I don't use a planner anymore (and still get things done)
Entering year 3 of no planner usage...
I was a planner girl through and through. I wrote in my planner daily and kept up with my Cultivate What Matters Powersheets. I loved it all. This is my story and journey with not using a planner for 2 years and to give you permission to do the same if you resonate.
This is not a planner-hating or goal-setting-hating post… I still love them. But you can still be very productive without a planner or fancy goal-setting tool. A scrap of paper and your reminders on your phone is all you need if you want to keep things simple. I’ll share what I do to keep my life organized.
One day (about 2 years ago) I just felt a stirring in my heart from the Lord to stop the planner. Ditch it completely. It was causing more stress than it was worth. I had a lot of symptoms and every time I wrote down my day and to-do list I would feel really frustrated that I didn’t feel well enough to get very much done. My list was overwhelming and was hindering my peace and enjoyment of my day.
And once God laid that on my heart I had this realization. My planner wasn’t keeping me on task throughout the day. Writing down my goals wasn’t what motivated me. And while they can be good things, the thought of “duh, I can be productive, walk by the Spirit, get things done, enjoy my days, meet goals without having a perfect system.” My life wasn’t going to fall apart if I didn’t have the perfect pretty planner to remind me the system for my day. I have a system without needing to write it down and I could trust myself to do my days well when walking with the Lord.
For me it was laying down this control I thought I had of my life. Instead started to really follow the Spirit and listen to my body. What is my body capable of today? How do I make room for flexibility for a bad night of sleep, kids needing something else, more rest, or a random errand? I could do all of that without a planner and a list of things I wrote down the day before.
And without my day planner, I realized I didn’t miss it. I felt a freedom I hadn’t had in a long time and trust in God and my brain to be able to remember what needed to be done in my days. It has given me a much-needed reprieve from the pressure of a list and allowed me a deeper faith in God and awareness of my days and the needs of myself, my family, and others.
But, as you know, life goes on and you need to remember many things. I didn’t ditch all scheduling… just planning it all out on my planner every day.
Here is what I use to keep my life in order 😉
I use my iCal calendar app for all things calendar. I am the queen of alerts so I remember everything. I feel like this shared calendar is a must-have, but very easy to manage.
We have a 3-month family white board calendar on our wall. This is honestly for the girls more than for me. I want them to be able to see the months and what is going on so they can have a knowledge and sense of responsibility for their days/ weeks. They don’t look at my phone so we needed a system for them. We keep this so simple and is more simple than my iCal.
Reminders app on my iPhone. I have this dialed in and they work so well. On reminders, I have a shared grocery list with my husband and I have business and personal lists so I can remember things. I don’t use them as multiple-times-per-day alerts (I need NO more dings coming from my phone). But I do keep certain alerts on like remembering to pack lunches the day before their homeschool coop and some business newsletter ideas I can revisit. It’s a brain-dumping zone.
Notes App. That’s really my brainstorming and brain dump place. I have SO many notes and they work perfectly for me to have a place to take little notes, put relevant links, and take notes when I’m learning something. The info that is in my Notes app isn’t something I would put in my planner but may be some of the things I would have brainstormed in my powersheets. This is for some long-form content, scriptural encouragement, and business links I need often. I will often use voice-to-text with the notes app so I can talk right to my phone.
A pen and paper. Some days I need to write things down and create a to-do list. Especially if I can’t remember it all. I do this about 1-2x per week. I do have a cute little to-do list I bought off of Amazon that are single sheets of the same thing in a tear-off notepad. But I usually go for a little piece of paper and throw it away at the end of the day.
Paperage Notebook. I always have a notebook (or two or three) that I’m using. This doesn’t have anything to do with using a planner. But while I am writing about what I like to use, I thought why not include this also? I love using the dotted notebook and writing all sorts of things in here. Sermon notes, thoughts, brain dumps (that aren’t in my phone), appointment notes, verses, business things etc. Paperage is my new favorite because they remind me of Moleskin but are so much more affordable and I have found they hold up!
As I was typing all of this I realized that I wanted to say this is all what works for ME. And for me in this season. I love planning and I’m sure I will go back to a planner some day. I thought I would go back this year but I prayed about it and won’t. This system is working for me and helping me be more productive. I don’t have the pressure and expectations of perfect day Meghan. I can take it day by day and use a pen and paper and my phone when I need it.
What brings you the most freedom? Is it a planner and goal setting? Or do you need to ditch it? Have you ever thought about ditching your planner?
And it saves me some money each year too… I don’t need to buy all of the planning and goal-setting gear. I can use the money elsewhere.