0:02 If I had a dollar for every time an
0:04 ADHDer told me that they had a certain
0:06 planner system that worked brilliantly
0:08 for them for about two weeks and then
0:10 all of a sudden mysteriously it just
0:13 stopped working just like that. I would
0:15 be a bazillionaire. My name is Cara
0:17 McIll. I'm an ADHD coach and creator and
0:19 I'm here for the busy ambitious brains
0:22 who use planners for about 2 weeks and
0:24 then somehow magically it just it stops
0:27 working. And in today's video, I'm not
0:29 only going to explain to you why that
0:32 is. I'm also going to share my strategy
0:34 for actually sticking with a planner
0:38 system for almost four years now. Y'all,
0:39 I have been with the same planner system
0:42 for 4 years, and it has worked for me
0:44 well, most of the time. But if you
0:46 watched the video I posted about two
0:49 weeks ago about needing to freshen
0:51 things up in my life, then you will know
0:54 that my planner is actually the best
0:56 place for me to start when I want to
0:59 make bigger life changes because I have
1:01 and this is a big part of it built a
1:04 skill around using my planner to
1:07 actually craft, design and execute the
1:10 life that I want. But sometimes things
1:12 get stale and that is one very big
1:14 reason why our planners stop working for
1:16 us. But before I get ahead of myself,
1:19 let's start with the number one reason
1:21 why planners only work for us for about
1:23 2 weeks and then stop. Okay, here's the
1:25 situation. People with ADHD have
1:28 interest driven brains. That means that
1:31 we can do things all day long as long as
1:34 it's interesting for us. But here's two
1:36 really important limitations around that
1:38 system. Number one, things that are
1:40 interesting to our brain are not always
1:42 the things that we should be doing.
1:45 Interesting might be binging Netflix or
1:47 playing video games or doing anything
1:50 other than the task we're supposed to be
1:52 doing at any given moment. And number
1:54 two, interest is not sustainable for the
1:57 ADHD brain. Meaning, we get sick of
1:59 things very easily. So, we need an awful
2:02 lot of novelty. And that is the reason
2:04 why most planners work for us for about
2:07 2 weeks and then stop working because
2:09 the planner itself is neither working
2:12 nor working. It was just that we were
2:14 running off the empty fumes of novelty.
2:16 And once that wore off, so did any
2:18 interest we had in using that planner
2:20 system. So once again, we're back at
2:23 square one, wondering why we can't seem
2:26 to stick with anything when it comes to
2:28 planning and executing on our goals
2:30 until today. that is because I'm now
2:31 going to share with you what actually
2:34 works in terms of adopting a planning
2:37 system and using it not just for a week
2:39 or a month but year after year after
2:41 year as I have finally figured out how
2:43 to do for myself. And you want to know
2:45 what the secret is to having a planning
2:47 system that will last for years and
2:49 years. It might shock you. Lean in
2:51 close. You ready for this? Has nothing
2:53 to do with the actual planner that you
2:56 choose. It has to do with the skill that
2:59 you build. I know. I know you might be
3:03 thinking w you wanted me to tell you
3:07 about some super fancy AIdriven planning
3:09 system that does all the work for you.
3:11 And I apologize for bursting that
3:13 bubble, but it really doesn't have much
3:16 to do with the tool itself. It does have
3:18 everything to do with the skill you
3:21 build around it. And unfortunately,
3:24 we're not really taught how to develop
3:26 this skill for ourselves in school. And
3:28 if nobody's teaching you this skill,
3:30 then there's no reason why you should
3:32 know it because it's not really a
3:34 natural thing for anyone, much less a
3:37 very busy ADHDer. So, let me break this
3:39 down for you because I think it's going
3:41 to make you feel a lot better about all
3:43 of the past planning escapades that
3:46 you've had that haven't lasted. So, when
3:50 it comes to productivity and planning in
3:52 general, which is very important, by the
3:54 way, in my opinion, it's the highest
3:57 form of self-care to take the time to
3:59 plan your week in advance. Actually
4:00 check the plan throughout the week. Do
4:01 the things you say you're going to do.
