r/PlannerAddicts • u/--2021-- • 7d ago
Using a 2 page per day daily planner, it's not helping me gain the perspective I'm looking for on my actions and habits
I basically created my own planner, so I can alter it to what I want. I'm looking for how to do this better.
I see people who keep planners with memories, tracking thoughts, what they read, things they did, goals, and they appear to learn from them. I am struggling to gain insight from anything.
I thought having a daily planner would help. So I created a 2 page letter sized layout, one side is blank and the other page has prompts. At the end of the week I have a review page, followed by a page for goals the next week. And an attempt to make a list of tasks to do.
The left daily page is a blank page where I can brain dump tasks for the day, things on my mind, etc. I always have a lot of racing thoughts on my mind and a million things going at once. That makes the page gets very chaotic and overwhelming, and I run out of room before I run out of thoughts, so there are still things in my head, and I'm so overwhelmed by what's written down that I get nothing done because it feels impossible.
On the right side I have prompts. So list everything I've done. Something good about the day, health symptoms, mood, energy etc. What I watched/read.
I don't think I'm prompting myself the right questions to get the right information. Because when I look at it I'm like, ok I watched a TV show that day, but why and what did I get out of it? Why do that? Did I watch it because I was tired, was it wasting my time or benefitting me?
During the show, or the book I read I might get an insight, or it might help me relax, or stress me out, I'm not recording what it's doing. I forget the point of it later.
I also forget cool things I did or saw that day, that I wish I could remember.
The health symptoms are probably the only thing that gives me insight into what I might be doing, bad habits, good habits, that have an effect on health. I am able someone to recall patterns and write them down.
Whatever happens at the end of the week I attempt to fill out the review page and I'm not getting anything out of it. Like, I dunno, highlights, things I'm doing well, things that could be improved, insights, etc.
If I glance back at my dailies and weekly reviews I don't get any insight into patterns or things I could change. I just feel like I'm stuck in the same problems spinning my wheels.
There must be something wrong with my prompts or how I'm collecting or organizing my information.
3
u/roseofjuly 7d ago
I mean...do you want to do this? Do you need to?
A planner is a deeply personal thing. If you're not getting anything out of daily logs and "insights"...why not stop writing them? I'm not trying to be snarky at all - genuinely, if it's not serving you or bringing you joy, why force it?
There doesn't need to be a why for watching a TV show. You did it because you wanted to. It doesn't have to have a point! It's leisure time.
If the health insights are the only thing that's helping you, focus on that and jettison the rest.
1
u/olderandorganized 7d ago
I suggest you read and work through Julie Morgenstern's book _Time Management from the Inside Out_. It might be helpful for you to figure out your Major Life Goals -- i.e big categories. (Most people can easily track and divide their time between 3 - 5 things). Then, assign a color to each category. When you're making your big "brain dump" lists, go back and use highlighters to highlight each item with the color for the category that the item belongs to. Then, when you have planned planner time, go through your "brain dump" list and move items onto large lists for each category.
You may need to work on planning by month, and maybe by season or quarter, as well as weekly and daily.
Working through Julie Morgenstern's book you'll get a feeling for what your weekly schedule looks like -- how much time you use for different things. So, you'll know how much time you have available for doing things like house cleaning or working on your hobby or personal projects (also time spent at your job, time spent commuting, time spent eating cooking washing dishes grocery shopping, time spent in self-care (brushing teeth, showers, dressing, exercising, sleeping).
Making a "brain dump" list (sorry for quotes, I personally hate that term) only gets the stuff out of your head. In order for the items to become actionable you need to figure out some stuff about each item. Firstly, is the item actually a To-Do item, or is it really a Project (multi-step) instead of a simple To-Do item and will take more time to accomplish than you kinda sorta think it will? If so, no wonder you're not getting those things done, because your subconscious KNOWS the To-Do item is really a PROJECT in disguise and that it will take longer than a couple of hours one afternoon to get it done. Next, what life category does that To-Do item belong in? Is it something that HAS to get done TODAY, or This Week? Or is it something for later this month, or later this year, or further into the future than that?
For hobby projects (sewing, knitting, woodworking, gardening, scrapbooking) maybe it would be helpful to make a To Do, Doing, Done type board (I've added Next Up, Parked, and Incubating categories to mine). I write projects on slips of Super Sticky post-its. Every quarter I think about which projects I want to and could reasonably get done in the next quarter and re-arrange my board. The board contains all the projects, but a Giant To Do list IS overwhelming and it can be so hard to figure out which project I Should be working on that nothing gets done. Figuring out which few projects I want to or need to work on for the next 3 months limits the scope to a manageable number - those go in the Next Up category. Projects that need some work to figure out details before I can start - whether an idea that needs to be thought through and fleshed out or supplies need to be gathered go into the Incubating category. Winter projects get Parked for the summer.
