Making the Internet My Accountability Partner

Back in college, I was gifted a Happy Planner for Christmas one year. Back then, I really struggled with the consistency of using a planner. It may or may not have had something to do with my untreated depression and anxiety, which meant I had next to no knowledge of who I was or what systems I needed to reach my goals. Post graduation, I spent a few years without a planner, trying to see if I could make it work on my own memory. After a couple of years, I tried to exclusively use my Google Calendar, thinking maybe the ease of technology could be a good fit. But I realized I’m a pen-and-paper type of person.

After a bit of research, I decided to go back to Happy Planner. I was drawn by the customizability and refillability of their systems. To start, I chose the Daily layout. I looked forward to having lots of space for anything I might want to note in a day. I had space to keep a to-do list, space for separating out priorities, space for prioritizing self-care, and lots of blank space to personalize.

I am still consistent in checking in and using my planner every day, but it feels wasteful to have so much space for each day when some days are much less involved than others. Even on involved days like the one shown, I’m not using as much space as I could because I prefer to-dos that are not too detailed. I can easily get overwhelmed when I look at too much on a to-do list. One way I circumvent that, as you can see in the photo, is that instead of listing all the separate tasks, I just say I’m going to clean the bathroom.

For that type of more general to-dos, I have realized that the daily layout of the planner that I’m using is not ideal. The great thing about this planner system is that I was able to try the daily set up for four months, now that I know it’s not the perfect fit, I can try the dashboard set up for 6 months. The dashboard has more of a weekly layout. In a spread, I have space for both daily breakdowns and general week overviews. I’m excited to see where this setup takes me on my journey to my goals.