1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,480 Hello and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,520 by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go my Mark 3 00:00:06,520 --> 00:00:09,080 Your pages. And I'm Jess or Jessica in and 4 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:11,720 in today's episode, we're gonna be looking at planner chaos 5 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:15,000 versus planner peace, whether you're kind of in one camp or 6 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,280 the other or maybe a little bit of a mixture of both. 7 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,800 I know that throughout our journeys, we have definitely 8 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,880 experienced both of those. But before we get into it, a big 9 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,040 thank you to everybody who left their thoughts feedback on last 10 00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,040 episode. It was very nice to know that 11 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:30,280 we're not alone and jumping between different planner 12 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:33,600 systems and stuff, and in particular, it was great to read 13 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,640 that through that episode we've inspired a couple people to let 14 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,360 go of planners that just are not working for them. 15 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,640 It's really wonderful. It's it's nice to know that not 16 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,120 only are we getting from the community as we always talk 17 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,600 about, but I love when people are like, that was really good 18 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:49,040 advice. I did see some of those comments 19 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:50,160 too. They're like, I've been holding 20 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:52,840 on to this all year long, struggling through it. 21 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,800 Like you gave me that permission even though I didn't need it, 22 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,920 but it's what I needed to hear to know to move on. 23 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:00,320 And so that was absolutely amazing. 24 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:02,440 So yeah, thank you. Thank you Planner crew, you're 25 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,519 all of the best. You know, I like one in 26 00:01:04,519 --> 00:01:07,120 particular being like, I've been holding on to this ugly journal 27 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,200 and just slogging through it because I feel like I'm going to 28 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,760 waste the pages and I feel like I can get rid of it. 29 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,280 And I'm like yes, down with the ugly planner. 30 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:17,880 Well, today's episode I'm excited for because this is 31 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,960 something that so many of us planners struggle with this look 32 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:25,840 for this thing that does exist. We know this Unicorn out there 33 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,240 of this planner piece, but so often we live in this space of 34 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,560 planner chaos, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 35 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,880 I'll tell you personally, just I, I kind of like a little bit 36 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,560 of planner chaos because it's what excites me the most about 37 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:40,000 this. But today we'll be talking about 38 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,120 what's the difference? What is planner peace? 39 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,880 What are we looking for? And Planner Chaos, is it really 40 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,520 something bad or like I said, is it actually kind of exciting? 41 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:49,840 Yeah, I think that you're very much right on that. 42 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,880 Planner chaos does not have to be a bad thing, and it's totally 43 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:54,840 OK to be in a bit of planner chaos. 44 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,120 I find that planet chaos is where innovation lives a lot of 45 00:01:58,120 --> 00:01:59,840 the time. This is like the experimental 46 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,240 phase phase where we get to try different things out, figure out 47 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:05,280 what works for us. So I see it very much as like a 48 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,800 fundamental, instrumental, essential piece of the planner 49 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,039 journey. In terms of planner chaos, to 50 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:13,520 you, what does that look like in your planner systems? 51 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:17,440 So Planner cast to me, honestly, because I'm creating a lot of my 52 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:21,800 own pages myself, is just trying to find the right spreads. 53 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,240 That kind of work for me. I would say early on when I 54 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:26,120 first started, it was just trying to find the right 55 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,960 notebook, the right size, the right paper, all of that bit. 56 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:33,560 So as you're going through and you're using like a Lystrom 1917 57 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,480 and you're saying, OK, I got this because everyone else is 58 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:37,800 using this. And then you get and you're 59 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,280 like, I'm not loving it though. So let me try this other 60 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:42,200 notebook. OK, I got a five. 61 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,480 Well, now I want to try square or B5 or predated or not. 62 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:47,480 And you kind of just go through. I love what you said. 63 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:49,920 It's all about that experimentation and the chaos. 64 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,320 But I also really like the fact that chaos, to me also is just 65 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,640 experimenting with different type of materials and trying new 66 00:02:57,640 --> 00:03:01,520 things in there with the goal of trying find just what works. 67 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,240 But as we'll talk about in this episode, personally, I think 68 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,960 that's kind of boring. But I also really like the idea 69 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:09,320 of just being OK with everything. 70 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,360 How about for yourself? Yeah, no, I would very much 71 00:03:12,360 --> 00:03:14,280 agree with that. That idea of being able to try 72 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,360 out new things and such, whether it be the actual planner itself 73 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:19,480 and the structures and the layouts or just the materials 74 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,520 that we're using with it. In terms of planner chaos, 75 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,480 because you know, everything has two sides here. 76 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:27,800 There is also the not so great side of planner chaos, which is 77 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:30,640 where you don't know where you've stored information or you 78 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,680 don't know if you've stored it in a way that's really going to 79 00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,080 click with your brain. Or maybe it's put down in a way 80 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,160 that you're just not really inclined to get back and check 81 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:40,760 in with it or anything like that. 82 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,840 Which can have some negative effects in terms of overall 83 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,640 productivity and organization and feeling like you're on top 84 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:49,720 of your stuff. That one is always the most 85 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,840 negative part. I think of planet chaos is just 86 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,840 feeling like I'm not in control of the stuff I in theory should 87 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:57,920 or at least want to be in control of. 88 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,640 Like not knowing when I need to be, places where I need to be, 89 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,560 who I need to check in with. If my planner system has a 90 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,000 little bit too much chaos, then often times I just fall off on 91 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:11,400 things that I would like to be a little bit more on top of. 92 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,320 Yeah, having things in too many places is a big deal. 93 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,079 I think about that for myself even now, experimenting with 94 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:21,040 having a pen and a ink journal. And then I have like an ink 95 00:04:21,160 --> 00:04:23,560 Swatch book that I have. And then I have my bullet 96 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,160 journal. And then now even today I got to 97 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,960 pull out one of my old notebooks that we were talking about, that 98 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,840 book notes up from Anso Designs with the metal bindings in 99 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:33,440 there. And I got to pull that out today 100 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:35,800 because I'm going to be coaching field hockey now. 101 00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,800 And so I use it as my like clipboard information thing. 102 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,840 But then even before that was like, OK, well, what am I taking 103 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:44,600 with me today? What does it go inside of here? 104 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:46,720 Wait a second, what am I doing over here? 105 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:49,160 When I started with my day, I'm like picked out a new fountain 106 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,200 pen to use for the week. I was like, OK, wait, where do 107 00:04:52,200 --> 00:04:54,960 I, where do I put the thing? Do I put that over here? 108 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:57,080 Now? It's like having too much. 109 00:04:57,080 --> 00:04:59,080 I love it because it's very exciting. 110 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:02,880 And I think I'm kind of getting to that more focused planner 111 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,880 piece of saying, OK, this journal is for this and here's 112 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,400 where it lives in my studio. This lives over here and this is 113 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,400 what this is for. And I think that even the 114 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:16,040 placement we talked about like trying to find the right tools 115 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:17,600 and and planners that work for us. 116 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:22,360 But I think even having like chaos in your space also is 117 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:25,120 something that can happen because you're storing things 118 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,600 away in different places. So I didn't really think about 119 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,280 it before we even started talking about this. 120 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:32,320 But I think planner piece can also just be like your your 121 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:35,680 space where you do your planning is a peaceful space as well. 122 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,480 No, I would agree with that. I think that anytime I set up my 123 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,520 journal for the next month or cycle or whatever, I I 124 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,400 definitely get some planner chaos going in my kind of work 125 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,160 area or off cuts and tape pieces. 