I love notebooks! I love girlie designs, colorful pages and amazing self developing exercises! But, I have never, ever found a planner/agenda/diary that can fulfill my needs! Exactly a year ago I started dreaming of My Perfect Planner!
I draw it by hand many times and then I asked a friend to design it for me, she had some basic skills, but what she did was extremely cute and I was able to print it and use it! Last year, in December 2013, was the first time I used my personalized planner!
In January 2014, I added on my Dream Board 5 BIG GOALS that I want 2014 to bring me (and because 2014 is almost over and 90% of my dreams are accomplished already, I will share the list with you):
- Graduate first in my class (as a Power Engineering student) [DONE]
- Use my planner daily and be able to share it with the world and help other people as well [DONE]
- Estilo Tendances wise: have an Editor-in-Chief, make a certain amount of money, have 1,000 visits daily (we are so close to reach this, surely by the end of December will reach our goal), launch Inspire Me Project and make it successful
- Make time for my pleasures: going out for dinner, movie, coffee, spending quality time with my boyfriend on a weekly basis [DONE]
- Be a Life Coach (although, I study to be a Health Coach, it is not such a big difference)
As you can see, my second big goal was sharing my planner with the world, meaning with you and my future clients!
Unfortunately, with the old design I could not launch it, so it took more than 9 months until I found someone extremely talented and on the same page, that was able to draw my dream on a paper. This person, that I owe my dream to, is Romina, our Creative Coordinator!
Why do I keep saying ‘my planner’ and advertise it as a ‘diary’?
A planner is something you carry with you everywhere you go, and where you add your meetings and all sort of notes that you don’t know where to add them to. Because I always forget a pen or my bag is too small for a planner, or my bag is too heavy and I need to get rid of stuff… I was never able to carry a planner. I used my phone, lots of post its and my mind (don’t rely on your mind solely, it will drive you insane!).
Whereas a diary is a notebook where you reflect upon your actions, where you get to pour out your soul and you don’t have to carry it with you all the time (you can either have one at home and one at the office – in case you have time).
I needed both! I am extremely organized and I need to know what I am doing at every hour throughout the day, at the same time, once I started embarking on the self-development path, I found so many exercises that changed my life and I kept forgetting to do them, because I had no template for them. In the end, my frustration got the best out of me, I designed a planner that is a diary!
How does it work?
If you download ‘Change your Lifestyle Diary‘, you will notice that it has no date. This is because, you can print it anytime you want and add your own date on it if you want, there is no ‘I will start using it December 1st‘, there is only ‘I am starting today!‘ – because in life, we need to take action now!
At the same time, you will notice that it starts with Sunday and not Monday, like all planners/diaries. I am not apart of a different religion that says the Sunday is the first day of the week, BUT I strongly believe that Sunday is the day we reflect on the past and build our intentions for the future, meaning that it is the most important day of the week and we should start with it!
As you can see, on Sunday I like to spend some time doing my weekly shopping list:
– maybe there is a certain item that i need (like now, I need a winter hat!)
– some interesting grocery items that I want to try (I love experimenting with new ingredients and recipes)
Also, there are 2 major question that I ask myself:
1. What do I want to do in life?
The answer is multiple, it can start with your desired career, then your hobbies, how you want to spend your weekends, how you see yourself in 10 years, what do you want to feel, etc. Think of your perfect day and describe it!
2. What do I want?
What do we want to do/be and what do we want to have is not the same thing! So, here is the place where you can list all your crazy dreams, those Louboutin shoes, that Chanel bag, the glass house, a year round trip around the world, you are in charge of your wishes, so write everything! There is no limit!
You might notice, that the first time you do it, you would barely write 5 things, but slowly, week after week, the blank space will not be enough, because your creativity will increase and your conscience will be awaken!
The last important thing to do each Sunday, is to decide your objectives! We all have some, or if we don’t, we should! The only difference between the people who seem like having everything and those who complain, is the fact that the first group knows how to focus!
Think of 5 BIG GOALS for the upcoming week, it might be personal, professional, relationship… it does not matter, 5 objectives that are important for you! They must be big enough to scare you a bit, but small enough to be obtainable in the next 7 days!
The next pages follow the same template:
- a normal planner where you schedule your meetings, your lunch, when you wake up, others.
- a box where you list at least 3 things you are grateful for that day (I do it in the morning, to start my day in a positive state of mind and a receiving mood – when you allow yourself to give thanks, the universe will always send you the right things)
- a place where you list your To Do List, which has nothing to do with time. For example, you want to hit the gym, but have no idea when you will be able to, so this page will allow you to list it and not forget about it
- an exercise for the evening, where you think about what happened throughout the day and list:
- Things/feelings that you did/had the day before
- Things/feelings that you did/had bette
- Things/feelings that you did/had worse
- Things/feelings that you did/had DIFFERENT
This is THE EXERCISE that changed my mindset. Almost my entire life I was a victim that could blame everyone and everything but not herself, also I was deeply disappointed in myself and could not accept that I am not perfect.
After around 6 months of doing this exercise daily, I was able to be more loving towards myself and then towards others. I noticed how mean I was treating myself and I started to heal, by doing things differently and feeling differently.
The CHANGE happens in the last box. So, be aware of what you do and feel, on a daily basis, and you will change your life!
If you want to CHANGE YOUR LIFESTYLE and live the life you dream about, this is the first step! Let me know how it goes, I would love to hear about your experience!
