1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,320 Welcome to the Planner Fals Podcast, a podcast hosted by two 2 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:06,120 true Planner Fals. I'm Jess Ojashi Curran. 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:08,640 And my name is Mark and I go by Mark your pages. 4 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:11,960 And in today's episode, this is a sad topic to talk about, but 5 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:13,120 we're going to help you out today. 6 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,920 Today we're going to be talking about have you already quit your 7 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:19,080 planner? This new Year is barely just 8 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:21,400 begun, but we know that it happens. 9 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,440 I know that it's very popular for us to make these New Year's 10 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,600 resolutions New Year, new me. But perhaps that honeymoon 11 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,920 period has already run off. We're only a month in this year, 12 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:33,320 but we know that it happens. So we're going to be showing 13 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:36,600 some tips and some tricks and just some general advice that we 14 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:38,840 can provide for you if you fall into that trap. 15 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,080 But before we get started, Jess, we have to know this question. 16 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,760 Have you ever given up or ditched one of your planners 17 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,720 this early in the year? Usually I get to this point and 18 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:50,200 I'm still trying to struggle through it, but there have 19 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:52,920 definitely been planners that I've started with the best of 20 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:54,680 intentions. Like this is the one that's 21 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,720 gonna change my life. It's gonna solve this problem. 22 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:58,920 I'm gonna be so consistent. Crickets. 23 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,320 Like, no, that's just not how it turns out. 24 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,560 And I think oftentimes it's because sure, intentions may be 25 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,800 great, but if the reality of the situation doesn't align so that 26 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:10,440 things can actually happen, they don't happen. 27 00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:13,440 One planner in particular that I can really think of with this 28 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:17,400 would have been my kind of like social media content calendar 29 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,040 kind of planner, which again, best intentions. 30 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:22,560 It's not like I wasn't doing this stuff for social media. 31 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,120 It's just that actually using the planner to help me, not so 32 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,080 much. Have you had a similar situation 33 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:29,840 happen? Yeah, I mean, I've definitely 34 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:31,720 gone in. Most of mine has been mostly due 35 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,080 to quality versus like what's inside of it. 36 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:36,880 I feel like a lot of my bullet journals and planners over, Oh 37 00:01:36,880 --> 00:01:38,480 my gosh, it's almost been 10 years. 38 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,480 I was just doing the math the other day have been pretty much 39 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,440 consistent how I set them up. But it has definitely come down 40 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:48,280 to the the paper or maybe like the way in which the planner has 41 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,640 been organized. And this was before I even got 42 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,440 into bullet journaling or DIY planning and sort of making it 43 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:55,400 myself. But it's definitely one of those 44 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:58,440 things where, especially now, I know pretty quickly whether or 45 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:00,400 not something that's going to work out for me or not. 46 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:02,880 So I give it, you know, the good old college try. 47 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:05,400 And then I just sit down and kind of reflect and like, yeah, 48 00:02:05,400 --> 00:02:07,120 maybe not, but I usually have a backup plan. 49 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,360 I've never ditched anything and like, had nothing set up for 50 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:11,720 myself. But I think all of us at some 51 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:13,800 point have been there. Yeah, definitely. 52 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,360 And I think that you know, in terms of the number of reasons 53 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:19,720 that there could be for not getting in and using your 54 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:22,000 planner, it could be the actual planner itself. 55 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,920 Maybe the quality of the materials isn't great, Maybe if 56 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:27,640 it's a pre into one, the structure isn't actually gelling 57 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:29,520 with how you want to do your planning. 58 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,000 If we're thinking about a DIY system, maybe you just don't 59 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:34,600 know what you need going into it. 60 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:37,760 So you've set up a bunch of stuff that realistically in the 61 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,160 day-to-day life actually isn't essential for you. 62 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,280 So it's not getting touched. But I said we are going to be 63 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:46,480 giving you some tips on how to get back in, actually get more 64 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,280 consistent with your planners and journals so that you can 65 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:52,280 have that kind of setup system that really works for you and 66 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:54,160 hopefully holds you through the rest of the year. 67 00:02:54,440 --> 00:02:56,280 But Mark, what would be your first tip? 68 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,560 Yeah. So the first tip, I've kind of 69 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:01,200 themed this lower the bar to today. 70 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,160 So one of the problems that a lot of people have with planners 71 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:07,200 or systems, especially if you're new to it, is that it starts to 72 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,080 feel like homework. And especially if you have never 73 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,240 used a planner or a system before, you're kind of coming in 74 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,120 fresh. So you haven't gone through the 75 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,440 processes before you have to do this. 76 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,280 So a really great tip and something that I've used many a 77 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:24,360 times, especially when I've kind of been overwhelmed, is the idea 78 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,160 of not dating. I don't think the right way to 79 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,320 say this, but like date the page, not the planner. 80 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:33,360 I know this gets hard because there's a lot of dated planners 81 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,000 out there, but what's great about dating the page is that 82 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,960 you can always turn the page and the notebook doesn't care if 83 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,200 it's a week from now or two weeks or it's been a month since 84 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:46,360 you've touched it. You can just write down the date 85 00:03:46,360 --> 00:03:48,600 on that page and there's get going with it. 86 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:50,480 And I think that's just a really great tip. 87 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,600 I've done that before where I've forgone my planner for like a 88 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,160 week or something wasn't quite working out, just wasn't it. 89 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,920 You know, you just feel it, but you're not sure of the answer. 90 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,560 And that was probably one of the best advice pieces that I was 91 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:04,520 ever given. It's like basically turn the 92 00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,960 page and write down and just kind of go from there. 93 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,040 And then you kind of give yourself this really nice fresh 94 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:11,840 approach to it. I think it's something that I've 95 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,240 always really appreciated, You know, maybe skip a few pages if 96 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,839 you need to, whatever it takes just to get back in there and 97 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,680 really approach it from a day-to-day standpoint too. 98 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,400 I would also just say that if you are overwhelmed by a planner 99 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,960 and thinking that you have to plan weeks and months in 100 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,560 advance, you do not daily logging is a thing, whether 101 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:33,960 you're using the bullet journal method or a different method, 102 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:35,880 just focusing on what's happening that day. 103 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,440 What do you have to get done running down those notes? 104 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,080 And then tomorrow you just do the same exact thing and you'll 105 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:45,880 find ways to kind of catch those bigger future planning things. 106 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,200 But right now, we're just focused on your getting back 107 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,720 into your planner, back into your journal, and onto the right 108 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:51,800 path. Yeah. 109 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,440 And I think that for people who in particular, I'm thinking pre 110 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,960 printed planners here, when you look at the days, weeks, 111 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,080 sometimes even months that you haven't filled in and feel like 112 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:06,120 I have to get that stuff logged before I can focus on the now. 113 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:08,560 Absolutely not. You do not have to do that. 114 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,440 I mean, technically speaking, you don't have to do anything. 115 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,120 But if the blank pages do bother you, if you feel like you can't 116 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:17,320 just start from the here and now because there is that kind of 117 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:19,240 backlog that you haven't filled in. 118 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,640 And oftentimes that backlog makes, you know, mountains out 119 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,080 of molehills and such. Even if you were just planning 120 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:26,320 for today, it would be quite easy. 121 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,680 You just jot things down, what you need to do or whatnot. 122 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,720 The idea of having to go back and catalog all of the stuff 123 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:34,560 that has happened so that you have a complete planner just 124 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:36,560 means that you kind of get into this paralysis zone. 125 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:39,040 Like, Oh my gosh, I can't even possibly because it's just too 126 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,280 big of a task. Just RIP the pages out. 127 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:42,720 Like you could just get rid of them. 128 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:44,880 OK, if you don't want to RIP them out, I get it. 129 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,800 But maybe it's just using one of those kind of elastic bands that 130 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:52,000 you can have around a planner to kind of section off a piece, put 131 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:54,600 it around that section that you haven't used so that then you're 132 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,240 not turning to those blank pages. 