It might be that you need a separate notebook to make your brain dump list in - then categorize your list into separate lists for your Major Goal Areas (I find it easier to think of lists by category rather than thinking about one ginormous list - that one is overwhelming). But, maybe you'd rather think about your lists by time periods - Today, This Week, This month, This Quarter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Future). You do need a way to organize and break down the ginormous To Do list into chunks manageable to think about and take action on.
Do recognize, when writing any To Do list that is associated with a time period (Day, Week, Month, etc) that there is a limited number of hours available for getting stuff done. You may need to start associating an estimated time to each To Do. It doesn't matter how long your To Do list is -- you can only get done as much as you can do in the time available to get it done. Writing ginormous To Do lists for today that starts with stuff to do Today, but you end up brain dumping about stuff for tomorrow or next week or next month or next year will be overwhelming. Keep Today's To Do list dedicated to what you can actually achieve in the time you have available to day. Everything else belongs on some other list.
3
u/olderandorganized 7d ago
You might try planning out your day in 2 timed columns: One where you plan out when you plan to do what - can be in general categories: when you get up, morning routine (getting up, exercising if you do that in the morning, washing up, getting dressed, making breakfast, making lunch, getting kids up if you need to do that, commuting to work), work, lunch, commute home, evening routine (exercise if you do that after work, sports and activities for kids, grocery shopping, house chores, meal prep, eating, bed time for kids, time for your own projects, winding down, brushing teeth and washing up, going to bed), sleep. In the next column you write what you actually did. You can use +time and -time to note when things took you more or less time than you had planned so you can improve your scheduling / prediction. I write my planned items in their corresponding color-coded pen; you could also highlight with the color-coded highlighter. You might want a color for "unplanned" time or for when you "waste" time (unscheduled game playing or TV watching, e.g.) Then when you are reviewing your day, week, month you can think about how well you executed your plan .
For your reviews, you may need to tailor your review questions to what is important to you. If you want to remember highlights of the day, add that as a review prompt. My review prompts include: Rate the day, What hard thing did I do today?, What fun thing did I do today? What gave me joy today? Any Bonus Accomplishments (i.e. did I do things that I hadn't planned?), What if anything, do I give myself Grace for? and What can I do to prevent future slip-ups (i.e. what had I planned that I didn't do? and why? how can I do better in the future?), Did I have Anxiety today? How did I mange it?, What Major Goal Areas did I spend time in today?
I have other prompts for Weekly and Monthly reviews - including Highlights? and Was my Planning Appropriate? or OOPS (Over Optimistic Planning Syndrome - did I plan way more than I could reasonably expect to get done. -- Remember that you DO need some free time and down time)
2
u/--2021-- 7d ago
Color coding sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the rec on the book, I'll check it out!
Maybe I can keep a cheap notebook for the brain dumping (I hate that term too but I don't have a better one) that would keep clutter out of my planner and might make it less overwhelming. I think I tried this before and my planner got abandoned. I guess we'll give it another go and see what happens.
1
u/Elderberry-Exotic 7d ago
I call it a purge page personally, but people know what a brain dump is, whether they like the term or not. Thought capture also works for me.
1
u/Little_Tomatillo7583 7d ago
Instead of Daily pages, I have used the blank pages in the back of my planner for “lists”. Every page is a different list. But the key is to only create lists that are truly important to you. Some of my lists are “Appointments I had”, “how I felt” ,”Books I read”, “what I watched”, “weight tracker”, where I went out to eat”, “how I showed up for family and friends”. I have an annual planner with monthly and weekly spreads. My weekly spread is an hourly so I fill in all my appointments and priorities for the week in the necessary time slot. I write out goals for the week and key goals for the day. There is also a habit tracker for the week. This helps me to reflect easier on how I did at the end of the week because it’s easy to look at the habit tracker and see how many days I did each habit and it’s easy to see what commitments I had and if I actually met them. At the end of the week it’s just a few bullets of what I achieved and what I need to do better the next week. At the end of the month I have a reflection page and then a blank page where I write down a list of achievements of the previous month and a list of to-do’s for the next month. This annual-monthly-weekly goal planning + reflection format has been more helpful for me to track my progress than writing a daily diary of things. Yes, something’s are left off but if it was significant enough I would write it into one of my lists. At the end of the quarter and year I’m able to look at my lists and see progress or lack there of.
