A belated Happy New Year! We’re now three weeks into 2020, and I’m happy to say that I’m on my way to establishing some healthy new habits. I mentioned in my last post that I had purchased matching planners for myself and a friend, and now that I’ve been using my planner for a few weeks, I’d like to sing it’s praises — it’s working really well for me. (This is not a sponsored post and it contains no affiliate links, just my honest opinions).
It’s been years since I used a paper planner. I’ve mostly relied on my Google calendar and a patchwork of typed and hand-written to-do lists, but those things have not been working all that well for me. Returning to a hard-copy planner has been refreshing and is making me feel much more organized.
I’ve been using the Puffin Planner, which I found on Amazon. It’s not just a calendar; it also includes really helpful goal-setting and habit-formation tools. I spent an hour or so at the end of last year working through the exercises at the beginning, which focus on gratitude, rituals, affirmations, and assessing and improving life balance. The planner asks you to rate your satisfaction with eight areas of your life: Spiritual, Health & Fitness, Business & Career, Family & Friends, Romance, Personal Development, Finance, and Recreation. You then come up with as many as six potential goals in each area. Following this brainstorm, you review your long list of possible goals and pick the five that are most important to you, and then you can break each one down into action steps.
Once you’ve taken these steps, you can begin planning your months and weeks. The planner includes undated monthly and weekly calendars, so you can start using it any time of the year. There’s a note space off to the side of each monthly calendar, and the weekly pages include spaces at the top where you can set the week’s priorities, check off daily habits as you complete them, make a life balance to-do list, and reflect on things you could be doing better. Checking off the daily habits has been particularly effective for me. It serves as both a nice reminder and an accountability measure. This planner is almost like a life coach in book form.
Here are the five goals I set for this year:
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes a day
- Read three business books
- See friends once a week
- Kiss my husband every day
- Attend church twice a month
My daily habits also include meditating, listening to an inspiring or informative podcast or audio book, and a bedtime gratitude practice. While the list looks long, these aren’t lofty goals. For instance, I’m not looking to train for a marathon; my daily exercise is often a brisk walk. Rather, these goals represent a desire to tend to each area of my life and well-being on a regular basis. I knew I needed to focus on my physical health and relationships, so I am creating routines to be sure I don’t neglect those things. The additional daily habits are practices that improve my mood and outlook. So far, all of these activities in combination do seem to be brightening my disposition, which is motivating me to stick with them.
The Puffin Planner is small and lightweight (smaller than an iPad), so it’s easy to carry with me. I can check off my daily habits as I perform them, note commitments on my calendar as I make them, and remind myself of my goals whenever I like. It also includes a sheet of stickers to help you flag and label things. If you’re looking for an inexpensive and thorough way to get and stay focused on your priorities, this is a great tool.
Do you use a paper planner? Which one do you prefer, and how do you use it?
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