What I Learned from a Month of Planning

Thanks to planning month, I finally edited our San Diego pictures...from June 2016...

It's hard to believe that January is already over. As you may recall from my post on Plans & Projects, I set aside the entire month of January to plan for the upcoming year. Here's what I learned:

PACING TAKES RESTRAINT

As I mentioned, I have a hard time properly pacing myself. I'll go all out for weeks or months on end until I hit a wall. Then I'll procrastinate for months in an effort to recoup. It's a vicious cycle. Knowing this about myself was the driving factor behind naming January as my planning month. And it was tough. There were many days where I was filling out my planner with future plans that I just wanted to start. But I stayed the course, and ended up finishing the month confident and ready to tackle the year.

ALL IN ONE PLACE

At the recommendation of my dear friend, I invested in a Day Designer. Not going to lie, the cute cover design pretty much sold me. I've tried planners in the past, but could never really follow through with them. My friend also suggested I try the full 8.5x11 size, as that's the kind she had and it was working well for her. I told myself I would try to make it a habit to use it for the whole month, and if I wasn't into it by the end of January, I could chuck it. It worked. By the end of January, I wasn't quite sure how I kept it all together before #plannerlife. 

What I love about this planner, is the split between the day and the to-do. This minor difference between the Day Designer and planners I've used in the past is what got me to use it daily and religiously. Previously, I was constantly scribbling notes, post-its, etc. for a litany of work and household needs. Sometimes things got lost in the shuffle and fell between the cracks.

Now everything lives in one place, and is color coded based on what part of life it's dealing with - work, part-time job, freelance, family or social/fun events.

Another saving grace is the limited amount of space granted for to-dos. All too frequently, I'll program an inhuman amount of tasks for a day and it just builds and builds until I get stressed and overwhelmed into inaction. It consciously makes me limit my tasks for the day, and I actually end up getting more done because the workload is a digestible amount. 

Added bonus: it has acted like a living history of fun events and happy moments that I enjoy looking back on.

CALM IN STRUCTURE

I'm a planner through and through. As much as I would love to fly by the seat of my pants, and have done in the past, it's just not who I am. As a true Myers-Briggs INFJ, this is no surprise. Side note: if you have never taken the Myers-Briggs, DO IT NOW! You will gain so much insight into how you process the world around you and learn the best way to utilize your strengths.

Planning helps me to see what's necessary to achieve a goal, and gives clear cut steps to get there. Plus, I really love seeing a list full of check marks.

While this is the case for me, it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. My husband (an ENTJ) shuddered and looked physically ill by the sight of my completed planner. The key to implementation and success is finding the system that works for you. 

So with my planner full, and the ship on course, I'm so looking forward to February — the reading month.