Rest and Rejuvenation Day 23: Planner set up

I was in the sixth grade when I was given my first planner. I haven’t stopped using it since. When I first found bullet journaling in 2015, I tried that out. All of this to say, I came to realize early on that I needed a system to keep everything in line. The feeling of crossing out a task I’ve finished is absolutely amazing.

When it came to doing what I wanted to accomplish in 2021, I knew that I wanted a planning system. While I had been doing bullet journaling seriously since 2016, I knew that it was no longer a system that worked for me. I didn’t always have the time to create the spreads and it was too time consuming to come up with spread ideas that could work week to week. I knew I wanted to go back to a premade planner system. Which is how I came up with the system I have for this year.

I don’t remember when I was introduced to the Happy Planner but I knew I wanted to go back to the system for the new year. I love the idea of using the disc bound system to create spreads that I could use. I ended up finding out what frankenplanning was, and I was sold. Essentially, you take the various types of planners The Happy Planner has and put them together into a planner in the way you want. For 2021, I found four different styles I liked and put them in a planner. It took a while to put it all together but I am so happy with how it ended up.

I am planning on creating content in four areas, have a job, and help my best friend plan her wedding among other things. I have always liked the idea of time blocking but that was difficult to do when it came to a bullet journal. While setting up this specific planner, I am only given a certain amount of space and a certain number of hours to get my work done. Not only does this force me to be more stringent with my timing and tasks but it also forces me to make decisions about what is important. This has also helped me fix my sleep schedule which is always great.

I have the type that has each day broken down into three sections. I broke them down to work, LSAT, and to-do list. At the time that this post is scheduled to go up, I have been struggling to figure out how to use the work column. There’s not much I can write in that column because I currently work with kids. Maybe when I get my new job I can use it to fill out the space. I like the to-do list column because there is only a small amount of space that I need to use to create a list for the day. I can’t overwhelm myself with too many things. The LSAT square, when not filled out, forces me to actually try and study. I don’t like wasting space if I can help it.

This is my reading planner and journal. I’m keeping track of the books I read and how many pages I read as well. The daily pages allow me to write my thoughts about the books I’m reading. The calendar sheet allows me to write down how many pages I’ve read, when books are being released for ARCs I have, book club reads and other bookish things I’m doing.

I didn’t expect to love this style as much as I do. I like writing down all of the content I have to post for the week on the right side. The left side allows me to plan for the current week and the future weeks. Any time I get an idea that week, I write them down, but I also write other things I need to do per week. It’s still a work in progress but one that I’m so excited to figure out.

I am essentially using my bullet journal for my habit trackers. I created the “year in pixels” for each of the habits I wanted to track. It’s been a lot of fun to fill out and I’m glad that I have them all in one place.

I am looking forward to seeing how I like this set up. What I have found is that I like having things to write into my planner. It bothers me when I don’t have that. There’s not a better feeling than crossing