Somewhere in your house is a planner from three years ago with exactly four pages filled out. Maybe five, if you count the page where you wrote your name in really pretty handwriting. We know because we have one too.
Every year, we convince ourselves that THIS is going to be the year. We’ll get organized, remember birthdays, plan meals, keep appointments straight, drink more water, and maybe even become one of those women who knows what’s for dinner before 5:30 p.m. So we buy a beautiful new planner, pick out some colorful pens, and get started.
And then life happens. Two weeks later, the planner is underneath a stack of mail, the grocery list is on the back of an envelope, and we’re back to writing reminders on our hands. Sound familiar?
Why Is It So Hard to Stick With a Planner?
Here’s something we’ve learned: Sometimes the problem isn’t that we’re disorganized. It’s that we’ve made getting organized too complicated. We start with great intentions, but somewhere along the way, planning becomes another chore on an already overflowing to-do list.
Some planners have a place for everything, including goals, habits, meals, exercise, gratitude, finances, water consumption, and probably a little box to document whether you’ve achieved inner peace before breakfast. That’s wonderful if you enjoy tracking all those things, but some of us just need to remember that the dentist appointment is Thursday and somebody has to pick up the grandkids.
A planner should make your life easier, not give you another reason to feel behind.
The Secret Is to Start Small
If you’ve bought planners before and never stuck with them, don’t start by trying to organize your entire life. Instead, begin with a few simple habits that are easy to maintain.
Write down what’s already happening. Appointments, meetings, birthdays, school activities, and anything else you absolutely cannot forget should have a place on your calendar. Getting those dates out of your head and onto paper is a good first step.
Make a realistic to-do list. Not the 37 things you’d like to accomplish if you suddenly developed superpowers. Pick three important things you actually need to get done today. If you finish those, congratulations! Everything else is a bonus.
Spend five minutes looking ahead. Whether it’s in the morning with your coffee or before bed, take a few minutes to see what’s coming tomorrow. Move anything you didn’t finish today and make a little room for the unexpected, because there’s always something unexpected.
You don’t need an elaborate planning ritual. You need a system that works on an ordinary Tuesday.
What If I Miss a Week?
Then you miss a week, and that’s perfectly fine. One of the biggest reasons people stop using planners is that they miss a few days and feel like they’ve failed. They open their planner, see all those empty pages, and decide they’ve already ruined the whole thing.
But a planner isn’t a report card. You don’t get extra credit for filling in every square, and nobody is coming to your house to inspect your calendar.
This is one reason we love undated planners. If life gets crazy and you don’t touch yours for two weeks, you can pick up right where you left off. There are no wasted pages, no guilt, and no reason to wait until next January to start again. Just turn the page and keep going.
There’s Something About Putting Pen to Paper
Maybe it’s the satisfaction of crossing something off a list, or perhaps it’s being able to see your whole week without opening another app or checking another notification. There’s something comforting about having one little place where all those thoughts bouncing around in your head can finally land.
Writing things down gives you a chance to sort through what’s important, what can wait, and what probably didn’t need to be on your list in the first place. And there’s nothing quite like drawing a big, satisfying line through something you’ve finished.
Sometimes we even write down something we’ve already done just so we can cross it off. Don’t judge. You know you’ve done it too.
Your Planner Doesn’t Have to Be Pretty
Now, we love a pretty planner. We really do. But if yours has crossed-out appointments, coffee stains, scribbled grocery lists, and a reminder to call your sister written sideways across the page, that’s perfectly fine. It means you’re actually using it.
Your planner isn’t supposed to impress anybody. It’s supposed to help you keep up with your life, and that life might be busy, messy, unpredictable, and occasionally held together with coffee and a prayer. That’s okay too.
A Little Fat & Happy Advice
At Two Friends Talking, we believe being Fat & Happy means having enough. Enough confidence to be yourself, enough wisdom to know what matters, and enough grace to laugh when things don’t go according to plan.
It also means having enough common sense to realize that buying a planner won’t magically organize your life. But using one in a way that works for you can make a difference.
So dig that planner out of the drawer, find a pen that works, and write down three things you need to do tomorrow. If you don’t get all three done, there’s always another page.
You’ve got things to do, places to go, and a life to enjoy. Your planner is just along for the ride.
Need a fresh start?
Explore our Sassy Pants and Ocean Zen paper planners at TwoFriendsTalking.com. They’re undated, flexible, and made for real life, because getting organized should feel good, not like another job.