I have lived by planning for over a decade. There was a time when I only had to remember which lessons I had on which days, but that ended after I graduated from the University of Manchester. When I worked at APPCO in 2010, I wrote detailed daily plans in a simple notebook. Then I came to Moscow, and planners entered my life and stayed there for good.
Admittedly, I was never a fan of dated planners. I much preferred writing the dates myself… which on occasion meant that I would skip planning, especially at weekends.
For the past two years I had my daily and weekly planners and a notepad all in the same notebook, which was undated. It was alright, but I felt I needed to bring more organisation and, erm, planning in my life. So this year I have an undated notebook for long-term planning and taking notes and a dated planner for everyday life.
I’m only past January, but the benefits are already there:
- I did a lot of translation;
- I did a lot of copyrighting for different clients;
- I started a book for those who are studying the English language;
- I am in the process of collecting my own art essays to publish them as a book this year;
- and I am in the process of doing something very creative that I have rarely done before. It will be in Russian for the first time, but if it goes well, I’ll probably add an English version to it.
I can also see what I have little time left for and think about alternate routes.
Better yet, I am writing my personal diary again, and this time I pay more attention to my everyday life. It’s heartening to contemplate how decades later scholars may really use it to reconstruct my “womanly” part of life.
So, if you have been thinking whether or not to use planners and diaries, I hope this has inspired you enough.
More about my Experiences.
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