133 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,800 You're just turning to today. So you can just focus on the 134 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:00,320 here and now and get those plans in. 135 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,280 Or if it's only been maybe a couple weeks or something, you 136 00:06:03,280 --> 00:06:05,720 could stick the pages together. You could put some washi tape 137 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,240 along the edge to kind of seal that parts shut so you don't 138 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,600 have to look at the blank spaces that make it feel like you're 139 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:15,280 quote failing in your planner because you're not. 140 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,120 It's all good. Yeah, one of the biggest places 141 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,000 this has ever happened to me was inside of a Hobonichi 5 year 142 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,640 planner. So it was gifted to me and I was 143 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,200 so excited. I was like, absolutely, I'm 144 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:25,440 going to write in this every day. 145 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,280 And for the first few days I did, and then I didn't. 146 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:29,720 And then I kind of forgot about it. 147 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:32,200 And I was in the exact same mode that you just mentioned. 148 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,880 And it also kind of relates to our last episode too, where we 149 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,880 had talked about procrastination and instead of planning this 150 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:40,320 whole idea of like, well, I have to fill in everything that 151 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,960 happened on those days to get up to where I am. 152 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:45,760 I'm not going to lie to you. I went through that about three 153 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,080 times before I finally was just like maybe a five year journals, 154 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,720 not your thing work. Like it clearly this isn't 155 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,000 working out. You're doing all of this back 156 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,200 work to try to fill it out. But for what? 157 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,000 You know, the whole purpose of a five year is that idea of like 158 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,000 catching the day or the moment or those things. 159 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,600 But, and we'll talk about this in this episode too, because I 160 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:08,520 know this falls in here is like, but it doesn't have to be every 161 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:09,920 day. You don't have to use your 162 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:12,160 planner or or a journal or whatever. 163 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,920 Every single moment of every single day and that's OK. 164 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,280 And I think that's just for me. I just got to the point where I 165 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:18,960 was like this five year thing to saying it. 166 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,040 It's OK, Mark, like I know you like the idea of this, but maybe 167 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:24,200 we'll find another way to do this. 168 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:25,520 All right, Jess, how about yourself? 169 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:27,760 What do you have a great tip or kind of advice for anyone that 170 00:07:27,760 --> 00:07:30,600 has maybe given up on their planner already this year? 171 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,120 So this one, if you're part of my book club, then this is going 172 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:36,160 to be familiar. But recently we read a book 173 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:38,440 called Tiny Habits, which I definitely recommend. 174 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:41,480 I did very much enjoy it, but one of the concepts that's 175 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:45,400 introduced in that book is the idea that any behavior relies on 176 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:49,520 three things, motivation, ability and a prompt. 177 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:53,280 Now oftentimes motivation is fickle, A fickle mistress. 178 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:55,720 All right, sticks around for a little bit of the start of the 179 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,720 new year, new year, new energy, all of that kind of thing very 180 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:00,760 quickly dwindles. Wayne's type of a deal. 181 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,520 Ability, on the other hand, is really where we can start to 182 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:05,800 pull some levers. So if we're thinking about 183 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:10,400 motivation and ability as being kind of like inversely related 184 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,080 to each other. So if you have a lot of 185 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,960 motivation to do something but have low ability, you're still 186 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:17,800 going to get the thing done. Whereas if you have super low 187 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,240 motivation to do something, but you make it really easy, so your 188 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,360 ability to do it is really high, it's more likely to happen. 189 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:28,720 OK, so if we're thinking about the kind of behavior of getting 190 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:31,720 into your journal or into your planner and actually using it, 191 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:34,600 the biggest lever that we can pull is that ability lever 192 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:37,840 making it so that it doesn't feel like a giant struggle to 193 00:08:37,840 --> 00:08:40,720 get in to do it, which means we don't need to have super high 194 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,760 motivation to get the thing done. 195 00:08:43,159 --> 00:08:46,400 Now, when it to making the ability to do planning a little 196 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:48,800 easier, this could be about the scale of it. 197 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:50,800 It could be about the materials you're using. 198 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,040 There are a bunch of different ways that you could make it 199 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:54,920 easier. Some of my favorite ways are 200 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:57,360 just kind of limiting the number of supplies I'm using. 201 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,440 So in my day-to-day planning, realistically I just need one 202 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,280 pen. It's my everyday pen, so I've 203 00:09:02,320 --> 00:09:05,320 always got it available. It could be just limiting the 204 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:06,800 number of things you're filling in. 205 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:10,040 So rather than having a full fleet of different trackers and 206 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,520 logs that you have to log information in every single day, 207 00:09:13,960 --> 00:09:16,440 make it something that you only need to fill in once a week. 208 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:19,520 Or maybe it's something you have to fill in daily, but the actual 209 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:23,000 way to fill it in is super easy. The other part of this though, 210 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:25,240 because remember there were three motivation, ability 211 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:27,760 prompt. If you do not have something to 212 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:31,360 prompt you to actually get in and use your planner, you're not 213 00:09:31,360 --> 00:09:33,520 going to do it. One of the prompts that we often 214 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:36,480 rely on is like, I'll just remember it. 215 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:40,760 The biggest lie ever told in all of humanity, I swear. 216 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:44,200 Because if you're just relying on yourself to remind yourself 217 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,200 to do a thing that you haven't already been doing, the 218 00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:50,160 likelihood of it happening is pretty much close to nil. 219 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,160 I think that's one of my biggest things on why planning has 220 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:57,320 worked so well for me over the years is that exact piece when I 221 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:00,160 tried to remember it on my own, never happened. 222 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,880 You also realize over time that that memory piece is not there 223 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:04,040 for me. It lacks. 224 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:07,400 There's a big spaghetti hole, you know, like, but not 225 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:09,280 spaghetti hole. What's it called? 226 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:10,400 A. Spaghetti Strainer. 227 00:10:10,440 --> 00:10:13,880 Yeah, it's a big spaghetti strainer up there sometimes with 228 00:10:13,880 --> 00:10:16,640 things that I'm not interested in fully that don't stick. 229 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,400 But I think that it's such great advice there and kind of really 230 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,960 connecting it to certain things, places or times. 231 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:25,600 My next one, we'll talk about that a little bit too, but kind 232 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:27,920 of to continue on like kind of where you were on that one. 233 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:30,000 I think it's just really important to think about those 234 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:32,320 kind of anchors is what I call them. 235 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,600 But like these times, these places, these events, really 236 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:37,400 kind of just feeling really good about it. 237 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:39,800 I think that also really comes down to a lot of what we're 238 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,160 talking about today is, you know, you got into this for a 239 00:10:43,160 --> 00:10:45,480 reason. You made this decision to start 240 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,160 planning or, or, or using a journal or whatever it is for a 241 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,760 reason. Just use it like don't feel like 242 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,800 you also have to completely like fit inside of some one elses 243 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:56,560 box. One of my favorite things. 244 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:58,920 Again, I don't know, I just say I said it. 245 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,040 I don't know if anyone else has ever said it, but this idea that 246 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,920 your planner needs to work for you, you don't need to work for 247 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,760 your planner. This whole idea of trying to fit 248 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,200 yourself into the system, I will caveat that though, a little 249 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:14,360 asterisk and say, but sometimes we need that. 250 00:11:14,400 --> 00:11:17,600 I'm the type of person that needs a system, a rule or 251 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,480 something like that to like teach me the right way to do it 252 00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:23,200 because in my life I've been doing it wrong forever. 