So I have a confession to make, I have fallen off the wagon!! Okay..okay maybe I am being a tad dramatic, but heres my story so two weeks ago we went on vacation, one week in Washington DC to visit family, the trip was great, it was a lot of fun and filled with new experiences. But as with all good things they must come to an end, and alas we must return to our regular routine, except I didn’t. I decided, let’s wing it not everyday needs to planned, I mean how bad can it go? Safe to say I was wrong, and after a week of eating out, 3 missed workouts and all in all a more stressful week than I had anticipated I have come to the conclusion that planning may not be necessary, but it definitely helps things to run a lot smoother.
So here is how I like to plan my days to help me stay on top of things. I use two types of agendas to help keep me organized, one is a Kate Spade planner and the other is a small notebook. The planner I fill out on Sundays for the week and the beginning of every month. At the beginning of the month I like to set goals for the month, things that I want to achieve or outcomes, for example in October it was to get to the gym 3 times a week and make at least a 90 on all my midterms. I also like to look at the previous month and make not of any strategies I want to incorporate, look at what worked and what didn’t throughout the month. This exercise I only started to incorporate earlier this year, but I find that it really helps make goals more achievable, it helps me identify early on what strategies are really working and what aren’t, what is helping me and what is not.
At the beginning of the week I like to look at all the assignments and chapters I have due for the week, work commitments, family plans and other errands. I then plan out each day. My mornings are usually planned in pink, school stuff in green, work in orange and other errands in blue. A majority of things such as the morning routine stay the same, but to have it written down helps me keep it straight in my head, which I have discovered this week is half the challenge.
The second notebook I carry with me on the daily, I use it to make updated to-do lists. I n addition it provides a space for me to write down ideas that come to mind. This helps keep me focussed on the task at hand because it lets me stay focussed on the task at hand. An example is if I am studying and ideas for dinner, or blog posts or assignments even better study techniques begin to wander in my mind. By having the notebook on hand I can make a note of it and address it later.
So that’s my take on the planning, hope it helps some of you out
So Happy Planning!
-M
From Here to There 