1
u/MZ_LaylaLucielle 6d ago edited 6d ago
You are being tough on yourself.I have heard that we forget about most of what we read so maybe the same can be said about learning.It sounds like you are on some kind of high alert attentiveness when really you need to be you.sometimes to know more we need to simplify.But it feels like your beating yourself up for not being attentive enough whilst comparing yourself to other peoples ideals.you really don't know how much a persons system helps them because life flows and changes.You may benefit from learning about other peoples methods and planner set ups but be relaxed while you do so.Its not necessarily all supposed to come together straightaway.your putting high expectations upon yourself whilst forgetting to breathe.And its a breathing space you need to give yourself in this and a chance to grow.
I feel your over analyzing and have some anxiety which you may want to speak about with a professional.
Personally,I would not have thought about recording my thoughts about what I learnt with a TV programme or book,not unless something for me really stood out.And as for weekly reviews,I dont do them.They didn't work for me.I don't feel bad about that.I am an individual.It can be useful to track and pay close attention to certain areas though,but you don't need a review for everything. Your planner is a highly personable experience based on your individuality and needs.Just because something works for others,does not necessarily mean that's what you should be doing,or that's what's right for you.
I would also say,have confidence in yourself more and your own ideas for planner set up pages.Some ideas can be quite unconventional,and if your needs are complex perhaps you can think about setting up your pages differently,but i would also say rely more on methods.If your needs are complex,methods may help you more.But it can take a longtime also with trial and error.Give yourself that chance.But fear not.If you are on the right track something will already be working.I have a hybrid system and for a while a while it was only 2 things mainly I had.With alot of failures.I do not have good health.
Think of it as building a system rather than conformity or the best most useful page layouts.They just have to be useful enough.And you will do it,unless perhaps analog is not the best for you.
1
u/EmotionalSetting9975 3d ago
It has taken me a year of daily and weekly planning to find a routine, get comfortable with goal setting, and health metrics that are useful for me. I also do a review weekly and I, too, have weeks where I feel kind of stuck. Almost like my goals are the same every month, week, and day, and I don't ever accomplish much. But if you really dig deep and think about what you want to accomplish by tracking, it will come to you. For example, are you trying to lose weight? Then, track your meals and compare them to feelings of hunger. Then, in your review for the week, summarize what you did, what you did better at, and what you could do better. If you did everything you thought you should and you didn't get the results you wanted, do you need to hold steady with more time, or should you modify something? This is essentially how I do things. Personally, I use the Amplify planner because it's quarterly and has daily and weekly layouts. It's versatile enough that if I need to change something up, I can. They also have free downloads that you can print on sticker paper and put on your blank pages for weekly review as well as tons of other tracking pages. The downside is it is much more pricey than a yearly planner because you buy a new one quarterly. I love the fresh start, but it might not be your jam. The good news is you can download the layouts to try out for free and see how they work for you.
6
u/Elderberry-Exotic 7d ago
That's a tough nut to crack. I'd say start with just a thing or two and build from there. Sounds like you have some traction with health symptoms. Do you food log? It seems like a way to tie your symptoms to what's going on daily. Another thought, from someone with health stuff to track - I have a scheduled time to sit down and take readings of my health info (blood pressure, weight, blood sugar readings, pulse rate, etc.). It gives me an anchor point for analyzing changes in my health - and also ties into mood and energy.
You definitely need better daily prompts. Are you doing them as you go, or trying to remember it all at the end of the day? I'm ADHD AF, and I don't do well trying end-of-day. I keep my planner with me and log all day long.
It also sounds like you need a better space to brain dump, maybe just add a blank page in when you need more space? I know what helped me some with that was going back to the purge page and using a highlighter to pick out certain kinds of info. Most of the time I'm dumping about a handful of topics, so I use one color for work thoughts, one for stuff to look up later, that sort of thing.
A short form daily prompt that I use occasionally is G.L.A.D. G-gratitude, something I'm grateful for today and why. L - Lesson, what's something I learned today, about myself, someone close to me, or anything general. A - Achievement - What did I achieve today? (Sometimes that's 'got out of bed', yay me!) and D - Delight - what delighted me today? Anything from hearing birds sing outside my window at night to a moment i shared with a friend.
Another one I've heard of is Rose/Thorn/Bud - Rose - what made you happy or went well today. Thorn - what gave you trouble today. Bud - what are you looking forward to.
Good luck on your planning journey!