But I hear reports from the planner community that many people journal in their planners. There are pros and cons to using your planner as a journal.
I like the idea of recording my life and writing daily; journaling in my planner would help me do just that in greater detail. Also, one of the main reasons that I prefer paper over e-planning methods is because of the record that paper creates. Another reason is because of the tactile nature of writing. Journaling gives me more opportunities to write.
But there are huge downsides. One downside is that your planner is not very private in some households. A second downside is that journaling takes up precious planner space.
No worries, though. I come armed with suggestions. (And mousetraps. I'm going to get you, little Mouse. {evil laugh}{tinged with a bit of sadness because I really want him just to go back outside and not die})
One option is to use your project section to journal, but file it away (privately) at home. That way, you solve the privacy issue (except for the current entries) and the space problem (since you are filing it away at home). Personally, my planner is off-limits without express permission anyway. You can file the journal entries away during your weekly review.
The above picture is just a sample, though, because I don't actually do that. After all, I blog almost daily. That sort of works as a journal for me.
Instead, I doodle one sentence about my day - or one memory - on the completed weekly space for the day in my planner.
That way, I can quickly and regularly write down things that I want to always remember. Sometimes, it's a struggle that I had. Sometimes, a success. Often, it's something quirky that my children say, like this conversation that happened in my home:
"Can I play Disney Infinity, Daddy?" -Loki, age 5
"No." -Daddy, age OLD
"Can I play Disney Infinity, Mommy?" -Loki, still age 5
"I said 'no.' Mommy and I are a team. You don't get to ask her after I say 'no.'" -Daddy, still age OLD
"I was just asking if she was letting you say no." -Loki
How could I NOT record that conversation in my planner?!? Ha ha! So I write it in the day's block as I do my daily review of my planner.
Here's what it looks like when I am done writing my journal entry.
Tip: Write your journal entry in your secondary, highlighting color so it pops out.
Gratuitous Mouse Update (because I pretty much cannot think about anything else): My husband put Nestle Crunch bars on the traps, since evidence in the candy bowl suggests that Crunch bars are Mouse's favorite food. Nothing. Mouse is missing and presumably lives on, most likely under my fridge. :(
Etcetera.
8 comments:
I don't journal anymore but when I did it was ultra private, we are talking hidden away private. Not that my life was so exciting that it warranted it, but I just wanted to be sure I could be completely honest in it without fear of anyone reading it. I don't think I'd ever journal in my planner other than stuff like funny quotes or stories. There is someone at my workplace who once went through an ancillary staff member's bag, found her journal, and made copies of it. Pure evil. This poor girl had issues as it was but to have her private thoughts blasted like that for her coworkers to read, no thanks.
But I def do like the idea of On This Day entries into planner. I've tried to do that on my preliminary weeklies. It should come in handy if I ever catch up one Project Life.
at the beginning of each school year, i print journal pages, intending to use them in my homeschool planner. they sit there unused. i wish i could get into the habit of writing just a sentence or two each day.
Thank you for this entry- I think I will start journaling in my planner. I started to journal for NOJOMO-
and was using an old planner for that- but too inconvenient so the journaling didn't happen.
On a side note… I recently found my VERY OLD
"diary's". I was in middle school and wrote everything that happened in a calendar- too funny. But at the same time, there were some interesting events… a teacher strike, the year we were out of school for a week due to snow, etc. As much as I enjoyed reading those, I will def now be writing more in my planner about my days. (The calendars from high school I might need to BURN so my children never see the entries, "skipped school, went to party, etc……." LOL
I am experimenting with a bullet journal. The one thing I really like about it is writing the most significant thing that happened each day on the monthly page.
I love this! I like to doodle an image for each day in my planner but sometimes I don't have time so I may write a word or few words. I love to look back at my colorful pages.
On the mouse- I've had luck with a live trap and peanut butter or bird seed. I was able to trap the little bugger and relocate him. They are tricky to set up but worth it if you can't handle killing it :)
I got around this dilemma by buying a cute page-a-day planner. It's impractical to use as a "real" planner for appointments and such but every night just about, I've written a few words about my day. I also made a note of when I finished books and as a way to track my migraines. The front of the planner had a "notes" section so I would write the dates and titles of finished books and the dates and intensities of migraines.
I don't think I'm going to keep this up in 2014 (the page-a-day portion) since I've gotten back into the habit of introspective writing every night. I have transferred the finished book list and (more importantly) the migraine list into my new ring bound planner.
The migraine list has been a godsend when I finally saw a specialist! She said she wished more people took notes about their headaches.
Yup, a journaling girl. That' why I have to have 2PPD so I can fit it all on there. My kids love reading stuff. I have 20 years of our lives recorded. Good, bad, ugly. I regret throwing away my high school ones, seein my kids struggle I wish they could see I did too. Its part of growing up, but now its just words. The journals would have made it real I think. Yup, peanut butter works great for mice because they have to work to get it off. Then lots of patience, we had one that was extremely efficient and it took weeks before we got him.
I keep a separate journal, both for privacy reasons and because I prefer bound books with pretty covers for my journals. However, I do keep a a record of certain things in my planner, like if something special happened. I'll just jot down a note about it, but wrote about it in depth when I have a moment to journal. And since I don't get the time to journal every day, I keep a list of topics in my planner to refer to when I do get the time. It might be more work (and perhaps a little cheesy) but it works for me. So when I have a moment to write, I take out my list and away I go!
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