Plan on Success: Essential Tips to Effectively Use a Planner
Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions.
Sadly, even the best fizzle. Most quickly end with the fate of those designer heels you just HAD to purchase. You know, “drop dead” gorgeous, but punish your tootsies, then wind up under the bed or returned for comfy flats and a brownie from the mall food court.
Shamefully, resolutions made with the sincerest intentions are abandoned.
And again another year has begun. Make any resolutions?
Get fit. Get out of debt. Get a better job. Get serious about fully living life. Get rich, get a pink, glittery airplane and a pilot’s license. Okay, maybe those last are just mine.
Nevertheless, the usual suspects in the resolutions line-up require one common resolution to succeed: GET ORGANIZED.
Resolutions don’t have to explode in flames and smoke, nor should they wither away and die on the vine.
The answer?
A good planner!!
You say you tried that? Well, this is where I come in with my pink, glittery airplane….or just these helpful tips.
- Planners are more than a calendar. Planners are blueprints to track tasks, keep your schedule and well…help PLAN every facet life, including projects, business/career goals, health/fitness, mindfulness exercises and more. Pick pages and topics based on your personal needs.
- Choose which type best suits you – generalized or specifically themed, commercial or homemade. Creating your own handwritten ones, printing free or low-cost downloaded pages online or designing pages with MSWord are all easy to do.
- Grab a binder or pocket folder with clasps, a hole punch, stapler and markers. I formerly preferred smaller sizes, thinking smaller meant easier to tote. My preference has since grown with my responsibilities. 8.5”x11” pages are more comfortable to write on, yet still portable.
- Your planner should be everything you need, all in one place – your mission control dashboard. Carefully organize and choose pages that will help complete goals you set and stay focused.
- Have fun! I doodle in mine and love adding pizzazz….Yep! You guessed it. Decorative sparkles, stickers, glitter, puff paints and appliques make mine pretty and unique. Your planner is YOURS! So make it yours. As an attorney, my surroundings are traditional, uptight and well… boring. But my planner? It’s my creative playground. Planners should visually entice…making you want to use it.
- Good tools to use include dividers, tabs, highlighters, sticky notes, colored pens and markers. A friend prints her pages on colored paper, designating sections by colors. Whatever works, do it.
- Fill every page, even if in random order. Don’t wait for genius moments. Brain dumps are okay. Include spaces to jot thoughts and ideas. I included my bucket list and even my checklist for my prince charming, who is obviously not using his planner correctly. (Hmmm…Maybe he should add a map to me.) Don’t be afraid of being messy or scribbling everywhere. A saying exists “a worn bible with highlighting, coffee stains and folded corners is a sign of a successful Christian.” Well, we want a successful YOU, which starts with a highlighted, tattered edge, filled planner.
- Reserve a few minutes each morning to write in your planner, as part of your daily ritual, referring back and checking it frequently throughout the day. Strategically keep it handy, like your cellphone, in your purse or close at all times.
- Place it bedside nightly. My bed is that magical place where my brain suddenly recalls all the things I meant to, need to or forgot to do during the day. Before sleeping, I brain dump and solidify next day events. I loathe mornings, so nightly planning helps greatly. And when awakened by great ideas, my planner is handy.
- Take your planner everywhere you go and check it often. Make your routine before leaving anywhere: Purse, Keys, Phone, and Planner.
- Periodically, review goals and tasks. Notice any progress made (lack thereof). Inventorying successes gives you a sense of fulfilment, and measuring your progress creates excitement.
- You can begin a planner anytime, so start anew every 3 to 6 months or once major goals are complete. Similar to spring cleaning or making resolutions, the fresh start will rejuvenate your energy and optimism.
USE IT!!! For goodness sake! The best planner is ineffective if unused! A good planner is your bestie, your lifeline and personal assistant. Mine is cherished and highly utilized – tattered corners, peeling glitter paints, sticky notes everywhere.
So get yourself a planner, successfully achieve your resolutions and live that awesome and organized life.
About the author
Nichole Compton
From teen mom to attorney, judicial candidate, published author, and a television personality/legal analyst of a popular TV show, Nichole Compton maintains her law practice and owns other successful venture, with her newest being Ace’s Place Supervised Visitation and Exchange Center. Nichole enjoys mentoring at-risk youth, coaching other business owners and traveling internationally as a motivational speaker.She has written numerous books and continuously launches programs geared to developing successful business owners, and helping audiences overcome life obstacles. Nichole T. Compton holds a Bachelor of Science from Berea College, a MBA focused in Entrepreneurship and a Juris Doctor.