126 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,280 And you know, XY is a bit of supply that is just scattered 127 00:05:50,280 --> 00:05:52,720 amongst the space. And then of course I'm like, 128 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,400 Nope, I'm overwhelmed now. I'm going to make that a future 129 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,920 me problem to clean up. And then the planner chaos 130 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:00,640 continues. When you get back to my desk the 131 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,080 next day, I'm like, OK, yeah, we actually need to tidy things up 132 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:06,600 before we can do anything. That idea of what messy space, 133 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,920 messy mind kind of a thing, that is something I definitely fall 134 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:12,120 victim to. But I like your point about 135 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:14,800 thinking about what you need to collect together before you go 136 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,040 out somewhere. I think that travel with journal 137 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:20,760 and planner supplies is a really good indicator of whether we are 138 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,760 in plan a piece or plan A chaos. Plan a chaos. 139 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,240 I'm like, cool, so I need to take this journal, but also this 140 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:28,640 journal, but that notebook, but also that planner in these pens, 141 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,040 but those ones for this one. And then I need at least like, 142 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,160 you know, 6 rolls of tape or something like that because I've 143 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,960 made a system that maybe is a little bit too complex. 144 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:39,120 Thankfully I'm not really there at the moment. 145 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:41,600 I think I'm edging towards planter piece. 146 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:42,960 But what is planter piece for you? 147 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:46,960 I mean, I think planter piece is just everything falls into place 148 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,520 and it just clicks, right. It's just it's working for you. 149 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,480 You feel very confident in how you are going about your day in 150 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:56,120 your week and how you're setting things up. 151 00:06:56,840 --> 00:06:59,160 What we just talking about, you know where your things are and 152 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:01,800 where those things go. And there's no extra second 153 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,120 guessing towards that. It's not that you're also moving 154 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,720 beyond the experimentation. I think that as creative people, 155 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,960 we're always experimenting and trying new things, but I think 156 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,720 it's also just the call it planner maturity in a way where 157 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,880 you say, OK, I have this notebook, this is for my bullet 158 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,000 journaling for work. I have this notebook, this is 159 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,680 for my daily home task that I have to do. 160 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,400 And you're not still trying to exactly figure out how you're 161 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:31,520 going to do that. And I think that it just starts 162 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,560 to feel much more natural for you and how you go about your 163 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:36,920 day today. I will also say planner piece 164 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:39,400 for some people. And what I thought it was, was 165 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:41,760 also just that journal that just works for you. 166 00:07:41,760 --> 00:07:44,720 You're not second guessing and thinking about the next journal 167 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:47,400 that you don't even know that you need just yet because you 168 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:50,000 really love your function, your method, and what's happening 169 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:51,320 right now. How about for you? 170 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,000 Yeah, I think that that's a good point. 171 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:55,800 And you're that one thing that's going to, you know, change the 172 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,400 game for you and it's going to be the the be all and end all of 173 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:00,680 your system and stuff. And I think that when I first 174 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:03,560 got started, that was what I expected plan a piece to be. 175 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:07,360 It was going to be finding that perfect system, that one perfect 176 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,800 tool that was going to do all of the stuff. 177 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,280 But like we talked about in last episode, oftentimes it's not a 178 00:08:13,280 --> 00:08:15,160 one done and done. Oftentimes there are going to be 179 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:17,400 parts of our planning and planner system and such that 180 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,800 don't fall within the scope of one specific tool, whether 181 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:25,320 that's using a digital planner and a like monthly calendar or 182 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,000 using a physical planner and then some kind of other digital 183 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:29,840 system. Or it could all be analog or it 184 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:31,280 could all be digital or something. 185 00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:33,840 The actual kind of like setup of it might look a little different 186 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:36,960 depending on who you are. But for me, I think planner pace 187 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:39,880 at this point in time is knowing what goes where. 188 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,400 Like you mentioned, that's a big one. 189 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:45,080 And also just feeling confident that I have captured everything 190 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:47,680 I need to. It doesn't necessarily need to 191 00:08:47,680 --> 00:08:50,320 be captured in exactly the same place or in exactly the same 192 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:53,000 way, but I know it is captured because brains are made for 193 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:54,640 having ideas, not for holding them. 194 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:59,120 If I try and rely on my actual organic brain to be able to hold 195 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:01,600 all of those things, it's not going to happen. 196 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,840 We're going to have a bad time. Future Jess is going to be a 197 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,720 stress mess. Jess, we don't want that for 198 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:07,200 her. We want it to be captured in 199 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:09,640 some other kind of system that's a little bit more reliable. 200 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:12,160 It's not going to forget and it's going to be easy to find 201 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,080 later. I've always been very envious of 202 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:16,280 people who can store everything inside their brain. 203 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,280 Like mine is creative Swiss cheese, you know, it's like it 204 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:20,760 does exactly what it needs to do. 205 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:24,680 But like anything that isn't hyper focused and adding any 206 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:27,920 type of excitement to my life just seeps kind of out of there 207 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:30,400 and then, you know, some things just kind of jet back in there. 208 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,240 But I, I feel you on that. It's one of those things where I 209 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:36,480 like that idea of it because it makes me kind of accept my brain 210 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:37,920 a lot more. When you just said that, I was 211 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:41,640 like, oh, yeah, I don't have to remember everything, but I have 212 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,360 always been just very envious of people who do. 213 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,320 My wife is one of those people. Like she knows everything that's 214 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,880 going on months in advance. I'll be like, So what are we 215 00:09:49,880 --> 00:09:51,720 doing this weekend? She's like this, this and this 216 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:53,400 and then next week we're doing this. 217 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:55,800 And then we have these concerts to go to in October and then 218 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,840 we're doing. I was like, Oh my gosh, like, I 219 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,400 can't even think what's going to happen beyond today. 220 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:03,520 I'm just like, OK, your brain will do that for us. 221 00:10:03,640 --> 00:10:05,800 Please forgive mine because it can't do that. 222 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,720 I need to write all this down. Please talk slowly. 223 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,720 Yeah, please let me like put this into some other system 224 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:13,720 that's just going to remember it for me. 225 00:10:14,000 --> 00:10:17,920 And I think that there is very envious of people who can 226 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:21,360 remember that far in advance. But I'm also just like, how why 227 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,560 people who don't use calendars, I'm just like, how are you 228 00:10:24,560 --> 00:10:26,680 functioning in the world? Like, I'm very impressed. 229 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:29,920 Please do tell me more. But I think that I just feel 230 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,840 personally more at peace when I know that that information is 231 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:35,480 captured somewhere else. I probably could force myself to 232 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:38,440 remember that kind of stuff, but I like to free up mental space 233 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,280 to do other things like remembering song lyrics and 234 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,280 other pointless things that I don't really need in the 235 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:44,840 day-to-day. But they still sneak in there 236 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:46,840 somehow. Yeah, so, well, just an idea is 237 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,240 we put together a little bit of like a prompts last survey. 238 00:10:49,240 --> 00:10:52,680 It's like a 17 magazine, like who is your celebrity crush? 239 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:56,200 But this little survey is going to help you figure out exactly 240 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,080 where you are. Are you in planner peace or are 241 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,560 you in planner chaos? And we have to put this out 242 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:03,400 here. Neither is wrong. 243 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:05,520 And in case you're not sure where you fall, we're going to 244 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:08,040 go through three questions and you got to think about these and 245 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:09,680 then you're going to tell us where you are. 246 00:11:09,680 --> 00:11:11,880 So just let's start with the very first question to figure 247 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,920 out if you are in planner peace or if you're in planner chaos. 