Slice of Life: Passion Planner™ 10 of 31

For the month of March, I'll be writing with the Slice of Life community. Disclaimer: I'll be writing every day so the writing will be a bit unpolished most days. Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for bringing this community together and for inspiring me to try to find the stories that surround me each day.

A special thank you to Clare for today's post.  Clare, I appreciate your comments --- and especially those that ask a question that leads to new writing.  

If you know me, you know I'm pretty digital:  most all of my notes are kept in Evernote, I'm an eBook enthusiast, and I might be a bit addicted to Twitter.  It makes sense that for years and years, I put everything in my digital calendar.  When calendars started to send notifications to your screen, my life became even better.

If you know me, you know I'm so digital that the next sentence is going to throw you for a loop.  I'm in love with my paper calendar.  No, it's true.  You just read that.  Maybe it's the change in my work.  My calendar certainly has more reminders of places I need to be these days.  Maybe it's the near catastrophes with a digital calendar.  Let's face it, we've all had those update nightmares where suddenly our calendar commitments have momentarily disappeared or can only be found on our computers.  Whatever the reason, the calendar goes everywhere I do.

To be fair, it isn't any paper calendar, it's a Passion Planner™ --- and it's the bomb!  I learned about it from a friend I work alongside every day.  Each time we'd schedule something, she'd harmoniously pull out her Passion Planner™, write the date, add a couple of notes, and return the calendar to her bag.  I began to envy her ability to see her month with a glance, to jot quick reminders alongside, to see her daily schedule so well planned out.  Finally, I decided to give it a try and I have never looked back.

People who know me well are often shocked to see me pull out a paper planner, and are even more surprised when I start to gush about it.  Here are some of the reasons I think the Passion Planner™ is a game changer:

1. Monthly Views:  I can see each month at a glance.  This is how I write down appointments and meetings.  No more tiny dots on every day of the month.  Now I can see the real events.
2. Weekly Views:  Each Sunday night I sit down with my calendar, look at the week on the monthly view, and plan out each day.  This really helps me to get organized for the week.  Writing the events seems to help things stick, and has saved me more than once when I need to have something prepared in advance.  
3. Daily Views:  Within each week, the daily view is set up by time so I can map out the day minute by minute.  I color code my school events and personal events.  
4. To-Dos:  This is my favorite part!!!  At the bottom of each week, there are two columns of to-dos. There's a column for work to-dos and a column for personal to-dos.  There are three levels:  top priority, priority, and errands.  This has been a game changer.  What I like most is the ability to put a task needed to be completed weeks away from now on my calendar.  Let's say I have to have a document prepared for May, I just put the task mid-April on my to-do list.  (Of course, I love being able to check off the to-dos when they are done!)
5. Focus:  The calendar has a spot to write a monthly and weekly focus.  I sometimes just jot down a word to keep me focused for the week.  
6. Reflections:  The calendar also has a place to reflect at the end of each month.  
7. Space of Infinity Possibility:  I love to web thinking, list around a topic, or sketch a new idea in the space provided at the bottom of each week.  
8. Journaling:  The back has blank pages and grid pages for journaling.  I keep a lot of lists back there and notes about particular topics.  
9. The pocket:  Oh, I almost forgot the wonderful pocket.  You know those papers you need all the time:  lists of phone numbers, assessment benchmarks (oh, that's probably just me), and inspirational clippings, they fit nicely in the pocket in the back.  
10. Planning:  I drop the ball here for sure, but the calendar has places to set goals for 3 months, 1 year, 3 years, and a LIFETIME.  Yes, I said lifetime and that one always scares me a bit.  

Whew!  Sorry, I was gushing, but I just love this life book.  It's a game changer for sure!!!!  While I do still keep a digital calendar, I can't imagine being as organized and productive without my Passion Planner™.  It goes with me everywhere.  If I lost it, I think my world would come to a crashing halt.  It's a book I just can't live without.  I've already tweeted Passion Planner™ to see when next year's academic calendar will be available.  They're saying April or May.  I'm hoping April as my calendar for August is already starting to fill up.