I’m a hot mess. I have been for most of my life. I try to have my sh*t together and I’m good at making it look like I do – most of the time – but in all reality, I am struggling every day to keep up with everything going on in my life and in my brain. I overthink and over-analyze everything then somehow end up forgetting half of what I need or planned to do. The struggle of wanting to be a good mom, be successful in my career, have good relationships with my family, boyfriend and friends, and look like a freaking queen while doing it all is entirely too real for me. Being a massive perfectionist doesn’t help my case any, either.
But how can I be a perfectionist, yet fail to reach so many of my goals – or even daily plans? I honestly don’t know. Maybe the desire to be perfect at everything has caused me to stop even trying because I’m scared of not completing anything perfectly. Who knows?!
But I have a plan!
A planNER to be exact. This week I ordered a planner off Amazon. I did my research, found a planner that looked like it would give me what I’m looking for, and I ordered that sucker. Was it money I really had to spend? Not really. Was it money well-spent? You absolutely better freaking believe it. Forking out $30 for a planner seems like a lot – and it really is for me and my budget – but the results I plan on getting from this planner will outweigh the cost very quickly and I can already tell.
Why the heck did I decide to buy a planner to begin with?
I’m not one to have a New Year’s resolution each year. I find setting goals for a year far too difficult for me to complete due to my current issues getting things done as described above. It’s also a killer for my anxiety. So, I didn’t make a New Year’s Resolution, per se this year, but more of a challenge. I like challenges. I’m as competitive as they come. And while I’m not challenging myself AGAINST anyone, I am going to make sure I’m held accountable. And here is how:
I am going to work on my planner and check my calendar daily, hence becoming more productive this year overall. This seems like a New Year’s Resolution, I know, but I’m still not gonna call it that! Instead of yearly goals, I am going to focus on smaller, more achievable goals that will lead to a bigger, ultimate goal. Every day I will check my calendar, plan out my day, set daily goals and then I will reflect on the day at the end of it. Each week, I will reflect on the week before and set plans and goals for that week. And monthly I will review the previous month and the upcoming month.
This sounds like a lot, I know. But this morning I dedicated an hour to reviewing and planning the month, week and day and was able to complete it all. So tomorrow I’ll only have to set my daily plans and goals and use the month and week as a reference. I can already tell that setting aside this time is going to make me more productive and save me time. How can I tell, you ask? Because I’m writing this blog post right now! I’ve allotted an hour for writing and another 30 minutes to take photos and upload the blog post, then I’ll move on to my next task, which I have 30 minutes for, and so on.
In order to hold myself accountable and make sure I’m achieving my goals, I plan on writing a weekly blog post covering my progress, fall backs, and super “proud-of-myself” moments. So today, January 7, 2018 marks blog post #1 in my personal organization series which will last 52 weeks – I plan on posting every Sunday! A full year of blog posts is something I’ve always wanted to accomplish, so I guess this is something else I’ll finally complete this year!
I don’t think every post will be this long, and most likely there will be a lot of short check-in’s, but my hope is that not only will this help me with one of my current goals (writing for 10 minutes every day), but it will finally get me posting to my blog on a regular schedule after 3 or 4 years of having this darn thing!
Finally, I wanted to talk a little bit about the planner I chose. The planner was on sale for $30 instead of $40, but other than that, this post is NOT promoted by the company who makes the planner, or anyone else. I don’t get any sort of compensation or discount for writing about this planner, but if you’re interested in checking it out for yourself, or even in purchasing a new planner and joining me in this “Get My Sh*t Together” Challenge, then here is some information on the planner, as well as a link to where I purchased it AND a discount code for purchasing it on Amazon!
BTW – I got the Panda Planner Pro, which is a six-month planner. I honestly JUST realized it’s only a six-month planner, but I think it’ll be nice to review it at the end of six months, have a big blog post about it, then start with a fresh one. So we’ll see how that goes. Also, this will be a GREAT review of this planner to see if it actually does work or not!
From the Panda Planner Website:
Best full-size daily planner for happiness & productivity, based on the latest in scientific research and positive psychology.
ALL ABOUT ORGANIZATION – With Monthly, Weekly and Daily sections, you can get organized and prioritize your life in WRITING! The Panda Planner system will help you easily achieve work/life balance and stay on track!
HIT YOUR GOALS – It’s more than just a great planner. The Panda Planner system can help fix procrastination and keep you accountable! Imagine what your life would be like if you KNEW you would hit all of your goals…Panda Planner will help get you there, fast!
UNBEATABLE BONUSES – Besides the remarkable day planner, I’m going to give you 7 FREE ebooks and a video mini-course to 10x your productivity! I’ll cover topics such as Crushing your Goals, A Billionaire’s Guide to Productivity, Curing Procrastination, Getting in Shape, Getting Straight A’s, and Getting Rid of Anxiety. Improve not only your schedule but yourself!
GUARANTEED – The Panda Planner system has worked for thousands of others and I’m confident it will work for you. However, if there is any reason that it doesn’t absolutely meet your needs, just return it and I’ll send you a refund. It’s really just as easy as that! Your happiness and productivity are my top priority.
Links
Website link: Panda Planner Pro
Amazon link: Buy a Panda Planner like mine
Amazon discount code: PANDAFAM
P.S. – This post was supposed to have some awesome pictures in it, but I had technical difficulties getting the pictures uploaded to my computer. Hopefully I can solve it and get them up with the post next week!
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