"" The Preppy Strawberry: Tips for staying organized

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Tips for staying organized

Keeping track of every last appointment, dance class, gymnastics, swimming,  and my work schedules can be is exhausting!  Even with all of today’s technology, I still love my paper planner!  Honestly, this love for a paper planner goes all the way back to 1997 at my first official FT job out of college.   My employer had us take this Franklin Covey class – let me tell you this was the best thing I took from that job!  I still today use the Franklin Covey principles when I’m making a to do list.  Don’t get me wrong,  I also depend on my iPhone for my 2 hour alerts before an appointment.  

Last year, I went with just one planner and it was just for my blog but it became bogged down with more personal stuff taking over my calendar than blog stuff so this year I’m trying something different.  This year, I put together  two planners – One for all my personal every day responsibilities and one just for blog planning and brainstorming. The blog planner also includes stuff for both of my blogs and business website which are all in the works of being revamped and re-designed.  This year my goal is to keep notes on what works for me in these planners and as the year goes on make my own printable for next year.

Organizing the To Do list

If your to do list is anything like mine it never ends even on the weekends!  I’m going to share with you how I prioritize my daily task list.   Now, this works for me but may not work best for you or  you might find this tip helpful. It might even be something you try for week and see if it works!  

If your not familiar or never used one of the Franklin Covey Planners here’s what I mean about prioritizing your daily task.  The concept behind the daily prioritized task list is make your list of things you need to complete and then you rank them in order of importance.  I love this approach because you go into each day with the feeling that  it’s Ok if the list doesn’t get completed that day because the next day these become your priority.  You keep doing this every day because we all know the list never ends ;) 

I loved the Franklin Covey planner pages so much that in my early career days, I purchased 2 Franklin leather binders – I still have them and every time I get into the “pitch” mode they seem to make the cut!  Probably because of how expensive they were to buy and I keep thinking I’m going to use it again. 

Once you have your to list you will rank it – this is the Franklin Covey Method that I use and have used for a long time. 

A = The most valuable things you could accomplish today
B = Important, but they could wait if necessary
C = Would be nice to get done, but they won't lose value if postponed

 

symbol list

franklin covey sample

 

 

This year, I purchased both blog planners from Jennifer at I heart organizing.  Her planners are so colorful – I just love all the colors and I had a hard time choosing the cover to my personal planner.  You can find her etsy shop here and her blog here.  

I made a few additions to my blog planner.   I ended up adding a few pages that were not included in her planner but below is a look inside my 2014 blog planner.   It was so easy to put together and once I had it assembled I took it to Office Max to have them spiral bind them all up!

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

Cover page for Blog Planner

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

Sample Calendar Pages for 2014

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

 

 

Some pages from my personal planner

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

My favorite planner markers …. I like to color code ;)

 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

Each week has it own planning week so you can just see that one week!! 

blog planner cover - The Preppy Strawberry

I added the meal planning pages in addition to the regular planner because I need to be better about meal planning for the week.  I’m hoping this will help. 

 

How do you stay organized? 

 

Amy

2 comments:

  1. I used to use and love a paper planner, but the last couple of years I have just used Google Calendar since I can access it on my laptop or phone. My husband is all connected to it... I do like the idea of a paper organizer though for my blog! I love yours!

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