Finding the Right 2020 Planner for You

As you are in stores Christmas shopping this month, you will probably notice a ton of planners on display as well- all bright and shiny and new and ready for a fresh year in 2020. As a planner aficionado, the office supply section is one of my favorite places in stores. As I figured you might be looking for a planner for 2020, I thought I’d give you some tips on how to pick out the right one for you. 

Here’s the questions you can ask yourself when you are shopping for a planner:

1. Do I want to plan daily or weekly? A key difference between planners will be the time frame for the planning pages. For example, I use a Day Designer daily planner, where each day gets its own page because I track both my work and personal tasks in one spot. For your average planner user, a weekly layout like this one is more common and this is perfect when you want to be able to see what you have going on for an entire week at once. 

2. How big of a planner do I want? Planners come in a variety of sizes. I personally have a full size 8.5 X 11 planner because I carry it with me in my work bag, but for some that would be too bulky. Other common sizes include 5 X 8, 5.875 X 8.625, and 7 X 9 and these are perfect for someone who wants to carry theirs with them in their purse or in the car. 

3. How much do I want to spend? The average planner that you can find in a store like Walmart, Target, Office Max, etc. should be somewhere between $15- $25. If you are shopping online through specialty websites like Emilyley.com, ErinCondren.com or DayDesigner.com, you can spend up to $60 on a hardcover, durable planner option.

Once you know the answer to those three questions, I’d suggest searching Amazon or your favorite retail store for that type of planner. So for example, you can search “ 2020 8.5 x 11 weekly planner” and see what comes up. You should be able to see pictures of the entire layout of each planner so you can decide what you like best and what fits in your price range. If you shop in store, knowing the answers to these questions will help you narrow down the options and not get too overwhelmed by all of the choices in the aisle. 

Here’s some of the planners I have used in the past: 

Living Well Weekly Planner  

Passion Planner Weekly Planner (they have dated and undated options

Blue Sky Weekly/Monthly Planner 

My current planner (as mentioned above)- Day Designer Daily planner

Happy planner hunting!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

When to Work and When to Rest?

I don’t know about you, but there’s enough items on my “want to do” and “have to do” lists that I could literally be “productive” all of my waking hours. And we know that’s not practical for many reasons, but mostly because it's not sustainable. People need to rest and recharge and have breaks to be the best of who they are. 

Because I’ve realized that a paradox exists- sometimes rest IS productive (like when you take a break and come back to a task with better energy and focus) and sometimes the things you do while being productive ARE PROVIDING A FEELING OF REST (like the refreshed mental feeling you get from a clean inbox or an organized fridge)

So, I’m often grappling with the question- how do I know when to rest and when to work? This can be especially tricky because sometimes rest is a legitimate need and sometimes, rest is a convenient excuse. The annoying but also realistic answer to that is that it is going to be different for every person. 

Here’s a few ways that I know I am truly in need of rest:

• I feel “OFF” or “not myself” for a reason I can’t identify

• My temper is shorter than usual

• I don’t enjoy things I normally do or enjoy them  to the same extent

• Physical signs like abnormal body pains, excessive yawning

• Lack of creativity 

I also know a few signs that tell me that I’m in need of some productivity:

• My physical spaces (car, desk, purse, kitchen)  are messy or cluttered

• I feel uncomfortable in my clothes or appearance

• I feel anxious or stressed

• I’m bored with my mindless activities (Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, TV)

• I forget something that I’m normally on top of

If you stopped to think about it, what are the signals that you send yourself when you are in need of rest or work? How do you tackle the balance between productivity and recharging? Tell me in a comment below! 

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

Do You Have Home Court Habits?

I don’t know about you, but recently I have been feeling like I’ve been a bit off my game when it comes to habits. I don’t know if it’s just the point we are at in the year, or having traveled recently, but I’ve really lost consistency with my consistent, normal habits, or “home court habits.” 

I wish I knew where I had first heard that term,(I can’t find it anymore)  but essentially the term refers to the set of habits you do every day when you are at home and on your regular schedule. Some of my personal home court habits include reading for 10 minutes, my Start Today Journal, packing lunches, planning my next day the night before, etc. I also have home court habits for work, too.

You likely have a set of these habits without even realizing it. Maybe you cook dinner at the same time every weeknight, or you do your laundry on Sundays, or you work out every morning before work. These actions are the things that keep your life and your mindset running smoothly without having to think about it and when you miss doing them, you tend to feel thrown off and not quite yourself. 

