Maybe it is not such a secret but I can pretend! I love planners. Okay, I love to organize and be organized and
planners are just an extension. My
obsession with time management started when I was introduced to the Franklin
Planner. It was in the days when I was naïve
enough to think that I could make Amway, or whatever name they tried to
disguise it as, a viable business and we could retire early and rich. I firmly believe that all things happen for a
reason and while I was never going to make it rich in Amway or Mary Kay or
Pampered Chef, I could glean wisdom from each of these experiences. The Amway crowd introduced me to the Franklin
Planner. Nowadays, I think they are
called Franklin Covey because they merged or were bought out by Stephen Covey
who is famous for his “Seven Habits…” books.
I used my Franklin Planner for many years. Some months I was more effective at using it
than others but it developed a few habits that have really helped me over the
years. The first rule I learned was only
to have ONE calendar. If you have more
than one calendar you are setting yourself up to miss important events or not
have the right calendar with you when you need it. I took this to heart and centralized my
calendar to keep track of everything. The second rule or concept was the idea of
prioritizing tasks. Ten to twelve years
ago, I ventured into the electronic calendar and began with Outlook. This present somewhat of a dilemma to my one
calendar rule because I couldn’t have my computer with me all the time. I’m not sure how I did it but I managed to
get everything into the computer and print out what was coming for the week
ahead so I could maintain my one calendar rule.
Seven years ago, Google and technology decided to make my life
easier. I began to use Google
Calendar. At first it wasn’t as easy as
it is now but it was convenient to be able to pull up my calendar on any
computer. As the girls got older is was
also nice to be able to share my calendar and to have them create their own
calendars so that we could see where people needed to be where.
While the electronic calendar has helped me keep track of
life it really didn’t meet the needs of prioritizing tasks. I have some great to do apps and I used them
more when I was working on multiple projects but there was always something missing
for me. I just don’t take their
reminders as seriously as I do if I have physically written something down. Sometimes seeing everything I needed to do,
even if I didn’t have to do it for 6 months was completely overwhelming. This lack of contentment with electronic
options left me using index cards on a daily basis. I was pretty good at keeping track of that
card but there were occasions when I suddenly found myself with nothing to do
because I could not find the card.
All of this has left me searching. I could go back to my old planner but I don’t
want to give up my electronic calendar and it seems a wasted to only use part
of it especially with the cost of a Franklin Covey planner. I had to reconcile in my mind the difference between
a calendar and a planner. The calendar
keeps appointments and schedules but the planner helps me manage the times not
otherwise planned. It may also help me
say no to appointments but while they are connected, they serve two different
functions. Since I love my online
calendar I wanted to keep that but I needed to find a way to effectively plan
the rest of my time. I decided that I
would be okay maintaining my Google Calendar and then just transferring that
information onto whatever planner I would use.
I usually do this Sunday evening when I am planning my week but I do
have to remember to make duplicate entries during the week if something comes
up. I had heard about something called a
Spark Planner on one of those pages to raise money and it sounded promising but
they were sold out and it just didn’t seem like they were ready for the
interest they received.
Pinterest showed me these lovely “Bullet Journals”. Bullet journals basically use all those cool
journals that you find and love at Barnes and Noble but no matter how many you
buy you still don’t really journal because you don’t like to write that much
with a pen. There are templates for
really cool looking pages where you can track anything you want. I loved the creative side but there was a
reality for me. I don’t have the
artistic ability or patience to create those pages and I have terrible
penmanship so my pages never looked as beautiful as the ones I saw on
Pinterest. There’s a surprise, huh! Bullet Journals led me to Happy
Planners. Happy Planners are basically
planners decorated with stickers, washi tape, stamps or whatever you’d
like. I thought this would be a good way
to use up some of the stickers I had collected over the years and have a little
fun. You can see a bit of what each of
these look like by checking out my Pinterest board at https://www.pinterest.com/praymom/bullet-journaland-happy-planner/
.
I like the Happy Planner and even brought my daughter into
the fun and creativity of making beautiful pages but it proved a little basic
for me and there was another piece missing.
Enter The Catholic Planner. For me, The Catholic Planner has the best of
all of these worlds and it allows me to bring my faith into my daily planning in
a more visible way. It has pages to
begin your planner with where you are at and where you want to be. There are trackers for habits and
rituals. Space is also included weekly
for brainstorming and journaling on the upcoming Sunday Gospel. There are spaces to make note of priorities
for the week and month and all of this comes in a simple black journal book
that looks classy. I don’t think they
intended for me to decorate my pages the way a Happy Planner is decorated but I
have and it works. Not only do I have
one weekly page to decorate, I have two!
Function and creativity all in one.
Here are some photos of their blank pages:
Nothing too fancy but just a little fun!
For me, it was about finding a balance of functionality and creativity. My life is simpler now and doesn't need to complexities of some of the calendar planner systems that are out there but honestly, I can see myself having used this planner when I was a student, homeschooling and working. I think it has plenty of versatility. I doubt I would have had time to decorate pages regularly when I had all of those things going on but it is where I am now. I think the important thing is to realize that time is a gift from God and we can either use it to the fullest or waste it. In either case we will be held accountable.
Blessings and prayers,
Marion
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