Never Too Early
I know it’s not January yet, but in my head I’m already thinking of what I want to accomplish the first part of 2016. In my head Christmas is over except the celebrating. Which is not quite true because I am still decorating. It’s a process. My plan to have it complete by the end of the day on Monday. We are hosting our annual open house on Saturday, so it has to be done by then for sure!
But I digress! Today I am helping you find resources for planning a productive 2016. It’s never to early to plan the future.
3 Must Have Resources
1. Use a planner
It’s not quite December, but I’ve already purchased my 2016 planner. For me I use a couple different resources for planning appointments, goals, and tasks. I use an on-line calendar so I can easily share it with my family. I also use Evernote to keep a master list of goals, projects, and tasks. You can read about that HERE.
Even though I am a tech geek, I still love a paper planner that I can hold in my hands and use write out my plans and goals. To me a planner is a very personal thing and there are so many out there available. I encourage you to really think it through. Did the planner you used this year benefit you? Did using it help you stay organized and on track?
If you haven’t used a planner in the past or if you want to change planners, think through what your needs are. Start by writing down all the hats you wear: wife, mom, care-giver, employee, business owner, volunteer, teacher helper, etc. Next think about all the different event calendars that affect your life – school, church, gym, personal, business, etc. What format works best for you to manage all those hats and calendars?
Do you prefer a monthly, weekly or daily format or a combination? For my blog calendar I prefer monthly so I can plan what to write and when. That provides a picture of the flow of the posts. For planning my week I use a weekly format that has each day that I can block by the hour.
Any format you can imagine is available to buy. I use the planner by Brilliant Business Moms, Click here, because it incorporates personal and business planning. (affiliate link) It has lots of forms and pages that apply to an online shop owner and/or blogger. Their podcast is pretty cool, too!
I’d love to know what you have used in the past and what has worked for you. I’m always trying to tweak my planning and improve it. I also recommend their book on time management (affiliate link), Time Management Mama.
2. Printables
I had never heard of these gems until I started blogging. They are files you can download and print to use. Most printables are forms used for tracking all kinds of things from cleaning checklists to grocery lists to household inventories and more. They are available for free and for sale on lots of blogs and sites. I know several Etsy shop owners who create and sell these. One blogger I admire, JustAGirlAndHerBlog.com, has a huge collection of any kind of printable you can imagine. Just sign up for her email list to receive them. I have a gratefulness journal and a couple other printables I’ve created for you. You can find those HERE.
Printables are a great way to have organized checklists for different things in life and business. For my day job we have certain tasks that need to be done in a certain order. By using a checklist we ensure we stick to that order, even if we are interrupted. You know a mom with 2 or more little kiddos to care for has an interruption about every 5 minutes! Checklists are great communication tool. If you and your husband share the house work and you each check off the cleaning checklist what you have completed, then you both know what still needs to be done. That’s communication, right?
3. Free Templates
Templates can be checklists or just about anything else – yard sale flyers, invitations, meeting sign-in sheets and more. There is a great, free, resource I’ve used for years on a Microsoft web site. People from all over upload their templates and share them with the world. There is every template you cann think of from agendas to timelines. You just search for what you want and download it. The templates available work with Microsoft products like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, etc. I usually find something pretty close to what I need and customize it to best fit my personal needs. (There are report templates, too. Those might be helpful for your kiddos when writing school reports).
As you are thinking about the things you want to do in 2016, I encourage you to search through the printable and template resources shown here to find forms, checklists, worksheets and more to save you time and make you more productive.
Share in the comments what resources you use to plan your life, work, chores, and everything else. I’d love to learn from you what works and what hasn’t worked so well.
Blessings,
Lauree
…keep dancing the dream
P.S. I am SUPER excited about a new series I’m starting in 2016 – You’ll get to watch my progress on a huge project I’ve wanted to tackle for years. 2016 is going to be the year I get it done!
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