know then that there was this whole world of planners and a planner community.
About 5 years ago now, I had seen a bullet journal and I didn’t really know why people would choose to buy a dot grid notebook. I didn't know what it was all about. Once I heard that it was basically creating your own planner and tailoring it to your specific needs, I knew at that point in my life I didn’t have time for something like that. I was working and going to school full time. My days consisted of work, studying, classes and taking the bus from 5am to 12am almost every day.
My last planner was a Blueline Planner from Staples, and it helped me remember important dates and keep track of my to-do’s and that’s about it. I started watching Amanda RachLee on Youtube and discovered what bullet journaling was all about. For the first time in my life, I actually had time to start one, and I wanted to get creative with it.
It was about the same point in my planning career that I started my youtube channel. I figured that since bullet journaling was so popular, I could share my art and planning journey online and people would be interested. Well, it turns out only some people are interested. Surprisingly, ALL of my family basically don’t care. Most of my friends and acquaintances don’t care either and wouldn’t start a bullet journal - and that’s OK. I do love to share my passion and interest, but honestly, it’s more fun when both parties have a shared interest. That’s what made me want to find people out there that actually DO share the same love of planning and bullet journaling that I do. (HELLO PLANNING COMMUNITY!!) I would LOVE to go to a planning convention some day and meet other planner people! That will definitely be going on my bucket list for when this Pandemic is over.
So besides for bullet journaling, I also use a Happy Planner and an Erin Condren. Why all the planners? Well, I use them all for different purposes. I first start my morning routine by checking off my planners in order. First comes my Goal Planner (where all of my daily and weekly tasks originate from). I use the Cultivate What Matters Powersheet Goal Setting Planner, and it is SO worth it! I check off what I have accomplished from the previous day and then move on to my Erin Condren Life Planner. This one is mostly for Youtube and sharing with my Subscribers online. However, I do use it as a “catch-all” for the beginning of the week. I map out how I want my week to look and add it to this planner. Then each day, I add the tasks from the planner and quite often, I will have missed things day to day that for some reason I remembered at the beginning of the week. Next comes my Happy Planner. This is my Frankenplanned Happy Planner (Video link from Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRYw_eHYQVg&t=2258s ) . I will write on this topic soon. It was actually going to be my next topic, but I realized the end of the year is approaching a lot faster than I thought, so it will be the first post for 2021. I keep 7-8 “planners” in this one book at all times. I call these my “Life Categories” and this planner helps me keep track of all the things in minute detail. I use this one for my Health, Home, Business, Social Media, Reading, and Budgeting. As of right now, this Planner is strictly private and is just for all the background work and processing that I do every single day. For more on Life Categories, and to check out another great Planning Personality, check out Alaina @ The Organized Money (Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOuwTa1wt90 ).
Last, but certainly not least comes my Bullet Journal. This book has info in it that I don’t keep in any other place. It has my daily tasks and some drawing challenges. I also keep track of my habits in here and a dream log. Sometimes I include fun, specialty spreads (check out my Christmas set up here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb82OuM3w0E&t=21s.
I hope you guys enjoyed hearing about my Planning Journey. It has certainly been a long one and it is ongoing and constantly changing. I always say that I only want to be better than the person I was yesterday and that goes for any system I incorporate into my life.
Happy Planning!!
💜 SAN
