The Seven Planners I'm Using in 2022 to Work With My ADHD
The other day, I posted an Instagram Reel sharing that I was using five planners and two bullet journals to go through the year.
And although I expected to get a few questions, the messages in my DMs and the text messages from my friends were way more than I anticipated to receive.
“Your head is on fire!”
“HOW IN THE WORLD do you use all of these?!”
”SEVEN?! That’s crazy Kristin.”
But here’s the thing. I honestly was expecting to get a bit of a reaction like this and it’s why I was nervous about sharing it in the first place, because when you share a reel or anything to social media for that manner, you’re seeing the teeniest sliver of reality of what it really is like.
So today, I wanted to take a moment to recognize why I’m using so many different planners in 2022 (because you’re not wrong, seven planners is more than most people probably use) but also, share why I need that many in my life to keep things organized.
So here. we. go!
I want to preface this by stating an absolute fact, to set the stage for this today.
I have severe ADHD, and it is something that *describes* me, but it doesn't *define* me.
But this is also why, for 2022, I am using 7 different systems in my life this year.
Before we begin, please know that I am not a doctor or a medical professional, but rather, this is my experience with ADHD and details surrounding it that I have found true in my own life.
One of the details of ADHD is object permanence. Think of it like “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to general details.
This is one of the reasons a lot of people with ADHD can forget about birthdays if they’re written down on a calendar that they don’t have a habit to check consistently or can be delayed in responding to text messages that they received on their phone - it doesn’t matter that they heard or read it once, it’s that their brain doesn’t trigger to remind them about it again (until they go to text you weeks later and realize they never responded). And trust me when I say, that is an awful feeling.
In addition to that, there is something that we have called selective attention - which means that we have to be selective about what we focus on in a specific moment because there are so many things in our brains at one time.
On that same note, ADHD also has something that I like to think of in a way as my superpower, called Hyperfocus - which means that we can literally zone in on a project and be so tuned out to everything else around us that we “forget” to drink water, we don’t necessarily realize when we are hungry, and that we can work on one task for hours on end without realizing how much time has gone by because we have such an intense focus that nothing can break us from it. We are literally in a zone. Hyperfocus is probably the one thing that I actually like about having ADHD, because the productivity level here is incredible (WHEN I have time to get into that mode).
These three things working together are the reason why I have so many planners that I use - because learning how to manage my ADHD and work with it has made all of the difference in the world.
So now that you know the background, let’s get into what you’ve all been waiting for …. the planners I’m using for this year, and what their purposes are!
1 // Grace and Serendipity Monthly Plans and Pep Talks Planner
This planner includes 2022 + 2023 Calendars in the front of the planner, monthly calendars, and is divided up into six months in total. But more than that, it includes a monthly “overview” to focus in on what matters most from a clouds eye view, along with two pep talks - one for business, one for life details, so that I can look back at the Annual Goals I decided on at the beginning of the year and focus in on what matters most for this month in particular.
It walks me through what to focus in on from a create, grow, learn, and maintain perspective, and then takes it one step further with a place for me to map things out week by week so that I can literally see my month from the clouds, before the month even begins.
Each month also includes a month in review along with space to include your favorite memories + moments from the month, along with four notes pages per month. Space is evident here - and it was designed that way on purpose.
2 // Grace and Serendipity Weekly Plans + Priorities Planner
This six month planner is undated, and focuses in on two details in particular: what your priorities are for the week, and what to focus in on in with those same four categories: what to create, grow, learn, and maintain.
But also, it includes spaces for you to write your Morning + Evening Routines, write down what you’ll work on to have a good week, what you’ll do for self care for the week, and what a bonus would be for the week.
But that’s all on the left side of the page.
On the right side, all days are listed out in a vertical format, and weekends have the same amount of space that Monday - Friday do. This is where I literally write down what my priorities are for each week.
One week I’ve used it as a meal planner, another week as a content planner. Sometimes, I simply have written down appointments or tracked how I felt each day - the beauty of this one is that it is literally priorities driven without dates included, so you can choose to use as many weeks at once as you need to, separated out into categories if you’d like.
The back half of the planner also includes 26 pages of notes pages in a dot grid style, so you can essentially use one page per week to write down any notes you need / have without having them in a separate notebook.
3 // Grace and Serendipity Reflections Journal
This is a Weekly Reflections Journal that this year, is driving the #ResetSaturdays conversations over on Instagram. Included inside of this journal are a series of questions for you to answer, with everything from your health and happiness to your productivity and consistency with things. It also includes space to include what is working well and what isn’t, what to start or stop, and what to begin or slow down.
The left side of this journal is blank (with dot grid or lined paper), so that you can jot down memories, add photos, handletter verses or phrases or things that happened that week.
It’s literally a notebook sized “scrapbook” that you can use to track details all year long, for what matters most to you.
So now that we have those three introduced, let’s get into the two planners I use every single day. One for my life, and one for my business.
4 // MakseLife Flagship Planner
This is my third year using this planner and I absolutely love it. It is 12 months, dated from January to December, but not only that, it includes life compass assessments and space to break things down before your week begins.
The weekly breakdown includes 8 categories, focusing in on your Home, Health, Finances, Relationships, Work, Personal, Spiritual, and Family. This means that I can make sure that I’m not simply writing things down, but that I’m doing the best that I can to create a life that I love, and not just focus in on one area while forgetting all of the others.
My MakseLife Planner is the one that I use for my PERSONAL life from day to day.
It stays open on the counter in the kitchen, and I only write personal details, tasks, meals, and appointments in it.
