Keeping Track

So, I was getting ready for my day this morning, planning on some quality editing time, but then I suddenly realized that it was Monday and I didn’t have a blog post written.

In fact, I didn’t even have an idea for a blog post.

And with that realization came the thought that I really need to get on the ball and get my planners set up.

And light bulb!

Let me back up a minute.

I’ve recently become somewhat addicted to planners.  There is a whole world of planner stuff out there and more different kinds than you shake a fountain pen at, and people just don’t write appointments in them, they decorate them and use them to track goals and do all kinds of other fun creative stuff.

So, since I’m planning to use a planner, I’ve kind of quit using my daily to do list that I would write thing on like, “Write blog post.”

The lesson learned?  Until the planners are in use, keep with what was working.

Yes, I said “planners.”  Plural.

I’d been reading so much about all the different kinds that I couldn’t decide which I wanted so I am trying out several.

Happy Planners are a cool concept but don’t really work for me because the weekly page layouts start on Monday with Saturday and Sunday at the end that’s just not going to work well for my life – I’m a nurse. I don’t have a Monday through Friday, 9 – 5, weekends and holidays off kind of job.  Plus, my pay week starts on Sunday, and so does the published schedule at work. And Saturday and Sunday are shaded in a different color so I can’t even just rename the days.  (Well, I could, but the shading would bug me.)  I do like a lot of things about them, though, and one of them, however (yes, I bought more than one, not realizing the issue with the weeks) will be great as a decluttering journal.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the other two yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

(The decluttering one is important, considering that my keyboard was just buried under an avalanche of papers that got jarred loose from where they are jammed under the screen of my monitor.)

Then there’s the Passion Planner and the Goal Planner.  I like both of them.  Both are designed to help you set goals and focus on accomplishing them. I got blank ones so I can fill in the dates myself.  The problem is that I need to actually write in them and use them.

(I’m working on it.  I just have so many things being juggled.  And a sick rat. And an upcoming gallbladder removal – the recovery time for which will at least give me time to get caught up.  I hope.)

And then there’s the Bullet Journal (BuJo) which is really more of a system than a planner, and it’s not too much different than what I was already doing, just a bit more organized and permanent.  I’m setting up a notebook for that, and actually (gasp!) using one of my long neglected journals from my office supply stash.

But I’m still haven’t found “planner peace” – none of these books or systems is exactly what I want, although BuJo comes really close.

So I’m working on creating my own system (because, you know, I’m not juggling enough projects as it is) that takes what I like from each and combines them into one hopefully functional mess.

But that’s a long range goal.  First I need to use what I’ve got so I learn what works and what doesn’t.

So my planner journey is still in its rough draft stages.  I’ll edit as I go along.

But meanwhile, I think I might have to go back to what works.