248 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:16,760 All righty. So the first question is all 249 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,840 about stress from your system, and hopefully your system 250 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:23,240 doesn't stress you out too much. But the main question is, does 251 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,560 it stress you out? Like are you stressed about your 252 00:11:25,560 --> 00:11:28,200 planner system? And if you are stressed about 253 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:30,960 it, there's probably an indication that maybe you're in 254 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,240 a bit more planner chaos than you are planner pace. 255 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:37,840 I personally find at the moment that I have a minimal amount of 256 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:39,440 stress. And that's the thing, you don't 257 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:41,120 have to be 1 or the other. This is a spectrum. 258 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:44,200 You can fall anywhere along this kind of like Rd. of stress. 259 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:50,000 I find that at the moment I'm kind of like an 8 out of 10 in 260 00:11:50,000 --> 00:11:51,840 terms of like the piece to stress scale. 261 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,880 Like if one is stress and 10 is like absolute peace, I'm at an 262 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:57,000 8. What do you reckon? 263 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,880 I think for myself right now that I'm probably at like a six. 264 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:04,800 And the reason I say that is I still kind of get caught up on 265 00:12:04,800 --> 00:12:08,680 my desk with too much. So I have my bullet journal open 266 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:12,320 all the time while I'm working and a lot of the times I have it 267 00:12:12,320 --> 00:12:15,040 open and then I'm like working over top of it. 268 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,240 And I think it's that planner chaos, but also just like the 269 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,760 space chaos a little bit where the other day actually my bullet 270 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,440 journal, I was like, I don't know why, it's kind of weird, 271 00:12:24,440 --> 00:12:27,080 but I was my palms were sweating while I was working the other 272 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:30,040 day and I was working and then I like move my hand away and I 273 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:33,720 look back and my ink on my page had like smeared and I was like, 274 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,040 but why is that happening? It was because like my planner 275 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,760 was like kind of like right in front of me while I was working 276 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,160 and typing. So it was almost like a, a wrist 277 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,840 rest for my typing, but I was like, well, that needed to move 278 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,000 over, but I was going to work, you know, on top of it. 279 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:50,640 And I think I also had like some other like pens and stuff out. 280 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,080 I probably had gotten some new inks or stationery was on the 281 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:55,640 desk too. So like there are times where 282 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,080 like, yes, the bullet journal planner itself is working for 283 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:00,080 me, but kind of what we talked about is like the space was 284 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:02,360 stressing me out. I feel it in my body and I 285 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,920 sometimes I'm just like Mark, stop, like let's clean this up 286 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:09,960 and let's clear the mind and get in there. 287 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:13,760 So like the notebooks and things that I'm using also, I would 288 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:17,080 say, I mean, why I'm out of 6 is because I am kind of doing that 289 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:21,000 thing right now where I'm in between specialty notebooks, 290 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:22,880 bullet journal. Good, it's fine. 291 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,640 I just finished my fountain pen Swatch little notebook. 292 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:27,720 And so now I have to set up another one. 293 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:30,840 And because of that, I have extra notebooks out as I'm 294 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:33,320 experimenting a little bit to see like what's going to work 295 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:34,920 out. And then the other day I was 296 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,800 like, oh, OK, Mark, don't forget you like to jot down your pen 297 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,880 and ink combinations. I'm like, crap, which, which 298 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:43,880 journal am I putting that in right now and where is it? 299 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:45,760 So I still have some cleaning to do. 300 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,040 I can only use the excuse of like, it's my new space and 301 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,560 everything's in a new space in my new office, but it's been a 302 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:55,040 few months now. It's just chaos. 303 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,520 I do also like the point though that there can be one part of 304 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,160 your planning system that you're you know at a six with and other 305 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:04,240 parts that you're at an 8 with or another part that you're at 306 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:07,880 A1 with or wherever else. I think that for me, if I take 307 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,360 like the kind of overall overarching kind of number, it's 308 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,400 an 8. But if I think about it in terms 309 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,840 of specific parts, I think my bullet journal currently is at 310 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,080 like a nine. And I think that the other main 311 00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:22,920 places that I organize information, digital calendar, 312 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:25,760 that one's probably similarly at a nine. 313 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,560 I'm pretty happy with that. Thinking about my second brain 314 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,920 though, that one being a digital space, parts of that, because 315 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,600 it's a big one, parts of that are like at a 910 and I'm really 316 00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:36,040 happy with. And other parts of that I'm 317 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:39,560 like, yeah, you're at A2. We need to, we need to shape up, 318 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,440 buddy. But because that's only a small 319 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,840 part of my overall system, holistically we're at an 8. 320 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:46,880 Yeah, there's something else I've been doing recently. 321 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:48,440 I was just telling my wife about this. 322 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,920 I've been trying to help myself out with my brain. 323 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,840 Right. So officially diagnosed with 324 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,440 ADHD, no longer pretty sure I know it's there. 325 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:00,400 So I've been trying to put more methods in place, especially 326 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:03,800 with like having to leave on time and like do certain things 327 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:09,000 where I've been putting it in my calendar usually 30 minutes 328 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:12,200 before I have to be to a place. So if I have to pick my daughter 329 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:19,440 up from practice at 4:15, I will set a calendar invite for 3:15 330 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,840 just to like give myself the mental time to like get going 331 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:26,000 and still be there on time. The problem is, is I haven't 332 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,000 perfected it yet because now I'm forgetting whether or not I need 333 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,520 to be there at the time that I'm starting the event or if it's 334 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:35,640 afterwards. So one thing I've been doing is 335 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:39,240 I've been putting it in there and then in parentheses pick up 336 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:42,480 at 4:30. But I haven't perfected that 337 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,800 because it's kind of new now. And so it's one of those things 338 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,200 too from a digital aspect where it is still chaotic. 339 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,360 It's that like a four for me, honestly, it's like it's getting 340 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:54,280 there. You know, the things are still 341 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:56,680 in my bullet journal, but I'm trying to incorporate these 342 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,920 other things to like help me out a little bit more to do that. 343 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:01,720 But I'm still working out the kinks. 344 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,160 So I'll still consider that chaos because I'm still like 345 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:06,120 texting her midday, Like, wait a second. 346 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,320 So I did put this in my calendar, but like I forget if I 347 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,760 said I had to be there at 4:15 or I set it for 4:15 to be there 348 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:16,400 by 4:30 or whatever the time difference is. 349 00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,040 Got to work on that one. For the longest time for my 350 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,800 digital calendars, I have always had my color coding system for 351 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:24,760 one. But one color is specifically 352 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:28,080 dedicated to travel because otherwise, if I don't put travel 353 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:31,040 on my calendar, I will just forget the fact that I actually 354 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,560 have to get from like one physical space to another. 355 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,080 And that does actually take time. 356 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:39,040 So my default for any kind of travel block is like 30 minutes. 357 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,840 Oftentimes it'll only take 10 or whatever, but I've got it 358 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:43,800 scheduled in there that the event starts at 4:00. 359 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:45,640 So the travel block starts at 3:30. 360 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:48,120 So you have to make sure that you're like ready to go even if 361 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:49,640 it's not going going to take the full half hour. 362 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:52,000 Yeah. So if you're any of those spaces 363 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,840 on this spectrum, you can kind of gauge yourself from feeling 364 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,120 very stressed out by your system, regardless if it's just 365 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,480 one piece or multiple pieces, you know, we'll put that at A1. 