Spring Clean Your Planner

If you made some new year’s resolutions, how are they going? Have you been making progress, or going in circles? Let’s have a spring clean. If you’re using a bespoke paper planner, such as a bullet journal, here are a few questions to ask yourself as you check-in with your goals:

• Are you using your planner? And, maybe a better question - do you look forward to using it? If you set up your planner and haven’t looked at it since, we need to figure out why that fuse fizzled. Changing habits can be difficult. The brain resists travelling off it’s well-worn path! Make your planner worthwhile, make it fun, and make time to use it!

• Are your pages working for you? It can be hard to change direction, especially if it means pages half-filled in or totally abandoned. You may find that you need to change up your approach every once in awhile to stay effective or to keep the journey interesting. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Forgive yourself. Turn the page. Your planner is a tool, and in this case it has helped you to move forward. Leave the page as a reminder of your journey, or rip the old page out and start fresh. This process is all about what works for you.

• Have you gotten sh*t done? Every quarter year is a great time to look back in your journal and see how far you’ve come. Check off all the things! Let go of anything that is no longer relevant! We often reach a goal and come up with a new finish line without celebrating that victory. Take a bit of time to congratulate yourself. You’re doing a great job.

If you’re new to Planning on Paper, I hope you’ll be able to join us on Saturday, April 27 at Gotamago’s studio/shop in Toronto! We’ll start from a blank notebook and build a system that’ll grow and change with you. Details and registration can be found at Gotamago’s site.