4:03 And at the end of the week, give
4:04 yourself a little pat on the back for
4:06 getting it all done because that is
4:07 actually how you build a life of your
4:10 own making. But let's keep the life
4:12 coachy stuff to the side for a sec and
4:14 talk about the practicalities of
4:16 building a productivity system that will
4:18 actually work for you. And it doesn't
4:20 start with the tool itself. It actually
4:23 starts with being very clear on what is
4:25 most important to you in this season of
4:28 life. And I think that this is why my
4:31 system has supported me so well. And I'm
4:32 not even talking about just being
4:34 consistent with the system. I'm talking
4:36 about the results I've gotten from this
4:39 system. The system I use has helped me
4:40 build the business that I have be
4:42 consistent with YouTube. I think I'm up
4:45 to like 130,000 subscribers at this
4:47 point. It has helped me build an amazing
4:50 podcast and a suite of products for my
4:54 ADHD audience and most recently a
4:56 community of ADHD business owners. So,
4:59 this has really been the system that has
5:01 changed my life, I would say, in the
5:02 last four years. That's not an
5:05 overstatement by any means. And up until
5:08 a couple of weeks ago, this system has
5:10 been working really well for me.
5:13 However, like all things with the ADHD
5:16 brain, over time, the novelty wears off.
5:19 And I'm finding myself in that situation
5:23 right now such that my system has become
5:25 almost like a white noise. It becomes
5:27 boring. And when that happens, that's
5:30 when I start being inconsistent. I stop
5:32 planning on Sundays. I stop reviewing on
5:35 Fridays. and I stopped checking my plan
5:37 throughout the week. So, that's what
5:39 brings me to today or maybe a couple of
5:41 weeks ago when I shared that I need to
5:43 start changing things up in my life and
5:45 resparkizing things cuz they're getting
5:48 a little dry and boring. So, rather than
5:50 me saying to you, "Tada, here's my new
5:53 template and system," I thought what I
5:55 would do is walk you through my thinking
5:58 process. So, this is less of a technical
6:01 tutorial and more of a here's what's
6:04 going on in my brain when I feel like my
6:06 planning system is starting to get a
6:09 little tired and I'm starting to lose
6:11 that consistency and momentum that I've
6:14 had for a long time. So, let me show you
6:17 what I did when I was on vacation last
6:19 week and really just thinking about this
6:21 from the standpoint of what in my life
6:24 needs to change right now and how can I
6:27 get my planning system to reflect those
6:29 new priorities. So, I started with a
6:32 simple list of what are the things that
6:33 are important to me right now. The one
6:35 thing that I'm thinking is most
6:38 important to me in this season of work
6:42 is having a simplified strategy and then
6:44 a process for implementation and
6:47 tracking. So I need to build that in so
6:49 that it's more intentional because let's
6:51 be honest, I can say that I have a
6:53 strategy and a plan, but if it's not
6:55 actually written out in front of my face
6:57 in terms of what it is I'm going to do,
6:58 I'm going to forget it's there and just
7:00 move on with the things that I generally
7:02 do. So if you want to create change in
7:05 your life, you actually need to plan out
7:08 what that change is going to be and put
7:10 it into your implementation system so it
7:12 actually gets done. Now I want to
7:14 address the second most important thing
7:16 when it comes to building out your
7:18 productivity system. And this is really
7:21 the skill part. Imagine a master
7:24 carpenter who had all the skill in the
7:27 world but really crappy tools. that
7:30 carpenter is still going to produce way
7:33 better results than a crappy carpenter
7:36 who has top-of-the-line tools. Right? In
7:39 that respect, it's not about the tools
7:43 as much as it is about the skill and
7:47 that muscle memory of using the tools
7:49 wisely and effectively. Right? So now we
7:51 want to think about our skill as it
7:54 relates to any tool that we might pick.
7:56 And I think that the major skill that
7:59 all of us need to build is first of all
8:01 the skill of tracking what's most
8:03 important which we just reviewed and
8:05 then either finding a productivity
8:08 system like out of the box that will
8:10 help you track those things or building
8:12 something of your own which is my
8:14 preferred method. I have the vision to
8:15 action uh system that you can use for
8:18 your personal life and the organized
8:20 business which I use for my business and
8:22 continue to use and everything in that
8:25 template is still relevant. It's just
8:28 how that data appears needs to change
8:30 because my priorities have shifted and
8:32 my strategy and plan is hopefully
8:34 shifting and the things I want to track
8:36 have shifted. So I think if we were to
8:38 boil down the essence of this entire
8:40 video in one sentence, it's that
8:42 whatever is most important to you, think
8:45 of that as a data display and then ask
8:47 yourself, how do I need to organize this
8:50 data so that my brain sees it every day?
8:52 It remembers it's there and it's
8:54 important that I need to track it and at
8:56 the end of the week I have a system for
8:59 metabolizing everything that's happened
9:00 and making thoughtful decisions about
9:03 what I'm going to do next week. So that
9:06 is part of the skill of understanding
9:07 what's most important and making sure
9:09 that you have the structure in place to
9:11 keep it going. But the other part of the
9:13 skill which is perhaps even more
9:15 important is actually engaging in the
9:18 structure you've created. So whatever
9:20 system that you've decided is going to
9:22 work for your brain. Now you need to
9:25 build the skill of actually planning
9:28 your week in advance with some intention
9:30 and then actually going back to that
9:33 plan and executing from it. And that in
9:36 and of itself is such a valuable skill.