If you’ve never sat down to make a list of these habits, now is a great time to do that. Having a solid idea in your mind of the habits that keep you on track and keep your life running smoothly will help you get back into a groove most quickly when you been thrown off. You can use this free Day Designer Habit Tracker printable to make a list of your home court habits and track how often you do them. 

You’ve probably heard over and over that habits are the key to making progress on a goal, and being intentional about what those habits are and ensuring that you do them regularly is really the only thing that create traction and get you to where you want to go. I hope you found the concept of home court habits to be useful and that you’re inspired to create a habit tracker of your own. 

Have a great Sunday!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I love coffee, yoga pants, planners and color coordinating markers. Sound familiar? Yes! Let’s be internet BFFs. I am here sharing content on all things organization, productivity, goal getting and personal growth. Welcome!

My Reset Routine

Hey guys, Happy Sunday! It’s Thursday morning as I write this and I am spending my morning trying to get organized again after being in Las Vegas for a work conference this week. I don’t know about you, but coming home from a trip always throws me out of whack. I am a routine person and prefer sticking to my normal schedule most of the time.

Now that I’m back home, I am doing a few things to reset and refresh so that I can quickly get back into my normal habits. 

1. SLEEP- As is common with travel, I didn’t get a ton of sleep while I was on my trip. I got home last night around 12:15 AM, and instead of trying to unpack, I just got what I needed out of my suitcase and got ready for bed ASAP. It’s hard to get back into the swing of things if your body and your mind aren’t rested. When you come back from a trip, plan to get as much sleep as you can so you can wake up again with energy. 

2. RECONNECT- I spent some time last night and this morning catching up with my husband after being out of town. The thing about returning from travel is that everything else in your life that was on hold while you were gone immediately picks right back up as soon as you get home. We specifically planned some time together for this morning so that we could touch base before going to work and continuing on with our “normal” lives.

3. PICK UP YOUR PHYSICAL SPACE- This morning I took ten minutes to pick up our living room and kitchen and unpack my bags. When your physical surroundings are cluttered, your brain and spirit will feel cluttered as well. You don’t have to spend hours doing a deep clean by any means, but tidying up for 10-20 minutes is a great way to quickly boost your mood and free up some brain space and energy for the rest of your day. 

4. PLAN- I went to bed early on Sunday night to get ready for our early flight, so I didn’t do my normal Sunday planning routine. Just before I sat down to write this, I pulled out my planer and got organized. I made a list of the things that didn’t get done last week that needed to move to this week along with the other to-dos on my calendar for this week. I looked at my calendar and got all of my appointments blocked in so that I had a better idea of where I needed to be and when. Then I filled in the rest of my calendar with the tasks from my list so I know when I will be working on them. Being productive is hard in general, but especially after a trip. Making a list and getting your schedule in order will help you jump back into your week and start being productive more quickly. 

The reality of life is that it doesn’t wait for you to slowly readjust when you get back from a trip. A travel hangover can spread into multiple days/weeks if you don’t intentionally reset and refocus. I hope you enjoyed these tips on getting back into your groove more quickly. Have a great week and I will see you next Sunday!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I love coffee, yoga pants, planners and color coordinating markers. Sound familiar? Yes! Let’s be internet BFFs. I am here sharing content on all things organization, productivity, goal getting and personal growth. Welcome!

How to Tackle A Big Project

Whether it’s work-related, personal or a project around your house, we all have things we’d like to take on (or have to take on, in some work cases). When you’re standing at the beginning of a huge task with lots of steps, it can feel so overwhelming and like you don’t even know where to begin. Here’s the steps that I use when I’m facing a huge project. These steps helped me start this blog, plan a trip to Ireland, and decorate my new house. I hope you will find them useful, too! 

1.BRAINSTORM- Get all of your ideas out onto paper. Especially when you have no idea where to start, getting all of the thoughts about the project out of your brain and into one page so you can start to wrap your brain around it. For example,  If you are planning a redecoration of your living room, you might write down everything from paint colors to plants to cleaning out the TV cabinet. There’s no rules for a brainstorm- just write down any and every thing you can think of around the topic and you’ll organize it later.