253 00:11:23,360 --> 00:11:25,680 So I needed to find something that was like, hey Mark, here's 254 00:11:25,680 --> 00:11:29,120 a process, here's a system, here's a method on organizing 255 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:30,760 those thoughts. And for me, you know, bullet 256 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:33,640 journaling was the thing that really grabbed me After trying a 257 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:36,880 lot of different pieces, the methodology behind bullet 258 00:11:36,880 --> 00:11:38,960 journaling really grabbed me and it works for me. 259 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:42,040 And I think that's why I've been using in it for almost 10 years 260 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:43,640 now. And it's been so helpful in my 261 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:45,320 life. But sometimes you do just have 262 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,000 to kind of like find that thing and what kind of gets you 263 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:49,800 excited? And sometimes it does mean you 264 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:50,960 got to spend a little time with it. 265 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,800 I mean, I researched it for probably over a year before I 266 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:56,480 actually started doing it. I did a little trial bullet 267 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,960 journal to kind of take myself through the paces to kind of see 268 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:03,560 if it's there and finding those points of the day or, you know, 269 00:12:03,560 --> 00:12:06,000 really kind of the times when I'm utilizing has been key. 270 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:08,760 And for me, that's been work. Other people, that's just their 271 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:11,320 day today, it's not work. So I, I think that's a really 272 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,520 important point that you made there about kind of making it 273 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,600 your own and enjoying it, but really anchor it down to like 274 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:18,760 what you need from it. Yeah. 275 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,960 I think that if you're focusing mostly on the needs that you 276 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,360 have for your system, then that can also just lower the bar, I 277 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:27,360 guess, which you kind of touched on your first one. 278 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:29,880 I like to think of like a high bar, low bar kind of strategy 279 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,760 when it comes to building a new routine for yourself or whatnot. 280 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,960 What is the low bar version of your planning? 281 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:39,160 What does it look like to be consistent in the lowest kind of 282 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,920 capacity that can definitely make the behaviour eventually 283 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:44,840 stick? You know, we're not going out 284 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:47,760 here trying to reinvent the wheel and kind of overthrow our 285 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:51,400 planning system within the space of a couple weeks and just 286 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,440 expect it to work because oftentimes it just doesn't do 287 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:56,160 that. You know, this is the thing that 288 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:58,000 I have with intentions, and we're going to talk about this 289 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,040 in a separate episode, I swear. But intentions for me are just 290 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,240 people saying they want to do something without a plan. 291 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,200 And I feel like when it comes to planning and planning systems, 292 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,880 we get really excited at the start of the year of the 293 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:14,160 possibility of being a certain type of planner without any kind 294 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,120 of plan for the follow through of the planning. 295 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,560 I'm saying plan too much now. It doesn't mean anything. 296 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,760 I will say that there are a lot of really great planners that 297 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,480 help you breakdown those attentions. 298 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:28,440 Finishers Secret is one of those journals and planners that 299 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,000 really kind of lines things up for you if you're the type of 300 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,960 person that like you don't know how to start or how to break it 301 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:36,800 down. That is one notebook that I have 302 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,480 always really appreciated and taken a lot from because it 303 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:41,120 helps you go through the process. 304 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,720 It's kind of what I was saying before, you know, we've adopted 305 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:46,400 these methods, we've adopted these systems because we need 306 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:48,360 help. And sometimes, you know, the 307 00:13:48,360 --> 00:13:51,120 bullet journal method to your exact point, what you just said, 308 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:53,040 that's kind of telling you what you can do. 309 00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,800 Yes, set intentions, yes, reflect, but it doesn't always 310 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,520 help you break down those into actionable pieces. 311 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:02,720 So if you are in a spot where you need any of those things, 312 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,920 definitely do your research and see like what exists out there 313 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:09,240 to your exact point that meets the goals of what you're trying 314 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:11,640 to achieve within your planet. So I just wanted to add that in 315 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:14,000 there because I thought that was a really, really valid thing 316 00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:15,920 that you just said there. Everything you say is valid. 317 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:19,920 Let's not kid ourselves. But my next tip here has to do 318 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,280 with using anchor points as ways to get back into your journal. 319 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,120 So I think this falls a little bit more into those who I'm 320 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,640 going to say have a fallen out of planning, but maybe you are 321 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,600 new to it. I like to think about my 322 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:33,400 journal, especially by certain points of the day. 323 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,560 So I just mentioned before that you don't have to use your 324 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,640 journal every second of every day, right? 325 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,280 You don't have to wake up with it, work through so all the all 326 00:14:41,280 --> 00:14:44,200 the day and your day with it as if nothing else exists. 327 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:47,760 That's not realistic. So think about certain anchor 328 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:50,400 points of the day to get yourself back into your journal. 329 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:54,040 So a great example of this, I do this when everyone leaves the 330 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,440 house and I drop the kids off at school and all of that. 331 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,880 I grab my iced coffee or whatever is left with it, or 332 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:00,360 maybe my second one in the morning. 333 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,840 I come to my desk and I sit down with it. 334 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,360 I don't turn on any screens, no e-mail, no nothing. 335 00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,520 And I just go through my bullet journal from the previous day 336 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,520 and I line myself up for the day. 337 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,480 That's the first time usually that I'm touching my journal in 338 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,600 the morning, right? Then I turn on my computer, I 339 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,880 get into my emails, my chats, and then, you know, I'm jotting 340 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:19,560 down notes or tasks, whatever throughout the day. 341 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,720 That's how I use it. If you feel like you have to be 342 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:25,160 in there all the time, maybe that first touch point is great. 343 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,680 Second touch point could be at the end of the day, right? 344 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:31,560 With kind of a brain dump. We've got a lot of stuff flying 345 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,120 around on our brains. After an entire day of work or 346 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,480 whatever you may be taking on, use that time as another touch 347 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,720 point for your journal. Let's get it all out. 348 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,160 Don't worry about the organization, the structure, 349 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,240 what page it goes on, where it should be. 350 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,560 Just create a brain dump part of your page or even a new page 351 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,400 that you have to and just get it all out of your head. 352 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,280 That's a really fantastic way. Again, is this another touch 353 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:55,680 point for that journal? Because again, if you're using 354 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,880 another anchor, which is that morning coffee sitting down, you 355 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:01,640 can go back to that and then move things around where you 356 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:04,040 need to. Another spot that I really like 357 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,320 to do is a Sunday evening sit down and that's really just me 358 00:16:07,320 --> 00:16:10,120 taking a little bit of a look ahead of what's coming up for 359 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:11,720 this week. Sunday nights are usually when I 360 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,480 also I'm just kind of setting up my week, but it also just like 361 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:16,360 puts me in a place. I know that I'm going to write 362 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,000 this several times as I go throughout the week. 363 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,320 I'm going to write down, you know, appointment on Monday, 364 00:16:21,320 --> 00:16:23,280 meetings on Tuesday, whatever it is. 365 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,800 And then when I set up my weekly, I'm writing them down 366 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:27,560 again. I'm looking at my future log and 367 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:29,520 other things like that. But if that feels like a whole 368 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,960 lot, just if anything, again, just sitting down with it at 369 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,120 another anchor point throughout the week to say, okay, just 370 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:37,640 going to kind of look ahead real quick. 371 00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,320 And I think just having those points and you pick whatever 372 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,120 works for you, right? Don't you have to use those 373 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,720 examples exactly? I personally do love a morning 374 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,600 and an afternoon check in, but that'll help you also get back 375 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:49,320 into it. Hopefully. 376 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,480 They really lower that bar. I love the way you said that 377 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:53,560 before. Like it's almost like leveling 378 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:56,160 up in your journal. Like, you know, you're starting 379 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,920 off with your experience points on a, you know, level 1 mage and 380 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:02,680 you're like, OK, I'm going to make some magic today just by 381 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,520 writing down what's happening. And as you continue to build 382 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,480 that habit and start using it more level 2, what does that 383 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,880 look like Level 3 and building up from there? 384 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,119 Yeah, I think the nice part about having anchor points is 385 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:16,839 that you can very much turn them into prompts for yourself with 386 00:17:16,839 --> 00:17:18,720 that idea of like, you know, behaviors don't happen if you 387 00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,480 don't have a prompt. But if you turn it into such a 388 00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,119 thing of like when I sit down at my desk, the first thing I do is 389 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:26,720 open my planner. Or when I go and make my morning 390 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:29,320 coffee, the first thing I do is have a look at my planner or 391 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,200 write a checklist or something, which is kind of very much 392 00:17:32,200 --> 00:17:34,720 related to my second tip, slightly different. 