blog-tember | eighteen . simplify your life

8:00 PM


So, I kind of dropped the ball this last week with posting, but in my defense, it's been kind of crazy! I've been unwell all week and it was the last week of term and yesterday was my birthday and it's just been non-stop and the thought of doing anything - even blogging or reading - was honestly just exhausting. But that's okay - sometimes it's important to look after yourself first and keep in mind that the world will not end just because something doesn't get done.

Which is an interesting segue way into today's blog-tember prompt: an item or product that simplifies your life.

For me - and this may come as no surprise to anyone - it's my planner.

A few years ago I didn't use a planner. I barely used my iPhone calendar. I sort of had a calendar/diary for work (and I didn't even use that properly) but that was about it. Upon entering the planning and planner world I encountered two things:

1) A way to unleash my creativity in a format that felt natural and comfortable to me, and,

2) A way to get more things done.

Today, I'm going to focus on the second point, because it's the most relevant. 

Above, you can see my 'pretty' planner - this is my day-to-day, go-to tracker. I put in events, I write in my reading for the day, I track my steps and generally try to positively motivate myself. I also have a book planner and a 'project planner' (I guess, it's a bit more general than that) and one for work. They all work differently and I don't use all of them every day, but the system seems to work for me.

My book planner allows me to track what I'm reading, when I've read it, my star rating, how many words, etc. I want to expand it to include lists of series I've read (or haven't finished reading) and any book notes - although I'm not sure how much I'll include the latter because I actually don't take a lot of notes when reading, but you never know.

My project planner is probably my messiest planner - it's honestly just dot points and checklists of things I want to get done with rough time frames. Mostly this relates to blog and Youtube projects - which because of the nature of my day-time job means I complete these projects on the weekend so I tend to only use this planner on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a place for brain dumps, to-do lists and hourly schedules.

My work planner is just that - a place for tracking work events, student birthdays, work to-dos, etc. Nothing fancy.

Which may seem a bit nuts to have 4 planners and perhaps not all that simplified, but for me, breaking things down like that, into smaller chunks and being able to reach for individual planners depending on the task at hand has made things very simple for me. 

I've spent a lot of time watching people talk about their planning systems and what I can safely say after all that is that once you find a system that works for you it does become a life simplifying tool. My way won't work for many people, but it works for me and that's the most important thing.

What one item or product simplifies your life? Don't forget to link up with Bailey over at her blog for today's challenge and I'll catch you guys in my next post!


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1 comments

  1. I love seeing your planner week pages! I use three planners regularly myself and have now started with a fourth to keep track of my diet progress. Not nuts at all!

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