My old habit of over-planning my monthly spreads was killing my journal

For the first two years, I would spend hours every Sunday night drawing out my next week, filling every box with tasks and appointments before the week even started. I used a specific 0.3 mm pen for the grids and a set of 12 colored markers for coding. The problem was, by Tuesday, my actual day never matched the perfect layout, and I'd feel like I failed. I finally changed my method about six months ago after a particularly frustrating week where I just stopped opening my journal. Now, I only set up a simple daily log each morning with three main things to do. It takes five minutes. My journal is messy, but I actually use it every single day. Has anyone else switched from a rigid, pre-planned style to something more flexible and found it worked better?

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3 Comments

hannah_west395mo ago

Wait you used a 0.3 mm pen just for the grids? That's some serious dedication I could never keep up with.

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blair_chen815mo ago

Wait, you spent hours every single Sunday? How did you even have time to live your life? I get wanting to be organized, but that sounds like a second job. No wonder you stopped opening it, I would have burned out after two weeks. Switching to just three things each morning sounds so much more real. Isn't the whole point to help your day, not make more work for it?

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owens.blair5mo ago

Forget the pen size, they drew the grids by hand? That's a whole other level of crazy. I can't imagine doing that every week, it sounds awful. No wonder they gave up on the whole system.

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