The Freckled Planner
  • THE FRECKLED PLANNER
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Why the Stickers?

5/23/2019

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​       As a sun in Virgo soul, I cannot help but analyze everything I do, and my planning hobby is no exception. I can easily understand why I have the planners and the journals; they help me get organized and sort out my thoughts. But my tickled-pink excitement over a new Happy Planner Sticker Value Pack can stump me.


      But then this week I remembered a study I had read about once. It was trying to figure out how to get girls more interested in engineering as a career path. A key result it found was that girls need stories about what they are building in order to make it feel real to them, so that they can connect with it.


      What is planning if not “personal/family engineering?” And what are Happy Planner Sticker Value Packs if not a well spring of story we can illustrate our lives with?


      I think that decorative planning allows us to weave the different parts of our minds into one functional whole. It helps us infuse the logistics of our lives with the visuals that we connect with, thereby making them feel real to us.


      I used to plan with just pen and paper, and it worked okay. But bringing in the stickers and all of the beautiful design elements of The Happy Planner did something even more. It elevated the entire process into something three-dimensional. I can see and understand my life better now than ever before.


      My Happy Planner is more than just my plans, it is the story of my life.

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      xoxo,

      Whitney Till, a.k.a., The Freckled Planner
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How to Make Your Happy Planner Spectacularly Functional

5/17/2019

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      We all know the purpose of having a planner. You write down your appointments, throw in some due dates, and add some sort of running to do list. This is an excellent way to keep track of the essential reminders in our lives. And if that is all your planner ever needs to be, EXCELLENT!
 
      But if you are doing all of that and still feel like you don't have a real grip on your life, then you might be ready to look at things a little differently. It might be time to really clarify not just the different pieces of your planning “system,” but also to really understand how they relate to one another.

​      The power of The Happy Planner is that you can pull out pages, lay them all in front of you on a big table, and create an entire picture of your life. You can really get a feel for every individual piece, see how it's all connected, and then layer it together again and put it back into one cohesive book. Taking advantage of this tool can help you turn your Happy Planner into your true “external brain,” and vastly reduce the weight on your shoulders.
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       A Planning System. I call my planner a system because that's what it is. It's not just some different pages in a notebook together. Every piece has a function, and is related to some other piece.

       There are two basic elements to any planning system: a calendar and a to-do list. For many people, these two pieces are enough structure to operate just fine.


      For me, it’s a different story. There is no way my brain can manage the gazillion little details it needs to without a structure that is dynamic enough to contain not just the information, but the way it relates to other pieces, and how it changes over time.

     So after a few years of working with my mind, studying different methods and trying new techniques, I’ve sketched out a cohesive methodology specifically for The Happy Planner because that is the line that has inspired me deeply and allowed me to get myself set up in a truly complete and effective way.

       So let's get started on the different pieces that your system may contain, depending on what YOU 
need:
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     Goals. I start with Goals because it is the big-picture thinking. When getting a planner organized, this can be the last piece that actually needs our attention. But it can also be the most fun to put together. It is essential to know what our large life priorities are, and what direction we would like to be moving in as we go forward.

      This is where we can dream freely without having to get too worried about all of the little details. This is where we let out souls speak to us about why we are here, and what we need most out of this life.

      This is also where we need to allow ourselves to get messy, and let anything come out the first time around. We can make it pretty after we know what's truly going to the top of our lists.
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      Calendar. The most obvious piece, I know. Fortunately, we learn from a young age what a calendar is and how we use it. We need to know what is scheduled into our lives, when, and where.

      Whether you use a monthly view or just input it directly into your weekly or daily view is entirely up to your preference. And for many, this piece of the planning puzzle makes more sense stored electronically, so it can be updated on-the-go or shared with others.
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      Lists. Here is where we store that mass of life-data that follows us around wherever we go. It is also where we break down those beautiful big picture goals into actionable items.

      Here, the heart of our "thinking work" occurs. This is where we determine what needs to happen and how. We add item after item until our mind is finally empty, and then arrange it all in a way that makes sense for us.

​      Here the Happy Planner system can really shine, allowing us to utilize a variety of papers and sticky notes until we reach that "click" that tells us that our brain is getting a grip on things. 
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      Day-to-Day. The workhorse of our planner. Here is the place where we chicken scratch our way through our days, or dress them up to be an inspiration for each new week. Whether you use a vertical spread, horizontal, hourly or even daily inserts, this is where you really need to know what works for you while you are in the thick of each day. ​
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      I personally love the functionality of the dashboard layout, with the days on one side and tasks on the other. I can see everything I need to each day.

