5 Things You Are Forgetting to Add to Your Planner

Hey blessed, brilliant, beauties! I know everybody is super busy and anxious getting ready to start off another semester of school. I am wishing everybody a school year filled with inquisition and growth! So as I was filling out my planner with all my new due dates and holiday breaks, I realized that there were so many things that I often forget to add to my planner at the beginning of the school. So if you are like me and need some help filling up the pages of your beautiful new planner, keep reading and hopefully I can help with 5 things you are forgetting to add to your planner!

Doctors Appointments – Now that I am an “adult,” my parents don’t make my doctor’s appointments anymore. Crazy right? How did that happen? Lol.  If there is one thing that I typically forgot (maybe purposefully avoid is a better word) to add in my planner are my doctors appointments. I have always heard that your early twenties are the best time to practice good habits. You know…drinking water, eating healthy foods, annnddddd going to your doctors appointments. So I am not a doctor (YET!) nor am I a hyper organized mother, but here is how often I schedule myself to see my docs.

• Eye Doctor – Once a Year
• Gynecologist Once a Year (When you turn 21, you need to be a big girl and make that appointment. I know scary, but necessary to maintain that happy, healthy body.)
• Regular Doctor – Once a Year
• Dentist – Twice a Year (Or more frequently if your schedule allows)
• Dermatologist  – Once a Year (I wrote down this one because I suffer from eczema really badly and often times need to update my docs on my flare ups to try new prescriptions.

Oil Changes and Car Service Appointments  – Be nicer to your car and stop relying on bae or your dad to take care of YOUR car. Make sure you are remembering to add oil changes for your car in your planner. This is probably something I always forget about until my grandpa reminds me. Thanks, Grandpa! You da bomb. When you should get an oil change often times depends on a certain amount of miles or a specified date. Try estimating it or putting a reminder in your planner so you don’t make your car work harder than it actually needs to.

Self-Care Days – This is crucial for me. If I do not plan self-care days, they will not get done…like ever. Sometimes I pick a day out of the week so it just becomes routine. This school year, it is on Thursdays. These days are typically baby self-care days. I will plan to do a face mask or have a glass of wine while watching a movie by myself. I try to make to also plan dates for myself, too. Taking yourself on dates has been really beneficial for helping me grow more comfortable with myself. As a young women, I think that it is really important to train ourselves to be okay with just being by ourselves and being genuinely happy with that. On my self-care days, sometimes I am super busy and I just remind myself to be hyper aware of how I am feeling physically and emotionally. I rest and plan. These are the days that I try my hardest to practice Philippians 4:6-7.

“Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.” Philippians 4:6-7

Here are some date ideas to take yourself on.

• Go Out to See a Movie
• Visit a Cute Coffee Shop and Read
• Go Out Shopping
• Explore Your City
• DIY Spa Day
• Bake
• Have a Mini Worship Session
• Take Yourself Out to Eat
• Try Something New
• Plan a Photoshoot
• Cook a New Recipe

Due Dates/Important Days – I am really good at pretending that I remember everything that I have to do for the next week. (Keyword…pretending.) Did you know that our working memory can only hold a capacity of 7 plus or minus 2 bits of information? That means even though we think we can remember everything that we just learned, the reality is our brain will mostly likely forget it due to the short duration that our brain holds information in our working memory. This is why many college students stress the importance of having a planner and putting down important due dates and homework reminders AS SOON AS YOU GET THEM. My biggest mistake is always when I tell myself that I will remember to do it later. More often than not, I will forget and end up having to stress myself out about an assignment due in 15 minutes. Here are some important dates that are in my planner:

• Family and Friends Birthdays
• School Due Dates from Class Syllabi
• Upcoming Tests and Exams
• University Breaks
• Travel Days
• Conferences
• Self-Care Days
• Anniversaries
• Meetings
• Blog Shoots/Blogging and/or Posting Days
• Cleaning and Organization Days

Time for Family and Friends – As I get older I have realized how important it is to intentionally plan out time for your friends and family. When we were younger it was so easy to just text your BFF to meet you at your favorite milkshake spot five minutes away from your house in your little hometown. Now, we are all studying for school, working at jobs, and probably a lot farther away than we use to be. In other words, things got really busy. However, making time for your friends and family is important too. It is a way of showing them how much you appreciate their support of you during the current time in wild and chaotic life. Now this doesn’t mean to say that you should compromise your sanity or participate in activities you don’t feel comfortable with. Trust me, me of all people know what that pressure feels like. All it means is that every once in a while, spending an hour coffee date with an old (or new) friend won’t kill you. Also, if you have a good relationship with your parents, remember to call them and make time for them too. They probably miss you… a lot.

Positive Motivation – I JUST recently started adding positive motivation to my planner this year. Because I like to write a lot of things down and make lists in my planner to make sure I am holding myself accountable for what I need to get done that day, at times looking at my planner with all the splashes of pink, green, and purple pen marks can get quite overwhelming. So one day I decided to write myself a mini love note. Literally, that is exactly the best way I know how to describe it. In the corner of my planner I wrote…

Hey, you are doing such a great job. Take it one day at a time. You can do all things with Him. 

At first I was doing this for my own sanity in a moment, but it turns out that every time I open my planner to that page, I find comfort in knowing that myself is proud of myself even if I don’t accomplish everything on my to do list. I know, it sounds like such a strange concept, but it is indeed comforting and motivating. Sometimes the only motivation you need is knowing that you actually are proud of yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you so much for reading! If you are new to the blog, welcome! You are officially a blessed, brilliant, beauty! Sign up here to keep up to date with posts, giveaways, and free resources. What things do you like adding to your planner to stay organized? Comment below!  Always remember that you are blessed, brilliant, and beautiful and have an amazing weekend filled with love, adventure, and peace.

<3 TD