My love-hate relationship with my planner

Yesterday evening I couldn't fall asleep. I took out two days from my planner. I didn't took any look in it. This not means I didn't done anything. I made the laundry, and I worked a lot on a pattern. I love to work like this. Only one (or two things), for a long time, and not care anything else. But unfortunately my life can't work like this. I need my planner to keep me on track.

I'm obsessed with all planner stuff, planning and time management methods. I'm spending lot of time to read blogs, watching planner videos, making inserts, stickers, dividers for myself.
And on the other hand: I hate everything what is MUST. I feel like my planner want to be my boss and telling me, what I must do. I rebell! I don't want from anyone to tell me, what to do. I want to do what I want to do in the moment. I love to live in the moment. Than I regret it. Because I forget things. Important things for me. Not only I-don't-want-to-do-this like stuff.
Now I have a helper, who comes to me speaking about things how I could do it more better for me (some kind of coaching). She asked me last week, when I talked about my goals: they are really what you must do every day? Yes, exercising is important. But I have maybe 8 goals for this year, work, kids, household, appointments. Stressing myself to do every day something for my goals makes no sense. Sometime I have to concentrate on my work, and leave the morning exercise. Or deciding to playing or go out with the kids, and leaving something from my to do list. It make sense, just... confuse me. I get it, not going to shopping today, I can do it tomorrow. But leaving my daily exercise today: I can't do it tomorrow. I have the daily exercise already for tomorrow. I leave it today. Then tomorrow, then I didn't done it any day.

Using my planner is lot fun. I love paper, pens, washis, stickers. And also a big task to keep everything in hand. With my ADHD planning needs extreme high attention (what I don't have), my perfectionism want me to do things too complicated, so I'm searching always the right way to simplify (what gives me more tasks, haha, but tasks I like to do). You won't believe me, but the weekly review takes me maybe two hours! And I don't decorate!

So let's keep fighting with myself!

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How to Stay on Track with Your Goals?

I catch myself again and again, that I live like a robot, doing tasks without prioritizing, only what get my attention. Even if I write them down, make a plan. I know, knowing my roles and goals are a key for doing what matters, and I even wrote then done, but tracking is somewhere lost.

What is missing?

Evaluate the progress, reflection back to the last week/month/quarter/year. To see, what I accomplished, how I'm coming nearer to my goal. Adjusting the goals if needed. Because these questions isn't built in my planning system, I don't answer them. I don't know, how much time I'm spend with these, for me important tasks - they are mostly the important but not urgent tasks, the always hardest part of the planning.
I like to see YouTube videos, and I found last week this one. That made me exciting, this is, what I need!

Powersheets from Lara Casey

Powersheets is a workbook and not a planner, don't contains calendar. But it can be with you for the whole year, and makes you to think about what you are doing.

Source: http://laracaseyshop.com/collections/powersheets/products/make-it-happen-powersheets-one-year-workbook

Plus:
- no calendar,  I have one, I'm looking for something addition to it
- nice, clear design
Minus:
- Spiral bound, I can't integrate to my planner. (It's not a big stuff dough.)
- Shipping cost to Europa is extremely high.
- No digital version available.
Result: I won't have this one.

Daily Greatness Journal

This journal is also great. I just don't need another planner. (But I ordered the Business Planner version). This contains also daily pages. What waste of paper for me! Features: daily planner, goal settings, worksheets, etc.

Source: http://dailygreatness.co/collections/all/products/dailygreatness-journal

Plus:
- if you don't use another planner yet, a great option
- nice design
Minus:
- I have a planner
- no digital version
Conclusion: I won't have this.

Create your Shining Year by Leonie Dawson

It is probably a very interesting and good planner, lot of people say, but it's too much. Color, and chaos. I just feel dizzy if I take a look on that. I also can't read the description, so no opinion, you can read everything for yourself here :)

Source: https://shiningacademy.com/2016-workbooks/

Plus:
- you might read it.
- Digital version available
Minus
- design.
Conclusion: I won't have this.

The Highlights Life Planner

This is also a planner with calendar pages. The design is also a little bit too much for me, but I can handle it. It's a digital download, so I can choose, which pages I print out.

Source: http://www.ninayay.com/2015/09/the-highlights-life-planner_28.html

Plus:
- digital
- for a while it's free!
Minus
- design
Conclusion: I will give a try, print out some pages, and place it to my Filofax.