2. LAY IT OUT LOGISTICALLY- Look at your brainstorm and figure out what needs to happen first or what needs to happen before other items can get done. For the example above, you’d need to paint the walls before you hung up new wall art, and you’d want to wait to buy a rug until you found new furniture for the room so  that you knew what size you needed.

3. PRIORITIZE- Some tasks for your project may not be time bound in any way. If that is the case, look at the whole scope of your project and decide what’s most important to you. Maybe getting a new light fixture would be great, but it doesn’t mean as much to you as getting a new couch. Big projects can often come up against time or financial constraints (or both). Choosing your priorities ahead of time makes sure that you spend your time and energy on the most important parts of the project. 

4. SCHEDULE IT- After you’ve organized and prioritized the steps for your project, you should have a clearer idea of where you need to begin. Identify the first few steps you need to take and give yourself a timeline for getting it done. For your living room redecoration, maybe step one is to research new decor ideas on PInterest or take a shopping trip to some furniture stores to get ideas on what you’d like in your new space. Take a look at your calendar and pick a day when you have time to do those first few tasks and schedule time in to do it. 

5. TAKE ACTION- All of the planning and organization in the world won’t help you get a project done if you don’t actually DO the things that you’ve planned. Once you’ve scheduled something in, you have to follow through on it. Make the steps as simple and easy as possible, especially at first, so that they are easy for you to accomplish and follow through on. 

I hope that helps give you some ideas on how you can ACTUALLY take a big project or goal from idea to reality. Comment below on one of the projects you are currently working on! 

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

Plan Your Month (Free Printable!)

Hey guys, welcome back to the blog!

A new month began just last week and as I was prepping for it, I drew up a little monthly planning printable that I thought you all might find useful as well!

You can print this out a write on it, or just use it as a template and write it out in a notebook or scratch piece of paper.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE PRINTABLE

HOW TO USE IT: This is fairly self-explanatory, but here’s an overview of the steps:

1. Write the month and year on the top section.

2. Use the first box to brainstorm a list of everything that needs to get done this month and the things you would like to do this month.

3. Then, break down that large of tasks down by assigning each task to a week when you have the time and resources to do it. (or if it is an item that has a deadline, assigning to the appropriate week.)

4. At the start of each new week, come back to your list and review the tasks assigned to that week one by one:

   • Is there anything from last week that I need to transfer over?

   • What needs to get done this week?

   • What needs to move to next week

5. Plan each task for a specific day of the week when you can get to it.

6. DO THE THINGS!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

When You Don't Finish Your To-Do List

I like to think of myself as a “productivist” because I REALLY like to get things done. I’m the kind of person that you send in when there’s a long list of things to do and only a certain amount of time to do them. I love the satisfaction that comes from checking something off of my list!

And, in general, I would say that I do a pretty good job of finishing tasks, but real life means that will always be times when I don’t. And not because I chose not to do those things (though I do do that) but because sh*t happens. I could wake up with a migraine or walk into a urgent situation at work that absolutely has to be taken care of right away or an errand takes way longer to finish then expected. Super frustrating.

I heard something from Muchelle B on YouTube that i found super helpful so I wanted to share this with you. Here’s some questions you can ask yourself when you go to re-evaluate the things left on your to do list.:

• Does this need to be done NOW?

• Does this need to be done BY ME?

• Does this need to be done AT ALL?

Take some pressure off of yourself and really be honest about the necessity of the items on your list. Is it something that can wait? Is it something that your spouse or your coworker or your mom could do for you? Is it something that truly has to happen or is it just something that would be nice to do?

Asking myself these questions recently actually made me realize that a vast majority of things on my list were self-assigned tasks- things that I had delegated to myself- and the truth was that most of them weren’t critical at all.

What’s one thing on your to do list that you’ve re-evaluated after you’ve asked yourself these questions? Comment below!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

A Mid-Year Planning Session

Hey guys! As usual, time is completely flying and the end of June marks that 2019 is half over. While I still have no idea how that happened, I am excited to use July as kind of a mini-January. (A mini January without the snow- what could be better?) What I mean by that is that I get to the end of the year happy with how my year went. Here’s how you can do a mid-year check-in too:

Revisit your 2019 goals- It’s probably been a minute since you’ve looked at these babies and now is as good of a time as any to check back in with them. I write my goals down on paper, but if you didn’t, it’s not too late to start or even to just start thinking about what you would like to get done in the rest of 2019. Take a look at what you’d laid out for yourself in January and see what things you’ve accomplished, what things you want to work on next, and what things you thought you wanted to do, but just aren’t a priority anymore and can get crossed off your list.