393 00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:37,840 But I do love the idea of having those kind of set check in 394 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,640 points for yourself, especially if you could make it a set check 395 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:44,160 in point that doesn't necessarily require a specific 396 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,760 time to do something. Because if I make it for myself 397 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:50,680 be like, Oh yeah, at 9:00 AM every single day, I will check 398 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,080 in with my planner. Cool. 399 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,080 I already know that there are going to be 3 days of the week 400 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:56,880 that that does not work because one of them is live stream day, 401 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:59,080 one of them is the Epic Goals work along, and another one is 402 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:00,680 Saturday and I'm probably still in bed. 403 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:03,400 Something like that. If you can make it kind of 404 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:06,960 context based instead. And it's like anytime I'm put in 405 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:10,000 that situation, I will check in with my planner. 406 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:12,720 I find those to be more powerful, at least for me. 407 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,000 Do you have a similar feeling with that or? 408 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:18,160 I mean, like I said, like mine is like morning coffee, sit 409 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:19,640 down. That doesn't, you know, work 410 00:18:19,640 --> 00:18:22,920 starts usually for the rest like the team itself at 9:00. 411 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,040 But by the time everyone's dropped off and whatever, I'm at 412 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,560 my computer at like 8 little after 8:00. 413 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,600 So I don't hold myself to a specific exact time of the day. 414 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,840 But it's kind of like you said, like that moment of the day is 415 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:37,720 kind of that habit that I'm building up. 416 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:40,160 And again, I remove all distractions. 417 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,520 So I really can't just focus on that one thing because that's an 418 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,080 intentional thing that I'm trying to make happen. 419 00:18:46,240 --> 00:18:48,640 And I also know that'll give myself a really great start to 420 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,080 the day. So yeah, I would say it's more 421 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,440 of a moment, less of like a time of the day for your exact 422 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,760 points. Because if I have a doctor's 423 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,880 appointment in the morning and I come back to work at 10:00, I'm 424 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:02,120 like, well, missed my 9:00 AM coffee and computer. 425 00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:04,440 No, I could still do it at that same exact time. 426 00:19:04,640 --> 00:19:06,880 It doesn't matter when I'm doing it. 427 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:09,760 What's most important, as we've been saying, is this, that you 428 00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:11,840 do it. Yeah, I think that that's also 429 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,520 part of the consideration of finding a prompt for your 430 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,600 planning system is if you've got a prompt and it's at an 431 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,400 ineffective time, it's not going to happen. 432 00:19:19,600 --> 00:19:22,080 If it's an easily ignorable prompt, it's not going to 433 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:23,600 happen. If it's prompting you to do 434 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:25,840 something that you just genuinely don't want to do, it's 435 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,760 not going to happen. So figuring out a prompt you 436 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,000 know that actually works can be a little bit tricky. 437 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,640 Yeah, that's like my not really New Year's resolution, but I 438 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,480 really told myself that I was going to start like running on 439 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:38,520 our treadmill. I like signed up for the, you 440 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:40,800 know, fitness plus plan on my treadmill. 441 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:45,440 I can do all this crazy stuff and I started to do the opposite 442 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:47,640 of what I'm shared about my bullet journal, realizing that I 443 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:50,960 should use these tips at any type of my life because I was 444 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,120 doing that. I was going, OK, Mark, at 8:00 445 00:19:53,240 --> 00:19:55,760 you're going to go downstairs and you're going to walk slash 446 00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:57,520 run on the treadmill for 30 minutes. 447 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,040 And then something would happen that threw my morning off and I 448 00:20:00,040 --> 00:20:02,080 was like, oh, well, I missed that time. 449 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,400 So I'm going to do it at lunch. And then of course, like a 450 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,640 meeting runs over or I want to eat lunch or whatever else. 451 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,320 And then suddenly I'm like, well, now I don't by now I just 452 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,360 ate like I don't want to go running after I just ate. 453 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:15,320 I'll do it later on in the. Evening and like evening time is 454 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:16,880 pure chaos. You never know what's going to 455 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:18,320 happen and then it doesn't happen. 456 00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:22,000 So like I'm also realizing I need to use these tips in my 457 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,440 other parts of my life too, because it's really important to 458 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,920 say less about the time and more about the moment, you know, and 459 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:30,560 kind of building it out from there. 460 00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:34,960 Yeah, I'm currently in a 200 plus day exercise streak, which 461 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,480 for somebody who went from exercising all of that like 462 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,360 twice in 2023, that's not too bad. 463 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:45,040 I think it was up to about 24 times in 2024, probably because 464 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:49,280 I had a tracker for it. But yeah, on day 220 something 465 00:20:49,280 --> 00:20:51,280 or whatever, I don't even know what it actually is at this 466 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,640 point, but the way that I very much tackled that was the high 467 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,480 bar, low bar. So I never set myself a minimum 468 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,760 requirement for the exercise. I just have to do exercise. 469 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:04,920 And that means that most days, like 95% of days, it's at least 470 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:06,760 30 minutes or at least 25 minutes. 471 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,400 But for the other 5% of days, it is just like I jumped on The 472 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,600 Walking pad for two minutes and called it a day because I'm just 473 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:16,120 like in that kind of keep the streak alive mentality. 474 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:18,720 And now as I'm 200 something days in, I'm like, well, I don't 475 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:20,880 want to break my streak because then I have to go back to zero 476 00:21:20,880 --> 00:21:23,640 and I don't want to do that. That's how social media gets 477 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,120 you. Like TikTok is doing that now. 478 00:21:25,120 --> 00:21:28,160 It's like you sent this person a TikTok yesterday. 479 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:29,960 I'm like I sent them 30 tik Toks yesterday. 480 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:31,840 They're like, don't lose your streak. 481 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:34,920 And I was like, does this really matter? 482 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:37,840 Like I but, but I understand the psychology behind it though. 483 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,520 Like my daughter is on Snapchat and sometimes we'll be driving 484 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:42,680 in the car and she'll like take a random picture out of the 485 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:44,000 window. I'm like, are you OK? 486 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,880 Are you having like a, a moment? She's like, oh, no, I'm just 487 00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:49,720 keeping my streak alive. And I was like, OK, but you're 488 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:51,920 not putting. Are you writing like a funny 489 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,960 thing or a good morning? She's like, no, just taking a 490 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:56,000 picture to send it. And I was like, so there's 491 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,480 nothing meaningful in that. Like you're literally doing it 492 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,120 just to keep a streak alive for no reason. 493 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:03,920 But again, it's that psychology of it though that like, I get 494 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,840 it. It's exciting to be able to say 495 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,920 I've, you know, worked out or been active for over 200 days. 496 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:13,040 Like that's incredible. I'm like, can I get in two days 497 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:14,960 this week? And I but again, that's like the 498 00:22:14,960 --> 00:22:17,640 low bar thing. Like that is a really good thing 499 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,440 to say. Like, yes, I could get in two 500 00:22:19,440 --> 00:22:22,360 days. I have two moments of time. 501 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,080 I BS my way through parts of the day anyway, scrolling through my 502 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:27,960 phone or you know, doing whatever else. 503 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:29,880 Like I can make that time for myself. 504 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,200 Yeah, definitely. I think that the snap streak, 505 00:22:32,200 --> 00:22:35,440 gosh, that's such a throwback because I got to a point where I 506 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:38,120 was like, my relationship with this streak is not one that's 507 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:40,720 actually beneficial to me. So I just deleted Snapchat. 508 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,640 I also recently deleted tick tock. 509 00:22:42,640 --> 00:22:45,640 I had to like, you know, sit my friend down and be like, I know 510 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:48,040 you're going to send me tick tocks and I just want to let you 511 00:22:48,040 --> 00:22:50,040 know that I'm not going to see them because I no longer have 512 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:51,080 the app. She's like, it's cool. 513 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,160 I'll send them to you via Instagram like, well again. 514 00:22:55,600 --> 00:22:57,120 Sorry, Jess. Well, let's go into your second 515 00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:58,200 point. Advice. 516 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:01,560 Let's tip on those who have given up on their planner so far 517 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:03,560 this year, which is totally OK. I don't mean to say it in a 518 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:05,640 negative way, but we've all been there. 519 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,320 Yeah, it's all good. Hey, if you want to come back to 520 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:11,200 it, though, one of the things you can use is somewhat related 521 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:13,400 to these anchor points, in particular related to Mark's 522 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:14,840 anchor point with the morning coffee. 