A Comprehensive Look at My Slightly Unhinged Planning System
By: Shaunta Grimes
Tags: Life Lessons, Planning, Organizational Culture, Life, Productivity

My life is a very all-or-nothing proposition.

Either I do all the things or none of them.

So, I’m constantly on the search for some system or program that will work to keep me on top of staying organized. A magical planner or app or something.

I’ve bought an Erin Condren Life Planner every year for the last three years. I usually do pretty well with it until about February. But it’s big and bulky. Too easy not to open up and use. And so I don’t.

And then I spend the rest of the year feeling guilty about the $60 planner that I’m not using — and dealing with that awful pit-of-your-stomach feeling when you’re sure you’re forgetting something miportant.

This year I’ve kind of cobbled together a system that’s finally working for me. I designed part of it myself. Part of it I took from other people. I thought it might be useful to you to know what I’m doing, but also how I came up with it.

Because what I’m using might not be a perfect fit for you. But how I came up with it might help you figure something out that will work perfectly for you.

What I Need to Organize

I started by thinking about what I need to keep track of — and what I don’t. I think what I don’t is just as important as what I do. Because nothing will put me off a plan faster than trying to make myself keep track of things that I don’t really need or want to keep track of.

What I Need to Keep Track Of

Work appointments.

Personal appointments.

Travel schedules.

Work events (launches, etc.)

Goals and habits.

Writing.

A meal plan.

Clients and students.

A work log.

What I Don’t Need to Keep Track Of

My daughter’s sports schedules (her dad does.)

Housekeeping schedules.

Charts micromanging things like how much water I drink or how many steps I take.

Holiday planning.

A personal journal or diary.

Your lists will probably look different from mine. Things that aren’t important to me right now might be very important to you and vice versa. That’s okay! It’s just good to know what you want to keep on top of and what you don’t need to worry about so much.

My Systems

It occurred to me that the reason why the systems I’d tried to use the past didn’t work for me is because they were full of stuff I didn’t need or want. So this time I really thought about exactly what I needed help with.

Keeping track of appointments and deadlines and the thousand things I need to do every week.

Staying on top of student/client information.

A work log.

Accountability.

Once you know what you need help with, you can figure out which systems will work best for you. Here’s what’s been working for me.

Simple Monthly Planner

I use a plain month-at-a-glance calendar with large squares to keep track of my appointments. I’ve found that I really like being able to see my whole month all at once.

You can see that I’m not going for fancy or Instagram ready here. I usually use a pencil so that I can at least make an attempt at erasing if something changes.

FRED

FRED is my Folder for Reaching the End of my Draft. You can read all about FRED below. Or get your own here.

I use FRED to track my writing goals and to keep a work log. Keeping a log is one of the most effective ways I know of staying accountable. That’s incredibly important when you’re self-employed and there’s no outside force imposing deadlines on you.

I use the outside of my FRED to take notes about writing projects.