366 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:03,880 And then if you're just feeling really good about all of your 367 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:06,760 different systems working together as like a 10, so like 368 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,480 scale yourself inside of there. I personally think that you're 369 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,520 in like a six and a 7. Like you said, you're definitely 370 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,800 planner piece leaning. I guess it's like the moon phase 371 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:17,920 is over here. You're like you're a waning 372 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,680 planner. Sorry you're I don't know plan. 373 00:17:21,240 --> 00:17:23,280 A phase is the perfect way to describe that. 374 00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:25,359 I love it. I know nothing about moon 375 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:26,920 phases, but that's my new moon cycle. 376 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,160 You can figure out where you are on that spectrum. 377 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:31,240 The next thing that we're going to talk about as a part of this 378 00:17:31,240 --> 00:17:34,360 survey is definitely something you can gauge pretty easily, 379 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:37,720 which is are you actually reaching for your journal or 380 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:40,000 your methods or are you avoiding them? 381 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,160 So something we actually talked about last episode as well was 382 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:45,800 this idea that if you're not interested or excited about the 383 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:49,360 things that you're using, one of the biggest ways to like red 384 00:17:49,360 --> 00:17:52,760 flag that is that you are actively avoiding opening 385 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:57,520 grabbing for going near any of those elements specifically in 386 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:01,840 this place, your planner, mostly because it is stressing you out. 387 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:03,600 It's causing some type of anxiety. 388 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:07,000 You really don't want to do it. And so that's an easy way just 389 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,680 to be able to kind of gauge where you are. 390 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,640 I don't know if we give this one a number gauge like two, I reach 391 00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,440 for it, but I think it's more just this idea that am I going 392 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:19,520 for it or am I not going for it to really understand, you know, 393 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,960 it's stressing me out. It's definitely chaos or Oh 394 00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:24,280 yeah, let me open up my journal, put this in here because I know 395 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:26,800 exactly where it needs to go. I guess you could kind of gauge 396 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:29,720 this in terms of like the consistency of use and 397 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:33,280 consistency, remember, does not mean every single day because 398 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:35,520 some parts of our planning system do not need to be touched 399 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:37,760 every single day. I don't need to go look over my 400 00:18:37,760 --> 00:18:40,360 Swatch book every single day. I only need it when I need to 401 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:42,080 select my next pen type of a thing. 402 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:46,200 So in terms of whatever, you know, frequency of use you have 403 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,040 given to your planner or whatever is kind of like ideal 404 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,440 for you. Are you meeting that schedule 405 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,600 for yourself? Are you checking in with a daily 406 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,960 if it's a daily kind of touch, Are you checking in with a 407 00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:58,680 weekly if it's one that you need to do weekly setups in or 408 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:02,040 anything like that? I find that for most of mine at 409 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,200 the moment, I'm pretty good with checking in with them, except 410 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:07,800 the one that's in chaos, because that's the one that's stressing 411 00:19:07,800 --> 00:19:11,040 me out because, yeah, I haven't figured out the system perfectly 412 00:19:11,040 --> 00:19:12,280 yet. And that's kind of what's 413 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,600 keeping me from getting in there more consistently. 414 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:18,520 I guess the bullet journal though, or whatever it's called 415 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,200 nowadays, Big shrug. And that one I do still pick up 416 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:22,880 every day. But then again, I call that my 417 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,000 everyday journal, so I would hope that I was touching it 418 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:27,200 every day. I think for myself when it comes 419 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:30,160 to this one, I'm definitely more in that planner peace space. 420 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:33,080 I use my bullet journal every single day. 421 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:35,720 Well mostly Monday through Friday and weekends unless I'm 422 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:38,880 planning for the upcoming week. And I loved what you said there. 423 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:42,240 Consistency does not always mean every single day and that's a 424 00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,280 really good point. Mean at least in my case, I 425 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:47,360 consistently use my bullet journal for work Monday through 426 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:49,360 Friday. I'm not really working or doing 427 00:19:49,360 --> 00:19:51,720 a lot of it over the weekend. I'm still consistent. 428 00:19:51,720 --> 00:19:55,080 I would definitely say with my other things, I mean my soon to 429 00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:59,160 be ink Swatch notebook, I'm consistent from a standpoint of 430 00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:02,360 I know what it will be and how I'm going to use it. 431 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:04,680 And when I get new inks, I'll be putting things in there. 432 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,560 I've been very good about that. And even with my pen and ink 433 00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:09,920 log, right, like every time I have a new pen and ink 434 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,080 combination, I've been jotting that down in there and just 435 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:13,720 keeping a record of it for myself. 436 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,400 So like those are kind of like the three main things in my life 437 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:20,240 right now that like feel good and that I know like when I'm 438 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:22,520 gonna grab it. Now, a little bit of that, like 439 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:24,600 not 100%. It's just like where did I put 440 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:26,000 that? But I'm getting better about. 441 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,920 Placement, I think that's a really big part of making sure 442 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:32,120 that you're in planner piece versus like you said, planner 443 00:20:32,360 --> 00:20:34,400 chaos. If you're just not like, I don't 444 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:36,720 want to do that no more. And I think, you know, this can 445 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:40,960 also be a very good question to, you know, reflect on to see if 446 00:20:40,960 --> 00:20:43,360 there are any planners. You've just decided to DNF. 447 00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:45,720 You know, you said you were just taking a little break, but 448 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:47,800 you've actually decided not to go back to it. 449 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:49,640 You just haven't admitted that to yourself. 450 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:51,400 For me, that was my reading journal. 451 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,320 That has been my long term collections journal. 452 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,280 I've recently decided that that is one that has fallen under 453 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:57,960 that did not finish kind of category. 454 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:00,640 I don't think there are any others in particular that are 455 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:03,840 super at risk. OK, story time. 456 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,560 I tried to go back through my planners from the lineup that I 457 00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,520 set for myself at the start of 2025 because I was like, Oh my 458 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,840 gosh, I feel like I started this year with so many planners and 459 00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:15,560 journals and whatever in my lineup. 460 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,960 And now I feel like I'm not using any of them. 461 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:20,520 Which, you know, again, comes back to that idea that you don't 462 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,280 have to use everything every single day. 463 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:24,120 Doesn't mean it's not actually party a lineup. 464 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:26,120 But I'd ended up doing a recount. 465 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:28,920 It was still just as many as I thought because I don't touch 466 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:30,520 them every day. I kind of forgot that they 467 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,640 existed almost. It's like, yeah, the Swatch 468 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:34,200 journal doesn't need to be touched every day. 469 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,520 The health journal, as long as you're filling in that you have 470 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,040 done your exercise, that's all it really needs at the moment. 471 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,600 The long term collections journal request kind of part J, 472 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,040 you are actually deceased now we're going to let you go and 473 00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,600 it's going to be all right. The reading journal as soon as I 474 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:49,280 stopped doing videos for it I'm like Nah. 475 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:54,760 So I guess in part you know you can get rid of planner chaos by 476 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,000 just scrapping the planner entirely. 477 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,280 There is no chaos if the planner doesn't exist. 478 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,640 Very true. I mean, yeah, if it's burned 479 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,880 into a crisp Outback in the fire pit, I mean, what? 480 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,200 What journal Can you imagine doing that I can't. 481 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:11,040 On that note, I will have to say I did just recycle some, like 482 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:13,440 older ones. I'm currently decluttering my 483 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,680 own stash and going through it. And I was like, pat it in my 484 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:19,120 hand and I was just like, this is from like a conference, you 485 00:22:19,120 --> 00:22:21,160 know, it's nothing special at all. 486 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:23,400 But like, my brain is like, Mark, you could use this for 487 00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:24,920 real quick little waste or whatever. 488 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:26,960 And I was just like, it's crappy paper. 