I have a confession.
I am addicted to planners.
I am currently using two different planners and contemplating buying a third. I use my Day Designer planner for my daily to-do lists and monthly overviews. I use my Ban.do agenda for planning my blog posts. And now that I’m working with my business coach on my 5-year vision I’m probably going to soon buy a Kate Spade agenda for keeping track of my progress on my weekly, monthly, and 90-day goals.
I have a problem.
I certainly don’t need three planners; having three planners is ridiculous. But I have issues and when you have issues you do ridiculous things.
As you might imagine, I meticulously plan my day.
I make a to-do list every single day. Even when I’m on vacation I’ll write down all the fun stuff I want to do. I just love checking off completed tasks!
Lists keep me motivated and when I have a particularly daunting task on my to-do list I will also add some sort of reward to give me the extra encouragement I need. These rewards can be small, i.e., I will treat myself to ice cream after grading all of 7th period’s Puritan literature tests (I’m a teacher by day). Or these rewards can be big, i.e., I will buy a new chair for my my home office after writing a new business plan.
Each night I sit down before bed and make a to-do list for the next day. I write down everything that I need and would like to get done. I then select three items on the list that MUST be accomplished.
Sometimes I look at my to-do list and realize that nearly every task listed needs to be completed that day. When this happens I must kick things up a notch and plan every hour of my day. So I take my to-do list and assign a specific time slot to each task. This is a method that works well for me because I am a teacher and live much of my life in class periods. But this is a method I used long before I began my career in education.
The Day Designer planner is perfect for me as it includes space for to-do lists and space for assigning those tasks to specific hours of the day, as well as monthly calendars. The Day Designer planner also includes thought-provoking quotes and a place to record what you’re grateful for each day. (If you’d like to purchase a Day Designer planner for yourself, the January 2016 Flagship Day Designer and Day Designer Mini will be available online starting tomorrow, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. CT. Click here for more details.)
To feed my planner addiction, I have a second planner — a colorful and unapologetically girly agenda by Ban.do — for drafting my blog’s editorial calendar. Sure, I could probably keep this information in my Day Designer planner, but the Ban.do agenda is just too adorable to resist. It even includes stickers! (You can sign up here to be notified about the release of the new 2016 Ban.do agendas.)
Other planners you may want to consider include the Top-Down Planner and the Passion Planner. Both include space for to-lists and hourly tasks. The Passion Planner also features writing prompts to help you with goal setting and to help you assess your progress toward making your dreams come true.
Tell me about your favorite planner and how you plan your day.
Wow, I had no idea that Sugar Paper made the Day Designer. I love my new planner I just got from them.
Day Designer is its own company. You can check them out at http://www.daydesigner.com.
I love these planners! I also love your method of writing everything down before bed — I think it would keep me from running over my to-do list while falling asleep! And choose three MUST DOs is an awesome plan. I use a planner at work to keep track of production cycles and tournament dates. But I need a planner for my personal and blogging to-dos and goals. Right now I just use my phone, and it’s not enough for me!
Yeah, I tried using my phone in an attempt to be high-tech and all and that simply does not work for me. I need an old-fashioned paper planner!