Goal Getting!

Hi friends, 

I so look forward to this time with you each month. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to spend some of it with me. I don’t know about you, but I’m a planner addict. Yes. There is such a thing, at least according to my family. Every season new planners come out and I spend weeks deciding which one I’ll pick. You may be asking why, and I don’t blame you. But having the right planner fit is a must for me because I know that I’ll spend time with it every day of the year. 

For me, I want a planner with good paper quality. Perhaps it’s because I’m a writer and I love the feel of good paper, not to mention the smell of a manuscript fresh off the printer. Yes, there are weird writers like me. Many are very normal. Okay, many are less quirky than me but we all have things that are important and special to each of us whether it’s a specific notebook to write in, a specific computer program to write your novel on such as Scrivener, or a way of writing such as Dictation. Given that I write all my first drafts longhand, I’m very picky about my notebook and pen. 

For notebooks, I use Levenger. Thank you to Katie Cushman for introducing me to the wonder of Levenger. My husband does not thank you because it’s not cheap and it’s quite addictive as well. For my pen, I use Frixion erasable pens. They are the bomb and I’ve shared their awesomeness with many colleagues and writer friends. 

Returning to planners, I love using erasable and colorful Frixxon pens. I color code (or attempt) my planner by categories so if I’m spending time with family, I use green, marketing and learning is in a beautiful fuchsia and writing is in purple. 

I also love having big squares on my monthly calendar so there’s space to write important dates in and a weekly overview with each day given its own space. I love colorful tabs and lots of note pages. 

I homeschooled my girls all the way through school and through LOTS of trial and error, I found that a teacher’s planner works best for me. Instead of subjects, I write in categories, so I can see how many days and how much time I’m blocking off for writing each week, how much time I get to spend with the daughters and grandbabies, exercise, etc. I can glance at the week and the month at the same time and see that everything is balanced. If I find things off balance or allotted too much or too little time, then I adjust my plans. 

How does having the right planner help you set goals—by observing the time you block off for each area of your life that’s important to you. If you’ve never heard of the time blocking method, my friend, has a wonderful free resource. You can read her post all about it and download her worksheets here: Time Blocking Template at HeyDonna.com

Reader Question:

What matters to you in a planner or calendar? How do you utilize your planner to help you reach your goals by spending time on what matters most? Any fun resources or items you’d like to share? I’d love to hear what you love using—pens, planner stickers, highlighters, etc. 

Look forward to reading your answers! 

Blessings, 

Dani