They say failure to plan is planning for failure. So I bought myself a planner.

I remember in high school how we were forced to keep them (they doubled as our hall passes). I hated it and would draw all over it, ripping away bits of the cover to write mopey song lyrics all over it. And when I got to college, I didn’t use the ones that Marywood provided either out of further protest. But now, I see the error of my ways and instead of writing random notes to myself on random pages of random sketchbooks, I’ve been jotting down important dates and deadlines (and carefully recording my work hours) in my shiny, new planner.

Planners for Everyone – Graphic designers have been hard at work for years and years designing the perfect planner for every kind of person. They come with all of the glitz, glam, stickers, and colors you could imagine. And of course, if glitz and glam isn’t for you, they have classy leather ones too. You can always personalize them to suit your own needs as well. After all, if you’re going to be looking at it every day, you might as well make it something worth looking at.

The Cost of Planning – One of my peers bought a customized planner from a designer named Erin Condren. They’re pretty and colorful, but not to mention pretty expensive. One planner is about fifty dollars. But she’s absolutely in love with it so don’t rule it out entirely because of the cost. I bought mine at Staples for around twenty dollars. It’s boring and red but it has the dates in it. And another colleague of mine bought a plain black one at the dollar store for two bucks that lets her write in the day, month, and year and gives her plenty of room for the occasional doodle. They have free printout planner templates online too so there’s no excuse for you to not have a planner of some sort.

The Perfect Plan – I’m distributing my long, long list of things to do among several days so that it’s more manageable and less stress. Things that have already been done or are absolutely set in stone get written over in pen. Things that haven’t been done yet and that have every possibility of moving or getting pushed back stay in pencil so they’re easily erased and rescheduled. It takes a while to get used to and to figure out your approach but everyone keeps a planner different. They’re as unique as the person who owns them.

I’ve designated Sunday evening as the day to plan the plans. Let’s see how well I follow the ritual.

I wonder what next week will bring…

How do you keep yourself organized, professional, and on track? Do you use a planner?