The quest for the perfect planner: Part I.

When you need to see the Forest AND the Trees!

This is my ADHD mind on Planning:

At the top of this pile is an actual planner I used in 2020-2021. Beneath the first folder is a turquoise journal… a Bullet Journal. Then a couple of other notebooks that I have used or might use in the future for journaling.

I’ve been working on this a while. Maybe my whole life. I’ve come to the conclusion — at least for me — that there no perfect planner. No Platonic ideal of a Planner.

There are pretty planners. Beautiful planners. Planners that make you think you’re being productive and planners that make you feel you are mindful.

There are apps that are planners and I’m not happy with most of the ones I’ve tried.

Let’s put it this way: I don’t want to waste my time learning a new system online.

It’s About Time:

We tend to think that if we had all the time in the world, our ADHD brains would be able to use that time as if we’d planned it.

Maybe some of you can do it.

I know when I have “all the time in the world,” I tend to put things off until getting them done is critical, not merely desirable.

Time—flowing—for anybody engaged in planning, it should be tight!

So I realized, I want to spend the Time I have productively…

…not passively aggressively blaming each other for any tsuris (Yiddish for aggravation) in my life.

(okay I’m just imagining this. It’s probably some other voice in my head saying: You had two hours! You spent those two hours doing what? Looking at hiking shoes for bunion sufferers?)

Photo by Yaniv Knobel on Unsplash

I spent almost a whole month looking at planning tools in stores and online. Nothing really seemed adaptable to my needs.

Remember, I want to be able to see the big picture as well as have a way to plot the baby steps I need to take.

It turns out that one reason executive functions, like time management are so difficult for some of us is that…

…TIME is invisible.

Yeah. Maybe that’s why I like graphic representations of time. I like calendars. When I was young I used to draw my own. I kept it on my desk.

But I now understand why I am drawn to touchable and seeable planning tools.

But I have found something that I think will work for me… I’ll tell you in Part 2…

But I wanted to get back on track and get this issue of Z words to you!

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