489 00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,080 Like it's probably cost less than a dollar. 490 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:30,880 And I just threw it in the recycling bin. 491 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:32,760 And I felt so much better about it. 492 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,000 There's so much guilt beforehand, but I just threw it 493 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,120 in a box and I was like, you were going to the recycling and 494 00:22:38,120 --> 00:22:39,800 I was just felt really good about it. 495 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:40,400 So you're right. Yeah. 496 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,000 If it's not there, you can't be stressed about it. 497 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:44,880 It's always the decision making process that's the most painful 498 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,000 part. As soon as you make the 499 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,840 decision, it's like relief, peace, kind of a thing. 500 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:52,560 All right, so we've gone through the 1st 2. 501 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:56,600 So just what is the third item in our Little 17 Magazine survey 502 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:59,480 to see whether you're in Planner chaos or planner peace? 503 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:01,560 So this one's a little bit tricky because it very much 504 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,040 depends on the purpose that you've assigned to your planners 505 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,240 and journals. But do you feel that the purpose 506 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,960 has been fulfilled? Has the system that you have 507 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,880 developed or that you're trying to use, is it actually doing 508 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,960 what you want it to do for you? So for some of us, that's going 509 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,360 to be like memory keeping. That could be productivity 510 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:21,000 organization. Are you showing up to the events 511 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:22,800 that you're supposed to be showing up to at the time you're 512 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:23,960 supposed to be showing up to them? 513 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,480 Being able to kind of see in your kind of real world 514 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,480 experience outside of your planners is the stuff that I'm 515 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,560 hoping to get out of these actually happening for me in 516 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,720 terms of my, you know, regular everyday journal or whatnot, 517 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:38,400 that's all about getting tasks done. 518 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,240 So it's like, am I getting my tasks done? 519 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,000 Sure, I'm writing them down, but am I actually following through 520 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,880 and doing them? Because if I'm not, then it 521 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:46,800 means that that system isn't working anymore. 522 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:50,120 If it's in terms of events and appointments, am I showing up to 523 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:52,480 the places I need to be at the times I'm supposed to be there? 524 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,360 If I'm not, that means that something in my calendar is not 525 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,160 working for me. Do I feel like I have captured 526 00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:00,880 my memories for the day and I feel good about having those 527 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:03,800 things recorded somewhere? If not, that means that my five 528 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,600 year journal isn't working for me. 529 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:08,520 What would that be for you? Every time you've mentioned this 530 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,040 five year journal, that was actually one that I just 531 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,080 recycled. So I had someone had gifted me a 532 00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,320 five year journal and I was like, oh, this is so great. 533 00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:22,760 And I opened it up and I was, I filled out four days maybe one 534 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,240 year and then I think I did 2 consecutive days the following 535 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:28,040 year. And then I haven't used it 536 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,080 since. And I really was bad about it 537 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,600 because I again, I was like, oh, this is good paper. 538 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,840 Then I thought about like deconstructing it and I was 539 00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:38,440 like, Mark, just no, like you have plenty of notebooks, just 540 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,400 just recycle it. It'll be OK. 541 00:24:40,720 --> 00:24:44,200 I think for myself, I've really come to a spot where I really 542 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:49,200 do, you know, enjoy the pieces that I'm using and for the most 543 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:52,360 part, and I think a lot of it is me almost getting there. 544 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,320 So writing things down and I know you have, I actually talked 545 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,640 about this recently. You know, we had a previous 546 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,080 episode where we talked about like, you don't like repetition 547 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:04,800 as a way to work. And I'm all about repetition 548 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,040 where I'm like, write it in the journal, write it in the 549 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,960 calendar, write it over here, write it over there. 550 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,120 Tell somebody, have someone call you, set an alarm for it. 551 00:25:13,120 --> 00:25:15,960 Like I'm all about making sure that I'm getting to where I need 552 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,760 to be to, to make that happen. I'm trying to figure out the 553 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:22,000 right ways to do it. I'm even trying to find like 554 00:25:22,120 --> 00:25:25,000 ways to automate that more, you know, even something just like 555 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:28,320 sending myself a calendar invite and putting on my work calendar, 556 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:30,760 but then also just emailing myself that. 557 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:33,320 So it just shows up on my personal calendar versus 558 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,840 entering it twice. Small little process, things 559 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,080 like that I feel like I'm getting better at. 560 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:43,480 So I think on that one of like pure chaos and 10 being 561 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,360 beautiful, amazing purity and peace. 562 00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,240 I think on this one, I'm again probably at like a 6A7. 563 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,200 I would say it's like I know what I have to do. 564 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,320 It's just trying to perfect and tweak it a little bit to make it 565 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,720 work even better for myself. And I feel really good about it. 566 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,440 I think at this point I've gone through the experimentation 567 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:03,560 phase of a lot of this of like, how does this work? 568 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,880 Where do I put it? And I just know like it has to 569 00:26:05,880 --> 00:26:10,080 go in the journal, it has to go in my calendar, personal as well 570 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:13,200 as work, because I'm always looking at my work calendar. 571 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,640 But then all my devices and things are connected to like my 572 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,960 watch and my phone and even in my car, it always brings up my 573 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:24,400 personal calendars in there and it's helpful to see them there 574 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,520 too. So I'm getting there with those 575 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,040 things. Then go give myself A7. 576 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:29,960 I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm just trying to make it a 577 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:32,120 little bit better. I think this is another one 578 00:26:32,120 --> 00:26:34,800 where like different parts of your system might be working 579 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,080 better in terms of fulfilling the purpose that you've given 580 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,240 them versus others. Because I know like the everyday 581 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,520 journal, that's doing great, probably a nine. 582 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:43,920 I always, I never give myself A10 on anything. 583 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:45,240 There's always room for improvement. 584 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,600 I'm always a very harsh marker. That's the teacher in you. 585 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:51,880 Very much that for my long term collections journal, the one 586 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,920 that I effectively decided to DNF, that got to a point where 587 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,520 the purpose that I'd given it, it was not being filled. 588 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:00,760 It was just not an effective system for what I needed it to 589 00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,400 do because that was essentially going to be a reference book. 590 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,800 In fact, I've had what 4 iterations of that reference 591 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,840 book. Now the reason that I have for 592 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,520 those that I started in LT1917, but then once I moved into a 593 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,560 different type of paper and I'm like, well, you are also a 594 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:16,800 Swatch book and I want to Swatch my pens on something that has 595 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:18,920 the same type of paper. So you're no longer fulfilling 596 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:20,640 the purpose. Let's move into something else. 597 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,000 So I got that into a scribbles that matter because that's what 598 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:24,720 I was using. And then I stopped using 599 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,720 scribbles that matter journals and I moved into an Archer and 600 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:27,640 olive. So I'm like, cool, we need to 601 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:29,360 remake it and put it in an Archer olive. 602 00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,480 And then eventually I sprinted it out. 603 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:34,000 So it's like, OK, we don't just have long term collections that 604 00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,960 also has swatches. We have a separate Swatch book 605 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:37,440 and a long term collections book. 606 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:39,880 So we have the reference material and then the pen 607 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:41,880 related reference material separate to that. 608 00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:44,840 Because in terms of filling that purpose and filling the need and 609 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,280 such, that just made more sense. But now I'm at a point where the 610 00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:52,320 reference materials I was storing in there, that is not 611 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:54,440 the place I go to look for them. So that's a big one. 612 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:57,080 So then that means that I never check in with those reference 613 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,120 materials, which means that they're not getting used in the 614 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,360 way that I wanted them to. So that system isn't working 615 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:03,560 anymore. Where are we going to put that 616 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,800 information instead? That's going in my second brain 617 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:07,760 and Notion. Yay, Notion. 