Planners.

If you've been reading my blog for a while know, you'll know that I'm a huge advocate for planners/agendas. Seriously, my life pretty much revolves around keeping my planners organized. If they're not in order, I'm not in order. 

Planners came into my life when I was a Sophomore in high school. I'd just started online school, and I wanted a way to keep track of my daily tasks without having to jump from class-to-class webpages all the time. That year started my obsession with planners. Not going to lie, I'm obsessed with buying and keeping all sorts of planners. I currently have 3, 2 for school and 1 for Keep Not Settling. As strange as that sounds, it's actually not hard to keep track of them all.

My two Lilly Pulitzer agendas are dedicated to school, whether that be assignments, meetings, or other random functions. The smaller of the two goes with me literally everywhere. The inside isn't as pretty, because it's where I jot important information down quickly during the day. When I'm in between or finished with classes, then I'll transfer it over to the larger agenda that I actually look at when I'm studying or making plans with others. Here's a picture of the two agendas from the same week... Note how much better the big one looks. 

Sounds strange, I know, but it's definitely a system that works for me. I like my main academic agenda to be pretty and colorful, sorted out by class (also in class-time order). I always highlight the tasks I've finished in yellow, but other colors -- such as pink, orange and blue -- are reserved for highlighting events, workout schedules, or my to-do lists.

As for my blogging planner... This one is much more straightforward than my school agendas. I use a separate notebook for actual post ideas, and then transfer them into appropriate weekday spots in this agenda. I include a working post title, a general outline for how I want to write the post, as well as social media check boxes to make sure that I've shared them all to my networks. I don't use colored pens in this agenda because, well, there's no need. For me, blog planning is pretty straightforward. The only color you'll see are sticky notes, where I'll leave myself miscellaneous reminders. 

If, for some reason, I've managed to convince you that planners aren't a completely scary or mind-boggling concept, here's a few of my best tips for starting with a new agenda: 

• Develop a system. This takes time, and it will change. My process for keeping agendas today is not what it was when I was in high school. I have more going on in my life now, and more specific deadlines. For example, I never used anything but pencil and a yellow highlighter in high school. Now, well, you can see how crazy it is. Take the time to experiment week to week to find what kind of system works for you. 

• Be consistent. Planners lose their purpose if you don't keep up with them. 

• Find a planner that makes you want to use it. There are about a million and two different kinds of planners on the market. I've grown to love the Lilly Pulitzer academic agendas because they're colorful both on the outside an the inside. Just looking at the agenda makes me happy. Shop around to find one that fits your needs. 

• It doesn't have to be perfect. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. As a perfectionist, I never want my agenda to change once my pen has marked the page. However, I've learned that white out tape is a wonderful - and often times necessary - thing. Life happens and plans change or assignments get pushed forward or back.  

• Carry it with you. For me, carrying my agenda with me was key to using it often when I first started. Jotting down important dates as they come along will get you used to having a planner/agenda AND prevent you from forgetting. 

• If paper's not your thing, use online alternatives. Google Calendar is wonderful and accessible from pretty much everywhere. iStudiez Pro on the App Store for Mac/iPhone/iPad users is also a great alternative. 

Keep not settling,