How I'm Using Multiple Planners for 2017


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Hello everyone! It's a new year which means a fresh start with more goals and more planners - to make sure I achieve those goals! While I typically stick to one, comprehensive planner, this year, I've decided to give multiple planners a shot. It definitely takes up a lot more desk space, but I'm hoping it will also help to clarify and organize my goals for the year.

I'm one of those crazy people that has to write everything down. Whether that's by jotting it down on a post-it note, telling Siri (my bff) to create a reminder, or filling up every nook and cranny on my planner. Last year, I used the Day Designer as my planner for everything - home, blog, work, etc. As organized and beautiful as the Day Designer is, with all that was going on in my life, I found that I was getting a little bit lost with all of my to-dos in the same place. If I thought of a new blog idea, I jotted it down. If I remembered I needed to call my dentist, I jotted it down. If I wanted to do a new DIY project, I jotted it down. In the end, the pages were flooded with thoughts and ideas that weren't necessarily achievable to-do's but more so anything and everything I wanted to do in my lifetime! 

So, for the upcoming year (in an attempt to organize the chaos that happened last year!) this is how I plan to utilize my planners and why I think these specific planners will work best! 

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Day Designer: I love the set-up of the Day Designer and always planned on getting one for the 2017 year because I still find it to be the best system for organizing the majority of my life. This year, I'll be using it for all the to-do's around the house, at work, and for fun! The Day Designer will serve as my control center for day-to-day plans because it provides the best set-up for each day. I like that I will be able to schedule my time on the daily schedule as well as list all of my small task to-do's for the day. 

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Moleskin: The things that really overcrowded my Day Designer last year, were all of my blog plans and blog to-do's! This year, I've separated all things related to my blog into a smaller moleskin weekly planner. This planner's set up is perfect for blogging. It has a weekly view on one side where I can see upcoming blog posts I have planned and plain lined paper on the other side where I can list/jot down blog ideas. I'm really excited about this one because it seems like such a perfect fit! I won't have as many to-do's associated with my blog, so a smaller planner is the perfect size, and the plain lined paper gives me so much more flexibility to use it as I see fit! 

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Cultivate What Matters: PowerSheets - In 2016, and for most of my life, I struggled with setting realistic, attainable goals. I'm a dreamer. There are so many things I want to do someday, somehow, some way - but I'm never going to achieve all of those things if I can't set up a realistic plan! The PowerSheets are great for people like me because they help you jot down all of your wandering thoughts and guide you towards honing in on specific goals. I plan on using it this year to track daily, weekly, and monthly goals more thoroughly. So far, it has been a great place for me to check back in with my goals every couple of days. My favorite part of these sheets has been the continuous reminders that it's okay to be messy and change your mind about your goals! I tend to get a little bummed out when I feel like I haven't achieved what I wanted to, but these constant reminders and refresh worksheets give me a chance to re-do my goals every couple of months which is great for an indecisive person like me! After a couple months of using the PowerSheets, I plan on doing a full review so stay tuned for that! 

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Bonus: Trello - I've blogged about Trello in the past in a post on my favorite organizing apps - and it truly is! On top of all of my planners, I use Trello for more broad, far-in-the-distance type projects and random things I want to do that aren't relevant to my day-to-day goals (i.e. someday, I want to try eyelash extensions, but does that need to go on my Day Designer? Probably not!). 

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Whew! That was a lot! What can I say? I'm a little crazy about planners and organizing - it's so fun! This is the first time, I've tried using multiple planners so it'll be a new experience for me. Hopefully, for the better! What planners are you using for the upcoming year? Have you tried using multiple planners before? Leave me a comment! I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

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Twenty Seventeen Resolutions


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This is the first year where I'm so incredibly relieved for the end of a year. 2016 was full of ups and downs for me and to be perfectly honest, I'm not great with roller coasters - emotional ones or real-life ones! Despite all of the ups and downs, I think I'm even more excited for this new year because it is a fresh start. A fresh start that I hope will bring more focus and direction into my life.

Last year I chose to focus on health as my word of the year and while the year started out well, the emotional ups and downs of my year threw any thought of health out the window. Meh. Nobody is perfect, right? Despite not really focusing on health this past year, I did learn a lot about the factors in my life that contribute to my health both mentally and physically. Feeling unhappy through half of the year taught me a lot about the things that actually do contribute to my happiness (a cozy home, my hobbies, a non-stressful commute!), and the things that don't contribute to my happiness (money, a fancy job title).

Over the past year, I spent too much time working towards what I thought I wanted because of what societal pressure, peer pressure, and even my own confused mind told me I wanted. So this year, I'm choosing to focus on a phrase: It's your journey. It may not be particularly eloquent or universally inspiring, but it's how I want to re-focus my mind. This year, I want to ditch comparing my journey to those of my peers and focus on my journey, however it might unfold. It might be full of mistakes, hard times, confusion, and at times, complete disarray! - but it's also full of achievements, small milestones, and happy times that I want to relish and remember.

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I'm excited for 2017 because I'm excited for a refresh on life. As strange as this year has been for me, I'm still optimistic about the future and so excited for all of the things to come. I know the journey won't be easy or perfect - but I'm going to try my best to remember that it's my journey and no one else's.

I hope you all are having a wonderful star to your new year and that you are ready for all the great things that are in store. Remember, It's your journey - it's challenging, it's exciting, it's unique, and it's yours alone to experience it, so enjoy it ♥ Happy new year, everyone! 

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December in Photos


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December was quite the busy month for me! Filled with holidays, lots of pet-sitting, and adventures in the snow - but also a lot of cozy at home time as well. This is my second year without a winter break and there are definitely moments when I wish I could rewind and go back to those school years when I had 4 weeks off of school! I'm lucky enough that I got to take a whole week off of work but it's definitely not the same as a homework-free month at home :)

This past year has been a little bit of a crazy one for me, so I'm hoping that this upcoming year will be one with much more focus and stability! More on my new year's resolutions to come in a future blog post! I hope you all had a wonderful December - and Happy New Year!