618 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:10,960 My, my most recent love. I guess I was going to say my 619 00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:12,520 first love because no, that's not true. 620 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,040 Excel is my first love. I do love Excel. 621 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:18,960 I was telling you, last time I, I accidentally turned on ESPN 5, 622 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,680 I think, and there was a Microsoft Excel championship 623 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:25,440 going on. If people were formulating 624 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:28,920 things and doing stuff in pivot tables, I just, I didn't know 625 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,960 what, I've never seen anything like it because it was well 626 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,280 beyond my mental capacity. And that first person I thought 627 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:38,000 of was you. I was like, you know what, who 628 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:42,360 would love this, Jess? Yeah, I'm like not into sports, 629 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,360 but into like competitive, excelling. 630 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:45,960 Yeah, I could get behind that. It's. 631 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:47,760 Funny when you talk about your second brain. 632 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:50,360 I haven't looked into it very much but I'm very interested in 633 00:28:50,360 --> 00:28:53,040 like googles new things called notebook LM. 634 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:57,640 It's just like AI notebook where people are like putting a lot of 635 00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,960 their information. And I get you to be very careful 636 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:02,720 about what you're putting into it because it's doing all this 637 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,480 really cool stuff. I know I've been seeing it a lot 638 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,840 for college students and high school when you're doing like 639 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:10,280 research papers and things like that and you like dump all this 640 00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:13,120 information into it. And then I something I saw just 641 00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,520 as the features like you can take that and then turn that 642 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:18,240 into a podcast for yourself to listen back to, to help you 643 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,160 understand better. And it just got me thinking 644 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:25,760 like, what if I turned that into like my, my digital brain in 645 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:27,440 some way? It'd be funny to be like 646 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,880 notebook LM, create a podcast after the last week and like, 647 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:34,720 have it like aggregate all of the things I'm throwing in there 648 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:37,280 and like feed it to me as a podcast. 649 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,560 I'm, I'm slightly interested in it. 650 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:40,960 I just don't know how I would start it. 651 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:43,120 But it's one of those things every time you mention your, 652 00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,560 your brain, I'm like, I'm going to try that. 653 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,400 Notion is great. Don't get me wrong. 654 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:50,640 I'm a big air table fan personally for things, but this 655 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,480 notebook LM was something I was been interested in mostly for 656 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,400 this reason. But I feel like that's just 657 00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,360 allowing Google even more information. 658 00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:58,640 I'm sure they already have on me. 659 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:01,520 I'm just, you know, being funny about giving them anymore. 660 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,480 No, that's very fair. I, I do think of my second brain 661 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:07,520 as kind of like a PKM, like personal knowledge management 662 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:11,240 kind of system because it's essentially just what I'm hoping 663 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:13,120 it to be. What I'm slowly building it to 664 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:16,680 being is that kind of like one stop shop, full resource for 665 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:19,160 like all of my life lists and stuff that I need. 666 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,040 So I've got all of my templates and stuff in there for content 667 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:23,960 creation. So when I put out a post for the 668 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:26,160 memberships, for instance, rather than having to write it 669 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,320 from scratch, I've already written out the general template 670 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:29,640 for myself. I can go use that. 671 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,440 I use it for my content calendar because you can open it up in 672 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,320 different views and you can have it in like a calendar layout so 673 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,480 you can see the schedule or in a Kanban born. 674 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,280 So you can see like where we're at in terms of different stages 675 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:43,840 of editing or whatever, you can list it by channel. 676 00:30:43,840 --> 00:30:46,960 So I've got things for like a podcast versus my newsletter 677 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:50,200 versus my main channel versus the vlog channel versus 678 00:30:50,200 --> 00:30:52,760 Instagram, yadda, yadda. And I think that just being able 679 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:55,960 to have all of that in there in those different views and not 680 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:58,960 having to repeat the information for myself, that fills the 681 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:00,440 purpose. I love it. 682 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,680 I'm hoping that eventually I'll get it to a point where it is 683 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:05,960 the one stop shop. I want it to be where I have 684 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:08,320 everything captured very well because there are certainly 685 00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,880 parts of that there are a little bit more chaos than and they are 686 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,080 peace at the moment. So I'm thinking in particular 687 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:17,800 the section that needs some more work is the Notes space, because 688 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:19,880 Notes is just like a swamp right now. 689 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,600 The organization in there is not as good as it could be, which 690 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,800 means finding things is a little bit more difficult. 691 00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:27,480 And if we're thinking about that idea of filling the purpose I'm 692 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:30,400 giving for it, I want that information to be very easily 693 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:33,280 accessible. And right now it's it's 694 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,520 technically accessible because there aren't so many notes in 695 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,240 there. But then I'm also not putting as 696 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,960 many notes in there as I could be because I'm worried about not 697 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:43,080 being able to find them again. So a little bit more work to do 698 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,840 in that space, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty good about it. 699 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,480 I think for anyone who's finished our survey, even though 700 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:50,640 this was not a quick survey that you know, listen to all the 701 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:52,440 rambling that happened along with it. 702 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:58,400 If you find that yourself in the waning towards the planner chaos 703 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,160 still, but you want to try to get yourself out of that, there 704 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:03,560 are a few tips I think that we could give you to help do that. 705 00:32:03,560 --> 00:32:06,600 I'll say First off, one of the biggest things that you can do, 706 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:09,120 and I really love this when you mentioned it at the very 707 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:12,160 beginning of this was instead of thinking about as planner chaos, 708 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,400 think about as planner curiosity and like allow yourself to 709 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,320 experiment. But I would say do it with a 710 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,360 goal in mind. I think if you let yourself just 711 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,360 freethink too much on that, you'll never get out of that 712 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:24,680 spin of like, what's next? What's happening? 713 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,400 What else could I be doing but go into it or even where you are 714 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,120 now, Set yourself a goal. What is it that you're there to 715 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,640 accomplish during this curiosity and exploration? 716 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,400 And then at some point, you do have to make your decision. 717 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:39,600 So give yourself a deadline to try to work towards it. 718 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,680 The light deadline is a personal deadline, whatever, but I think 719 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:45,240 that's just a nice and easy way to just know that you do have a 720 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,760 direction that you're trying to go with it, and it kind of helps 721 00:32:47,760 --> 00:32:49,360 to reframe your mind a little bit. 722 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,280 Yeah, I think that the idea of having the gold sets you down a 723 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,800 path of actually being able to pay attention to what is or 724 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:57,720 isn't working for fulfilling that, reaching the goal, that 725 00:32:57,720 --> 00:32:59,680 type of a thing. And the way that we actually do 726 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:02,480 that is through reflection. Yeah, The Dirty word that nobody 727 00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,840 likes except for me because I'm like all about it. 728 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:08,440 But if we do reflection with intention, it can be less of a 729 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,800 time waster and more purposeful. And that's what we want. 730 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:12,360 I don't want to waste your time, right? 