“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hey, friends! Grab yourself a cup of coffee and whip out your journal and planner, because it’s time to plan the month of May. I’m continuing my two-step planning process (journal + planner) from last month so I can balance creativity and productivity. Now without further ado, let’s get planning…
Step One: Journal
Let’s start with the fun part: the monthly journal spread. My monthly spreads vary from month to month, but I usually always copy out an inspiring quote and a tiny monthly spread. To finish, I fill the page with sketches of ivy and wildflowers. If you’re not sure where to start, there are so many inspiring ideas on Pinterest.
Flipping to the next page, I make space for four different categories: a playlist, current favorites, my reading list, and memories/highlights of the month. I use my Tombow colored pens for the background, and layer over it with regular gel pen.
Last but not least, I like to use one of my early entries to brainstorm a theme for the month ahead. Since I’m fresh out of college, I’m taking the month of May as a well-deserved rest. I’m focusing on wrapping up some old projects and making space for fresh creative endeavors.
Step Two: Planner
While my journal is usually for creative and intuitive planning, I use my daily planner for more set-in-stone tasks. The first page is a “month at a glance” spread, where I can map out my goals, my focus for the month, and some specific tasks I want to tackle. It’s an easy reference when I’m planning each week.
The second page is my monthly spread (which, you’ll notice, is decidedly blank) where I fill in all the exciting things that are up and coming. As you can see, there’s not a lot going on at the moment because…#socialdistancing. Later, I’ll go back and fill this in with things like blog posts, morning runs, and project deadlines.
The third section is the weekly spreads, which I like to tackle one week at a time because everything is unpredictable. If there are any hard and fast meetings or times (class sessions, phone calls with friends, etc) I write those down first. For any other tasks, I use sticky notes to jot down my suggested tasks for each day. Once I finish a task, I copy it over on the planner and check it off.
There you have it! Thanks for planning with me on this fine spring afternoon. I hope you’re staying sane in quarantine, wherever you are in the world.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m dedicating this month to taking a rest from all the hustle. I’m excited to focus my creative energies on creating some freshly inspired projects—most specifically, sprucing up this blog for further aesthetic awesomeness. Stay tuned!
<3 Olivia Grace
