Thank You Passion Planner!
We have some very exciting news! PASSION PLANNER has selected sonder SOLUTIONS as a recipient of their 'Get One, Give One Program'.
They sent us 35 beautiful planners and are so incredibly thankful for this generosity.
Passion Planners are a very helpful tool that helps people clearly define their personal goals and dreams. They help break down long and short term goals into more actionable steps and gives them a place to incorporate these steps into their daily lives!
These planners are going to help our participants schedule their days from scheduling their interviews to keeping track of their job leads. It's one step closer to reaching their goals!
“For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned” – Benjamin Franklin
How to Get Organized When It Comes to Your Goals
If you have realized that you haven’t achieved any of your major goals, then it’s time to make some changes. Two reasons we don’t get around to reaching goals are that we get distracted or we procrastinate. We often procrastinate because the goal—in its entirety—seems too big and scary to achieve. So instead, break it down into steps and aim to complete just the first step. Then move on to the next step.
To achieve our goals, we also need to prioritize. The chances are high that many distractions will tempt us and try to pull us off course. It can be easy to forget which is the most important thing, as seemingly urgent tasks such as responding to an email can take over our attention and time. Set your priorities clearly at the start of each day and each week in line with your overall goal.
This is where your Passion Planner comes in handy. You can use your planner to organize all parts of your life, like:
- Family Organization - Community Activities - Professional - Volunteer Commitments - Exercise & Health Goals - Meal Planning - Goal Setting & Achievement - Self Improvement
“The best way to get something done is to begin” – Author Unknown
Sitting down to a blank planner can be a stressful. Where do you start?
Tackle Things by Month
In every planner, there’s a monthly overview. In this section, you want to put the plans that won’t change from birthdays and holidays to bill due dates and special all-day events like weddings and reunions. Do not try to fit your grocery list in that teeny tiny box.
Tackle Things by Week
While you don’t have to do it every week, you should try to use this point in the planner as a check-in with yourself. Note larger goals that can be accomplished in a seven-day period or things you want to get done that don’t need to be pegged to a specific day of the week. For instance, things like “send out thank you notes” should be included in this section. And if there’s not a section for it? Use a post-it.
Tackle Things by Day
Look at the daily divisions as places to put anything that will make your day easier. Plan meals, workouts, time to apply to jobs, as well as smaller events like dinners and meetings that don’t need to be noted more than a few days in advance. Also include a few to-do items that you can cross off.
“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein” – Life’s Little Instruction Book, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
You and Your Passion Planner
Passion Roadmap
The Passion Roadmap is a place to write out your goals for the next few years and break them down into achievable steps. You write out your lifetime goals, 3-year goals, 1-year goals, and 3-month goals. Then, under each monthly view AND each weekly view, there is a place for you to list tiny, achievable steps to get you to that goal!
Monthly View
The Monthly View has sections for “work focus” and “personal focus” as well as a “work to do list” and a “personal to do list”. A perfect place to keep track of job applications and interviews. It is also nice that you have a reminder that work and personal are two different parts of life.
Weekly View
The Weekly View is what will really keep you feeling organized. What makes it extra awesome is the TIME SLOTS. They keep you from overscheduling or double-booking. Use the weekly layout in your Passion Planner to break down your goals into small, actionable steps that are easy for you to keep track of!
Not To-Do List
On your Not-To-Do list, write some bad habits you are trying to break. Habits creating a wall in between you and your goals. Anything you write here should be actively worked on to prevent in order to help achieve your personal goals. Mark tallies every time you catch yourself doing something you’re not supposed to do. That way, you have a baseline for improvement for the next month. If you slip up, don’t get down on yourself, just try not to do it again next time.
Monthly Reflection
This is what separates this planner from others. It adds a journaling aspect that most planners don’t have. This turns into a great tool to use for planning for the future, but also reflecting on the past. “Reflecting” is such a huge part of profession development. Presenters ask you to reflect. Your boss asks you to reflect. Your co-workers ask you to reflect. You ask yourself to reflect. So, it’s a great adult, professional habit to get into, if you aren’t doing it already. Don’t forget that our past is there for us to learn from. Make this month even better than the last!
Blank Pages
Blank pages can be used for ANYTHING. Here’s some ideas: - Travel Journal - Restaurant Reviews - Church Notes - Packing Lists - Cleaning Schedule
Graph Paper
Graph Paper is perfect for making lists because everything will line up perfectly. And if you’ve experimented with bullet journaling, this is the perfect section to incorporate that into your Passion Planner.
Job Application List
Use the back of your planner to track where you are in the job application process! Add a resume section, a cover letter section, and an interview section. Once you complete each stage, mark it with a check. Then once you hear back from your potential employer, write yes or no in your last box.
Back Pocket
There's a lot of ways to utilize your planner’s Back Pocket! You can use it for: sticky notes, IDs, receipts, Polaroid pics, gift cards, stamp cards, sanitizer wipes, notes, Ziplock bags, Band-Aids, Gum (unused of course), earbuds, paperclips, extra key, and tickets. The POCKETBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!
Tips for Efficient Planning
- Don’t try to include everything. A planner is representative of your life and you should be content with having some downtime and room for activities. You will exhaust yourself if every single day is jam-packed to the point where you have no flexibility
- Remember, it’s not your phone! Embrace that this is your personal space to customize in an app-free, creative way that works for your lifestyle. But we do suggest you use your phone's calendar as a backup.
- Color code! Use highlighters and multicolored pen. It makes it so easy to find what you’re looking for and get an idea of what is planned in just a glance.
- Plan every Sunday night. Most planners have a Monday start, so every Sunday night try to plan out my week. That way if during the week something comes up, just peek into your planner and you’ll easily know when you’re busy and when you’re free.
- Keep things neat! Whatever you need to keep your planner neat, use it!
- Use sticky notes to block out sections of time, instead of writing it in ink. This gives you the option to easily change the day or time of an event- simply peel up the sticky note and put it in its new place!
- Use the blank space in your planner to create maps of your ideas. It really helps to see your ideas on paper, planned out.
- Take advantage of Passion Planner’s free print outs.
- Use post-it notes to create tabs to easily navigate your planner.
“Time is a created thing. To say, 'I don’t have time' is to say, 'I don’t want to'” – Lao Tzu