731 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:15,320 That is not the the kind of end game that we have here. 732 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,160 But if you go into thinking about your planning system, 733 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,840 really analyzing what's working, what's not working and taking 734 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,920 that information and making a plan for moving forward rather 735 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,040 than just sitting there being like, well, this sucks. 736 00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,080 Guess that's it for me. Like, no, there are ways forward 737 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:31,480 here. We can problem solve. 738 00:33:31,800 --> 00:33:33,520 Just get really granular with it though. 739 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,800 So instead of just saying like, this sucks, it's this sucks 740 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:39,600 because, right, Like, why does it suck? 741 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,440 Why isn't it working? And thus, what can we do that 742 00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:44,920 maybe remedies that or mitigates it in some way. 743 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,680 So for instance, for me, in terms of that long term 744 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,160 collections journal, the thing that was holding me back from 745 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,520 using that was the fact that it was a physical system. 746 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,520 I wasn't checking in with it. It wasn't easily searchable. 747 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:58,360 The information that I wanted to have in there there would have 748 00:33:58,360 --> 00:33:59,920 just been better in a digital system. 749 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,120 So I put it in a digital system, right? 750 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,680 There are ways forward as long as you actually take the time to 751 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,520 reflect on it and figure out what's not working along with 752 00:34:07,520 --> 00:34:09,000 what is. Because we want to keep the good 753 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,280 parts too. And then thinking about what you 754 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,159 could do differently that'll mitigate it or make it better. 755 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:15,960 Yeah. And I think that also thinking 756 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,920 about this as a journey versus a destination is really important 757 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:24,679 to, you know, this idea of that experimentation and trying and 758 00:34:24,679 --> 00:34:27,239 doing that. We talk about planner peace. 759 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,040 I think a lot of us in the planner community, we joke about 760 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:31,679 it, right? Like we'll never find planner 761 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:33,960 peace or oh, we can only find planner peace. 762 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:38,159 But I honestly feel like you don't know when you make it 763 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:40,639 there just yet because like you said, you're never going to give 764 00:34:40,639 --> 00:34:43,600 yourself A10 rating on this scale, which would mean that you 765 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:45,920 have hit euphoria of planner peace. 766 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:47,600 Like you don't need to change anything. 767 00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,360 There's always opportunity. So I think that if you just 768 00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:54,199 understand that, I realize that and say, OK, I'm going to work 769 00:34:54,199 --> 00:34:56,880 towards making this system better for myself so that I 770 00:34:56,880 --> 00:34:59,440 enjoy it, I'm using it. I know where the things are 771 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:01,520 going to go. But I know that if it doesn't 772 00:35:01,520 --> 00:35:03,640 work out, that I could be flexible on what might need to 773 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,240 happen next or what might need to change and more of the 774 00:35:06,240 --> 00:35:08,160 tweaking. Like I personally wish I was 775 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:11,680 tweaking at the 8:00 and 9:00 scale for myself versus tweaking 776 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,040 down at the 6-7 space because I feel like it still feels a 777 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:18,160 little chaotic and I'd rather just be like slightly fine 778 00:35:18,160 --> 00:35:21,760 tuning as things change. But I know for myself that like, 779 00:35:21,760 --> 00:35:24,560 I have something that I'm working towards, I'll probably 780 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,480 change my mind later on down the road. 781 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:28,640 I know me. But at least I know that I'm 782 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,480 aiming towards making this kind of my day-to-day a lot better. 783 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:34,520 Or again, week to week or however you're experiencing your 784 00:35:34,520 --> 00:35:37,120 journals and your planners and your overall space. 785 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:39,960 And that makes me feel OK. And I know that it's like 786 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,960 obtainable as well versus this perfect Nirvana of planner 787 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,280 piece. And I think that, you know, in 788 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:48,840 aiming for a planner piece or kind of tending towards it, 789 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,480 maybe that's not the end goal that we actually want as well. 790 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,840 You mentioned it very much at the start, and it's something 791 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:57,880 that I very much vibe with. The idea of Planet Piece just 792 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,160 sounds freaking boring. Like if you get to a point where 793 00:36:01,160 --> 00:36:03,880 nothing's evolving and nothing's changing anymore, things will 794 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:06,800 start to feel stale. I've found that that's very much 795 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:09,720 been the kind of thing that has helped me back from using the 796 00:36:09,720 --> 00:36:11,680 same types of layouts time and time again. 797 00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:14,080 It's like, oh look, she's setting up another weekly 798 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:16,640 dashboard that's exactly the same as the last weekly 799 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,480 dashboard. And that was something I very 800 00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:21,520 much valued with the way I approached my planner system 801 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:23,680 when I first got into bullet journaling and such. 802 00:36:23,960 --> 00:36:27,200 Every week was different until such a point where it's like, 803 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:29,320 OK, I feel like I'm running out of ideas and I just need 804 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:31,600 something that's going to help me organize my life a little bit 805 00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,760 better. But being able to have that 806 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,200 flexibility and change things up so that then you don't get that 807 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,560 stale kind of boredom feeling in your system, that's something I 808 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:41,960 value. I'm right there. 809 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,080 Like I said, that's definitely where I like to play. 810 00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,000 I also think because my brain needs the chaos because that's 811 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:49,600 what kind of feeds that dopamine. 812 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:52,760 And I think for me honestly, with the chaos at least of like 813 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:57,040 not sticking down to like one type of like, I think way back 814 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:59,480 when I first started bullet journaling and I was looking 815 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:01,640 online and I was being inspired by a lot of people. 816 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:04,920 Something that always was very exciting to me were people who 817 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,480 only worked with black ink. And they would create beautiful 818 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,880 art and they would create beautiful layouts and spreads 819 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,720 and all these different things. And they would only ever use a 820 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:16,760 black pen. And in my earliest bullet 821 00:37:16,760 --> 00:37:20,040 journals, I did exactly that. I only used a black pen. 822 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,840 This is also before I discovered fountain pens of my love for ink 823 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,000 and all of those things, right? But like this idea that I was 824 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,560 like, oh, that is it, finding a notebook that you really like 825 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:32,120 and one pen that you really like and that's all that you need. 826 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:37,160 But the exciting part for me of planning, especially now is 827 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:41,760 finding cool stamps that I find to be really cool or stickers 828 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,440 that are really neat to work with or distress oxide and using 829 00:37:45,440 --> 00:37:47,240 those with stencils in your notebook, right? 830 00:37:47,520 --> 00:37:50,120 The problem that I have is that I collect all of that and then I 831 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,720 have a stationary store, you know, in my office, which is 832 00:37:52,720 --> 00:37:54,960 great, but it does keep me excited. 833 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:57,480 It keeps me moving. I mean, it keeps me wanting to 834 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,680 continue to use my journal, which is a really big important 835 00:38:01,680 --> 00:38:04,960 thing to me that I'm always using it because it's also so 836 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,280 helpful for me too. But it also brings me a lot of 837 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,360 joy. So I don't, you know, even 838 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:11,840 though I have all of the things and it could seem a little 839 00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:14,080 chaotic. I mean, when I flip through this 840 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:16,640 notebook that I've just gone through, it's like almost like 841 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:19,480 the phases of Mark's life. It's like the beginning of the 842 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,400 year he was into this and then, you know, a few months ago he 843 00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:25,160 was into this and now I'm really big into stickers for whatever 844 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:26,480 reason. I just, I have a lot of them in 845 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,200 my life right now and they're really cool and I'm excited 846 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,160 about them and I'm OK with that. I know I'll get back to the 847 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,880 stamps eventually because I also just got brand new ones from 848 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,320 Archer and all of that came in today that I need to absolutely 849 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,040 start using immediately. But it's just kind of going 850 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:43,360 through that insane. Like this is really exciting for 851 00:38:43,360 --> 00:38:45,120 me. And, and I'm going to continue 852 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,760 to use my journal because I enjoy what I'm putting into it 853 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,760 both from a efficiency, productivity, you know, brain 854 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,200 space, but also from a creative space too. 855 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,840 That makes me really happy. To think of it as like little 856 00:38:56,840 --> 00:38:59,880 pockets of peace along our planner journeys kind of thing. 