Video Flip Through of the Ban.do Agenda and Sticker Books

Hey, guys! I didn't plan to do a blog post today, but I realized that I filmed a flip through of the Ban.do Agenda and their sticker books and never posted it here. So for you planner nerds out there, here it is!

A flip through of the large 2016-1017 Ban.do Agenda.

And here's a quick flip of the sticker books that you can buy to go with the agenda (or for any planner, really.) This one has music in the background, no narration, so feel free to mute. :)

A quick flip through of the Ban.do agenda sticker books.

Have a great Thursday! 

Unboxing the Inkwell Press Academic Planner (with VIDEO)

Earlier this week I featured 4 Gorgeous Mid-Year Planners. I've ordered the other two on the list that I didn't have, and the Inkwell is already in! So I thought I'd do a walkthrough video for those who may be interested in seeing what this planner has to offer.

Also, things you realize when you tape an up close video of your hands--how chipped your manicure has become. >.<  But anyway, here you go! If anyone is interested in buying one of these or anything else from Inkwell, I have a referral code that will get you 10 dollars off. :)

I know that I've had a lot of planner and organizational type posts lately. Be assured that in the background, I'm writing and planning new books for you guys. :)  But let me know if you like these kinds of posts and if you want more/less. Also, I'd like to know if you enjoy video posts. I'm just learning YouTube stuff, but I think it could be a fun thing to do a video a few times a month (on all kinds of different topics, not just planners), so let me know if you have any interest in that AND I'd love to know what you want to hear about in the videos -- about books, writing, office supplies, planning, etc. 

Thanks, y'all! Hope you have a great weekend!

Don't Just Make a Plan: The Benefits of Tracking Your Time

I talk a lot about To Do lists and planning here, but there's another part to productivity that I've never paid that much attention to: tracking the actual time I spend doing things. I add things to my schedule, but how often do I stick to that? Not very often unless it's a set appointment. So if I get to the end of the day and haven't checked off all of my To Dos, what's the reason? Did I screw around and waste time? Did I schedule too much? Were my goals unrealistic? I didn't know. 

So, this week I decided to track my time. I'm currently using a two-planner system since I've found I need both a weekly overview and a daily tasks list to keep me focused. The Happy Planner houses my weekly events/appointments and I get that planned out on Sunday. But then I'm using my Day Designer each morning to write out a fresh To Do list. But the Day Designer also has a column for your schedule. I decided to try to use that to track my time as I get things done vs. pre-planning anything in that section. It's turned out to be SO helpful, so I thought I'd share my thoughts with y'all. Here's some of what I've discovered...

The Benefits of Tracking Your Time

1. Know how long it takes you to do something.

Often we underestimate how long something is going to take us to do. Tracking time gives you hard numbers about how long something takes. So instead of assuming, "Oh, I need to blog and that will only take 20 minutes.", you'll find out that it is actually taking up an hour of your morning.

For instance, this week I'm doing fine-toothed-comb editing on LOVING YOU EASY. That means that I have to read EVERY word. This is the stage where I catch typos or awkward sentences or little logic mistakes. So it's pretty intensive. And I've discovered by tracking my time that I consistently take 30 minutes to get through one chapter. That's very helpful for me to know because now I can look forward and know how long it's going to take me to wrap up these edits.

2. Learn your peak productive hours.

We all have them and they are going to vary from person to person. Like I hear that some writers get up at 4 or 5am to write before everyone gets up. That would never work for me. My brain isn't creative at that time. *not a morning person*  This week, I've learned that I'm not productive until about 10am. No matter how motivated I am, my la-la-la, ooh-bright-and-shiny-distracted time is between 8:30 and 10am. This is the time I check all my social media accounts, chat with friends, read interesting articles from Twitter, etc. 

My guess is that this segment of time is how long it takes for my morning coffee to kick in, lol. But I'm learning that I have to ease into my work day. My highest productivity is after lunch. I know this to be true when I'm drafting too. I don't get into my writing flow until afternoon. It is what it is. 

3. Helps you tailor your work day

So building on the point above, if you have a pattern of when you're productive, when you're creative, when you need mindless things, you can structure your day to play to those. This may be harder if you have a schedule at work that's out of your control. But if you're able to, you can schedule the things that require less mental intensity at times when you have the most trouble concentrating. So for me that means I should probably schedule low intensity things in the morning when I know I'll be less likely to be writing/editing. Social media updates, responding to comments, answering email, etc. It's all good information to have to make the best use of your time.

4. Keeps you honest about wasting time and gives you options for when best to do it.

We all waste time. That's not a bad thing. We need fun and mental breaks too. But if you track your time, you can find out if you're doing that a little too much. You can pinpoint what sucks up your time, what sends you down a rabbit hole. And if you need it, you can use apps to shut down your access to the internet and have focused times to work on what you need to work on. I talked more about that in this post. And you can even schedule in a time to do those not so productive things. That can help because you know--ooh, I want to read this article, respond to this FB thing, etc. but I can save it and do that at x time when I have break time scheduled. 

