It’s 2022 and you’ve decided that this year is the year you’re going to get organised. You’ve bought yourself a brand new planner, your pen is hovering just above the first page but – oh dear – you don’t know what to write.
Don’t worry, if you’ve never used a planner before, you can’t expect it to just come naturally, that’s why the Curious Book team has put together a little guide on the 8 things that you should be writing in your planner this year, so you can be as organised as possible.
Important dates
Probably the most obvious one on the list, important dates should be the first thing you put in your planner. You can start by adding in important birthdays, events that you’re going to, health appointments – anything that’s already set in stone for the year.
If you’re drawing blanks, here are a few things that you might have forgotten are happening this year that you should get down:
- Anniversaries (yours and friends or parents)
- Expiration dates of important documents
- Changes in your exercise regime
- Any subscription renewals you have going
- When your bills go out
Goals
As well as important dates, you’re also going to want to get down your goals for the year. As we talked about last month, start by writing down your biggest goals first, and then they can gradually get narrower in scope from there until you’re thinking of weekly goals. Don’t get too stressed out thinking about your bigger goals, you can always revisit them or tweak them later.
Budgets
Budgets are a great thing to get down in your planner, as they’ll help you stay on track financially from month to month. Getting budgets down also goes hand in hand with those important events that you’ve scheduled, as you’ll have a better idea of how much money you will have available for each and can plan accordingly.
Ideas
You don’t have to be Albert Einstein to want to write down your ideas. No matter what it is or how insignificant it might seem at the time, if you have an idea, write it down. It could be an idea for a writing project, it could be work related, it could be a suggestion for a friend – whatever it is – get it out of your head and into your planner. Not only will this give you things to refer to later, it’s also a great way of lightening your mental load.
Quotes
We all need a little pick-me-up from time to time, which is why writing down quotes that energise you is a great thing to do. It could be a motivational quote from a famous speaker, or it could just be something nice a colleague said to you the other day. Dedicate an entire section of your planner to it and revisit it when you’re feeling a little low, trust us, it will help!
Meal Planner
Creating different meals for yourself every day can be difficult. There are so many other things to think about on any given day, that it can be easy to just get stuck in a rut when it comes to dinnertime. Use your planner to challenge yourself to make new meals weekly and log the different meals that you eat each day. This way, you will have a much clearer picture of your nutrition overall and you can keep improving it.
Worries
Anyone who’s experienced any sort of anxiety before will know that writing down your worries can be a great help. It stops them swirling around in your head with everything else that’s happened that week and can significantly improve your sleep if you stick with it. That’s why we wholeheartedly recommend dedicating a section of your planner to writing down your worries.
Doodles
Ok, this one might not be for everyone, but we think that doodling is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and keep your brain sharp. Don’t just take our word for it though. In 2009, psychologist Jackie Andrade carried out a study where 40 people were told to listen to a particularly long, waffly voicemail – half were told to doodle, the other half just sat and listened. None of the participants were aware that a memory test would follow, and surprisingly, the doodlers were able to recall around 30% more than the non-doodlers. So, if you’re a doodler by nature, we say embrace it!
Curious Book Co. is one of the UK’s leading custom notebook companies. We’re always trying to push the envelope with our work, so if you have any leftfield ideas for us, we’d love to hear them.