857 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,680 And I think that given the fact that life is always changing, we 858 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:06,040 are always changing and thus our planner system realistically 859 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,280 should change with us trying to think about planner peace is 860 00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:13,720 this one final destination like that is not final destination. 861 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:15,840 Like a log through your window type final destination. 862 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,600 I haven't even seen the movies. I can't even make the 863 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:19,080 references. It's a good reference. 864 00:39:19,480 --> 00:39:22,160 Because that feels a bit final. But yeah, we don't want planner 865 00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:27,120 peace, I guess, to be that final thing that we reach towards and 866 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,280 we get there and then that's it forever, right? 867 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,200 We're thinking like, you know, the good place from the good 868 00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,800 place or something. Things get boring, things get 869 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,560 stale. And then eventually when life 870 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:39,640 changes, if we think of it as note, that is my planner piece, 871 00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:41,960 that is the final part. That is where I'm supposed to be 872 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:44,440 forever. You're going to get to a point 873 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:46,800 where it just feels like planet chaos anyways because you're 874 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:49,480 trying to like jam it into a life that doesn't fit it 875 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:50,880 anymore. We don't want that. 876 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,600 We want things to be changing and evolving and such as we 877 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,080 change and evolve so that then they can serve us as well as 878 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:58,200 they possibly can. I love your use of The Good 879 00:39:58,200 --> 00:40:01,240 Place as an example there, because right, Is this a 880 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:02,800 spoiler? I feel like it's been out for a 881 00:40:02,800 --> 00:40:04,480 while, Like you've seen the ending, right? 882 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:06,000 Just want to make sure we're all there. 883 00:40:06,240 --> 00:40:08,960 But in case you have it like, I don't know, skip forward a 884 00:40:08,960 --> 00:40:10,640 little bit. Wait a little warning. 885 00:40:10,880 --> 00:40:14,040 Spoiler warning, the good place is actually the bad place. 886 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:17,240 And like I love the fact that you just connected that because 887 00:40:17,240 --> 00:40:19,120 you're absolutely right. It's like I'm going to get to 888 00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:22,480 planner peace, but then I'm going to create planner chaos so 889 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:26,120 that I can get excited again to then figure out how I'm going to 890 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:29,280 work towards it is this beautiful vicious cycle that we 891 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:32,840 put ourselves in. But it is just, it's so fun and 892 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:36,520 it's such a fun exploration and finding ways that work. 893 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,160 It's like honing in on the things. 894 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:40,560 I mean, I can say right now for sure, like the bullet journal 895 00:40:40,560 --> 00:40:43,480 method for me is the planner peace from a standpoint point of 896 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,080 the methodology that I use to do things right. 897 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,360 I'm not still out there looking at like all these different type 898 00:40:49,360 --> 00:40:51,480 of notebooks and ideas and methods. 899 00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,920 That is my way to move forward. So like from that standpoint, I 900 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:59,280 can say I've found that I've, I experimented, I tried. 901 00:40:59,480 --> 00:41:02,280 This is the one thing that is stuck with me the most and that 902 00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:06,360 I will continue to use. And then my evolution of the 903 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:10,800 method itself is kind of my visual expression inside of my 904 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:13,080 DIY notebook. Like we said, it's you don't 905 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,480 know what to call it nowadays because some people will call 906 00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,080 what we do not bullet journaling and some people will. 907 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,240 But this idea of like how I choose to then express kind of 908 00:41:21,240 --> 00:41:24,920 my excitement in there utilizing that method underneath is really 909 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:26,920 good. I think where I start to pull 910 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,960 out some of that chaotic stuff is the stuff that is outside of 911 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:33,080 that zone where it's not a bullet journal method and 912 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,240 utilizing that for something. It's this free flowing idea. 913 00:41:36,240 --> 00:41:38,760 Oh, a gaming journal inside of a pocket notebook. 914 00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,240 Good idea. Oh, but I also have this ring 915 00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:43,840 binder that I can take things out of and replace them with. 916 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:45,440 That's exciting too. Crap. 917 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:48,040 I have two gaming journals. Which one am I using now? 918 00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:50,680 I don't know, throw them both away and use something 919 00:41:50,680 --> 00:41:52,760 different. That's kind of the space where 920 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,800 I'm just like, I could do so much better. 921 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,720 And, and honestly, a lot of these episodes are like therapy 922 00:41:57,720 --> 00:42:00,320 for me because it does make me take a step back and really 923 00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,840 think about it because I don't know that I've actually ever 924 00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:06,960 given myself a goal from a planner perspective to say, 925 00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:09,960 like, I want to get to this place because it's just I have a 926 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:11,600 bullet journal that always has worked. 927 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:14,480 But like all the other things for me though, I'm just so 928 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,360 scatterbrained where I'm like, oh, give me journal, try this 929 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,520 over here, then forget about it forever. 930 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:22,360 Like, oh, new egg Swatch journal, What kind of paper? 931 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:24,760 What notebook am I using? But I'm not actually moving 932 00:42:24,760 --> 00:42:27,680 forward and saying, here are the things that I want to accomplish 933 00:42:27,720 --> 00:42:29,800 with this journal. So I'm going to take that back 934 00:42:29,800 --> 00:42:33,040 for myself even and reflect on this and we'll check back in 935 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:36,640 later on to see if I've come close to the good place. 936 00:42:36,880 --> 00:42:39,080 I do love the idea of the cyclic nature of it though. 937 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,560 Like, yeah, we start in the chaos, figuring things out. 938 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:44,000 We find something that works. Eventually it doesn't work 939 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,600 anymore or it gets boring or whatnot, and we go back to the 940 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:49,800 chaos as we try something new. But I think that that cycle has 941 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,560 a lot of value in it. And I think that by going 942 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:55,520 through it time and time again, you kind of just get to a point 943 00:42:55,520 --> 00:42:57,400 where you're not really aiming for one or the other. 944 00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,680 You're just, I'm a planner experimenter now. 945 00:42:59,880 --> 00:43:03,000 Like I'm going to come at this with a lens of science or 946 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:04,480 whatever. I'm going to figure out what 947 00:43:04,480 --> 00:43:06,920 works me and then keep on trialing until I find things 948 00:43:06,920 --> 00:43:09,840 that are like perfect for the moment and then when the moment 949 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:12,760 changes, we move on to something else and that's OK. 950 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:15,080 I would love to know though, Planner Powers, what do you 951 00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:16,480 think? Are you in planner peace or 952 00:43:16,480 --> 00:43:19,400 planner chaos right now? Is there certain parts of your 953 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,600 system that are kind of leaning towards one or the other? 954 00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:23,760 Or is everything very 5050 balanced? 955 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,280 Let us know either in the comments here on YouTube or you 956 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,280 can let us know at plannerpowerspodcast@gmail.com 957 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,200 if you want to e-mail us or you can let us know on Instagram at 958 00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,040 Planner Powers Podcast. I'm so excited to hear from you 959 00:43:35,040 --> 00:43:39,560 all because I feel like I said, we, we are all searching for in 960 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,960 theory, but I don't know that we actually want to get there 961 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:44,960 because it's not super exciting. But I think this is a great 962 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,760 little dovetail into our next episode where we're going to 963 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,200 talk about the evolution of our planning styles and how we 964 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,760 started and how we've kind of migrated and evolved over time 965 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,880 to get to the point where we are now, which I I personally am 966 00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:00,640 still trying to find myself. I feel like in this beautiful 967 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:03,600 space, but I definitely started in a much different place when I 968 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:05,960 first got started. So it's gonna be a fantastic 969 00:44:05,960 --> 00:44:07,640 episode. And I'm really looking forward 970 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,800 to hearing about yours too, just because I remember like finding 971 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,120 little, not even little. You were doing fantastic when I 972 00:44:14,120 --> 00:44:16,920 first discovered you on the Internet and like what you were 973 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:18,920 doing then versus where you are now. 974 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:22,480 I feel like it's night and day, but in the most positive way. 975 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,160 So I'm excited to talk to you about that. 976 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:25,400 I'm. Very much excited for that 977 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,240 conversation because I think there's a lot to be learnt from 978 00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:30,600 thinking about the journeys of others and how that kind of like 979 00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:33,720 mirrors our own journeys with planners or how we can kind of 980 00:44:33,720 --> 00:44:36,160 take the learnings from those and apply it to our own system. 981 00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:38,760 It's going to be a good one. But for today, Planner pals, 982 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:39,640 thanks for watching.