7 - Get crafty and creative!

One of my favorite things that the Passion Planner does for me is it provides an outlet for my creative, scrapbooking obsession. My plan is to have each year's planner be a journal of how I spent my time and things that were important to me. Maybe someday my kids will enjoy looking at what my world was like when they were little.

What do I use?

• Washi Tape - Thin rolls of tape, that you can find pretty much anywhere, that allow you to easily create straight lines and decorate areas that you want to bring attention to or just make pretty.

• Stickers - the possibilities are endless. I started with a pack that had birthday and holiday stickers and branched out from there.

• Colored pens and Highlighters - I've recently gotten comfortable with doodling instead of using stickers. Cheaper too!

What to do with the pages in the back?

• Notes 
• Doodling space
• Grocery list; go-to meal list
• Scrapbook of movie tickets, concerts, etc.
• Memory pages of what your kids are into at the moment
• Glue in adult coloring pages for times when you need a stress release

You can find a ton of great ideas at the Passion Planner site!

6 - Routine for Weekly Planning

You've successfully setup your planner, completed your Passion Roadmap, and made your first Passion Plan! Now what?

Now is when you really get into a routine and start really getting organized. Choose a day (I like either Saturday or Sunday) that you set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour preparing for the week ahead.

• Input all of your mandatory appointments in your calendar including classes, work, doctor's appointments, kids' activities, etc. If you're like me, you'll probably already have some of these put in ahead of time. Honestly, as soon as I know a date and time for something, it goes right into my weekly spread. You could also use your monthly spread to put future dates and then use that to transfer into your weekly spread on your planning days.

• I like to block out the time and color code things. I use an old shopper's card to draw straight lines to block out time-frames. Here are some examples of how you can color code, but the sky is the limit or you can just use pencil - whatever makes you happy!
• Weekends - Highlight in pink
• Work hours - Highlight in yellow
• My time - Purple
• Son's activities - Red
• Daughter's activities - Pink
• Family activities - Green

• Then, you can finish by planning other things, like Personal/Work To-Dos for the week, Daily Focus, or even block out dinner time and what you're planning for dinner that night. 

5 - Keep going - Passion Plan

Okay, so you have your roadmap, now what? It's time to create your trip itinerary - or in our case, your Passion Plan!

Your Passion Plan is a mind map that breaks down any goal into smaller and more manageable goals. So you basically look at your map and one of the places you want to go, then creating a step-by-step guide on how to get there!

How do you create a Passion Plan?
1 - Write down any goal from your Passion Roadmap in the middle of the page

2 - Write down as many necessary steps you must take or tasks you must complete to get you to your goal

3 - Go back to each step and add details to make them SMART:
     Specific - With whom, where, and when?
     Measurable - How many, how often, or how much?
     Achievable/Actionable- Ask yourself, can you assign this to someone else? If not, what details can you add to make that possible?
     Realistic - Is this a goal that you can honestly complete?
     Timeline - Assign a deadline to each action step

4 - Now write these tasks and the corresponding due dates in your weekly layout. Throughout the year, use these as checkpoints to keep you on track

4 - Getting started with the real work - Passion Roadmap

So, I said at the beginning that the reason why I got hooked on Passion Planner was the weekly layouts, which is still true. However, I have also fell in love with the "Passion Roadmap", which guides me to create a one-page overview of my short and long-term goals, leading to a more manageable "Passion Plan", breaking down the goal into smaller steps, which then builds into the "Weekly Layouts" giving me a place to incorporate the steps into my daily agenda.

Then, after you make your plan and put it into action, you're prompted to reflect on how you did during the "Reflection Pages" at the end of each month. I'll be honest, I haven't been the greatest at completing these, but we all have to have something to work toward, right?

Again, why? Why should you put the time into this when you're already so busy? It's kind of like going on a road trip. How do you know when to turn? How do you know how long it's going to take you? Which exit do you get off? I'm assuming you use a map or your GPS to get places that you haven't been before - otherwise you would just be roaming around hoping that you'd get there some day. You might get there eventually, but you'll be so tired and exhausted by then that you won't get to enjoy your destination. Similar to life - if you don't have a destination in mind and a plan in place, how are you going to know what to do day-by-day in order to get there? That's what goal setting and planning does for you - gives you a clear destination with a roadmap and directions to help you get there. Plus, it may seem like a lot of time upfront, but trust me, it saves a lot of time in the long run, making you more efficient and less stressed in your day-to-day life.

