Yearly Calendars for Tracking and Future Planning

Using a yearly calendar is one way to track and plan for many things like:

• Goals
• Vacation schedules of family members
• School closing dates
• Work schedules
• Exercise
• Weight loss
• Water intake
• Exam and school assignment schedules
• Projects for home and work

You can get a year at a glance view and it’s a great way to see an overlap of the things that you are tracking or planning; it gives you the “bigger picture”. For instance, a calendar with all school schedules, work schedules, and hard appointments, will allow you to see when the family is all together and available to make vacation or family outing plans without consulting multiple pages.

I use a yearly calendar to track my exercise and fitness goals. I use a key at the bottom left corner of the calendar to distinguish between the types of exercises I do – cardio vs. strength training or other kind of activity that I would like to track. This tool is meant to keep me motivated and to see my progress over a greater period of time.

Exercise Tracker

  Exercise Tracker 2

The one I use was printed from Philofaxy.blogspot.com under the file “Diary Inserts”. I changed up the fonts a bit, printed it on purple paper to find it more easily in my planner (no tabs for dividers needed). I then trimmed, punched and Z-folded it for my personal Filofax.

I would suggest that if you are tracking multiple items use lines that are different colors even if you’re not really into color coding. It makes it easier to see the various things being tracked.

The butterflies and flowers are optional. 🙂

K.Y.S.S.

My Prayer Journal

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

I started a prayer journal several months ago. I wanted to pursue a closer relationship with God and increase my spiritual life to include more prayer, reading, and studying. It brings me comfort, inspires me, and allows me to see and reflect upon my life’s path as I move closer to Him.

I keep a prayer journal and a spiritual binder. The focus of my prayer journal is to record my prayers so that I can meditate on them later. I write them in a very conversational way and when I believe an answer to a prayer has been given, whether the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘no’, I write about it, and mark it with a heart. That signifies that no matter what the response, I know that it is for my good.

Writing brings me a certain level of peace because I can record my prayers, get out on paper the things that are on my mind, those things for which I am grateful and prayers for others – all while increasing my faith in what God has planned for my life.

Here are a couple of pictures of the spiral journal I use for my prayer journal. It is a Piccadilly book from Barnes & Noble. I think it’s beautiful. It contains over 200 pages and measures 8½ x 11. I first set it up using an index to record topics, so that I can find them a little easier. I record the time and day that I write. I open my prayer with praise and thanksgiving and close acknowledging Jesus Christ. If I fail to leave space to write about the response, I simply write in the margins with a contrasting color. I also keep some of my favorite bible verses in my journal like the one above.

Piccadilly Journal

A peek at my pages

I don’t decorate but I use a little washi tape to adhere ephemera as I like.

There are some really good videos on YouTube about prayer journals and spiritual binders. Some of the things I learned in setting up my prayer journal, I learned from YouTuber Quelynn, Inc. If you’re interested in starting a prayer journal, check her out.

Like with most things, keeping a journal is very personal. Make it your own! 🙂

 

 

 

Transitioning to Natural Hair: A Healthy Hair Journey

A little over two years ago I decided to transition from relaxed/texlaxed hair to natural. Although I enjoyed my relaxed hair, I also enjoyed my color treated hair. Although I was able to maintain fairly healthy hair, I started to feel like the combination of the relaxer chemicals and lighteners used for highlights were not good for my hair over the long haul. I made the decision to transition because I believed that I could achieve a straight look without the use of chemical straighteners and this would give me a little bit more freedom on the color side, lessening the stress on my hair.

It’s been 26-months since my last relaxer. I have not been blogging about my experience but I will share some of the things that I’ve learned along the way. I know that there is a ton of information available on the internet about black hair care, however, I hope that some of the things that I’ve learned can add to the discussion. HHJ!

K.Y.S.S. and Commit!

That’s right! K.Y.S.S. (Keep Your System Simple) and commit to using it to its full potential.

There’s no wrong way or right way to keep a planner system. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t.

With so many different planning tools, systems, and accessories, it can be overwhelming and you will wind up spending more money and time looking for the “perfect” system. While some experimentation is fun, too much can distract you from the purpose for which you started using a paper planner in the first place. If you were already a paper planner user, then you may have made complicated a system that was already working for you and are now in “planner fail”.

You can spend hours upon hours changing up your system, more money, more stuff – and still be dissatisfied.

I have always relied on paper tools to keep my schedule and task lists. I have used all kinds of planners – ring bound, spiral, bound books, with various formats – daily pages, WO2P formats, monthly pages only and a combination of them. Despite the book or format I used, my system was always fairly simple and worked for my needs.

I’d record my schedule, appointments, tasks, reminders, track billable time and important events or things of note. That system worked just fine for me at the various stages of my life.

After experimenting with my set-up over the last several months, I would have to say that my system has evolved, although the fundamentals of how I work are pretty consistent.

I use my personal Aston Filofax as my planner to hold my monthly and weekly pages. I use a separate notebook to write out my to-dos, project planning, and random journaling. Currently, I am using an Ecosystem Architect Notebook (with grid/graph paper). I love this system! It allows me to maintain my current system –  what I’m used to – but also give me room to expand and write as much as I like or need to without the bulk or weight of an A5 or desk size binder.

This is my personal size orchid Aston Filofax.

