This post is my first ever attempt at a video blog. You may either watch the video or read the extended, original prose article below. Or do both, that would be cool too.
My History with Journaling
I never kept a weekly planner before this year. In high school and college they often hand them out for free in order to encourage students to use them. In those days though, I was young and stubborn and, frankly, rather ignorant, so I rebuked every journal or planner that was presented to me. Back then, I think that I regarded myself as being above the necessity for such devices out of some delusional notion that “my brain could do what other people needed a planner for”. If my memory serves me, there were a few instances where I gave it a whirl with a planner for maybe a week or so before promptly losing interest in it, or simply losing it.
That trend ended this past August when I encountered the Smart Planner Pro via an unsolicited Instagram advertisement. I followed the link (which was a mistake because I then got targeted ads for planners and journals for a month) and bought one off Amazon the following day.
This planner has been very durable for me. It’s a great size and I appreciate the pen holder on the side.
As I said in my previous post, I had been feeling stuck in my daily routine. I felt like time was out of my control and that it was slipping away without my consent. It was a combination of not actively structuring my days well enough and feeling like I didn’t know where my days had gone once they were over. I spent several weeks trying to figure out what I could do to remedy this feeling. I had no idea whether a planner would solve my problem or not, but I figured it was worth a shot.
I had never kept a planner largely because I don’t really enjoy planning. A friend of mine once had a mantra that, “if you never make plans then your plans can never go wrong.” While I find that viewpoint a touch oversimplified, it still resonates with me. In proof, I rarely use my planner as an actual planner. I only input events in advance when they are entirely certain or exceptionally important. Rather than write down what I’m going to do tomorrow, I use it to track what I did yesterday.
Aside from a small handful of appointments that I’ll write down in advance, I’ve essentially been using a planner as a journal. (Turns out that I haven’t completely shaken my college ways after all.) Somebody asked me recently, “why not just use a journal then?” Valid question. My answer is two-fold: to write in a planner is generally less time consuming while offering more features.
I’ve gone through phases where I’ve kept a journal but I struggle to maintain the habit. Every time I sit down to journal I feel compelled to write for forty-five minutes or an hour. The times where I’m most consistent with a journal while I’m traveling. It’s easier to allow an hour to journal when traveling because I’m not tied down by a job or anything else. In my daily life, however, it’s hard to find an entire hour to journal between work and social engagements. Using a planner negates the urge to write at length. It confines you to a few short words to get the point across. Initially, this felt strange and foreign, but I got used to it after a short acclimation period. Now, I actively look forward to recounting everything I did yesterday and recording the highlights.
Why I Love My Weekly Planner
I’ve fallen head over heels for my planner because it isn’t a major time commitment. I’ve had countless conversations over the years where somebody has told me they try to keep a journal but they’re bad at taking the time to do so. Using a planner in lieu of a journal is my most perfect solution to this problem. I’ve incorporated it into my morning routine so that it’s one of the first things I do after I wake up. It takes about ten minutes maximum and as little as five. Plus, if you feel constrained by only being able to record events in bullet points and a few short words, you can still keep an actual journal solely dedicated to events or moments that were especially important.
I recently acquired this smaller green journal to use as a supplement to my planner. I’ve been using it to write longer entries for truly notable moments.
Additionally, I love my planner because it offers a built-in header section where I can input four habits that I want to track for the week. Mine lately have been to read, do my French Duolingo lesson, do yoga, and spend at least an hour on creative work. So then at the end of the week, I can see how many days I actually performed each of those tasks. It also offers a row to write down daily gratitudes which, in my opinion, is an underappreciated aspect of a morning routine.
I love taking the time to write down one thing I’m grateful for every day.
Journaling As Therapy and a Goal Tracker
In practice, I have found this process to be extremely enjoyable, helpful and surprisingly therapeutic. It allows me to unpack the previous day’s events more scientifically, to reflect upon my successes and failures in real-time. I can compare how I used my time with previous weeks and adjust how to use my time tomorrow. Or I can easily track how much time I allotted for writing or working on music. Another benefit is I can track how much time I spent watching tv and use that information to cut back next week. Entering days retroactively also gives me a sense that yesterday is officially done. It’s over and in the books. Now it’s time to adjust, improve, and focus on today.
Admittedly, I can go overboard with details I record, often adding things like taking a shower or what I ate. I certainly wouldn’t prescribe this sort of thoroughness to anybody else, but it works for me. (I feel like the maesta in Game of Thrones who Gilly mocks for having recorded all of his bowel movements.) But in the end, that’s the beauty of recording your own life. You get to choose how you want to do it with no wrong answers. I’m simply the type who can’t help but write down the “unimportant” moments too. It helps give a more comprehensive impression of how I spend my days.
It’s a Way to Preserve Memories
I’m an unabashedly nostalgic person, as you can read about in my previous post about why it’s good to be nostalgic. I desperately wish I’d been doing this all along now that I have several months worth of my life recorded. Or at least since the beginning of college, maybe. If I’d had the foresight (which we almost never do) then I’d now be able to look back at nearly everything I’ve done in the past eight years. I would have so much fun going back through and seeing my daily schedule when I was twenty years old and compare it to what it is now that I’m twenty-six. That, and it would probably be an exercise in self-forgiveness to look at how much time I wasted and how I spent my Saturday nights.
However, I’m thankful that I started to keep a planner at this stage in my life. Yes, I’d like to have access to my thoughts from when I was nineteen, but in the end, I think that I’ll be altogether more pleased to one day have access to my thoughts from when I was twenty-six and on. In my heart, I know it’s better to have started this habit now than never at all.
What My Weekly Planner Has Taught Me
My weekly planner has taught me loads in the short time I’ve been using it. It’s taught me to appreciate the little moments of life as much as the big ones. It has helped me structure my goals and hold myself accountable for them. And, perhaps most importantly, it’s taught me that it’s never too late to start a new habit. This is a painfully simple adage, one that you’ll hear ad nauseam from pretty much any self-help resource. Even though it’s a bit cliché, it’s amazing to feel it for yourself. My planner is a physical object that can stand as a symbol for the new habit I’ve created. For me, this proves incredibly cathartic.
I’m thankful to have firsthand evidence that, at twenty-six years old, I can still learn new habits and better my life at any time. To keep a planner is merely one aspect of leading a healthy and productive life. For me, though, it’s proven to be one of the most critical and beneficial. If you aren’t currently using one, I recommend that you consider it and see what it can do for you.
Michael
