On Planning and Planners

Confession time:
I bought three planners today. Last week I bought one. Two if you count the wall calendar. So far my planner count for 2017 is 5. I may not be done. I am looking at this thing that I am totally fascinated and frightened by, called Bullet Journaling. Oh. Mah. Word.! I think if I didn't have a full time job outside my house, I might do it. I won't link it, you go Google it. Make sure you have an hour or two to spare first.

Confession Number Two:
I missed my second quarter sales tax payment this year. I have no defense. I am all paid up, now, but it was sure embarrassing and I promise it won't happen again. That day, I went out and bought a planner, a calendar, file folders and a lightweight file for my business paperwork. It was scary. I thought they were going to take away my sales tax permit and I'd never be able to buy wholesale again!

All of my life. I have been a list maker and a planner. I will only go back to the dog days of homeschooling for an example for you. Every time, we hit a bump in the road, I'd take a day off and rework the plan. That is exactly what is going on with my current planner obsession. I didn't pay my taxes, I got scared and I bought a bunch of planners. Makes perfect sense to me.

I am convinced that things go smoother with planning. Just by the simple act of writing it down, even if I don't look at it again, it made an imprint on my brain. And if it is organized in a cool planner, even better.

I love technology. I rely on it. I am almost always on something and it is not unusual to be on two devices at the same time. But I can't do planing on them. I have to physically write my thoughts out. I have to physically list things on post-its if they are going to happen. I tried Evernote and Cozi apps. As much as I am on the computer or the phone, I cannot for the life of me remember to refer to them.

So here is what I bought:
1. Large format desk calendar and command strips. I put it on the wall above my work table. I marked holidays and when certain sports seasons are. When the 2017 sales tax due dates are released, you bet-your-you-know-what, those will be on there in big red Sharpie!
2. A nice two page format calendar with lots of room for notes with a nice plastic cover. I didn't love it the minute I sat down with it at home. It was $5, so I don't feel guilty.
3. A Weekly/Monthly planner with two page format for each month and each week. Lots of writing space and space to write monthly and weekly goals. It was on clearance at an office store that was going out of business.
4. A reeaalllly pretty gold planner with places for specific goals and the weekly/monthly planner. I love it so much!
5. Flourish planner for craft professionals. It has a lot of extras that I really need. SEO planning, product development planning, encouraging stuff... plus the weekly/monthly planning format. It is printable and is about to go in a gold glitter binder that was also on clearance. How could it not work??

I will try real hard to let you know which one I end up using.