Out And About: Why Your Planner Should Leave The House

Yes, I take my planner everywhere. Yes, I recommend that you get a planner small enough and a bag big enough and do the same.

Most mornings, I take my children (and my planner) into the city for school carpool drop-off. 

(Ironically, we moved to the suburbs for the good public schools when my firstborn was a baby. Pretty soon after we signed the final papers to buy the house, our neighborhood was redistricted to a failing public school. Yippee.)

After dropping the kids off, I usually go straight home. However, if I have any errands in the city, I get those done while I am in town. Today, I need to go to a bookstore to buy a Christmas present and to get gas (cheaper in the city). But the bookstore is not open for another couple of hours, which means that I have time to kill. I also need coffee.

You see, Loki told me that he knows Santa still brings presents to the naughty kids because he was naughty last year and still got gifts. Then, he proceeded to attempt to prove his theory by breaking his brother's toy and screaming at me. 

After explaining that Santa's standards are different for big Kindergarten kids, I really wanted wine. But the darn coffee shops around here only sell coffee before noon. That's probably for the best. So I got my coffee and settled in with my laptop and my planner to waste my free time and calm down.  

I can check email, scroll Facebook, and blog at the coffee shop. (I also should go ahead and pay that speeding ticket {wide, innocent eyes - don't hate me, Santa}, but I forgot to bring an envelope.)

(My apologies for the quality of the picture below. The cell phone camera sucks. Also, the operator of the cell phone camera sucks.)

(Your photographer did not get any less crappy on the second try at a decent picture. This is the problem with blogging on the go combined with weak technical skills. Know thy strengths and thy weaknesses, I say!)

Exception To The Rule Of Taking Your Planner Everywhere: If you have a job that requires a really large planner with a daily schedule, consider a smaller planner or notebook that functions as a portable planner. But you do need to schedule to sync the two regularly and follow through...and that is more of a pain than I am willing to commit to doing.

Why take your planner?

Well, when the school calls to see if I can substitute teach, I can tell them immediately. While I am near the stores, I can pick up a couple of extra things on my Christmas list and cross them off. When I run my errands, I can mark them off immediately and not "have to remember" to scratch them out. If I have extra time, I can go through my "phone" list and make those calls.

Mostly, though, taking my planner means that I can rely on it. I don't have to worry if I get in a wreck. All the insurance information is in my planner. If there is an emergency, I have a list of people to contact (ones to pick the kids up from school and ones that need to know). If my husband calls to tell me about the company Christmas party, I can jot it down immediately.

And if Loki talks smack about Santa, I can go ahead and write a letter to Santa, explaining the lack of Christmas spirit in our home right now!

Basically, I am aware of my weaknesses (including a poor memory during high stress times, a complete lack of any sense of spatial awareness, and a bad, though enthusiastic, singing voice) and my strengths (including writing, organizing, and drinking coffee). (Drinking coffee is totally a strength.) 

I have designed my planner to compensate for those things that are difficult for me. I hope you do the same. My planner use pattern should not match yours exactly, since you have different strengths and weaknesses. But you cannot compensate for weaknesses if your planner isn't with you, freeing you to think, to dream, and to accomplish.

While on the subject of dreaming, I wouldn't mind if Santa went ahead and brought me that wine.

Etcetera.

P.S. I just sang "Down to the River" out loud at the coffee shop. The strange looks imply that I am as bad a singer as I think I am. :)