WHY does writing work?
Life is a juggling act - usually we are juggling so many things at one time that even the most skilled clown couldn't handle all those balls in their juggling routine. Our minds get cluttered with all of the things that we need to do, places to go, birthdays to remember, and the list goes on and on. When we are able to write these things down all in one place, it clears our mind of all of the clutter and allows us to be able to focus on one thing at a time. Then, all you have to do is open your planner to know what's on the burner for that day - taking away the anxiety of forgetting to do this or not having the time to do that. It's all right there - an easy to follow plan made by you!

Let's get started!

Grab a drink and about an hour to yourself. Get yourself into a relaxed, uninterrupted state of mind, and flip to the second page with "A Fresh Start" chart. (If that drink is wine, I get it - so is mine) Start writing to get your thoughts flowing - remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Just write!

Now onto the "Passion Roadmap" at the front of your planner! There are step-by-step tips to help you along the way. The first one that I did, I was really intimated - I wanted it to look perfect, I didn't want to write down something that was wrong. It actually took me about 3 minutes - once I started thinking specifically, it was pretty painless. And, guess what - you're the only one that's going to see it, so just go for it! Use a pencil if you need ;-)

Also, it may be helpful to split your roadmap into two, for personal and work goals. Whatever seems right for you is the right way to go! Happy mapping!

3 - Setting up your Passion Planner - undated

Alright, so you have your planner and the tools that you'll need to use it! So now what?

1. Give yourself about an hour to dedicate to setting up your planner.
2. If you purchased one of the undated planners, grab 2 different colored pens and get to work filling in the monthly calendars, writing in the month and dates. Double check your dates - I had a calendar up on my computer while filling out mine to make sure I was on the right day/date. I used a different color for writing the month and the dates. Not necessary, but fun! I also highlighted around the weekends, not necessary but again, fun!
3. As you go along filling out your monthly calendar, add in important dates like holidays, birthdays, etc. Have some fun decorating, use stickers, doodling, whatever brings you joy!
4. Once you have all of your monthly calendars filled out, create tabs for each of the monthly pages. I would suggest using smaller tabs for the monthly pages and then larger ones for the weekly spreads.
5. Once you get to the weekly pages, put a monthly tab on the page of the first week of the month. For these, I use larger tabs because I spend more time in my weekly pages than monthly ones.
6. Additionally, clip together all of the monthly spreads so that you can easily flip back and forth from the monthly spread and weekly spread of the month/week that you're in.

Other things I want to bring your attention to - MONTHLY SPREAD:

• This month's focus - a place to identify and write down your focus for the month in both your work and personal life
• People to see - list the people you want to see this month
• Places to go - list where you want to go this month
• Not to-do list - I like this to keep me on track with the things that I want to STOP doing, for example eating fast food!

Other things I want to bring your attention to - WEEKLY SPREAD:

• This week's focus - a place to identify and write down your specific focus for the week
• Good things that happened - I love this to keep me positive and appreciative of the positives in life. We can get so bogged down with all of the problems, negative things that happen to us. This makes us appreciate the good things in life!
• Weekly quote - these always inspire me and I try to take a few minutes throughout the week to think about what the specific quote means to me
• Weekly tip - really helpful tips to stay focused and reach your goals
• Personal and Work to-do list - a great place to keep a checklist of things that you need to remember and check them off as you complete them
• Space of infinite possibility - use it for whatever you want, but I use it to take notes, doodle, grocery lists, brainstorming, etc. 

NOTE - these field can be changed (by white-out or taping on a sheet of paper) based on you! For example, maybe you aren't as concerned with "people to see" and want to use this as a place to keep track of the # of days in the month that you worked out. See all of these extras that you can add to your Passion Planner. The options are endless!

Check out a video of the top 5 Passion Planner tips here. 

2 - It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to start!

