In my last post, I discussed some time management tips to help entrepreneurs stay on top of their time management goals.
Between my teaching schedule, blogging for the website, The Shingle Life Podcast, and running my solo practice, I have a few more things on my plate that I have to manage carefully. In order to keep on top of my busy schedule, I’ve gathered a few calendars and apps to help me stay organized.
First, I have to say, I LOVE planners, I just love them! Who doesn’t? There’s something so refreshing about seeing the month or year laid out before me. For the past couple years, I had been relying on my Outlook and iPhone calendar, but with so many different projects going on, I need a more detailed schedule and I need to be able to look and plan on a weekly and monthly basis. Also, I miss writing things down.
Mid-last year, I converted to a paper calendar and haven’t looked back since. However, I have been trying a few different planners and have enjoyed using most of them. Below is of some of the planners/organizers I use.
Planners:
Last year, I started with the Ban.do’s I Am Very Busy calendar. It’s so friggin cute, I couldn’t resist. It’s a 17-month planner and it was perfect because it was the middle of the year and I didn’t have to wait until January to start using or waste a half a year. It comes with cute little stickers you to help you spruce up your day. My only problem with it, it that it’s very thick (because it’s 17 months) and it’s a bit small, so I wasn’t really able to put enough hour to hour planning in it.
I used this At-A-Glance calendar pad (the one in the picture above is color-coded by day – I bought it at Office Depot) which gave me more space for the hour-to-hour planning in conjunction with the Ban.do calendar. The great thing is that it’s undated, so you can begin using it at any time of the year.
This year, I’ve switched it up and decided to go bigger. After Mimi G posted her 2017 calendar on Instagram page, which she got from Michaels, I had to make a visit because it was exactly what I was looking for. I really like the Create 365 Series, they have a variety of options for the 12-month calendar. There are two types, one with the month already written in and another blank tabs where you can write in the month.
I decided on the Create 365 Be Happy planner. (below)
I like it because there’s a monthly calendar, and the week take up a two-page spread, so each day of the week has a column going down the entire page – more space for hour-to-hour planning. I also bought these additional sheets to insert and use as a to-do list in the middle of two-page spread for the week. You can also purchase additional stickers and a budget planning component. There are tons of options when it comes to the 365 Create Series and it is reusable for years to come!
Blogging
I found the Epic Blog planner thanks to Afrobella’s post, The Best Planners to Get Your Life together (she was right!). As I mentioned in the post about my 2017 goals, I’m planning on publishing a new blog post at least twice a week. I never intended to blog, but since I’m doing it, I want to do it right and make sure I am producing useful content.
If you are a new or even experienced blogger and want to make sure you produce relevant, helpful content – in a timely manner, get this planner! I was on the fence about buying it because I’m trying not to go overboard with planners, but I’m so glad I did. It helps you develop goals and themes for your blog on a monthly basis so it’s not overwhelming. You can view a lot of its content and its rave reviews Amazon.com before purchasing it.
Apps
The only app I use to keep track of my time is ClockeIn 2. I mentioned this in the podcast episode about time management. I love this app because it allows you to create project,s and tasks within each project. You can also alter your time if you mistakenly went over or didn’t start the timer. At the end of the day, you can see how much time you spent on each project or task. You can also review your daily, weekly and monthly time spent either by project, task, or for the month.
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I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
What planners or apps do you swear by?
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