523 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:18,280 And that is temptation bundling or essentially pairing your 524 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:20,640 journal or planner use with something that is genuinely 525 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:23,000 enjoyable. You get really excited to do so, 526 00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,520 even if you aren't, you know, super excited to do your 527 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,960 planning or not as excited or motivated to get in and use your 528 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:31,120 planner. What's something that you kind 529 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:33,480 of without fail would just love to do? 530 00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,480 So it could be having your morning coffee, you know, having 531 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,560 a little indulgence like that. It could be listening to some 532 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:42,280 fun music. It could be, I don't know, can 533 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,520 you work out at the same time as doing your planner? 534 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,720 Possibly. Working out isn't really a fun 535 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,080 place for me, but for some people, runners high and 536 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,000 dolphins, yadda yadda, something like that. 537 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,400 But what is something that you genuinely enjoy and how could 538 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:55,720 you pair that with your journaling? 539 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,760 It could be also the kind of thing that you use your planner 540 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,520 or journal, set it up for the day or week or whatnot, and then 541 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,760 immediately after that, do something you enjoy as kind of 542 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:07,400 like a little reward to say, hey, you did the thing you have 543 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,280 to do. Now you get to do the thing you 544 00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:11,600 want to do. For each person, it's going to 545 00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:14,240 be a little bit different as to what is going to really tempt 546 00:24:14,240 --> 00:24:16,680 them to use their planner in that way or what's going to make 547 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,480 it more fun or exciting. But for some of us, it could 548 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,200 just be using supplies you really genuinely love. 549 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,640 Sometimes there is just a joy in being able to use those things, 550 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,160 whether it be creatively or just like, you know, very 551 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,280 functionally, but you just love the feel of it. 552 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,840 Like I love the feeling of a good quality black pen on nice 553 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,600 paper. Like even if I'm not doing 554 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:40,200 anything fancy with it, just that that combination or chef's, 555 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,640 yes. So maybe in trying to get back 556 00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:46,000 into journaling, planning or whatnot, using supplies that you 557 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:49,560 really love, that just feel good to use can be temptation enough. 558 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:51,320 Yeah. Otherwise, if you need something 559 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:55,080 else, maybe it's a snack or some music or something else that 560 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,520 just makes it a little bit more fun. 561 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:58,760 I love those. That's so important. 562 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:00,840 We were just, I mean, it reminded me exactly what I was 563 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,000 just saying where I was like, I need to apply these to other 564 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:06,400 parts of my life because I think that's what I fall into a lot. 565 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,240 It's just like, I'm not looking forward to that. 566 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,400 But my brain loves a reward. I mean, my whole being loves a 567 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,720 reward The same way everything else is gamified or the games 568 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:18,560 that I'm playing, you know, do X amount of things, get this 569 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,920 piece. I like have to somehow attribute 570 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:25,680 that to like Mark, get on the treadmill, be healthier, you 571 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:27,280 know, like little things like that. 572 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,480 Instead of getting like a digital badge for a game I'm 573 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,320 playing, like give yourself something that you really are 574 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:34,800 excited about. I just think that it really does 575 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:36,600 come down to like pairing that. I love that. 576 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,760 I think a lot of it is like a lot of that like dopamine, the 577 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,800 excitement. Everyone's there in the 578 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:43,720 beginning of the year making changes. 579 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:46,680 I'm doing this more. I think a lot about like the 580 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:49,640 summer for me, we spend a lot of the summers at the beach and I'm 581 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:51,760 always like, you know, I'm going to work out and I'm going to be 582 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,320 healthier because like I'm going to be out on the beach or I'm 583 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:55,920 going to in the water. And I don't want to feel 584 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,160 uncomfortable about like the way I look. 585 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:00,520 And then I kind of get there and it's like a week before we're 586 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:02,320 about to leave. And I was like, I got to work 587 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:04,760 out now I was on the treadmill for 30 minutes. 588 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,080 Look at these ABS, you know, like ready to go. 589 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,000 They're not there, but it's kind of that expectation of it. 590 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:13,720 But just the idea of like, how can I work better about creating 591 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:16,200 these habits and these plans and these things. 592 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:19,080 And I love the idea again, of connecting it to something that 593 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,800 you really enjoy or I don't know, part of me though. 594 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,040 And I'm just going to be honest here because that's how I like 595 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:24,880 to live my life. Life. 596 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,240 I the problem I have with it though sometimes is I'm like, 597 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,840 but I can just do that now. Like I feel like I know some 598 00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:33,800 people who are like, oh, well, if you do this thing, you get a 599 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:35,400 piece of chocolate. I'm like, I'm gonna say the 600 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:36,960 chocolate bar right now. I'm a adult. 601 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:39,080 I'll do whatever the hell I want to do, you know? 602 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:42,760 So it does get a little difficult because my like reward 603 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,560 system and the way that I think about life, it's like I'm adult. 604 00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:48,960 I have adult money. Like I work hard for this. 605 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:50,560 I'll just get what I want at this moment. 606 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:53,240 I'm gonna run on a treadmill for an hour to get there. 607 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,840 I can run my ass down stairs right now and get that. 608 00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,200 But that's the hard part for me though sometimes with it just 609 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:04,080 being realistic is that to find that way to like motivate 610 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,720 yourself without jumping the gun or kind of, you know, taking the 611 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,320 shortcut to get there in a way I personally do struggle with. 612 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:13,520 So I think it is something I just need to be more mindful of 613 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,000 and like treat it like a fun thing versus knowing that I can 614 00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:18,960 just skip right to the end and get my reward. 615 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:20,960 Yeah, No, I am very much the same way. 616 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,840 If you, if we're playing with physical rewards or like 617 00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,000 tangible things that you can just like purchase or whatnot, 618 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,840 I'm like then I could just buy it. 619 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,160 Like. That's the same issue with gift 620 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:32,720 giving season people. Like, what do you want? 621 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,360 I'm like nothing 'cause I bought it myself. 622 00:27:34,600 --> 00:27:38,560 I got adult money. So I find that the types of 623 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,160 rewards that usually work best for me, I just like the 624 00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:44,120 satisfaction rewards or, you know, being able to check a box 625 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:47,320 on a tracker, being able to say that my streak is 200 something 626 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,880 days long. Being able to, it's like Fitbit, 627 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:51,800 you know, when they give you those little badges saying like, 628 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,520 hey, you've walked the distance to India or something or like 629 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,240 things like that. Those are really fun for me 630 00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:01,120 because it's not necessarily something that I set up myself. 631 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:04,480 Because I find that the types of rewards that I set for myself 632 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,200 are usually the kind of things it's like, yeah, I'll just go 633 00:28:06,280 --> 00:28:09,360 buy it anyways, whatever. But you know, because you're not 634 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:10,960 expecting them. And then they just kind of 635 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,800 happen. You're like, oh, when's the next 636 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:14,880 one coming? So there's that kind of surprise 637 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,240 element that comes with it, which how we actually planned 638 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:20,000 surprises like that for ourselves. 639 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,080 Don't ask, you're going to say, but I'm sure there's a way. 640 00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:25,760 I'm sure it's like asking someone else to do that. 641 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,440 That would be something where I'd be like, hey, Jess, I'm 642 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,080 going to have you, you know, randomly I'm going to, you know, 643 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:32,960 number a piece of paper, 1:00 to 10:00. 644 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,840 And then I'm going to make a bingo card of 1 to 10. 645 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:38,080 And when I achieve that thing, I'm going to tell you. 646 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,160 And then you're going to tell me what I get from it. 647 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:42,840 But like that then is hard, you know, because I'm kind of like 648 00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:46,000 part of me is like, what do I give you a budget to like buy me 649 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,480 fun things or, you know, experiences like, yeah, exactly. 650 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,880 How do you plan that out? I think the best way to do it 651 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,440 though is to give it to like accountability partner or 652 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:58,000 somebody that like you know, that can like reward you for 653 00:28:58,000 --> 00:28:59,760 those things without you knowing it. 654 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:02,440 Because otherwise I have 0 idea like how you do that. 655 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:04,520 I'm sure there's companies and apps that do that. 656 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:06,680 Oh, definitely. I think on your point of 657 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,440 accountability partner, that's also like just in a side tip, 658 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:12,440 you know, it's not one that's in the lineup for today, but if you 659 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,080 want to have an accountability buddy to do your planning with 660 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,680 having a little community, especially if you can find an in 661 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:20,200 person 1. So maybe it's like, no, every 662 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,080 Sunday you get on a Zoom call or a Discord chat or something with 663 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:24,920 your friend and you do some planning together. 