So to be honest, using my planner in my post-grad life was a weird adjustment. I was no longer organizing my homework or presentations but my daily life, making it a strange adjustment for me. I’m sure other people are stuck on how to use their planner as well so I thought I’d take some time to share what how I use mine.
(PS please excuse my terrible handwriting )
1. Use the monthly view pages to put important dates and occurrences
I try to update these pages a couple of days before the start of a new month and typically place birthdays and blog posts I have planned/scheduled for the month ahead.
Pro tip: Use a pencil in your planner, life is always evolving and changing.
2. Plan your week before it begins.
I know this one may feel a bit obvious, but if your planner starts on Monday please try to do it on Saturday or Sunday, you don’t want to play catch up.
3. Use dividers to keep track of where you are
I use the Happy Planner so I bought a pack of dividers to keep track of the pages that I currently needed. I typically divide between my budget pages, weekly view pages, and the monthly view page.
4. Think of your daily/weekly routine and schedule accordingly
I bought a small planner for 2020 to make it more portable, but I don’t include work tasks in my planner. It’s typically which days I plan to exercise, cook, wash my hair, practice on Duolingo, and/or go run errands. This lets me assess which days will be my busiest and prepare myself. (Before social distancing I also used to include any plans I had made so I knew when I was available or super busy).
5. If there’s space, add a list of your goals for the week.
This is such a great way to differentiate what’s a priority for the week and feel more accomplished by marking something off the list. This could be working out a certain amount of times that week, learning something new, or literally anything else.
6. Make it cute
This is why I keep coming back to the Happy Planner, I love the stickers and being able to add a little fun to my organizing.
How do you keep organized? Let me know in the comments.
