Enter 2024

Let's talk about planners and then pivot wildly

The beginning of a new calendar year is not the only way to have the start of something new. Personally, August is my most “New Year” feeling because it’s the start of a new school year and my birthday. But the solstices also feel like a new year ahead. The turning over of a new leaf and recognizing the passage of time.

There are many versions of a “year.” Fiscal, lunar, academic, calendar, etc.

The new calendar year isn’t my favorite, despite loving New Year’s Eve. Mostly I attribute that to it being the only holiday that people are excited about that doesn’t require balancing familial obligations with friends/partners and there is no weird national pride element.

The saving grace of a new year is a time for reflecting and goal setting. And new planners. It's mostly just the new planner part.

Hobonichi Era/Planner Plans

I am trying a new planning system for my personal life! After being a staunch bullet journaler I want to change it up. I find myself not really creating additional spreads or utilizing the notebook how I used to. The Hobonichi has pages to document things to check out (books etc) and a blank page at the beginning of the month that I can use for a monthly budget. Plus the Techo A6 size is so small and would be easier to take around with me.

Regular notebook: I found that I do like having a bigger space (that is a little more left-handed friendly) to take random notes, sketch out plans, etc. This might come to work with me since the half-used meeting notebook from my last job is not as useful now that I don’t have a lot of meetings.

For work, ironically I used a very basic bullet journal system when I started this new job. I filled an entire notebook with notes, to-dos, and scribbles over the past 6 months. I am going back to a regular planner because I feel a little less overwhelmed with new information now. The Appointed one is my favorite and this will be my fourth year using one. Pictured is the one I was using for my last job (January-June) and I’m coming back to it in December. 2024 is going to be a pretty Sienna burnt orange color.

Productivity Rabbit Hole

Did the arrival of a new planner system spiral into a YouTube video and Google journey about how people utilize this type of planner, how do people make this type of planner cute, etc? Yes, obviously.

background story: I think post-grad school me is a little gun-shy at having a rigid system or strict valuation of how productivity should look. Two years of aggressively striving to be excellent was a doozy. It was a very black/white value system of either I succeeded or failed and failing was not an option. So what happens post-that? You kind of become goal-averse or goal-anxious.

But lately, I have been having this idea roll around in my head: how to create a life that has structure, healthy forms of excellence, and goal setting, without the weight of impossible standards/burnout?

Where are we going with this? Hold, please.

First, as established, I watched a lot of planner and productivity videos this past week. Coming back to a world where all people talk about is their planner and their productivity is their hobby. (fun fact my crafty Instagram started out as a bullet journal one). Which raised all the questions. What does that mean when someone says verbatim that productivity is their hobby? What does it mean to place a high value on documenting your productivity? What does it mean to feel like your planning system isn’t working and you can’t be productive?

And why do so many people online have (I swear) four different planners?

Then I listened to a podcast called Soul Gum in the episode called “How I rediscovered discipline post-diet culture & hustle-culture.” This led to finally finding a space that gently confronts why we may feel angry or frustrated at this growing trend of “soft life” where people don’t have jobs and opt out of life. But you can’t opt out of life because you have to pay bills. And so how do you move past burnout when you still need a job? Finally, here was a story about someone who recovered without moving to Thailand for three months or something. It was a blend of habit accountability and self-care.

This is alongside a year of reading books about rest, personal growth, and imperfection. Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May, The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, Congratulations! The Best is Over by R. Eric Thomas, The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, and Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Which is related to the slowing down that comes with reading Mary Oliver poems.

It all funnels down towards the re-framing of excellence and using productivity as a tool instead of a ride-or-die value system of self-worth. In between the radical hyper-planned-so-type-A-they-might-snap-if-they-lost-their-planner and the opposing side of having an allergic reaction to any form of structure, there has to be a middle ground that doesn’t feel…half-assed.

Maybe this is why the pottery class was so great. It just was. It didn’t have to be a perfected skill.

I’m sorry if this is confusing, in my mind everything is connected. Constantly. Everything threads together.

Where am I going with this? We were just talking about a planner.

Do you set a word for the year?

I do. This year was Excellence (the healthy version).

Do you forget after a while what your word was?

I do.

I came back to it while prepping to write an entirely different post about productivity tools. It was shocking because I don’t think I found excellence this year how I originally planned. I think I found paths to reimagine what that could look like. I found time to wonder. I spent time holding onto the idea that maybe you don’t have to justify everything to the outside world and there is literally no way to be “enough” for everyone and maybe that definition of “enoughness” is allowed to come from yourself. Maybe excellence (the healthy version) is acknowledging a kaleidoscope vs. a black/white outlook.

Coming back around.

2024 feels like a good time to set goals/structure and have it be okay to completely fail.

Also, you don’t know this but I have an entire post sitting in my drafts about how my yarn cabinet project went this year and it is also SO CONNECTED to this. Wooow.

I swear I just was going to talk about notebooks and planners. I had links to articles and YouTube videos about productivity and productivity systems. This seems better though.

The rest of the month is a mix of wrap-ups and lookaheads. I’ve been struggling to figure out a schedule because everything is still ongoing, the year isn’t over yet. Please consider this the kick-off to all of those posts and thoughts.

Till next week.