​      And of course, if you know what you need but you can’t find it, you can pick up a Happy Notes and start customizing it just for you and your unique mind. 
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      Checklists. Checklists are the secret workhorses of a planner. They can take a planning system from good to outstanding. It can be a wonderfully helpful practice to write down all of the tasks that you do on a weekly or monthly basis. When you have a list that you can refer to as needed, it relieves a burden from your mind that you didn’t even know you were carrying. ​

      You can also sketch out the routine of a typical day, and look for the places that are working well for you, as well as the ones that need some tweaking. We are constantly refining our daily flow to best suit our current situation and personal needs, or to adjust to the myriad of changes that inevitably arise.
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      Review. One thing that should be added to each checklist is our regular review process. We need to know not only what is on our lists, but how we will remember to get to the right things at the right time. 

      
At least once a day, we look over our daily schedule, our most pressing tasks, and any special considerations.

      Once a week is often recommended for looking over all of our to-do lists and active projects, to update them with any progress made, and move the next action steps onto our day-to-day plan.

      And it's a good idea to sit down about once a month and look over our big picture goals to see how we are doing. And this is where we must remember that gradual progress is much more transformative than big changes.

      And then, arguably the most fun one, once a year we can sit down and create a fresh vision for the year ahead and sketch out some new, or continued, goals.


    Et voilà! A basic planner set-up, ready to apply to your Happy Planner today to help you feel even more on top of your life. Because once you unlock the true potential of your Happy Planner, the possibilities are truly endless.


Much love,

Whitney Till, a.k.a. The Freckled Planner
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I Believe In...

5/17/2019

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I believe in being there for the people we love.

I believe in being brave in the face of fear.

I believe in trying new things and being willing to learn even more about ourselves in the process.

I believe in civility, kindness and respect.

I believe that hopefulness and realism can live side by side.

I believe in doing the hard work we are called to do.

I believe in cutting loose and enjoying this blessed life we’ve been given.

I believe that authenticity is the best route to healthy, transformative relationships.

I believe in knowing our limits and communicating our boundaries.

I believe that when life lessons harden us, the love of those around us can soften us.

I believe that each morning is a brand new start.

I believe that the more we celebrate one another’s growth, the more we grow ourselves.

I believe that taking care of my family is the hardest, most important work I will ever do.

I believe that I am deeply blessed to get to watch these two little souls grow up.

I believe that my marriage is the most healing experience I will, and I am all in.

I believe that we are all searching for purpose wherever we can.

I believe we can wipe the slate clean as many times as we need to, if we are willing to own our own mistakes.

​I believe that our inherent worth is already deep within us, like gold in our very bones, and nothing on the outside can ever change or diminish that.

Truly,

​Whitney

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A Brief History of The Freckled Planner

5/17/2019

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'        I'm not the first to say it, and surely I won't be the last, but who knew that one little planner would change my life so much?

      One warm and humid morning during the summer of 2016, I packed my two small children into our silver mini-van and headed out on a pleasure trip to The Craft Store. As I wandered the aisles, basking in the sheer glory of aisle upon aisle of craft supplies, I turned a corner and came across an entire wall of sheer wonder. How do I describe what I saw there? It was an entire system of crafty, fun, colorful, papery, planner goodness. I didn’t know what it was, but the sight of it turned me on.

      It was an entire aisle of Happy Planner supplies. I had never seen nor heard of this system before, and I just stood there, staring. There were planners, planner holders, planner kits, planner stickers, planner everything. Now, I was already a planner person. I’d been designing my own planners and booklets for a while, and I loved playing with calendars and layouts. And yet, I had never heard of nor seen anything like this before. I was utterly captivated. I was so intrigued that I took my classic Whitney Till Approach and walked away with…nothing. You see, if I am really taken by something, the first thing I do is go home and study it.

      So I did just that. A few quick searches on Pinterest and I was falling down the deep rabbit hole of decorative planning as well as bullet journaling. It was mesmerizing, it was beautiful, it was…a bit overwhelming. I was excited and intimidated at the same time. But I knew I wanted some of it in my own life. 