664 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:28,840 Or even if you don't have a kind of accountability person in your 665 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,720 immediate circle, joining a journaling or planning group 666 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,480 online can also help add that kind of fun element and the 667 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:37,040 motivation. Because then you can kind of, 668 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:39,720 you know, share how you're using your structures, see how other 669 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,400 people doing this. Obviously there's a trap in this 670 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,320 of like, you know, just constantly collecting more 671 00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:48,120 information and tweaking and changing your system to the 672 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:51,200 umpteenth levels because you're just constantly looking at other 673 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,600 people's ideas. But there is something very 674 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,240 motivating about joining a community where other people are 675 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,040 already doing the thing that you want to be doing. 676 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:03,880 So hanging out with people who already actively use planners or 677 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:06,920 want to use planners so you can commiserate together when you 678 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,200 fall off on things, that can also be really helpful. 679 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,720 But Mark, what is your next tip for everyone? 680 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,200 Yeah, absolutely. So my next tip is about that 681 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,840 blank page. We always had that blank page 682 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,240 and we feel like, Oh no, like I didn't fill it out. 683 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,720 I failed. There's this quote that I saw it 684 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:23,920 up, forget who it was by, but it says blank pages aren't 685 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:25,760 failures, they're permission slips. 686 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,960 And I was like, oh, OK, I like that that a lot. 687 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:33,040 The idea here is instead of skipping ahead or completely 688 00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:37,120 abandoning your planner because you missed a page to label it 689 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,840 something that kind of that motivational thing, label it 690 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,120 reset. Currently right now like this 691 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:47,720 idea of just almost like my first one, right like dating the 692 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:50,720 page, not the planner is just sitting down and being like, OK, 693 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,560 yeah blank page didn't fill it out, didn't use it and just 694 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:55,800 write down like what else you can use it for. 695 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,960 I do this a lot in my journal, but it's mostly because if like 696 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,320 a page is like a lot of bleed through or like something 697 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:03,200 happened on it where it doesn't look great. 698 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,360 I do skip it because I do love a nice fresh page, but I don't 699 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,320 love skipping pages and like not using them. 700 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:11,720 I actually have a sticky note in the back of my notebook where I 701 00:31:11,800 --> 00:31:14,400 write down those missed pages because I do come back to them 702 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,120 if I need like to jot down notes or kind of do whatever on. 703 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,040 So I would say this more has to do with the fact of like, I 704 00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:21,920 missed it. I'm unmotivated. 705 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:25,040 So this just gets you back into it again at a really nice and 706 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:28,320 low bar way right now and just start. 707 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:31,280 And again, that's just another way to make sure you're touching 708 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,280 that journal, you're touching that planner and getting into 709 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,880 it. I will say that if you have a 710 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,720 dated planner, and I feel like this is where it gets hard 711 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,520 because I know the value of a dated planner, especially if you 712 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:44,040 don't have to write the days and the weeks and the and all of 713 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:45,200 that stuff. I get it. 714 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,680 But I also feel like it's so hard to do that because if you 715 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,840 missed a few weeks, like it's almost like the the walk of 716 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,040 shame. You have to turn those pages age 717 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:59,920 and everyone to be like not at use, didn't use, didn't use. 718 00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:03,320 I would say instead, I don't do this because I don't have a 719 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:07,360 dated planner, but go online and look at what people do inside of 720 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,320 their dated planners because I feel like there's a lot of 721 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,400 people that like really customize those out the wazoo. 722 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:13,800 There's so many. I don't even know. 723 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:17,240 They look like a weekly anymore. They just look awesome and find 724 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,000 ways to use those pages again, you know, use it for memory 725 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:22,160 keeping. One of the best things I've ever 726 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:24,840 seen because I have a bunch of the Hobonichi's and like other 727 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:26,760 stuff that I really thought were going to work for me. 728 00:32:27,160 --> 00:32:29,720 I just open up the weeks and I'll do like ink swatches inside 729 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,640 of there. Or you could do you know, you 730 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:34,600 got a new pen or new pen pack and just, you know, fill that in 731 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,400 there with like the colors or whatever doodle on the page, 732 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:40,240 whatever it might be like you can find other functional ways 733 00:32:40,240 --> 00:32:44,000 to use those when you haven't. So like have fun with it, use it 734 00:32:44,000 --> 00:32:46,000 for whatever. I think the biggest thing is 735 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,840 like they're most people don't have cameras watching them and 736 00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,280 live streaming their life. Unless you're on the Truman 737 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,600 Show, no one's going to know, right? 738 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,960 If you don't use that or you use it for something else. 739 00:32:57,120 --> 00:33:00,000 The only way they do is if you show somebody, right? 740 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,520 Like the only way that anybody online would ever know that I 741 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,440 missed pages or messed something up or abandoned my planner is if 742 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:10,680 I told them that I did. Otherwise, everything looks 743 00:33:10,680 --> 00:33:13,200 great. It's awesome hunky Dory, 744 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:16,000 rainbows and sunshine. So just keep it to yourself if 745 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,440 you feel like you're going to get any negative effect. 746 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:21,280 But honestly, I don't know anybody personally in the 747 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,960 planner space that would ever be like, oh, you missed a page. 748 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,480 You're trash. Like I've never come across 749 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:28,320 that. Have you ever just like any like 750 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:30,880 people looking down on you for not doing something that they 751 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:33,400 expected that you should be doing in your own planner? 752 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,160 Oh, I definitely have, but that's because people don't know 753 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:38,280 when to keep their opinions to themselves. 754 00:33:38,440 --> 00:33:41,320 But it's OK because you won't have this problem, you planner 755 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:42,680 pal. It's like, you know, people 756 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:44,840 saying, Oh, well, you're honest not a very good planner then 757 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:46,240 because you missed all of these pages. 758 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,720 I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry that you're so perfect. 759 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:50,240 It must be really hard being you. 760 00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,560 But on the note of like having skipped pages, I love your point 761 00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:56,080 about the ink testing for sure, 100%. 762 00:33:56,360 --> 00:33:58,800 If you can think of like any kind of collection that you can 763 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:02,080 split into 8 sections, that can be a really great way to use a 764 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,320 general weekly log, either vertical or horizontal. 765 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:07,840 You could set it up as like an ideal weekly schedule for 766 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:09,280 yourself. So I was like, Oh yeah, these 767 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,719 are my days and how I want to theme them or something like 768 00:34:11,719 --> 00:34:13,639 that. You could make it in terms of 769 00:34:13,719 --> 00:34:16,840 lists of like different areas of self-care, so like physical 770 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:20,920 versus financial versus like personal environment versus work 771 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,800 self-care or like those kind of things. 772 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:27,080 You could make it as like lists of things that you love or 773 00:34:27,080 --> 00:34:30,199 reasons to smile or whatever. And again, split that out into 774 00:34:30,199 --> 00:34:32,239 different life categories so that you can use up the 775 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:33,760 different structures of the page. 776 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:36,600 If we're thinking about a monthly calendar, you could jot 777 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:39,639 down like, you know, little memories or moments or anything 778 00:34:39,639 --> 00:34:42,199 like that. Or what you could do is go on 779 00:34:42,199 --> 00:34:46,280 to, I know Word or camera or whatever, type up 404 error 780 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,880 month not found, print it off and stick it in your planner. 781 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:50,400 Now you're just kind of making fun of it. 782 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:53,040 I use that one a lot. If you miss something or if you 783 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,679 make a mess up in your journal or whatever, just go haha lol JK 784 00:34:56,800 --> 00:34:59,120 whoops or something. Put that in there and move on. 785 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,560 Because at the end of the day, sure, we could beat ourselves up 786 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,160 and you know, made this mistake or I haven't used this thing and 787 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:08,200 oh, I'm a terrible planner and all of that. 788 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,080 Making yourself feel shit is not going to make you do the thing, 789 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:13,480 all right? You're not going to beat 790 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,800 yourself up to consistency in your planner. 