New year, new planner!

After getting some solid recommendations from translator colleagues, I've treated myself to a new desk planner. Whoop! 🎉

I'd been using the same desk planner for a couple of years, plodding along fairly contentedly without questioning how it influenced my use of time.

But when 2024 arrived and I reached the final couple of pages, I started asking myself if there might be a better way to organise my goals and my tasks. 🎯

There's nothing like a break to help you see the wood for the trees.

Coming back from a break with a fresh approach, I realised that my planner's 'daily priorities' list was too long. Way too long.

This made me feel obligated to fill that list. But I already know that for us non superhumans it's hard to have more than three priorities per day (h/t Oliver Burkeman). I tended to have a long list of unfocused, never-fully-completed tasks.

Plus it didn't really guide me to set monthly micro goals and then reflect on them at the end of each month, so there was not much consistency or coherence going on.

So now I'm the proud owner of a Clever Fox planner, which is helping me reframe my goals and priorities in more achievable ways.

I'll admit I'm a sucker for buying shiny new things as a way of avoiding JUST DOING THE THING. And I normally tend not to like to set new year resolutions in January (I prefer September).

But something about this January feels like a pretty good time for a planning/goal-setting reset.

It's amazing how one small change can influence every single day.