New years mean new ideas, goals and, yes, planning. I'm not a resolution making kinda gal, but I certainly am down with setting goals and tracking where I'm going with them.
In a previous post I wrote just before we rolled into 2022, I talked a little about focusing in this new year. In this post, it's straight about going old school. Why?
Well, because there's a lot to be learned from old school things. Let's face it. Whether it's something we don't like or something we love and bring back, there's always something that can be taken from the old school of thought.
Before Siri, Alexa, and Hey Google, you had the good old fashioned pen to paper planner.
But why waste your time when you have so many automated reminders?
Look. I'll be honest. I'm totally down with Alexa (with the exception of her randomly talking when nobody's said her name - not down with that). But there's something about that old school planner that just can't be replaced.
So on to the good stuff.
Here are 10 Legit Reasons to Reconsider Not keeping an Old School Planner by Your Side.
1. Visual
Visually, an old school planner is just best for eyeing things. It's not just for scheduling. It's a place where you can jot down goals and manually record notes that you want to reflect on later. Not everyone remembers things from listening to an auditory reminder. In fact, some people will forget about five minutes after they've been reminded.
Ever had your Siri reminder set, but you were doing something else and forgot it reminded you?
2. Goal Tracking
Planners such as my most favorite, from Franklin Planner, are an amazing tool for goal setting. I use their goal planning forms to set goals and then break down each action into smaller segments that I can accomplish weekly or monthly to reach those goals.
3. Reliability
I don't know about you but I've simply found AI reminders to be a bit unreliable at times. I can't count how many times I've called Siri and the little swirly thing at the bottom (you know the thing that says she's listening) is like, "Not today!"
Let's not even mention the times when either the reminder is silent, is heard wrong, or just doesn't remind you.
4. Concrete
There's something about writing things down that solidifies the "thing" we've written down. It feels more like a commitment. It's also a great way to show someone else a record of things you've manually recorded, especially when you're not allowed to use your phone.
5. Performance Robust
According to statistics, auditory recognition memory performance can't stand up to visual memory performance. Simply put, we remember more of what we see than what we hear. Think about that game where one person says something and then by the time it's repeated to the fifth person, whatever was said has been totally distorted. We just don't remember as much of what we hear.
6. Deletion Resistant
Okay so this one is pretty straightforward and something that you may already have considered. There have been too many times that I've gone to look for a recording that has either been accidentally deleted (maybe when I did a bulk deletion on some things on my phone) or the sound quality wasn't what I needed it to be. Writing is an ancient way of recording information. Think about cuneiform, one of the earliest writing techniques. It left us a historical record of the Sumerians. Writing things down still works!
7. Skim Friendly
Ever tried to skim through audio to find the segment you're looking for? Unless you've memorized exactly where something is, you'll end up going back and forth trying to pin point information. Writing in a planner puts it right at your fingertips. Franklin Planner offers a monthly indexing system that provides a place to jot down the date and important info you may need to find later.
It's a heck of a lot faster than going through a recording.
8. Reflection
There will be times during the year when you'll want to reflect on the things you've planned, goals you've set, meetings you've attended, as well as information you need to recall. Planners are great for reflecting on where you've started so that you can track how far you've progressed.
9. Back Up
If you're using your phone as your number one reminder, planners are a great way to back up that information. Why? Think about how many times your alarm went off at the wrong time, a.m. instead of p.m. This also goes back to reliability.
10. Satisfaction
Checking things off gives satisfaction that you just can't get with an AI. Sometimes when things aren't physically checked off, it may feel as though there's still something incomplete. This walks hand in hand with having that visual mentioned in number one.
Summing it Up
Bringing in a productive new year means making new plans, setting goals, and tracking progress. Manual tracking with a physical planner may seem like an old school way to do things, but there are 10 reasons you may not want to chalk up your planner as just a fossil. It's a visual. It's great for tracking goals and reliability. It gives you a concrete and performance robust tool. It's deletion resistant and skim friendly. It's an amazing hands on tool for reflecting, proves as a great backup, and gives immense satisfaction when getting things done.
And that, my friends is why this gal keeps a planner on hand. My number one choice is Franklin Planner because they house all of my planner needs. They also have the best organizational tools.
What about you? Do you currently use a planner system to keep things together?
