Planning & Productivity: What’s Working Now

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One of the things that I appreciate about Mystie Winkler’s e-courses is that sometimes in order to encourage herself and course members to review (or actually work though!) the material, she will offer bonus chats or accountability sessions. This past week, she had several online chats for Work the Plan members, and they ended up motivating me to finish reading through and watch the videos in the Work the Plan course itself. I think the timing was perfect for me because I wanted to get back into the swing of things after being sick, and we also have a break week and new interval coming up. And although I’m usually more of a “plodder” than a “project person” (one of the helpful distinctions Mystie has made in several of her chats), I actually have a pretty major project I need to complete in the the next two months (planning a trip!). So I’m pretty motivated to get back on the planning track. 🙂

I’m slowly learning that I don’t have to follow someone else’s suggestions or plans to a “T” in order to benefit from them. 😉 That might be obvious to most people, but I tend to vacillate between perfectionism (and guilt when I don’t measure up) and fierce independence (“Don’t tell me what to do!”). One of the paradoxes of being an INFP, I suppose. But just as I tweak AmblesideOnline to fit our needs, I can glean much from Mystie’s courses without feeling like I have to follow all her suggestions. Here are a few of the things I’ve learned from her:

I need to make evening & weekly reviews a habit. I’ve been better about checking and updating my plans this year, but consistency of time and place needs improvement.
I was reminded of my “vocations” again (homemaker, educator, etc.) and the need to filter opportunities through them. I’ve started a list of vocational goals for 2018 in my bullet journal.
I need to be better about doing regular brain dumps and writing things down right away as they come to mind. I’m horrible about going weeks at a time with a need repeatedly coming to mind (something like “get more dish detergent”), but nothing is done because I don’t write it down. :/

So what’s working right now for me? After trying a pre-printed planner last year, I’m back to the bullet journal. In order to avoid drawing up my own monthly calendars and to make things prettier, I printed out the free pages from Classically Homeschooling in a smaller size (I printed and cut them all out at once and store them in the back pocket of my Leuchtturm).

I have a future planning section near the front of my bullet journal to record upcoming events, and then I put the relevant ones on the calendar at the beginning of each new month. For weekly planning, I’ve been loving this simple layout with the days of the week written vertically with my new favorite Paper Mate pens – a different color for each month. 🙂 Sundays are generally pretty quiet, so I only need space for six days. I list out any events for each day, as well as the tasks I want to accomplish. The space seems about right – not too much so I’m tempted to bite off more than I can chew. 😉 I also love my rediscovered black Zig Ball pen, bought during my scrapbooking days. But sadly it seems they don’t make it anymore, so if anyone has a ballpoint pen they love, please let me know!

Of course, the bullet journal is meant to be a catch-all for plans and ideas of all sorts, so I also have things like my Bible-in-a-year plan pasted in there, the start of a much needed master grocery list, and fitness challenges of various sorts to try (the strategically-placed one above is attached by Washi tape and won’t stay there 😉 – Miss A and I start it today). I do need a system for catching random ideas and shopping lists and things of that sort, so I am trying sticky notes on the weekly page in order not to take up more space in my journal.

For school planning, I am still copying and pasting each AmblesideOnline term into a Word document, making changes, and printing it out for my binder. Then I use that to make daily checklists in notebooks for the boys. Mr. L has a little one that fits perfectly in the front of this container that also holds his math book, Bob books, and letter stickers for labeling his Paddle-to-the-Sea map. I am using Trello to make Miss A’s checklist each week, so I don’t need to print out her term plan.

So that’s what is working for me right now – there will probably be tweaks later on as things change or I get bored. 😛 But it’s good to have found something that fits my personality and needs!