791 00:35:16,280 --> 00:35:18,000 And if you do, you're not going to enjoy the process. 792 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,160 And I want you to enjoy this process, all right, When it 793 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,200 comes to planning and journaling and all of that, I want it to be 794 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:25,720 joyful. I want it to be joy nailing. 795 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,280 I don't want it to feel like a chore or something I have to do 796 00:35:29,280 --> 00:35:31,680 or something that I'm going to beat myself up and rake myself 797 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,560 over the coals over because I missed a day on my tracker. 798 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:37,440 I've missed so many days on my trackers. 799 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,240 My favorite way to tackle those things is just writing myself a 800 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,600 little note that says obviously I died or maybe putting in a 801 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:46,320 sticky note that explains why I didn't fill the thing in. 802 00:35:46,720 --> 00:35:50,400 Like oftentimes when it comes to month long trackers in 803 00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,440 particular that I haven't filled in, the thing that I will do for 804 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,360 myself is just write a little explanatory note as to why the 805 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,000 thing didn't happen. One of them in particular that I 806 00:35:59,000 --> 00:36:02,800 can think of was a time log where I was, you know, going 807 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,400 through in 15 minute increments or something and kind of mapping 808 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,720 out what I was using my time on over the course of the month. 809 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,240 And it had worked really well the month prior. 810 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,640 So I set it up for the subsequent month thinking like, 811 00:36:13,680 --> 00:36:16,560 Oh yeah, I'm going to use this. And, and this was in the time of 812 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,640 the Rona. This is when I got like, you 813 00:36:18,640 --> 00:36:21,920 know, stuck in Melbourne because there was a snap lockdown and I 814 00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:24,560 couldn't get back to Wellington and all of this kind of thing. 815 00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:27,600 We were purchasing a house. Like things were happening. 816 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:30,280 So I just wrote myself some journaling being like, you 817 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:33,680 intentionally didn't use this and these are the reasons why. 818 00:36:33,960 --> 00:36:37,680 So now it's essentially a memory keeping page rather than just a 819 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:39,520 blank page that I can look back and go like. 820 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,840 Well obviously that didn't work out. 821 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:44,480 Well here I am saying go on the Internet to find ideas. 822 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:47,240 Just go to Jess, this is YouTube, and she will give you 823 00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:50,160 all the ideas. You know, here's a list of 500 824 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:52,200 things to do in pages that you haven't used. 825 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,920 Jess has got it all great ideas. I mean, those are amazing. 826 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:56,760 Those are just really great. I love how you're just like off 827 00:36:56,760 --> 00:36:59,280 the cuff, like I would have to do like hours of research to 828 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,000 even think of one of those ideas. 829 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,320 Just as like, here's 35 ideas on how to use a blank page that you 830 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:05,760 didn't use. I love it. 831 00:37:05,760 --> 00:37:07,760 I think those are really great ways to go about it. 832 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:10,640 And again, just to kind of reinforce the fact too that it 833 00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,040 can be whatever you need to be. I love the idea of kind of 834 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:15,240 razzing yourself about it too, because it's just fun. 835 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:16,760 Fun. We know we mess up. 836 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:19,680 I I talk to myself all the time of like, Mark, you're an idiot. 837 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,320 What did you just do that for? Especially after like awkward 838 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,800 conversations, you're walking away and you're like, what did 839 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,040 you even just say? Like, are you, what are you 840 00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:28,920 something wrong with you? You can't have an adult 841 00:37:28,920 --> 00:37:31,400 conversation. But it's also just funny though, 842 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:33,640 because, well, I will think about it for weeks, but most of 843 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:37,360 the time, like awkward conversations tend to last with 844 00:37:37,360 --> 00:37:39,040 you. But the idea that you can also 845 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:41,200 kind of make fun of yourself a little bit in it and be like, 846 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,560 yeah, well, next time we're going to try to do a little bit 847 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,000 better and kind of see how it goes. 848 00:37:45,320 --> 00:37:47,320 Alright, Jess, what do you have for your last tip? 849 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,440 Advice for those who have given up on their planner early in the 850 00:37:50,440 --> 00:37:53,320 year. So when it comes to starting a 851 00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:57,200 new year, new planners, new planning system or whatever, and 852 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,040 having these very idealized versions of what we think 853 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,760 success looks like because they're idealized, because they 854 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,920 rely on perfect us and the perfect situation and having the 855 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:09,400 perfect amount of time to put in the perfect plans with the 856 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,960 perfect decoration. And you get in the theme here. 857 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:16,440 I find that one of the ways that helps me stay consistent or be 858 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,720 consistent, you know, given the fact that Mark and I have been 859 00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:22,240 doing this coming up on 10 years now, it's been a while. 860 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,040 One of the things that has helped me in particular stay 861 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,440 consistent and keep up with it was just redefining what success 862 00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:31,920 looks like. So for me, success does not 863 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,440 necessarily mean having a fully filled out section for every 864 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,080 single day of the week, for every single week of the month, 865 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,080 for every single month of the year, for every notebook that I 866 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,520 use because not every day is the same and not every week is the 867 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:45,160 same. All right. 868 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:48,240 There are going to be some periods where I either don't 869 00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:50,720 have a lot to write down so it doesn't need to be fully filled 870 00:38:50,720 --> 00:38:51,840 in. There are going to be other 871 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:54,800 periods where life just got way too hectic and the idea of even 872 00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,720 touching my planner feels like time taken away from these other 873 00:38:57,720 --> 00:39:00,680 fires I need to put out. So stuff isn't going to happen 874 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:03,080 with regards to that. And if I sit there and beat 875 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,080 myself up about it, like we said before, beating yourself up is 876 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:08,040 not a way to make yourself more consistent. 877 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,040 It's just a way to make yourself feel crappy. 878 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,920 We don't want to feel crappy. So instead going with that idea 879 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,880 of just lowering the bar, making it easier for ourself or 880 00:39:16,880 --> 00:39:19,480 whatnot. I do not consider success in the 881 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,960 consistency in my journals to be I used it every single day. 882 00:39:23,240 --> 00:39:26,440 That's not to say that I don't use it almost every single day. 883 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:29,040 Like there's a reason I call my everyday journal my everyday 884 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:30,680 journal. It's the everyday touch. 885 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,600 But in terms of the extent to which I use it or how much I 886 00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,400 fill it in or anything like that, that is going to vary 887 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:39,120 day-to-day. And I know that that's just 888 00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:41,480 going to be part of my perfect system because it actually 889 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,040 aligns with real life. Because as I said, there's going 890 00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:45,520 to be some days where I do need to write a lot. 891 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,280 There are going to be other days where I don't really need to 892 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:48,880 write anything. There are going to be other days 893 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:50,640 where I probably should have written something down but I 894 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:53,080 didn't because I got too busy and the idea of using it was 895 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:56,360 just like too much to handle. You've made such a good point 896 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:58,960 that I was thinking about this. I was actually just going back 897 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:02,440 and setting up bi weekly for this upcoming week and I was 898 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:04,840 looking back on the previous two because I also have a bad habit 899 00:40:04,840 --> 00:40:09,000 sometimes of like migrating certain things but not others. 900 00:40:09,000 --> 00:40:11,920 And then I get like 2 weeks down the road and I was like, I don't 901 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,600 think I migrated. I go back and I was moving up 902 00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,840 forward and I was like looking for my pages and I was just 903 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:18,080 like, well, first of all, how did you miss this? 904 00:40:18,080 --> 00:40:19,560 There's not a whole lot on this page. 905 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,440 And I was like, did I fail at using my journal this week? 906 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:27,440 And I really did think about it and I was like, you used it. 907 00:40:27,720 --> 00:40:29,920 It did exactly what it needed to do for you. 908 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,480 You wrote down notes, you wrote down tasks. 909 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:34,320 There was a lot of stuff that happens. 910 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:36,280 And I think that's also something else that I'm also 911 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,000 coming to realize now. Again, 10 years in, I'm still 912 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:42,440 learning about it. What my page looks like does not 913 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:46,800 define how busy or productive I am by what's inside of there. 914 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:49,280 I think I've also just really come to learn, you know, there 915 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,960 are certain things that just happen in the beat of that 916 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,000 moment, right? So like something that's like 917 00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,880 happening a lot to me right now at work where I'm not using my 918 00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,520 journal for I'm an admin for a tool. 919 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:03,000 So anytime someone needs access this, I get an e-mail that tells 920 00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:05,200 me to add this person or remove this person. 