This post was originally written in summer of 2020 (with some 2022 additions). Since it’s back to school time, I thought it might be a good idea to share it again as a reminder that it’s never too late to get organized no matter your age and no matter your circumstance. But if you’re 40 and over, as we try to do our best adulting, we juggle so many life events and having a planner or a planning system is even more important but let’s make sure that we keep it fun!
We can all agree that 2020 has been absolutely nuts! However, one thing that 2020 has afforded me is the opportunity to slow down, reassess, review, and most importantly, write things down! During 2020, while I know it sounds counterintuitive, I actually purchased a number of planners on the market. And, in case you didn’t know, the planner world is a $13 million + industry and still growing. And one thing 2020 afforded alot of planner enthusiasts, was time to well, you know, plan, and create their own companies, squads, and conferences. I played with stickers as a teen in the 80s, but never did I think that the world of stationary and stickers would blow up the way it has and that grown adults would be so fascinated and mesmerized by planners and paper.
During my downtime in 2020, I had the chance to explore, not only planners, but journals, notebooks, etc. And as a writer, one would think that journaling would have already been a habit for me, but, I confess it was not. I have not journaled in years. But since the pandemic, and since discovering the Stacia Pierce Success Journals , I started journaling again, making lists (checking them twice) and of course, planning
I’ve always been a sucker for planners, ever since high school, but now I’m doing it way more strategically. I’ve also become a new fan of “90 day plan” or quarterly planning concept. Some of my favorites I discovered during the pandemic were Savor Life Planner with a focus on planning and self care, the Cultivate What Matters Power Sheets, the Content Creators Planner for my social media, and the annual fall “Planathon” event hosted by Amber Mccue, to prep you and your business for the upcoming year. And I’m officially a Happy Planner brand addict founded by Stephanie Fleming, one of the gurus of the modern planner movement and creator of the “Memory Keeper” planner that is a hybrid calendar/scrapbook concept . (Update: In 2022, I cut back my purchasing and support of Happy Planner products because, 1) Stephanie Fleming sold the company and the quality and variety of products has gone down hill, in my opinion, and 2) I have made it a goal to support smaller and minority owned planner, stationary, and sticker companies. And there are plenty of those, it seems like a new one pops up every day!)
I am one of those people who has multiple planners that serve many different purposes. Since leaving Higher Education where my whole work life was meetings, schedules, and travel, I have since adopted a more project based planning style. Therefore, the multiple planners I utilize focus on various areas like my startup business, one for my writing projects, budgeting, my online courses, and those that I use as a calendar/memory book, etc.
And while it it seems like a lot, this system actually helped me out quite a bit in 2020. This system helps me to compartmentalize (which is how my mind works) as well as put everything in perspective, sort of a form of therapy to get me through the rest of the year. Oh and I can’t forget to shoutout the Trello and some of the other Project Management apps and websites, they are awesome!