Breakfast and Bedtime: Connecting Daily With Your Planner

Probably the planner problem that I hear the most about is the issue of a person who writes things down, but forgets to look in a planner daily. I've shared some tips before for using your planner every single day, but today's tip is really the key to using it.

Use it at breakfast.

And use it at bedtime.

(Aside - I can't help but notice that my breakfast picture did not include coffee. Rest assured that such an Unforgivable Oversight would never happen and that coffee was cheerfully consumed in the making of this blog post.)

Seriously, have a morning routine that includes glancing at your planner, even if you don't look at it the rest of the day. For me, it's over my morning coffee. There used to be days when I forgot to check my planner, but by setting an alarm on my cell phone for three weeks or so, I trained myself to open it daily. My brain created the association between morning coffee and my planner. It makes me happy and calm. It lets me function. It lets me be a better human being. And, most of all, it frees me from thinking about whether I've checked my planner. 

When I reach for my coffee cup these days, I automatically grab my planner and look over the day. At a minimum, I check the monthly page and the weekly page. If I have time, I also check the status of my projects.

Also, if you don't have one yet, create an evening routine that involves your planner. Maybe it's after dinner. Before you brush your teeth? Perhaps you put on your jammies and cuddle up with your planner. Just pick something that you do anyway, almost every night, and make the connection between that action and checking your planner.

This check is mostly to jot down anything bothering me before going to sleep, to make sure I have appropriate clothing for errands or appointments the next day, and to load anything into my launchpad that needs to leave the house with me tomorrow.

Etcetera.

P.S. If you click on that "launchpad" link, you'll get a glimpse at a classic Giftie Etcetera blog entry. Some of them are really funny. Some of them are ranty. And some of them are really personal. But they do show the history of my blog before I became so almost famous.

By almost famous, I mean that the visitor clicks are now in the thousands, instead of just my nearest and dearest real life friends. I'm pretty sure most of my real life friends are not Planner'ds and don't read regularly. They think we are "strange." Shhh, don't tell them how many of us there are.