So you want to get organized? Decrease the stress of trying to remember everything - or just make sure that you do what you need to do? Reach the goals that you've set for yourself - or just simply set some goals to work on? Help is here! Let's get started!

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not the epitome of organization (my hubby can attest to that) or setting goals and always keeping them, BUT I have found that when I schedule things, plan them, actually write them down - the greater the chance that I follow through and get them done. Just the process of writing them down and making a conscious decision and plan to do something, helps me stay accountable to myself. For example, writing down that I want to workout from 7-8pm tonight, glaring at me all day at work from my planner - keeps reminding me that I want to do this, I NEED to do this. Makes it harder to just brush it off once I get home and I'm exhausted from the day.

So where should we start? What's the tool that I've found to be the home for all of this? My Passion Planner, of course!

So what's the hype? Why is THIS planner so much better than any other planner on the market or an online calendar? For quite a few reasons, but the main one that got me hooked is the actual layout of the weekly pages.

My planner is an undated Monday start in the Classic size. Here are my reasons behind why I chose this customization:
1. Undated so I could start it whenever I wanted (and didn't have to wait until January for the yearly one or August for the academic one). Also because I like writing numbers, so going through and setting up the calendar was fun for me! I know, I'm a weirdo!
2. Monday start because I like seeing a fresh new week starting on Monday, since that's the first day of my work week. Being able to see my upcoming weekend through the work week is a refreshing reminder that there will be some fun at the end.
3. Classic size because I like lots of room to keep everything, yes EVERYTHING, that keeps my head on straight. More to come later on what I actually keep in here.

Want to check out their other options or really get started by ordering one? Go here and if you're ordering one, use my promo code (MANDY10) to get 10% off your regular-price purchases. Update - I'm not sure this code still works, but try it!

What else do you need? Honestly, you can get by with a pencil/pen and an old shopping or credit card to use as a straight edge. But why stop there? Here's what I use and keep close-by at all times:

• A pencil with an eraser - I make mistakes, there, I've said it
• A straight edge - I just use an old RiteAid shopping card
• Highlighters to use for color coding
• PaperMate InkJoy Gell Pens, Fine Point - I'm a pen addict, and these are awesome because they don't smear and help to make my planner pretty for color coding
• Fun stickers and washi tape (for when I'm feeling creative)
• Durable tabs to make monthly dividers. These are similar to what I use.
• A clip to hold pages of your planner together

1 - WHY?

Where to start? I've been told that starting with the WHY of something helps people to understand things better, so here we go.

I've always had a goal of writing a book someday, but I never knew what kind of book to write. When I was in elementary school, I wrote a book for an assignment about the haunted basement of our school. My illustrator skills have yet to be improved, so not much to grasp onto there. Once I had kids, I thought maybe I'd write a children's book, again - illustrator skills kinda scary. Now as a student success coach, helping online students be successful and reach their goals, I thought I could focus in on that area, since helping people (and students) be the best they can be and get the most out of their experiences (life, school, etc.) has been a passion of mine.

Enter - this blog. I figured this could be a safe way to start - books can take all forms, right? So why not blog? Everyone else is doing it, so I figured I would jump on the bandwagon!

So my goal with this blog is to help people get their life organized, be efficient, and reach their goals. The focus will be using Passion Planner as a tool to help us do this.

Passion Planner isn't just a planner. It's an awesome tool that helps you break down your short and long-term goals and incorporate them into your daily life. All the while staying organized and on-task, acting in the present. The busier I get, the harder I find it to remember things (work meetings, kids' activities and appointments, dinner with friends) - I write down everything in my Passion Planner, from what I'm making for dinner that night to work reminders and quotes I want to remember. It takes the stress off of me remembering what I need to do - opening up space in my head for important things - you know, like blogging!

My reasons why I LOVE using Passion Planner:

• You can customize it to fit your needs and lifestyle
• It helps me to stay positive and focus on the good things in life
• It ends up being a keepsake that maybe my kids will cherish someday...maybe
• It allows me to de-clutter my brain, manage my time, and be efficient
• It encourages me to stay focused while also seeing the big picture
• It's a place for me to be crafty, colorful, and creative

Read more about the Passion Planner here.