Blog Archives

#1 Planner Awareness Month: Oldest Planners vs. Newest Planners

2/27/2017

Welcome to the first post in the Createyou86 March Planner Awareness Blog Series. I started this series two years ago, and i loved the title, and concept so much that i have decided to bring it back every March for now on. You can check out the first posts here . This is your official welcome to Planner Awareness Month, and this series will include plenty of tips, and tricks to help you as a veteran planner or a new planner to become more aware of your planning tendencies, and to keep you moving forward in your planning journey. Keep reading to find out about my oldest planner, and my newest planner.

If you have been following me for a while you probably know that i am a die hard Filofax user. I love the quality, price point, and diversity of Filofax. The oldest Filofax that i own is a red personal Domino Filofax, and the newest planner i own is the Recollections Creative Year Black Patent A5 ringed planner.
The personal domino started out as my main planner, and has since been changed to my holiday planner. I love the style of the Domino, and i used it for well over a year, as i started exploring planners. It is a great starter planner, and i would recommend it to anyone who is looking to start planning, and is looking for an affordable option.
The Creative Year Black Patent A5 ringed planner is being used as a business planning, and business project planning filo. It was $30.00 at Michael's which of course i used a coupon on, and got it for $15.00. This planner is great! It is large, holds a ton of paper, and is a perfect price point for a beginner planner as well.
I really appreciate what each of these planners does for me, and how they have helped me grow as a planner. When i first found planners on Instagram almost 3 years ago i saw Filofax, and fell in love. Planners keep me in line, and they keep me organized. They keep me entertained, and are a hobby that i can see myself partaking in for years to come. I also have enough planner supplies to fill a warehouse at this point, and i finally gave in, and purchased a paper cutter last weekend at Hobby Lobby.

Let me know in the comments below WHY DO YOU APPRECIATE YOUR OLDEST, AND NEWEST PLANNERS?

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#3 Cupid's Planning: Do Planners Allow For A Higher Tolerance of Failure?

2/20/2017

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Welcome to the third post in the Createyou86 Cupid's Planning Blog Series. If you have been in the planning community for any amount of time you have probably seen or heard the quote by Benjamin Franklin "Failing to plan is planning to fail." This quote either inspires you, or scares you half to death. I love this quote, and my sister even had it on a big chalkboard in her kitchen to inspire her step children. However, i feel like there is a side to this quote that we as planners just don't talk about. Are we planning to fail? And does planning allow for a higher tolerance of failure?
I get it....you love your planner, and you have the perfect system. You might be a list maker, or a bullet journaler, or even a Filofax user, but do those lists REALLY get finished? There are some of us who use the system of choosing the three most important tasks for the day, and focusing mainly on those tasks only to push our other tasks aside until we have time. There is also a group of planners known as bullet journalers who base their entire system on things they fail to finish. These unfinished tasks are "migrated" to the next day, only to be put on another list day after day until they are completed.
Do i feel like planners set themselves up for a higher tolerance of failure? Yes, and I believe that lists are the problem. I have never been a huge list maker mainly because i like to complete things that i have set out for myself daily. I also have a full-time job, and go to school so this makes completing anything between 7:45 am, and 4:45-5:00 pm (15 minutes for traffic while driving home) literally impossible. Add to the diminishing time that i have throughout the day that i am doing school work at least three nights a week for several hours (I have spent literally 8 hours on a Saturday doing schoolwork), spending time with my fiance, writing blog posts, creating social media posts, and possibly cooking dinner. I simply don't have time for lists that need to be migrated from day to day so i choose one or two main goals for the week (normally blog posts) which i sometimes do not even complete, and you know what? I am okay with that. Am i failing at my blog posts sometimes? Yes, do i fail at other weekly goals, or even daily goals that i might plan? Yes, and i believe that being a planner allows for that acceptance. Our planners are a place where we can be honest with ourselves, and no one else has to see our failures. Is a blog post super important? No, but when you make a list for yourself your goal is normally to see that it gets done. Here are a few things that i suggest so that you as a planner accept less failure.

Stop creating lists that are daunting. You don't need to create lists that are three pages long. Chances are you will not finish EVERYTHING on your list, and you will give into that feeling of accepting failure because you can just "migrate" it to the next day.
Pre-plan, and break your projects into smaller pieces which are more attainable.
Do not plan more that 3 goals in a day (create a top three, and if you finish those projects, awesome, if not try not to move on, or create a new list until they have been completed).

