Sticking to the Plan

I admit it. I’m a stationery enthusiast. I love pencils and pens. I love paper and Post-its. Binder clips, folders, desktop organizers… love ’em all. Visiting an office supply store? It’s like a mini-vacation. And while I also love all things digital and couldn’t get through the day without being connected to my Google calendars, having a paper planner helps me keep an eye on the big picture.

I was pretty excited to receive my new life planner from Erin Condren this past week. (Check out that awesome packaging!) This is my second EC planner as I got my first one last year. I found myself using the planner over the past year more as a journal to keep a running record of impromptu events and meetings. While this came in very handy, for the coming year I want to expand how I use it.

For the 2016-17 school year, one of my goals will be to use my planner in a more effective way to help me stay on top of the many details that are so important to being successful as an Elementary Associate Principal. Since I tend to live in the future – after all, Futuristic is one of my strengths according to StrengthsFinder – an area in which I want to grow is to be more deliberate about planning and more reflective in how I’m working toward my goals.

That being said, the actual process of planning isn’t necessarily my favorite thing to do so I’ve found a way to bring some creativity to the process. I’ve learned that there’s a robust cottage industry of amazing designers who create stickers for planners, including specifically for Erin Condren planners. I jumped onto Etsy and searched for “Erin Condren planner stickers” and… wow. I was completely overwhelmed by the variety and number of options that popped up. To help me better understand how the stickers could be used in an actual planner, I started browsing Instagram where I narrowed down my choices to a few designers whose designs really stood out to me: @sweetkawaiidesign, @plannerpenny, @thepoppyprintshop and @plannertopia. Best of all, I found discount codes in their Instagram profiles that made the stickers more affordable. Win! The actual stickers I received are cute and colorful – exactly what I wanted.

So here I am, ready to lay out the year ahead. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference that sticking to the plan will have as I work toward my goals!