Personal goals and priorities don't often manifest themselves without difficulty.
Theodore Roosevelt reminds us--
"Nothing in the world
is worth having or worth doing
unless it means effort, pain, difficulty."
Don't be surprised that the path to your heart's inmost desires is a demanding one.
As we uncover and prayerfully decide on our deepest aspirations, we accordingly make sacrifices and adjustments to pursue them. We plan our lives around our chosen purpose, so an adaptable planner that addresses those needs is vital.
Among many other valuable thoughts in this vein, Steven Covey teaches us that "we become what we repeatedly do." He is a parent of the celebrated FranklinCovey planning system, which I have pulled from in creating my own template--tracking what I "repeatedly do."
Let me be clear:
micro-managing time is NOT the goal,
but creating a habitual way of existing that serves us IS.
"Habits are there
in order that we may clear out of our minds
the things that can properly be cleared out
so that the non-habitual may flourish."
--Arthur Henry King
To that end, here are some qualities of my personalized planner:
- I organize my planner pages at the beginning of my A5 binder, just in front of the "Self" tab discussed in my last post. The A5 page is almost exactly equal to a piece of printer paper cut in half, which makes it the right size for easily developing and printing my own inserts.
- I like to start with a one-page year-at-a-glance from lovelyplanner.com, which has more printable planner freebies than I can possibly account for! All my journal cover pages carry my name & number (I've lost a journal more than once, but never permanently!) and a yearly motto (which always "just happens" into existence).
- Following are my weekly planner pages, which I print double-sided, cut in half, and hole punch. I label the top of each week with the month & year. There is an empty column along the left margin of every week, as well as empty boxes at the bottom of each page. I use these for different needs of the day--favorite quotes, a quick shopping list, event/meal planning, to-dos, friends to reach out to, etc. There is a place to track meals each day, simply because I enjoy keeping a ledger of food ideas. There are a few empty slots along the top and bottom of each day. These can be used to track work schedules, holidays/birthdays, daily weather, daily scripture study, workouts--whatever you want to report (the key here--for some of us--is to avoid filling in every slot just because it's empty. Record only what serves you!).
- I love a good clip-in bookmark that can travel through the years with me.
- Last, I print 12 monthly pages, double-sided, cut in half, and hole punched. These are most often used for travel plans. I also like to plan big events like birthdays and holidays in the empty slot next to its corresponding month.
Years ago in its beginning stages, my weekly planning simply looked like a to-do list on a weekend entry of my journal. It soon became something I drew into my journal every week so I could visualize the "busy-ness" of the day, then a template I would print and paste in, and finally resulted in a completely new vessel for both my journal and planner--the A5 binder. Even so, that wasn't a smooth transition and I bounced for a couple years between the two. Your planning journey will morph in its own way to fit your needs and interests, but hopefully something here will meaningfully inform that progression.
I can't wait to see what amazing things you do as you more intentionally take hold of your life!
I'll return soon to expound on a few other tabs I've found useful in my binder.
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