Let me know in the comments below ARE YOU GUILTY OF PLANNING TO FAIL?

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#2 Cupid's Planning: Is A Planner A Temporary Advantage?

2/12/2017

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Welcome to the second post in the Createyou86 Cupid's Planning Blog Series. Many times i have asked myself what advantages or disadvantages i have over others in planning. That is precisely what this post will be about.
When we decide that we want to be a planner, or join the community of planners we usually join because we feel like we have an advantage over something in our lives. When i first started planning i not only wanted to be apart of the community, but i had just moved to a new city all the way across the country, and was searching for a new job. I had also started going to a new church where we had a lot of activities weekly, and i just felt like i needed more control over certain aspects of my life.
Within the first couple of months of actively using my planner:

I found myself feeling more organized, and less stressed about where i was keeping information about job interviews, and information for jobs that i wanted to apply for.
I began to build, and streamline my planning system which has for the most part been the same for almost three years!
I figured out which type of planner worked best for me (Filofax or ringed).

The first year or so was a little bit of a struggle because i was watching so many people's YouTube videos, and wishing my planner was like theirs, but once i realized that my planner should reflect my daily life it made it much easier. I started with a Avery for Target planner system which is available for around $20.00, and graduated to a red personal Domino Filofax which runs at about $30.00. I have since then collected quite a few planners. Some of these planners are ringed, and others are not. Some are pricey, and some are affordable. The closer that i got to streamlining my planner system the less stressed i felt. This is the main reason i feel that people who use a planner have an advantage over those who do not. I do not feel like having a planner is a temporary advantage because you can use a planner for your entire life, and tweak the system as you see fit. This can be true even for those of us who may not have a lot happening, and feel like they do not need a planner. You may feel less stressed simply by writing down perpetual things in your planner like daily routines, or lists.

Let me know in the comments below WHAT IS YOUR ADVANTAGE?

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'#1 Cupid's Planning: Defend You're Planner

2/8/2017

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Welcome to the first post in the Createyou86 Cupid's Planning Blog Series. This series is going to be all about why you love your planner, how you use your planner, and planner management. This first post will be about defending your planner. This may seem like a silly concept, but i always seem to find myself either explaining myself, or defending my planner to someone who has no idea about the planner community or how i would use a planner so that they can try to understand. Keep reading to find out how i take planner doubters on!

Planner doubt is probably something that you don't normally think about, or even worry about. However, i frequently have people asking me questions about my planners. Some of these questions include "What is your planner for?" "Why do you NEED a planner?" "Why do you need SO MANY planners?"
This type of questioning reminds me of dating, or having to explain your life story to family members at a gathering who you haven't seen in a long time. The answers are repetitive, and they can feel like you are being attacked for simply trying to be more organized, and even just having a hobby that is "out of the norm". When i first started planning i had just moved to California, and didn't have a job. My planner helped me keep track of job interviews, my new work schedule, and even shopping, and bill information. Most people would see my planner, and make a comment about how much they liked it, or even say that they should probably get one themselves. However, there are the doubters. Here are three things that i say to planner doubters.

"What is a planner anyway?"
My planner is my lifeline as well as a hobby. My planner organizes everything that i find important, and it helps me to keep things in order.

"Why do you need SO MANY planners?"
I do quite a few things that i feel need to be organized. I have a personal planner which i use for personal appointments, work, health, and future planning. I have also been running a blog for over two years so i have a planner where i can write down, and organize all of my blog ideas. I have a huge project that i am working on for business, and i also have a planner to organize school projects, and schedules. I find planning to be a hobby, an i enjoy doing it.

"Don't you think that it is silly to be using stickers, and using your money to decorate a planner when you are your age?
NO! I consider this a hobby as anyone would consider any hobby. If you play sports or work out you probably spend money on classes, and being on sports teams. If you knit you probably spend money on yarn, and good needles. If you sew you probably spent quite a bit of money on a sewing machine, and fabric. It just so happens that i spend money on stickers, and planners.

If you are ever asked to defend your planner do so with pride. Don't let anyone make you feel less than because you have a different hobby than they do.

Let me know in the comments below how do you defend your planner?

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