To Plan or Not to Plan?

New Year Resolutions?

I get it. We jot down the goals, we watch them die slowly, and sometimes even quickly, as the weeks turn into months. So what is the point? 

Half way through 2018 I gave up on planners. I stowed my planner away into the depths of a drawer and decided that I would just wing it the rest of the year. I was tired of the empty spaces on my planner which to me equated to failing at having my life together. For that reason I was ready to try something new. No planners. No dates. Just a list.

After two months, I realized that this was not working out for me so I started doing research on ways of planning and I found out about Bullet Journaling. It sounded like something I could work with. I read a bit about the system and got myself a dot matrix notebook. It was when I sat with my pens in hand that realized I had not invested enough time into learning the system. I felt lost. I was not ready to create a bullet journal and I was also not prepared to spend the time learning it. 

Before this, I had been using Passion Planner from 2016. It has options for an undated planners, year planners and academic year planners. I briefly considered getting an undated planner but for the reason of just wanting things simple and straightforward, I decided to stick with a dated planner. Though I disliked seeing empty spaces on my planner, it helped me feel more accountable. I liked working with a list of things to accomplish within the month and breaking them down into weeks and into daily tasks or appointments. I really liked the ease of not having to determine this myself. For this reason I decided that I would give my passion planner another chance. The years that I had used it did help bring more order to my life than I had in the latter part of 2018 - and I only realized this after giving up on it.

Instead of running away from the blank spaces, I want to work towards understanding that everything cannot and will not always be planned. I want to help myself understand that with successful planning one has to learn to be flexible and also kind to oneself. I am human, and it is alright to have blank spaces. It is alright to fall back on plans when you're tired or busy. It is alright to put other things first, like family, friends, neighbors. And if this is why your planner is blank - people matter most - always.

(Photo Credit: Plush Design Studio on Unsplash)