      The thing that had mesmerized me most about the Happy Planner was the way it felt like a notebook, but acted like a binder. So I set out to create my own DIY version of this. I laminated some pretty paper, bought a few loose rings, and cut some paper down to a size I liked. I punched the paper, put it all together, and it was...okay. I liked that I could put paper in and out of it. I liked adding cute pictures I had found online. I liked using colored pens and making up more new layouts. But it never really became what I needed it to be. I didn’t yet realize the true power of disc-binding. 

      What I really needed was to get all of my thoughts organized. I needed a way to put all of my life and work responsibilities down on paper that would allow me to visually swallow it all. I was overwhelmed by how many things I was in charge of remembering to get done. I struggled with those obligations that I needed to do but hated doing. Everyone has these, for me it was medical administration: phone calls, insurance questions, medical bills, etc. My family had a handful of these from a couple of significant health matters, and it was the one part of my work as full-time mom that I really despised. I needed help getting my thoughts on paper so that I could actually make progress on them instead of watching them chase themselves around and around in my head, increasingly making me feel bad for never getting them fully resolved. So I created a chart to put into my homemade planner to help me with all this.

      I spent a year experimenting with my little DIY planner and refining my external thinking system. Every once in a while I would pop back over to the craft store and ogle the Happy Planners. I was curious, but still, I didn’t know where to start. And then one hot August afternoon, as I was strolling through my grocery store, of all places, I wandered through the back-to-school section because, you know, how could I not? And there, among the 5-star notebooks and Crayola markers, stood a single Happy Planner. It was the 18-month Classic with a yellow cover covered in little gold pineapples. I had never seen a Happy Planner in Kroger before, and I never have since. And something about seeing the planner on it’s own like that finally made it click. It was just a planner. It was simple. It was beautiful.

      And so, finally, a year after that first discovery, I purchased my very first Happy Planner. As I drove home, I could not wait to sit down with it and look through every last page. I was on a cloud with excitement and joy. And then, I felt something odd under my car, and a block later felt the tell tale thump-thump of a flat tire. My first thought as I pulled our mini-van over into a complete stranger's drive-way was “Ohhh…maybe I can look through my new planner while I wait for triple A to get here!”

      Within a few weeks, I had a pack of blank paper, a second set of discs, some spare covers, and my first two sticker books (“Mom” and “Seasonal”). I had swapped the pineapple planner for the cute-as-can-be Everyday Essentials, a planner full of adorable sketches for each season. I started playing with ways to decorate it and creatively organize my days. I put together enough pieces to create a “Life Binder,” and the work I had been doing for a year to gather my thoughts started to weave together seamlessly. I made my first journal entry while sitting in an empty hotel bathtub in Louisville, Kentucky, at 3:00 in the morning, while my family slept in the next room. We were headed south to see the Great American Eclipse, and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. When we got home I moved these note pages over to a spare set of covers and discs, added more note paper and had my first “Happy Journal.”

      All of this overlapped with my first child starting Kindergarten. It was a period that was both incredibly challenging and shockingly productive. I loved how so many pieces of my life were coming together so rapidly, and it was all because the disc-binding system allowed me to move stuff around as many times as I needed to, and the beautiful designs continued to draw me in over and over again. I spent that entire year putting together pieces that would work for me, and experimenting with all of the things that made me curious. I loved it, and it helped me face every last little task I had been afraid of until I really had a grip on everything going on in my life. I was identifying and challenging my own habits of procrastination, which meant facing challenges I had been ruthlessly avoiding. But I was also enjoying myself immensely. By the end of that school year, I was caught up with my life in a way I hadn’t been for years, and it felt wonderful. I was finally learning all about what I needed in order to master my own form of executive functioning. It was freeing and exhilarating. It was a lot of hard work. It was so, so much fun.
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      And so it has continued into this year as well. I have only reached further levels of organization and clarity, and have started to put my system down on paper so that I can share it with others as well. So here is my attempt at articulating what I have learned. This blog will be a place for me to get my thoughts out in a visual way so that they may be of service to others out there also attempting to get a grip on modern adulthood. Getting organized is hard work, and we need all the help we can get. The beauty of the Happy Planner is that it makes that process beautiful, creative, and deeply enjoyable. 

With love,

Whitney Till, a.k.a., The Freckled Planner

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    Hi! I'm Whitney

    I love to set up beautiful planners in highly functional ways. I think our planners should be a place where we can enjoy ourselves and ease our minds.


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