For a little while now, I've been trying to up my game when it comes…
Paper Planners Rock
I’ve always loved planners. I think I got my first one in the 7th grade, when the move to middle school and all the changing classes and actually having homework made it necessary. It was love at first sight.
I went through a ton of different layouts looking for what worked for me, and for quite some time I was very happy with my Planner Pad. When I was working and juggling house stuff (no kids yet), it was perfect.
But then life changed. And it’s different to manage kids and home schooling and my writing than it was to handle a job and keeping house. And so I gradually stopped using my Planner Pad and the days would go by all empty and unused and it made me sad. I tossed around a few ideas here and there and, to some degree, each had something going for it. I even tried (so very hard) to move to something electronic. But boy was that a major fail. I need to see and hold my planner, apparently.
Anyway, about…a year ago? I watched a little video on bullet journaling and I found exactly what I needed. I know, I know, it’s all the craze now and I feel half annoyed that I’m trendy and half amazed. Cause I’m never trendy.
But! I am not one of these washi tape/multi-colored/drawings/graphs/flowers! bullet journalers. I have neither the time nor the interest in that. My bullet journal (and no, I can’t call it a BulJo. That’s just…yucky.) is simple, streamlined, and straightforward – lists, a month view/plan page, and some sections for each book series I’m working on, another for homeschool curriculum that gets suggested that I want to look at more closely and…that’s about it.
I’ll admit, I look at some of the bullet journals people post online and I have a tiny bit of envy for their artistic abilities. But then I remember that all I really want to do is stay organized. And I don’t need washi tape to do that.
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Good Morning, Elizabeth. Your post hit home with me. I too have had my share of attempting to find what works for me. I admit that I still have not found the organizational tool that speaks my name. I will check out the link that you provided. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience. I hope that you have a great day! Mary
Best of luck! It can be dug a pain. 🙂
Planners … In college I took an 18 class credit load and never used a planner. I had a notebook for each class and my syllabi in the front. I kept all dates in my head and never missed a thing — despite also having two jobs and two roommates. Now I have a husband, no job, and only my church volunteer work, and I have to keep both calendars and to-do lists or things fall through the empty spaces in my brain.
I know exactly when the change came — date and hour — October 14th, 2012 around 10:30 a.m. I was rear-ended while stopped in construction traffic and sandwiched between two vehicles. My car actually went up on its front bumper, then slammed back down onto the hood of the car that hit me (70 mph). The resulting whiplash left me with no short term memory for weeks, and I have gradually returned to the diminished level of retention I now have.
In all fairness, my husband says some of the loss might be attributed to my age, and some of the loss might be attributed to the fact that I live a much more relaxed lifestyle and don’t require/cultivate my memory to the extent I used to. He thinks that during the time I couldn’t focus I relied on my electronic reminders so much that my brain has happily transferred the responsibility to them now.
One thing that is certain is that life changes, and so do our adapting skills.
It’s probably a combination of all of those factors. I didn’t *need* the planner in college. But I liked having it as backup just in case. There’s an element still today of backup, cause I mostly remember what I need to do. But I hate the thought that I might forget something.