Have you ever felt like you needed to see a view of your week or month from a bird's eye view? Yeah, me too. When you have a million thoughts running through your mind everyday it can be hard to keep up with personal goals, anniversaries and even your mom's birthday! I use the My Life Happy Planner by Me & My Big Ideas. It is a little big but I must admit it keeps me all the way together! If I have upcoming bills, events, birthdays, meetings, or daily things I need to be reminded of I go straight to my planner and get my life together. I know a lot of people who HATE planners. From experience, I understand why because it's extra work to write everything down when you can just write it in your iPhone in the notes section or add it to your Google Calendar and share it. I get it. But when you have your own planner you can write down monthly goals and really put your day and month into perspective. The planning community is really starting to blossom and although I am not fully planner crazed yet, I can still relate to those who use all the stickers and fun colors in their planners. Planner & Lifestyle blogger Lakia Young (IG: @chaoticcritic) is literally one of the best planners I know. If I ever need guidance on calendar management I go to her. She gave me some great tips on why planning is important in order to be a more organized, confident, and a more calm person. In this digital age, people have grown accustomed to tracking everything in their cell phones. The cell phone has become the new pen and paper due to its convenience and speed. Most people have a list or two, or five, in their phone, but how much on that list have you accomplished? Did you really buy those groceries? Did you really run all of those errands? Did you get your assignments done? Planning on paper will forever trump planning in your phone for one key reason, effectiveness. When you write things down you’re more likely to get them done. Keeping things in your phone can get lost no mater how many reminders. If you can continue to hit snooze on your alarm, you can easily ignore an alert for something you planned to do as well. Let’s take a closer look. There’s different types of planning whether its monthly, weekly, or if you’re really a busy bee, hourly. It all depends on what you’re planning for. You can have a traditional planner that is horizontal with lines or you can join the planner craze and purchase an Erin Condren Life Planner or a Me & My Big Ideas Happy Planner. With the planner craze, planning has gone above and beyond with stickers, sticky notes, and specific pens, but let’s keep it basic. I like to use a combination of monthly and weekly. Let’s start with just a calendar. It does not have to be fancy, but make sure it’s a printed calendar. Write down everything you have going on that month, in pencil, from appointments to birthdays, bills, and any other events. Then as you go throughout your week you can make a daily to do list whether it’s in a planner or a journal of some sort. Planning is not difficult. The key to it is holding yourself accountable and actually being productive. The first step is getting it out of you brain and on to paper. The ultimate goal is checking it off. Your phone is not of complete waste, but it is not like writing on paper. I don’t think that those people writing in their phones should completely stray away from it. Effective planning, especially in this digital age, combines both. Jot down all you want in your phone, but remember while your mind is racing at night over everything you have to do the next day, you can put your mind at ease with pen and paper. There’s nothing quite like a handwritten to do list. If you want more fun planning tips and tricks go to chaoticcritic.wordpress.com Comment below with your own personal ways of being an effective planner!
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