The One Notebook Principle

For the past decade or two I have been, off and on, obsessed with the idea of the perfect planner. Does this sound familiar to anyone? I wanted a planner I stuck with, that allowed me to be flexible but productive, and was easily stashed in a purse or a backpack. I wanted a planner where I could write down notes and plan for all my projects and ideas. I wanted it to be a calendar for appointments but also have a space for house projects, garden projects, blogging, etc. I wanted about a bajillion different planners and notebooks in one small, easily carried book.

If this sounds impossible it’s because I’m fairly certain it is. I’ve tried the bullet journaling method but for various reasons (mainly wanting the journal to look pretty and be perfect) it didn’t work for me. I tried having multiple planners, one for the garden and one for the home, etc., but that didn’t work out either. I found it too difficult to keep up or lug around multiples. I recently (about six months or so ago) bought myself a travel notebook system thinking it would be the best of both worlds but have yet to even try it. I bought myself, even more recently, an academic planner thinking that, instead of tracking classwork for different subjects, I would track different projects and to dos for different categories of my life. It felt like a brilliant idea. I stuck with it for about two weeks.

That was back in early September and I’ve largely steered clear of planners or planning for anything but work (a teacher kind of has to plan). Tonight, however, I felt that itch to plan a planner. It would be, I thought to myself, the planner of all planners. It would be the one to finally be perfect. Then I thought briefly, guiltily, of the mostly empty planners in a cabinet in our snug (a small library/music room). Then I realized I was doing it again. I was getting sucked into the myth of the perfect planner. I was one step away from Google, Pinterest, and Youtube videos all touting examples of perfect planners and planning systems.

Don’t get me wrong, if any kind of planner actually works for you then more power to you. But I realized something important tonight, something I feel like I keep needing to remind myself of. I could either feel guilty about abandoned projects, blogs, writing ideas, etc. and spend hours developing a planner and system I’ll likely never use or I could actually do something. Then I realized I had a blog topic and it was all about my realization.

That said, I have had another realization. Sometimes it’s just fun to experiment with different planners and systems. It’s like a thought experiment. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Happy planning!