5. It's motivating and reinforcing to write down what you've done as you go.

Don't wait until the end of the day to write everything down. You'll forget and it won't be accurate. Write down what you did each hour as you do it. Keep a notepad or planner nearby so it's easy to jot down. I find it's hard to write down "wasted a whole bunch of time" lol. I'd much rather write down. "Two chapters edited!" That's reinforcing. :)

Ready to give it a shot?

You don't need two planners like I have. Though you can! If you just want to try it out for a few days, use a notebook or find a printable. The Day Designer has free printables of the schedule I'm using. So grab one of those if you want something with the times already on it. And let me know if you try and how it goes! :)

Does anyone already track their time or have you tried this experiment in the past?

*Day Designer link is an affiliate link. 

Seeking Novelty vs. Finding Tried and True: What's Your Style in Life?

This week when I was buying yet another planner (the Ban.do Agenda in the photo), I had that moment of "you're being ridiculous." And maybe I was. I don't need another planner. And do I think I'll use that planner for the next 18 months? Hell, no. I doubt I'll use any one planner for more than three months in a row. 

But then I decided the hell with it because a) planners have become my hobby, b) I recently posted about not apologizing for the "silly" things you're into if it's not hurting you or someone else (or spending money you can't afford to spend), and C) This is a personality quirk. I like variety. The variety is what keeps me interested and motivated to continue planning.

I get bored easily. And that's when I saw that this is an overall pattern in many areas of my life.

Some examples:

1. I rarely cook the same recipe twice because what keeps me excited about cooking is testing out new recipes.

2. I have trouble reading books in a series back to back (unless it's a cliffhanger book.) I need to read something else in between.

3. I never reread books, even my favorites.

4. The books I write don't follow a standard pattern even though they are in a series. I need a new concept, conflict, taboo topic, trope, setting, whatever it is to hook me into writing it. 

5. Vacations - I don't want to go back to the same places all the time. The world is too big and I want to see as much as I can. But my parents love going back to the same spots and I know a lot of other people love that idea of having their same summer getaway each year. 

The only areas I could think of that I don't seek variety and prefer tried and true are:

1. The hubs - Which is a good one to be tried and true about obviously, lol. We've been together 17 years and it still feels new every day. :)

2. Favorite movies and TV shows - I enjoy watching my favorite movies or TV shows over and over again. Every few years, I'll pull out my Dawson's Creek or Friends boxed set and watch them from start to finish.

3. My car - I'm on my third Hyundai Sante Fe. I found the vehicle I like and I'm good. And I keep my car long after it's paid off. 

But anyway, all this got me to wondering how other people are when it comes to this. So I want to hear from you. Do you tend to seek out variety? Or do you like finding the thing that works and sticking with it? Or does it vary depending on what area of your life?

The Collecting of Things and a Little Enabling #ListifyLife

Happy Monday, everyone! Yeah, I know that's an oxymoron. :) So first, before we get to the Listify post, I thought I'd do a little enabling for those of you who love pretty notebooks and planners like I do. (None of these are affiliate links. I'm just passing along the info.)

First, May Designs is having a 50% off sitewide sale today for a Good Morning America promotion. If you're not familiar with them, it's a company that makes lovely custom notebooks and stationary. You can get your notebook covers personalized and even pick from all kinds of layouts, including meal planners, fitness planners, weekly agendas, graph paper, or just regular lined paper. Have fun!

Next, for those watching all the mid-year planner releases, Ban.do is launching their planner today. I wasn't familiar with these at the beginning of the year, but I've since seen some people instagramming them. These are really adorable and fun. Quirky artwork, silly sayings, fun holidays listed. It's a really stylish, modern looking planner. And even though I'm currently working with both my Happy Planner and Day Designer, I ordered one of the Ban.do to try. I've been wanting to try a horizontal layout and the price is reasonable. Plus, they have really great stickers. (Yes, I'm a planner addict. I will freely admit. :) At least it's cheaper than being addicted to designer shoes or purses or something, right?)

Next up, the #ListifyLife challenge. This week is Thing I Collect. I have a feeling my answers will be of no surprise to anyone, lol.

Things I Collect

1. Books - This is both print and ebooks. My TBR pile is somewhere in the 700 range last I checked. Yeah. 

2. Planners - I have two Happy Planners, a Day Designer, a Hobonichi Weeks, and just ordered a Ban.do agenda. I think my perfect planning system would involve changing planners every quarter so I don't get bored, lol.

3. Stickers - This is directly related to the planner addiction right now, but I've always loved stickers since my years of Trapper Keepers and Lisa Frank. :)

4. Pens

5. Cookbooks - I've been doing this since I got married. I cull them every year but still maintain two full bookshelves of them. I love trying out new recipes.

6. Story Ideas - I have way more ideas than I have time to write. But I always keep good ideas in a file because I never know when I might get a chance to write them. 

So that's my collects (*cough* addictions) laid bare. Now I'd love to hear yours. What do you collect?