I read my planner for pleasure. The cover needs to have a certain feel, and the pages need to accommodate my planning style. This year, I shopped many stores to find just the book. It is my biggest tangible tool for progress. (There are several intangibles, all related to faith practices.) I always have a plan, and often the plan is to do nothing. Still, the New Year invites the concept of resolutions. Should I be making resolutions beyond my intricate system of journals, calendars, planners, targeted goals, and dreams? 😅 I believe resolutions might be for people who are not like me. Don’t mistake me, I have my plan, but I also know how to throw out the plan pretty freely. I write everything in pencil, unless it is a journal of what I have accomplished. This is where I use ink. I recommend this practice.
I work in my paper planner so much, I identify as “a planner.” Being a planner has taught me to be forgiving to myself and to trust the process of small, incremental steps. I don’t feel a lot of personal guilt for things that I can’t accomplish in a day, maybe because I am always looking forward. I definitely have times when I erase goals and move them to a later time slot or cancel them when I fail. Failure is part of the overall plan.
And let’s talk about the word of the year trend among women in my culture. I can see the value, really I can, and I admire the foresight and inspiration that women have about their upcoming year. One word seems inadequate to the many things I lack. Just one? I can think of many. But maybe I am overthinking it…Likely…Absolutely. If cornered with this question, my one word that would inspire me to improve would be Christ. Every single year. But this word is not really playing by the rules.