It’s that time of year again.

Guess what time it is according to the world of Regena? 

New 2024 Planner time. 

Reaction check- did you light up excitedly, 🤩or did you vehemently roll your eyes? 🙄 

Oh, friend, I totally get and honor both reactions. 

If you don’t want to hear a thing about planning and planners, and especially if you are a Ted Lasso Fan, read no further and watch this video instead. Happy Thursday! 

Finding a planning system that actually worked for me and didn’t cause me to waste time writing in my planner is something that I struggled with for YEARS. I am still refining it because planning and refinement are two of my superpowers or obsessions, depending on how you look at it.

🤓 I’m admittedly annoyingly nerdy about both.

In my earlier entrepreneurial years, I was juggling the responsibilities of my own business, a separate business collaboration/partnership, TUT contract work, and care of a young child, and most of the household duties, including meal planning. There were simply too many details to remember, so I needed a place to sort it all. I wanted to use my digital calendar for all appointments, AND I wanted a pen-and-paper option. I tried a different planner every year, and some years, I tried two. I kept thinking if I had the right planner, I’d get my life under control.

*Planners can help create a structure that saves time and eases stress.

 *AND planners can overcomplicate things, take unnecessary time, and cause stress.

 *AND planners aren’t going to fix your life or you.

 No wonder planners can be polarizing! 

What led me to figure out my own system finally was using a plain divided notebook with sticker tabs. Because there weren’t pre-loaded areas to fill out, I learned precisely what I most needed/wanted to write down and organize. I have helped clients set this up and figure out their system.

Once I understood what I needed, I decided to create my own planner using a company called Agendio. You build it personal to you. I wrote a blog post about it two years ago, and you can also watch the video I made of my planner here.  

Here are a few things to keep in mind.

• Planners are just one tool, but even planners need a system.
• There isn’t just ONE way that works for everyone and their brain. We are all unique in how we process and what we need. Sometimes, we need help figuring out a system that works for us by making things simpler and less complicated. If it’s not making life easier- you need a different system.
• For systems and planners to be helpful tools, you have to spend regular time with them. I do an hour of planning every Sunday. I call it Set it Up Sunday. Let me know if want to learn more about this.
• Every single one of us is experiencing information overload. There is no way to remember and keep track of everything all the time. If you feel like things are slipping through the cracks - they are, and it’s NOT because you aren’t organized, something is wrong with you, or you aren’t enough.
  
  

Points for your own reflection

• What tools do you use to help you stay sane when it comes to all we have to do, remember?
• Digital calendar, planner, notebooks, wall calendar, Evernote, Google Docs?
• What is working? Why?
• What isn’t working? Why?
• What do you feel inspired to do/try/change/learn?

Comment below and let me know what came up for you reading this.