Ecosystem Architect Notebook

If a system complicates your life, it’s not working! Step back, evaluate your needs, take inventory of what you have, determine if there is something you really need to make your system effective (not just cute) and, wait for it…COMMIT!!!

The key to this thing is to find or create a system that works and stick with it. Your productivity will increase once you shift your focus on using the planner system you have. It’s okay to tweak your system along the way as your life or needs change. However, complete overhauls can have the opposite effect. For instance, I am looking for new business opportunities so I created a section devoted to that project and added it seamlessly into my planner. No overhauls required!

The whole idea for me is to be more productive, record as necessary, and plan.

There is no such thing as a perfect system. There is however a system that works perfectly for you. I love sharing ideas but I try not to overwhelm myself by incorporating too many ideas into my books.

Whatever your goals, don’t allow an overly complicated system or set-up distract you from its intended purpose. Remember to K.Y.S.S. and commit. 😉

My Collection: The Tower

This is my “collection” of planners. They have been collected over many years. I have purchased some, been given some, won one in a giveaway, and the cute pink one in the clear binder belongs to my niece. 🙂

 

I inadvertently have a collection. Frankly, it’s too many.  Among the planners here are the brands Filofax, At-a-Glance, Arc, Punctuate, Ordning & Reda, Day Timer, Coach, Quo Vadis, and a couple more. I took this photo for a photo-a-day challenge. I did not realize how many I had accumulated over the years until I had to put them all together.

The never ending question for those with such “collections” is, for what purpose will they be used? While I use a few books at a time for various purposes, there is no real effective way to use them all at once. As I continue to post, I’ll go into more detail about how I use the ones that I do use. Until then, suffice it to say, I see the Tower getting slightly smaller in the near future.

What does your collection look like?

Increased Productivity: The Errand Dashboard

A dashboard is a page in the front or near the front of your planner where you keep important information, items to which you need immediate access. A dashboard might look something like this:

I like my dashboards to be interesting or pleasing to look at when I open my planner so I generally keep my notes on another dashboard a few pages into my planner. I also do this because I do not like for people to see all of my notes if I’m at the register or other place where it could be easily seen. I do not want any random person to see that I need to pick up milk or something more private. Placing my errand dashboard a few pages into my planner helps to maintain the mystery that is me. 🙂 Seriously though, it does help to maintain some privacy.

I created my errand dashboard by determining which places I frequent the most. I made labels for each place and another label for “Other” in case I need to run somewhere different than the usual places. Of course, you can make as many categories as you like however, I wanted mine to fit on one page of my personal Filofax.  I then place post-its or sticky notes on my errand dashboard – one for each category. I use a clear sheet but a solid sheet of paper would work as well. I keep a running list of the things that I need to pick up while I am out of the house.  My errand dashboard looks like this:

Errand Dashboard

Where I live many of the stores are located within a mile or so of one another so planning out my trip this way is a huge help to remember what I need, and from which places. It also saves on gas because I keep this running list until it is necessary for me to go on a run, thus reducing trips to the store and get more done. The post-its make it convenient to switch out the lists with new ones or to take them with you into the store.

Easy breezy…

 

Tips for Setting Up a Planner for a Friend

Setting up a planner for a friend, family member, or colleague can be very helpful. You get the job of being able to create a system for someone that will hopefully get them and keep them organized. As we all know, organization can lead to increased productivity and goal attainment.

I had the opportunity to set up a couple of binders for others and thought I’d share some tips for setting up a planner for another person.

Some things to consider when helping out friend with their planning systems:

1. Talk about their specific needs for the planner. Is it for work or personal or a combination of both? What are they interested in tracking? How do they usually work? Is there a way to incorporate their strengths into the way they work and downplay any weakness?
2. Choose the right planner – binder, spiral, or bound.  There are a variety of planners on the market and so the selection of the right planner is a matter of personal preference. There are pros and cons of each to consider. Be sure to discuss them with your friend and determine which one would be better.
3. Choose the right layout or planner inserts. This is probably the hardest of the tasks. People are very specific about paper quality, information that they’d like to track, specific layouts, and the like. Some folks will not have too many preferences or they will be fairly simple to address as they may be “novices” to the whole idea of paper planning. I would suggest looking for pretty standard layouts and allow them to live in and customize as they go along.
4. Show them how to use it, how it is intended to be used. There will likely be some need to tweak the set-up as the person lives with it for a while. Ask them to live with it for at least a week before changing the system. Ask them to make notes about what they like and what they would like to change.
5. Keep it simple. Don’t overwhelm your friend with an overly complicated system. If they haven’t used a paper planner before or haven’t used one in a long time, it is probably not a good idea to create a system that they don’t get or that requires too much maintenance. They may give up on it before realizing the potential of what the system can do for them.

Let me know if you’ve set up a planning system for someone else and any advice you would give.

Platinum Plan #1

Future Planning Without Future Weekly Pages

Problem: You need to plan for events and appointments in the future but you don’t keep future weeks in your binder for lack of space.

Solution: Use an insert with all of the future weeks on one page. Consider a Z-fold year-planner or the front and back of a page with the relevant weeks written on it. This will allow you to maintain your space, track your future plans, and allow for easy transfer of information once you begin to move into those weeks.

“Life is what h…

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

–Allen Saunders