3 Quick And Easy Tips To Make The Most Out Of Your Planner in 2022
Don’t let your planner gather dust on your desk. You can still make the most out of it to crush your goals in 2022.
We’re a few weeks into January, and at this point, you’ve probably noticed if your planner works out for you or not.
Personally, I’ve always struggled to keep up with planners. I’m not as consistent as I’d like to be with them — I use them for a few weeks and then forget about them.
It happens mostly because I already have appointments, shifts and deadlines in my iCal or Google Calendar. So, a paper planner feels rather redundant.
Also, many of the planner layouts I’ve found online require a large degree of artistic ability, something I unfortunately lack. My attempts at making my planners more colourful and artistic using coloured pens, markers and washi tape haven’t been very successful.
This year, however, I’ve made a few changes to the way I use planners, and it’s truly making a difference.
In this article, you’ll learn three quick tips to ease back into the habit of using your daily planner
Buy a planner you like
I bought a Moleskine 18-month daily planner. I love the simplicity of it, and just how nice the paper is. Because it doesn’t have pre-assigned sections, I can use it however I like.
But what if you already have a planner you’re not 100% sure of? Maybe you got it for free, or maybe it was an impulsive purchase you’re now stuck with. Figure out what is it you don’t like about it and change it. Is the layout all wrong? You can use coloured tape to cover up the sections and make new ones. Is the cover ugly? Choose a lovely book wrapping paper to make the cover exactly as you want.
Give your planner a purpose
The easiest way to forget about your planner is to not give it a purpose. What are you going to record in it? Do you already have something else doing the same job?
For example, I struggled to use my planner consistently because I was already using a calendar app and project management software. So, using my planner to write all my tasks for the day was redundant.
I tried several iterations of the regular daily planner, including time-blocking, to-do lists, and productivity tracking. But nothing clicked until I came up with a new purpose for my journal.
Now, I use it as a productivity journal. The idea is not to cross items off a list or rate my day in terms of productivity. Instead, I spend 5 minutes writing about how my morning and afternoon went in terms of work, what went well and what I need to change the next day. On the pages for Saturday and Sunday, I write a weekly review and the goals for the following week.
This new purpose makes me more likely to check my planner at least once a day to record what I noticed about my productivity and how I felt.
Use your planner for only one thing
If you really want to use your planner to track your tasks, consider using it only for one area of your life. Make it your personal planner, your meal planning journal, or your road trip planner.
Instead of trying to replace other apps with your planner, using it for only one area in your life will make the planner work together with your other time management tools.
In my case, I already have a personal journal, and I’ve always felt like I didn’t want to mix up my productivity journey with my personal writing. So, turning the planner into a productivity journal made sense.
Accept imperfections
Your planner is yours. It has to work for you. It doesn’t have to be artistic, neat, or efficient. You are allowed to have a messy planner, strike down words and start again, write on it with bad handwriting, and even forget to use it for a day or two.
When you remove the pressure of having the perfect aesthetic journal and use it every single day, it becomes much more welcoming.
So, what’s your planner set-up this year? Are you using apps only, paper planners only, or both?
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