I am a proud organization freak.  I love planners, Post Its (true story: I got a box of Post It Notes for Christmas one year) and just about all things organization.  Pins with pictures of other people’s planners is like..organization excitement.  Imagine my joy when Meghan @ Hayes Days reviewed the Emily Ley Simplified Planner, a piece I’ve had my eye on for about a year!

I haven’t settled on a blog planner that I like (please let me know what your favorite is!) but I do have yearly planners picked out in October (only slight hyperbole).

It’s no surprise that I made my own this year.

I love Moleskine and have used their Weekly Diary/Planner Horizontal for 3 years in a row.  That’s some serious commitment, people.  As with all relationships, I didn’t love everything about it.  I wanted a calendar view and more room to take notes so I didn’t have to carry around a separate notebook.

So when I was in Virginia visiting my mom, I picked up this Moleskine Square Journal.  Even the book itself has a memory attached to it!

I started out by listing month-at-a-glance.  This is where I put all-day events or after work plans – big things I don’t want to forget.  I also have a space to write monthly goals.  After I finish my Stratejoy Holiday Council worksheets (I know, I know, it’s a little late for that), I will have an easy place to write my goals for the month.

I’ll be able to see them in front of me and more likely meet them or make plans to work towards them.  I can also say, “Hey will this commitment get me towards my BIG IGEA this year?” if I’m on the fence with something.

Then I have a calendar.  Here will go fun plans, dates, appointments, weekend coverage for work, etc so I can see everything easily in a calendar format.

I know, it seems a little redundant, but I really missed not having a calendar view in the past years.  It’s easier for me to visualize what’s happening in the month in this kind of layout.

Next is the week starting on Monday.  I have plenty of room to write to-do lists and actionable goal steps along with weekly plans.  I do the Rapid Logging / Bullet Journal method in a smaller scale.  It really helps to say, “Okay here’s the Big Thing, now what steps need to happen to complete the Big Thing.”  I learned that from Molly (of Stratejoy)!

I just used an office stamp to get the dates in there.  I embraced “imperfectly perfect” and didn’t freak out when some ink bled through or it didn’t get stamped down all the way.  Not being perfect is a first for me.  It’s a daily struggle that affects millions (god, I hope you people get my humor).

I’ve been doing “The Three” aka the three things I must complete today and I write them out here, too.  I heard somewhere that three is the number to list when you’re writing a daily to-do list, so…that’s why I picked three.

And finally, I about a third of the book is blank.  I was hoping to have a page-per-day layout and be able to journal a bit more / write out more lists on a day-to-day format, but I didn’t have enough pages…oops.

So I have a notes section instead.  Rapid Logging / Bullet Journaling definitely happens here.  For example, I wrote the big things to focus on for the change to Gardening in High Heels and the small steps under neath that will reach that goal.  It was so overwhelming to think about the tasks I needed to complete for GIHH, but writing it down in bite-size steps made it much easier.

I was also thinking about blog planning in the blank part so everything is all in one place, but everyone talking about blog planners made me want one.  It’s only child syndrome.

I will jazz it up with some washi tape, color-coordinated pens, Project Life cards, etc, but that will come later.  Organically.  I want it to be used and have a record of the great things that happened this year.

Do you use a planner? What’s your favorite way to track your day?