This particularly helps with object permanence, because it forces me to check upcoming birthdays, make sure I call/text who I need to, and pay bills on time each day - in a planner that stays OPEN all the time.
5 // Shanna Skidmore’s Blueprint Planner
This is my first year using this planner, but so far I absolutely love the structure + minimalism that is inside of the pages. This is also a 12 month planner running from January to December, but in addition to running each day vertically, it includes spaces for the Top Three, Small Wins, Content Planning, and a plethora of Financial Details - all which are absolutely necessary to keep track of when you’re running a business.
This planner stays open on my desk in my office, and I only write business details, appointments, tasks and day to day priorities in it. It includes nothing from my personal life unless I need to write in a doctors appointment or note that my kids are out of school for the day. This way, I can make sure that my business life doesn’t get intermingled with my personal life when I am “off the clock” or “out of the office”.
6 + 7 // Archer and Olive Dot Grid Notebooks
Lastly, I use two different sized dot grid notebooks as a “catchall” of sorts.
The first one is B5 (7”x10” in size) and shown as I set it up to the right, that I use for business details only.
This may include ideas that I want to work through, outlines for blog posts, details on people, projects, and content, etcetera. It’s the one place that I write down all the business things, and I usually fill up 1-2 per year.
The second one is A5 (5.5x8.5” in size) that I use for my personal life. This year, I am learning how to handletter, want to keep track of books I’m reading, jot down memories, make notes and ideas on things I’d like to bring to life for the year, and paint my heart out - this is the journal where all of that lives, and I usually fill up 1-2 of these per year too, depending on how much time I have each day.
At this point you may be thinking, how in the world do ALL of these go together?!
This is where selective attention comes into play, because when I am in home mode I can focus on being present in my home life, and when I am in work mode I can focus on work.
Which means I don’t have notes in my planner reminding me that it’s laundry day at the same time that I need to be doing final prep before leading a workshop call for the Society for Creative Founders.
Every Saturday morning, I sit down with my Reflections Journal and reflect upon the last week. I think things through, print out a few favorite pictures from my phone onto my Sprocket, add them in, and reflect upon the week. That’s generally it for Saturdays. Saturdays are our days for relaxing, so I do that first thing in the morning on Saturdays so that I can spend the rest of the day just enjoying being with my family.
Every Sunday, I bring all of the planners together and spread them all out on my kitchen table. I get all of my pens, highlighters, post-its, a ruler, and a pencil, and literally set myself up for a planner session, that usually takes me 1-2 hours depending on how distracted I am (because I’m in the kitchen, and it’s usually when my family is around, so it is definitely something that takes me a bit to do each week).
I start first with the Monthly Pep Talks Planner, and look at what I wanted to do for the month, along with what was originally planned for the week. Then, I jot personal life priorities down in my MakseLife Planner and business priorities down in my Blueprint Planner.
Then, I move on to my Weekly Priorities Planner, looking at the Monthly Pep Talks Planner and break down what I need to create, grow, learn, and maintain that week. I use the left page for a brainstorming page, and then write those down into my MakseLife or Blueprint Planner, depending on if they’re work or personal.
You may think of this as repetitive to write things down more than once, but I need, for my brain, to take things slow and focus in on what days I’ll do which tasks, depending on the time I have to do them each day. So, the Weekly Priorities Planner includes my “rough draft” of the week, and then my MakseLife + Blueprint Planners are where the “final draft” is written for each week.
Then, I go put everything back where it goes.
My MakseLife Planner goes onto the counter in the kitchen, my Blueprint Planner goes onto the desk in my office, and my Monthly Pep Talks Planner is closed and put on a shelf until the next Sunday when I need it again, and my Weekly Priorities Planners is tucked under my BluePrint Planner in my office so that I can make notes in it as needed each week.
Throughout the week (Monday - Saturday) I complete details based on what I planned out for the week on Sunday and move things as needed. But once my schedule is “designed” for the week, I try not to sway from it too much.
When I’m working, I only look at my Blueprint Planner (which stays in my office at all times other than Sunday when I map out the week).
When I’m done working for the day, I only look at my MakseLife Planner (which stays everywhere else in my home but never goes in my office).
So now, I can focus on life details when I am in life mode,
and I can focus on business details when I am in business mode.
And I truly believe that everything runs more smoothly
(most days) because of this kind of a system.
I am in charge of planning my life each day rather than
letting my life be in charge of each day’s plans.
Once Sunday arrives again, I repeat the entire process, noting what worked best and what didn’t, what I need to change for the next week, and how my progress is on my goals each day, week, and month.
Do I need to have all of these separate planners? No, probably not. But over the last few months, since debuting the three G+S Planners that I designed to help with my needs of my brain week to week, have I found that it makes a difference in my life?
Absolutely.
And if that’s the case, I’ll keep on using all of these.
Because it may seem like a lot, but in the overall picture, it’s simply a way to work with my qualities that come with my ADHD territory. It may have taken me trying over 50 different planners the last five years to figure out that I don’t need to have an “all in one” system, but hey.
Now that I’m in a good planning place for how to map things out well for how my brain works, I’m no longer filling in boxes and writing down tasks - I’m creating a life that I love, one day at a time, in a way that works well for me, my family, and my businesses.
And that, my friend, is what matters most.
LET’S CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION . . .
What is something that you found interesting or learned from reading this above,
that you may want to implement in your own life or business with the way you plan things out?
Comment below and let me know … I’d love to continue this conversation with you today!