This is Why I Need Planner Gang 2024!

I just spent 20 minutes trying to update the famous palindrome, “A man, a plan, a canal, Panama” to include my gender identity for this Substack post title. I got as far as “God, a woman, a plan, a canal, PanAm, ow, a dog” before realizing it didn’t work and I should probably abandon it for more important things. This is why I need a planner.

I know a lot of you, when I suggested going on a planner and self-discovery journey for 2024 together said you were into it! I conducted an informal poll about when we should do our Zoom show and tell with our new planners. Based on your answers, HERE’S THE LINK! That’s for Saturday, 1/13 at 9AM Pacific Time. What time is that where you live? I’m gonna leave that for you to figure out because you know where you live better than I. I don’t think attendance will max out, but there is a cap on it, so if you really wanna be there for it, join early just in case! But, if it doesn’t fill up and you’re a few minutes late, you can join at any time, assuming there is still room. BRING YOUR NEW PLANNER TO SHOW AND TELL!!!

I figured while we were waiting for our in-person kiki, I would update you on how it’s going with me, ask how it’s going with you and offer you some encouragement and insights I’ve had so far.

First, I was pretty busy AND lazy on January 1st, and I felt a great deal of guilt as the hours ticked down to midnight and I hadn’t even opened my new planner to enter my name and address so that it could be returned in the event I ever lost it. But, then I thought about it and said to myself, “I will be DAMNED if I am bringing guilty energy into this new year, especially over something I am doing to make my own life nicer and better. JUST NO!” So I chillaxed. And you know what? I never got around to picking up a pen and defacing my pristine planner until January 3rd. Was I feeling like I had already fucked it up and my perfect plan to use a planner was already derailed and in flames and in a trash can? I did a little. But then I started to write. First, just my contact info, in the likely event I misplace my planner. Then, I started to fill out some of the sections in the beginning, where my planner asks some deep philosophical questions about who I essentially am as a human and what I would like my life to look like in a bunch of different categories in 1, 5, 10 and 20 years. I’ll be honest, in the 20 year column, I mostly wrote, “Be alive still?” over and over. Some spots, I left blank, some questions, I left unanswered. That’s okay. Some things I haven’t given much conscious thought to. But, I did enter a lot, and that’s great.

I also made an effort to go back and fill in the blank days with what I HAD done, treating it more like a diary than a planner. One great thing about the Clever Fox Planner I selected for myself is that there are PLENTY of spaces to write priorities and goals throughout, one might argue perhaps too many, so I don’t know, I may continue to use it this way, pre-writing to-dos in certain spots while using the days themselves as a bit of a journal or diary. THERE ARE NO RULES and, I can still look back and see what I’ve accomplished and what I am still working toward. The only danger, of course, is that I could leave several days blank with the intention to fill them in later. I could, knowing me, 100% forget what I ever did on a particular day when I go to fill it out. But then, I could also just make some interesting shit up and put it in there, possibly to give my ancestors a real thrill one day should they ever find this thing. The planner is my oyster!

I will tell you a couple of things I HAVE done, intuitively, in my new planner/journal/diary/best friend that I think are brilliant, if I do say so myself. I’m probably not the first person to think of these ideas, but since I did arrive at them independently without finding them on the internet, I would like to accept the credit for their smartness. Please let me have this, ok?

FIRST IDEA: Got a pad of Post-Its and flipped through to every page that shows a layout for my entire week and stuck one new one on every week of the year. This Post-It is now my shopping list for the week. Every time I think of something I need to grab, I jot it down on this single Post-It that is always in the same place and never lost and there’s always a pen nearby. Now, when I head out to do errands for the week, I can either remove that Post-It to bring with me, or I can snap a pic of it on my phone. I can do both if I want to go wild! Either way, I can feel in my bones that this is going to cut down on me looking for little lists I had going somewhere but I just can’t remember where, and it’s going to decimate my habit of having to run another errand because I forgot to get the one thing I really needed when I went out on the errand in the first place. I think this is gonna be a game changer for me.

SECOND IDEA: My planner came with cute little stickers to put down for important birthdays and other events, which I did IMMEDIATELY, OF COURSE, because I am a Gen X’er who has been trying to slake her thirst for Lisa Frank items since being deprived of them as a child. However, at the same time I thought of the Post-It shopping list idea, I realized these stickers on the actual days, while delightful, are…of little help? So, I picked my planner back up, found every sticker I’d stuck to commemorate a special day, then counted back four or sometimes six weeks to write down, “Matt’s birthday is coming! GIFT? GETAWAY? RESERVATIONS?” Because that is the time to do those things, no, if you truly want to have your shit more together as a person? I’m so sure of it, I might shop for some other little stickers to stick on those spots, because those spots deserve stickers, because clearly stickers denote importance to people like me.

THIRD IDEA: What I did read about on the internet with respect to planners was that your pen choice should not be an afterthought. Some people say you should get a high quality pen that pleases you to write with. Some people say you should let yourself go wild with different colors. I’m kind of doing both? Here is the pen set I already had waiting in my office, that I bought last year, pretty much untouched except for a gray brown one I have been using to draw on eyebrow hairs in a bald spot on my face, sometimes. Some of these colors I will not realistically use to write in my planner, but I have already used many, and while it is weird to anthropomorphize office supplies, I think they seem happier than they did all packed away in their tin. I’ll keep you posted on how they hold up over time?

FOURTH IDEA: My planner has lots of dotted grid pages where it’s asking me to draw “Mind Maps”? Well, bless my heart, I did have to Google what that was and I’m still not sure I know. My mind is not mapping. While I may eventually make some notes or doodles in some of those spaces, I probably won’t use them all up. And again, that’s okay! Negative space is our friend and not every inch or moment needs to be cluttered with info. It’s helpful to let our brains breathe! However, I got to thinking about how I am in the habit of documenting things and it’s mostly ephemeral. I post stories into the gaping maw of the Instagram algorithm, which is fine and normal, but then, after 24 hours, they disappear. And yes, they’re still on my phone, where they now live forever, in this digital cocktail party that never ends and none of them can ever leave. Too dark? Anyway, my point is, some of these things I want to see and remember better, so I got myself a Canon Ivy Mini Printer! Now, I can print out the selfie my son and I took at the Rose Parade directly from my phone and stick it on the bullshit “Mind Map” area in my planner where it really will lead me back to the memory of that day like a good map should.

I do want to point out the caveats that this device itself is pretty expensive and the special little photo papers are also kind of pricey. I justified the purchase by reasoning that I will probably only print one or two photos per week and it was a holiday gift to myself. A more economical option, though is THIS MINI PRINTER I bought Busy for her birthday with lots of rolls of thermal sticky paper in different colors and finishes. It kind of works the way a cash register prints receipts and seems fun and cool, but if you want a review, you’ll have to ask Biz because I have never used it.

So, that’s it from me, so far, on my planner journey. I think I am finding my way and honestly, if nothing else, I’m grateful to be spending less time watching Reels that claim they will teach me how to earn $20,000 a week if I just comment “DESERVING” below. How’s it going so far for all of you? Or, if you haven’t cracked your planner yet, just comment “DESERVING” below, LOL! I’ll do my best to psyche you up!