Patti, why do you blog soooooooooooo much about organization and planners?
Sorry.
This is a repeat for some of you, but I have ADHD and trying to keep myself organized is an ongoing process. I literally only share a fraction of what I test out to stay focused.
It was a little easier while my dad was still alive because I handle daily tasks like a pro because of the daily pages in my planner. I even can manage the monthly appointments, but everything else? It's chaos for me. My dad used to remind me of weekly or quarterly or infrequent items and now? I'm on my own for those.
2025 was my year of experimentation because he passed away at the end of 2024. I figured out how to keep track of more than monthly appointments (i.e. monthly tasks) relatively quickly thanks to monthly dashboard stickers. It took a little experimentation to figure out what titles to put on the dashboard boxes, but I have that nailed now and it's smooth.
But weekly tasks? No matter what I tried in 2025, nothing worked. It all just got ignored, which is why I cannot use a weekly planner no matter how hard I try. I'm completely capable of not noticing anything on a weekly layout.
2026 was the year I was determined to figure out my weekly problem. I started out with far too many box stickers laid out on the blank page my planner has in front of every week. I quickly learned that less is more. I pared down to three boxes. To Do, This Week, and Don't Forget. This seems to be working better.
So far.
I also wanted to organize my writing better. I have my kanban board for keeping track of progress. It was a game changer when I first started using it and it's still working for me years later. I am reward focused, and believe it or not, moving a Post-it Note into the Finished category gives me a dopamine rush.
That also works for checking items off my daily to-do list. There's something so satisfying about that.
I also have a writing planner now--two of them. The second one was an accident, but I ended up really liking it, and if I can find a way to get the circles that I color in on the first (big) planner into my tiny writing planner, 2027 will move me to one, but coloring those word count circles in is exciting for me.
This is my long apology for all the planner and organization posts that show up here. This is something I deal with all the time.
