What Planner Peace really looks like with Richelle Shadoan
October 01, 2015
Hey everyone! My name is Richelle and I'm not your typical planner girl. My planner is a very important part of my life, but it's pretty ugly. When I see the gorgeous planners out there on Instagram and Pinterest, I sometimes get planner envy. But for me, a planner that keeps me in line is priority #1. So even though my planner is plain, it keeps my life on track and makes it easier for me to get things done, and that's a beautiful thing.
I've always been a lister. I have way too many things going on inside my head to keep them all straight without some sort of list. When I had a "real job", lists and a monthly calendar were enough, but since I've started my own business, I need a lot more help keeping things on track. I've tried store-bought planners, but I could never get them to work for me because I need my daily to-do list, weekly calendar and monthly highlights all together on one page. I figured this out my first year in business when i realized that Thanksgiving was only 3 days away and I hadn't taken my turkey out of the freezer. Oops.
Now I have a great planner which helps me track my day, week month, and year all in one place, as well as any big projects I've got going on. Even more importantly, I have a routine for planning. Every night, I make my plan for the following day. I try to keep my to-do list small and achievable, but of course, we all tend to load up our list with everything we hope to get done and disregard the fact that there are only so many hours in the day, so after I make my list, I give it a hard look and rank the items according to how important they are for moving me toward my goals. Then I jot down how long I think each task will take. This helps me remain realistic about what I can get done in a day.
It's important to put task on the list rather than projects. For example, if my goal for the day is to write a blog post I would need to outline the post, write a draft and edit it, then choose, edit, and upload pictures...You get the idea.
Check!
I love how flexible my planner is. I print them one month at a time and stitch them into one week booklets. I add a couple of sheets of lined paper, a copy my editorial calendar, plus any pertinent docs for the week. This week I'm in San Francisco, so I added my packing list, flight itinerary and lodging information. Once a month or so, I do a review and make note of anything that may have slipped through the cracks, or any brilliant ideas I scribbled down on the blank pages.
So that's basically it. Nothing fancy, cause that's how I roll, but super effective. And after all,
The best planner is the one you love to use and that gets the job done. click to tweet
Happy planning, everyone!
Richelle
PS: if you are interested in learning more about my planner, check it out here and download the free sample pages.
About Richelle
The Red Scorpio is Richelle. Or, maybe, Richelle is the Red Scorpio... Both. She is a perpetually curious, stay at home Mom of two 20-somethings, addicted to bliss. She loves sharing her passion for life, handmade, travel & fancy chickens. She developed a planner system that guides you to get stuff done. She makes unique, bold statement jewelry & her favorite thing is creating wearable memories from favorite photos. She blogs at theredscorpio.com
Check out her instagram challenge for October #redrocktober and as a contributor to my Planner peace class, Practically Perfect Planners coming this month!