Planning the Planner

I am terrified for when I am in a job that requires me to attend multiple events, meetings, interviews, lunches, teleconferences and returned phone calls while simultaneously finishing projects, email correspondences, research, presentations and the plans of all the events I have to attend. Worst part? I tend to be a pretty forgetful person. Not good. However, there is a silver lining to my forgetfulness. I, at least, recognize my forgetfulness, so I have had to try to figure out the best ways to keep myself organized with all the things I have to do during the week.

*Drum Roll* In walks my personal life saver: the planner! 

I will admit I am a kook about my planner, but it really does work. Plus, there are planners free online and paper planners tend to be pretty cheap. 

As society is evolving into the total-tech absorbed society it is, many people have started putting their planners online. Google Calendar has a great program for this. It allows you to share your calendar with your coworkers, create and share events and best of all it is linked with your email account, so if you set up a meeting through email you can automatically make it an event on your calendar. There's even a mobile app to take it on the go. A+ for organization!

Here's an easy step by step tutorial from Google on how to use Google Calendar. Definitely worth a read. https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/2465776?hl=en

Unfortunately, I am awful at remembering to add things to my digital calendars. I hardly ever check them, because I have to log on and wait for it to load. Although it can be really fast, I have to rely in the connection of the Internet to be able to use this and I don't always have access to Wi-Fi when I need it. Therefore, I am pro-stone age planner. Sometimes there's nothing better than good ol' pen and paper. You can even use digitally inspired organization tools to keep the paper planner just as organized. 

•  Use different colored high lighters or pens to keep events separate. I recommend the use of different colored pens, because highlighting can get a little out of hand and run together to create this murky brown color that isn't useful. 
• Buy a planner that has time separation lines within your paper planner to keep every hour of your day scheduled out. 
• Tab specific events that are important or projects you need to remember. You can buy little Sticky Notes at Wal-mart for incredibly cheap. Put the Sticky Note at the edge of your planner to draw attention to it. This also helps minimize the Sticky Notes that can end up covering your computer, desk or wall. 
• Make yourself some happy "notes" to keep your spirits high. 

It doesn't matter which planner, digital or paper, you decide to use. Either way the most important part of having a planner is that you use it regularly and religiously. You have to make sure you are always adding everything that needs to get done as soon as you can get to it, otherwise it isn't worth it. You won't believe just how much of a difference planning your day can make on your stress level. Think of it as a mini head massage every time you look at it.