Typically, I'm the girl who spends hours upon hours searching for the perfect planner. If you're not that girl, let me explain why it's such an ordeal.

First of all, are you going to go digital or physical?

Once you know, you have to evaluate your current life situation. In college, the monthly calendar setup worked well for me to keep up with assignment due dates and on-call weekends for my job. As a reporter, I lived for my daily planner to keep my meetings and appointments in check. Now, as a cashier, a weekly planner works well at breaking down seven days at a time.

Then you have to decide if you need those extra pages most companies order or not. Will you actually keep your budget listed every day? Do you like having your meals written out and planned each day? Should you pay extra for the stickers if stickers aren't your thing?

Now you know why it takes me forever to decide.

Add in the mess that was the Year 2020 and I had all but decided to live a life without a planner. Adding in my shift times to my Google calendar was going to have to cut it.

Thankfully, one of my bonus mommas knows me better than that and surprised me with a beautiful gold and teal weekly planner, featuring monthly goals and plenty of spaces for all the stickers and doodles I could ever create. To cap off the gift, she reminded me after I thanked her that she purchased it because she wants me to "keep planning [my] future and NEVER give up on [my] dreams and goals."

Cue the tears.

And cue the motivation to organize my thoughts and plans on paper.

While I think I've settled on how I want to use this planner, I remembered one of my favorite ways to keep things in check my second year as a reporter. I called it my "DailyDo List" and printed it on mini sticky notes to keep my goals in check. I added the things I knew I needed to do every day and left myself several blank spaces to add in case I forgot something.

Because the layout of this planner is a little different than the one I had five years ago, I went with a vertical layout rather than my original horizontal and only left one space.

I print a sheet at a time and add them in as I fill out my planner. Buying different colored sticky notes gives you variety and helps you save on colored ink.

For those of you interested in customizing your own DailyDo lists, I've included a couple of Google Doc links to help.

~Make sure you copy or download the link to prevent editing the original page.~

This link will take you to the layout page. Print this once on a regular sheet of computer paper and keep it in an easy-to-reach spot.

This link takes you to the Printables. Click your first box, choose edit, then type in your daily goals. If you'd rather a horizontal layout, just use the little bead at the top of the text box to rotate. If you have a numerical keypad on your keyboard, choose Alt-9 for an open bullet point. Once you're satisfied with how it looks, copy the textbox while in edit mode and then paste it in each individual box. It's a little time consuming the first time but, assuming your daily goals don't change too often, it should be a one or two time hindrance.

When you're ready to print, place a mini sticky note on each square of the computer paper template you made earlier. Load it in your printer and print the Printables page.

Congrats! You're one step closer to organizing your life and reaching those goals. One of mine is to post here more often. Keep checking back to see how that goes. Happy New Year, y'all. Here's to never giving up. ♥