921 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,480 And it used to be manual, but now it's automated from the 922 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:12,520 standpoint of the messaging. So I get 10 or more of these 923 00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:16,320 automated emails every day. And I started thinking like, at 924 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:17,880 first I was like, oh, I got to write this down. 925 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:19,400 Like I got to write down who it is. 926 00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:21,920 And I need to make a tracker to say, yes, I added them to this 927 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:25,080 tool or yes, I remove them and yes, I close the ticket. 928 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:27,480 But I don't need to write that down because I'm doing it in 929 00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:29,640 that moment. It's easier for me to be like, 930 00:41:29,640 --> 00:41:31,920 oh, this person needs to be added to this tool, Add them, 931 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:36,040 click the link, close the ticket versus me writing it down, 932 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,560 creating a tracker, doing all of this when it's just all 933 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,880 happening in the moment. And I think that was like a 934 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,160 really big thing because I was like, I know I was busy last 935 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:44,680 week. I know there was a lot going on, 936 00:41:44,680 --> 00:41:47,240 but like my journal page isn't reflecting it. 937 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:51,280 Therefore, like, am I not doing things right? 938 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:53,960 And it was just like this, like aha moment that I just had for 939 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:56,600 myself the other day when I was doing this or I was like, like I 940 00:41:56,600 --> 00:42:00,200 was saying where we started. Like the the plentifulness of 941 00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:02,880 that page has nothing to do with success of that week. 942 00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:04,880 You did write down the things that you needed. 943 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:07,600 You took the notes that you needed and the rest of your life 944 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,920 is OK. Am I fired from my job? 945 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:11,720 No. Did I accomplish what I was 946 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:13,080 supposed to? Yes. 947 00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:14,760 It doesn't matter that it wasn't written down. 948 00:42:14,760 --> 00:42:17,120 So like, that's been a really big thing for me recently. 949 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,440 And that is, again, the idea of just like redefining what 950 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:23,240 success looks like for you. It doesn't mean your page is 951 00:42:23,240 --> 00:42:25,480 filled every single crevice of it. 952 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:28,160 Bottom line, did I do the things that I said I was going to do? 953 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:30,200 Like that's kind of where I've come to recently. 954 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:33,280 Yeah, I guess it's the idea that like you don't need a full 955 00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:36,440 planner to have a full life, whether that be, you know, 956 00:42:36,720 --> 00:42:40,000 getting your plan sorted, getting your stuff done, being 957 00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:43,000 productive, making memorable moments and all that kind of 958 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:44,160 thing. Just depending on what you're 959 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,760 using your planner for. But if the thing that gets for 960 00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:52,400 me is like if I am kind of like holding up doing stuff or like 961 00:42:52,400 --> 00:42:55,480 holding back on getting things done because I feel like, oh, 962 00:42:55,480 --> 00:42:57,720 gosh, you just have to do this in your planner first. 963 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:01,040 Otherwise it's like doing the thing doesn't count. 964 00:43:01,280 --> 00:43:04,560 That's like a red flag for me. Whereas another red flag is 965 00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,360 like, oh, I'm not getting things done because I didn't put it in 966 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:09,440 my planner. That's also like a problem. 967 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:11,880 So it's finding that kind of happy balance between like 968 00:43:12,240 --> 00:43:15,120 letting your planner help you do the things you want to do and 969 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:17,440 not letting it hold you back from doing the stuff that you 970 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,200 need to or want to do. Yeah. 971 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:21,560 I like that a lot. I mean, I think it also kind of 972 00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:23,880 comes down to the fact of like just really examining whether or 973 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:26,760 not the solution, the method, the notebook, the planner that 974 00:43:26,760 --> 00:43:30,040 you purchased or what you're using is actually fitting your 975 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:31,880 life. It's, I don't feel like enough 976 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,200 of us really do this and maybe you don't have the means to do 977 00:43:34,200 --> 00:43:35,360 it. That's also something I have to 978 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:38,960 remind myself of often is not everyone has the ability to just 979 00:43:39,160 --> 00:43:42,640 buy a $25 planner to see if it works, right? 980 00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:45,080 Because that's AI mean that's a commitment. 981 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:47,720 Whether you think $25.00 is a lot of money or not, that's 982 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:49,680 everyone's individual perspective, right? 983 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:52,760 $25.00 is a lot. I remember spending $17.00 my 984 00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:55,440 first loystrom and being like, who the hell spends as much 985 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:57,680 money on a notebook? This is ridiculous. 986 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:02,360 But I think that it's just the reality of of what it is. 987 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:05,720 If you've never used that system before, you've never really 988 00:44:06,120 --> 00:44:08,280 built it into your life. Something that I've been 989 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,960 thinking about recently, I talked about like the Ugg monk 990 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:13,760 cards all the time, like the next today, you know, whatever. 991 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:16,880 And someone had messaged me recently and they were like 992 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:20,320 Mark, I love the idea of the system, but like it's a lot of 993 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:23,080 money for some index cards with some lines on it. 994 00:44:23,440 --> 00:44:26,800 I use faux monk is what she said, but I changed it into funk 995 00:44:26,800 --> 00:44:30,560 monk. But anyway, she was like, the 996 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:33,560 concept is exactly what I need, but I can't afford that. 997 00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,320 And she actually sent me a picture of like how she set up 998 00:44:36,320 --> 00:44:39,480 her index cards and it looks like she just did it by hand. 999 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:41,920 And I was like, that's just a great idea. 1000 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:43,120 Like you're right, everyone can't. 1001 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,760 So this is kind of where I'm getting to with this is like, 1002 00:44:46,040 --> 00:44:47,840 you know, if you're not sure if something's going to work out 1003 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:49,800 for you, I talked about this with bullet journaling. 1004 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:53,040 This is what I did. I grabbed like 6 sheets of paper 1005 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,400 and stapled them down the edge and essentially set up a bullet 1006 00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,480 journal before I ever started. Bought that $17.00 notebook, 1007 00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:01,640 right? Wasted my money if I'm always 1008 00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:05,680 going to use it or not, and I use that and that is how I 1009 00:45:05,680 --> 00:45:08,400 realized that it was going to work for me. 1010 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,600 I think I used that lasted about a week or two, maybe with a 1011 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:14,720 handful of pages. But like, that's a totally valid 1012 00:45:14,720 --> 00:45:17,520 thing to do is to see if something's going to work for 1013 00:45:17,520 --> 00:45:20,160 you by just making it yourself. It doesn't mean that you're not 1014 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:22,680 going to buy it or you have to like make every planner or 1015 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:25,040 whatever yourself. But like sometimes you just have 1016 00:45:25,040 --> 00:45:28,880 to try it and just see and, and really kind of get into it if 1017 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:30,480 you're not sure. Because I think it really does 1018 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,240 come down to like the value that you're getting from like the 1019 00:45:33,240 --> 00:45:35,800 planner that you're using or the method or whatever it is. 1020 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:39,400 And I think also reflecting, you know, if you did stop using your 1021 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:42,880 planner a few weeks in, like, does that feel good to you? 1022 00:45:43,280 --> 00:45:46,240 You know, like, are you as productive or are you getting 1023 00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:48,240 things done? You know, are you, oh, I'm going 1024 00:45:48,240 --> 00:45:50,920 to remember to do that. Are you actually remembering to 1025 00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,160 do that or are you falling behind? 1026 00:45:53,160 --> 00:45:56,040 And that could also be not to think about it negatively, but 1027 00:45:56,040 --> 00:46:00,000 to say to yourself, that really did help me out. 1028 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:03,080 Let me redefine what success looks for me inside of that 1029 00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,680 before I get back into it and kind of again, turn that page, 1030 00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:11,560 restart today. Now, whatever that might be that 1031 00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:14,960 we've talked about today to start it up again in the way 1032 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,560 that makes sense for you to be successful, I think that's 1033 00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:20,400 really kind of, from my opinion, really what it comes down to. 1034 00:46:20,720 --> 00:46:23,360 Yeah, and hopefully these tips have been helpful for your 1035 00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:25,800 planner of house, but of course, we would love to hear from you 1036 00:46:26,280 --> 00:46:29,320 if you've fallen off with your planner or become a little less 1037 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:30,800 consistent than you would have liked. 1038 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,240 What kind of things, tools, strategies, techniques have you 1039 00:46:34,240 --> 00:46:37,280 used to get yourself back into it, back into the routine of it, 1040 00:46:37,280 --> 00:46:39,840 keeping a little bit more on top of using your planner? 1041 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:42,640 Let us know in the comments or you can hit us up on Instagram 1042 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:47,120 at Planner Pals Podcast or flickus.anemailplannerpalspodcast@gmail.com. 1043 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:49,000 Well, hopefully everything helped you guys out today. 1044 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,200 I really do hope you get back into your planners and your 1045 00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:54,000 journals and again, just really remember that you started for a 1046 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:56,760 reason and you can get back into it in whichever way works for 1047 00:46:56,760 --> 00:46:58,600 you. It was a fantastic episode 1048 00:46:58,600 --> 00:47:00,120 today, Jess, I love talking to you. 1049 00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,240 So many great ideas to like this is again, I always say it, but 1050 00:47:03,240 --> 00:47:05,520 that's why I really do love getting these different 1051 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:07,840 perspectives because we both live different kind of lives. 1052 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:10,520 And I think why we have totally found out what we we love about 1053 00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:12,720 our planners. Getting people equally excited 1054 00:47:12,720 --> 00:47:14,720 about it is always a fantastic time. 1055 00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,200 No, I very much agree. Thank you so much for sharing 1056 00:47:17,200 --> 00:47:19,560 your tips and I'm really excited to read the ones from the Plan 1057 00:47:19,560 --> 00:47:21,680 of Pals. So as always, thanks for 1058 00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:22,120 watching.