Check your habits- When it comes to actually getting goals accomplished, it’s often the little daily habits we work on that truly give you traction for achieving goals. Are you doing the little things every day that get you to where you want to be? For example, if you want to read 10 books this year, are you setting aside the time you need each day to read? Or to get other stuff done so you can enjoy a big reading session on a weekend? If you want to go on a trip this year, are you setting aside time to plan and prepare? The secret to moving your life forward is often found in the little actions you take on a regular basis.

Audit your calendar- Take a few minutes and review your calendar from the first six months of the year. What did you do that you really enjoyed? What things did you not get to do that you’d like to now? Lives are busy and it takes intentional planning to get fun things on your calendar. This week, I looked at my calendar for the rest of the summer and scheduled in the two weekends that we’ll be heading up to our cabin. It’s one of our favorite places to be and my fall schedule at work is too crazy so I wanted to be sure we made the time to enjoy it while we can,

When it comes to goal setting and habit tracking, I’ve found the most AMAZING tool that I wanted to share with you. (NOT sponsored!) I’ve talked about this on my Insta stories before, but The Artist of Life Workbook is what I use to set, review and track annual, quarterly and monthly goals. It was my first year using this tool and I cannot say enough good things about how much it’s helped me.

Have a great rest of your Sunday and we’ll see you back here next week. Be sure to check me out on Instagram for your daily dose of Morning Coffee.

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

My Weekly Review Process

We all have a lot to do. Some of those things we *have* to do, like laundry, keep a child or pet alive, go to work, have food to eat, etc. and some of them are things that we’d like to do, like working out, reading, working on a big goal or dream, or having time for a hobby that just makes us happy.

The time that you have for the things you WANT to do usually depends on how efficiently you can get your “have to-dos” done. Every week, I spend time on Sunday evening to review my previous week and set myself up for the week ahead. Doing this allows me to have time for all of my must-dos and most importantly, allows me to MAKE time for the things I want to do. Here’s how I do it:

• Review the past week: I pull out my calendar (mine’s on paper, but yours could be digital as well) and look over the past week. I find it motivating to take a look at all of my wins for the week-the things I actually got done- and remind myself of the items that didn’t get prioritized and finished. If something didn’t get done, I ask myself if it is really something that still has to happen- and if it does, I move it to the coming week so I don’t lose track of it.

• Review next week’s calendar: I then go ahead to look at the next seven days. I look at my work schedule, our social calendar, the weather, etc. to start making a plan for how our week will flow. There are certain things I do every week- like cardio, reading my current book, posting a blog post, etc but my work schedule changes every week. I move my tasks around in the week to wherever  my open pockets of time are.

• Review the menu for the week: I recently posted all about how I meal plan for my household of two so I won’t reiterate that here, but I do plan our meals every week on Sunday.

• Review my goals: I’m a goal person. I have goals that I set each year, and then I break those down in quarterly and monthly goals so I can actually make progress on achieving them. See my 2019 goals here! Many people set goals but then don’t actually follow through on getting them done. Reviewing mine on a regular basis has been *KEY* to continuing to make progress. If you don’t have goals set at the moment, start now! You don’t have to wait for January 1st, or the first of the month, or for Monday to set goals. You can start today.

• Review my habits: When it comes to achieving your goals, daily habits are really the thing that make goals happen. Every week, I remind myself of the habits I want to put into every day so that I can keep moving forward. For me, that’s writing in my Start Today journal and reading for ten minutes in the morning.  In the evening, that means packing our lunches for work and calendar blocking my time for the next day.

Sunday is just that day where we spend a ton of time getting our lives together, right? Add a few of the things above to your Sunday, and you’ll really feel like you are all set for the new week. Monday doesn’t have to feel overwhelming if your Sunday was productive. Have a great week ahead!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

When You Have Too Much To Do

SPOILER ALERT: FREE PRINTABLE BELOW!