Dream Big Life Planner

This is an actual Kickstarter Project now. Also a planner with daily pages, etc, spiral bound.

Source: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/croixsather/dream-big-life-planner

Plus:
- if you share, you got a download version
- undated
- very clear design, no colors!
Minus:
- maybe that it contains calendar, but because digitally also available, I can leave, what I don't need.
Conclusion: Shared and waiting for my digital download to see the pages nearer.

Which one would you choose? Can you recommend me something?

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7 ways to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed

I have ADD (attention disorder). One symptomes of that, that I need always something new. Doing the things the same way is depressing. I have good days, and bad days, when I can't concentrating and focusing on my tasks. There are so many methods you can use to schedule and do your things. I have favorites of course, but sometimes they don't works!

The ideal planning method

To know, what you have to do, schedule and do it simple. For that I use Monthly-Weekly-Daily planner pages.

But if I'm feeling overwhelmed

I might not doing anything, because I can't choose. Or I choose wrong, and do not-so-important thing and forget to check my planner page and leave out really urgent and important tasks. What can I do in this case?

1. Marking tasks "MUST DO". Starting with this. I can use highlighter.
   
   

   

   I used here highlighter for the most important things

   Or I take a little post it, and copy this task on here.
   

   

   MUST DO-s on post it

   
   It's on my mood. If I'm done with them, I can decide to give up for today, and make something for me. Or it can happened, that I don't feel myself overwhelmed any more and I can continue with other tasks because the stress decreased by finishing the MUST DO-s.
   
2. I choose tasks can make in some minutes. I do them first. Maybe after turns out that my todo list is not so much as I thought.
   

   

   A weekly task list. I marked some with point

3. I decide to make me today free. I'm working on one thing I make with pleasure. 
4. I start on the top of my todo list and I don't care about how much I achieve.
5. Pick 3 method: I take a post it and I write 3 tasks on it. If I'm done with it, I give myself a reward: I can knit some rows, or something else. Than I pick 3 new tasks. 
6. I decide don't care about my todo list. I pick one big thing, and work the whole day only on that. I don't know how other people are with this, but for me doing a lot little tasks takes more-more energy as to working hard on only one thing. I will do the little things tomorrow, if I'm in better form.
7. I use my clock. I say myself: I will work on this important task for a half our. Than I can do what I would like for the next half hour. Of course you can choose other time limits too :) The thing is: working only a short time on something is not too painful as to know: I have to finish this huge and frightened thing.

Has you any other idea? Do not hesitate to write in comment!

Happy planning!

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3 tips for how to make sure you complete "Important but not Urgent" tasks

Choosing the right task what you do now (or decide, when) is the most hard part of planning. Take a look on this diagram:

1. Important and urgent: it is very simple. You must do. Now. No question. There was an accident, someone got hurt: you has to bring in hospital. Not tomorrow, now. This is an urgency case. But other things can be falling in this category if you don't plan carefully. Making not important thing and procrastinating important things for the last minute can cause big stress. The goal should be to avoid this situation! How? To plan carefully the important, but not (yet?) urgent tasks.
2. Important but not urgent: this tasks tend to be always postponing. Why? Because that had maybe no deadline, or it is somewhen in the future. We can find other most interesting things to do and thinking, that we don't have to work on this task now.
3. Urgent but not important
4. Not important, nor urgent tasks

About this two category will I write in an other post.

3 tips to avoid the stress caused by not urgent but important tasks waiting to do

1. For little task, dedicate a project, named "procrastination list". Find a time frame for this project every week. Plan an hour or how much you would like to working on this list. Keep the list by hand, and write everything here what falls in your mind. If the times come, do not care about any other thing! Even not your urgent tasks. Pick any task from the list and start doing. If the time is over, stop. List goes to rest until the next week.
2. If the things are long term projects, you can schedule for each of them a day. Decide, how long you will be working on that project, and do this! Very important to make good notes and task list, not to forget what you started. To make more clear, on what I'm thinking, my "Task of the Day" are: working on my homepage, bookkeeping, dyeing yarn.
   
   
   
3. Use markers every time you reschedule a task. First one point, second two points (or what you like), if you reach 5: make a decision. Do it now. Or cancel. Or find someone who can do it. Of course it makes no sense to plan a task, if you are not able to do it on that day. 

I wish you more success to finishing every important tasks!

Happy planning!

Zsuzsa

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