Have you ever had one those days-or honestly, those weeks, months and entire seasons- where you have so much do to that you can’t even remember what all of the things even are? I’ve had a few of those lately when I was overwhelmed with everything swirling around in my head that I didn’t even know where to start or what to do first. Here’s what I did to get organized and start tackling my life:

1. Just write it all down on paper. (Or on an app on your phone if that’s what works best for you.) You’ve got to clear everything out of your head before deciding what to tackle first. Just make a list of everything- big or small- that’s inside your brain, and just write it out. You can focus on one thing at a time when you’ve reassured yourself that everything you need to remember is safely in one place for you to reference later. This is traditionally called a ‘brain dump’, but frankly that term grosses me out and I refuse to use it. Or, rather, use it again since I just did.

2. Decide what is urgent and important. Most articles on productivity will probably tell you to prioritize your tasks, but don’t give any detail on a strategy for how to actually DO that prioritization. Using Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix, here’s what you do:

Take a piece of paper and divide it into four sections:

1. Urgent and important

2. Important, not urgent

3. Urgent, not important

4. Not urgent and not important

Take your to-do list and categorize every item into a category. Be really honest with yourself here! Is it really urgent or just a task you’d prefer to do first because it’s easier or more fun?

3. Now that you know what is most important and most urgent, you’ve got to make a plan to actually get it done. Look at your schedule and ask “When do I have time to take care of this?” What I like to do when my days are extra crazy is plan out how much time I’ll realistically need to check something off my list. This stops me from trying to do too much in one period of time.

I’ve found that I’m actually better at guesstimating times than I thought I would be. When in doubt, plan more time than you think you’ll need. It’s way too discouraging to get behind your plan than it is to be ahead of schedule.

4. Start at the top of your urgent and important items and schedule them in one by one, with realistic expectations of how long it will take you to do them. Move on to important items,  then urgent ones, and lastly to the non-urgent, non important ones if you still have time. Consider asking for help with any task that you don’t personally have to do yourself. Spread the tasks out over days or weeks as needed and don’t feel bad for taking something off the list completely if it’s not necessary!

To help you out on the busy days when you need it most, here’s a free printable with the matrix for you to use!

Tell me more about what you do when you have too much to do? Do you make lists? I’d love to know in the comments below!

Hey, I’m Meghan

I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!

4 Times A Day I Check My Planner

Before I get started, let me just say- I realize that having a paper planner these days is basically the equivalent of chiseling into stone with a hammer and a nail. But- I’m not sure I’ll ever be an electronic calendar person. Physically writing things down really helps me remember them and there is a satisfaction that comes from physically crossing something off on a piece of paper that just cannot be replaced for me.

The planner I’m currently using is the Living Well Planner from Ruth Soukup. I used this planner for 2018 and purchased a second one for the new year. I like the pages that are included at the front of each month where you can put down a list of what needs to get done that month. There’s a little section in the weekly spread where you can jot down what you plan for dinner that night, which I find helpful, and there’s even a two-page budget section. (CHECK OUT ALL OF MY FAVE PLANNING PRODUCTS on my Resources Page).

I set up my year at in January, set up each month before it starts and then set up my week each week on Sunday. To follow through with all of that planning, here’s when I look at my planner every day:

1. First thing. And by “first thing”, I mean after I’ve woken up, made myself look presentable and had some coffee. I feel like my day goes haywire if I don’t at least give my day a glance first thing in the morning so that I actually remember to do all those things I put on my calendar for the day.

2. After lunch. I feel like this is the perfect time to check in to see how the day is going. Let’s be real, no one sticks to their schedule to absolute perfection. Things shift around as necessary. This is when I’ll rearrange things or push things off to another day if I know that it won’t realistically get done.

3. 8:30 PM. (ish). I’m a night owl and my husband is an early bird. He goes to sleep early because he works early. After we are both home from work, that’s our time to catch up, make dinner and relax with TV, etc. Once he goes to bed, I relish my alone time to get things done and prep for the next day.

4. Before bed. I love putting the day to rest before I clock out for the night. I check off everything that got done and shift around the things that didn’t. I check the schedule for the next day and head to bed feeling prepped.

Please tell me that I’m not the only planner nerd out there! What’s your system? How do you keep track of all of your to-dos? Comment below!

Hey, I’m Meghan

Welcome to Morning Coffee, a place where I’ll be writing every week- about my life and my goals, my house, things I love, resources I have and tools I use. It’s not only a place where I can feel joy in sharing my thoughts with the world, but hopefully a place where someone else, maybe you, can find entertainment, inspiration or camaraderie. Let’s be internet friends over a good cup of coffee, yeah?