9:38 It's the skill of building healthy
9:40 habits that move you in the direction
9:42 that you want to go. And then perhaps
9:45 the last skill is the skill of
9:48 reflection where you've executed a full
9:49 week of your plan and you're looking
9:51 back at it saying, "Okay, this is what
9:53 went well. This is what didn't go well.
9:56 These are my wins. Yay me. Now I need to
9:58 digest all of the things that happened
10:01 this week. Think about my greater
10:03 objective, where it is I want to go and
10:04 what's most important to me." And then
10:07 use all of that information to plot out
10:09 the following week. And the more you
10:11 plan and the more you execute your plan,
10:13 whether it goes to plan or not, the more
10:16 you start to trust yourself to actually
10:17 get things done. And that has a huge
10:20 impact on your self-esteem, on your
10:22 ability to start things and follow
10:25 through. And it really is a big
10:27 life-changing mechanism. But for me,
10:29 it's like, okay, I just need to move the
10:31 pieces around the playing board a little
10:34 bit so that my brain thinks it's new and
10:36 can start reorganizing information in a
10:38 way that works for me. So anyways, that
10:40 is what I'm going to do right now. And
10:41 instead of walking you through the whole
10:43 thing, I'm just going to tour you
10:45 through what my template currently looks
10:47 like. Then I'm going to go through the
10:49 process of messing around with it and
10:50 creating something new. And then I'll
10:52 show you what the end result looks like.
10:53 If you guys have been around here for a
10:54 minute, you've probably already seen
10:57 this, but at the top of every week, I
10:59 create a new weekly layout. And that
11:01 pulls in all of the data that's
11:03 important to me in the season of life
11:04 that I'm in. And this is pretty much the
11:06 one that I've been using for the past 4
11:09 years. Until now, I've had like all this
11:11 data about my personal strengths and
11:13 values and stuff like that. The vision I
11:15 have for my business and when I know I'm
11:17 being successful, I'm not using these
11:18 things. So, I know that those things
11:21 have to go because they're taking up the
11:23 most important real estate on my page.
11:26 Then I've got current projects. And I
11:27 think I need to keep this the way it is
11:29 for now, but I think I need to tweak my
11:33 project template because right now it's
11:35 not very helpful. It's just sort of like
11:39 a mish mash of materials and it's not
11:41 it's not something that I can work with.
11:44 I've got my current goals here, but I'm
11:47 not actually working on goals. I'm
11:50 working on projects that support goals.
11:52 So, I don't know that I even need to
11:55 keep my current goals in front of me. I
11:57 love this. I've started adding in like
11:59 three priorities for the week. And I
12:02 found it super helpful. And then I've
12:05 also put in this little um quote here
12:07 that I just put from time to time a new
12:08 quote in. And I love this one. Stop
12:10 trying to fix a life you really don't
12:13 want. That one hits hard, eh? And then
12:15 I've got my to-do list in the form of a
12:18 calendar. Every day I do a little daily
12:19 story. So, it's just like a little
12:22 journal um prompt of like, you know,
12:23 what I'm doing or what I'm thinking
12:25 about or how I'm feeling. And then these
12:27 are the habits that I track. And then
12:29 down here is my content calendar. And
12:30 then down here at the end of the week,
12:32 um I track my wins. I do a little
12:34 journaling and I do a little reflection.
12:36 I think my reflection questions need to
12:38 change. And this is just generally where
12:40 I write notes throughout the week. I
12:42 feel like some of these things need to
12:44 stay. Like my to-do list is working for
12:46 me. I want to keep my daily stories. And
12:48 I still want to track habits, but I need
12:50 to change which habits they are. I
12:51 definitely need to change my content
12:52 plan, but I think that that's going to
12:55 be a work in progress and where I try
12:57 different things and see if they work.
12:58 So, it's still the same information in
13:00 the same database. I'm just remixing it
13:04 and retooling it. So, it feels new and
13:05 exciting and my brain will look forward
13:08 to actually using it again. So, on that
13:10 note, I'm going to get into some playing
13:12 around here and then I will show you
13:14 where I end up. All right, here's the
13:17 final layout or as it exists right now.
13:18 Probably needs a bit more tweaking over
13:20 time, but I don't want to change too
13:21 much all at once. I'll just show you
13:23 briefly what I've done. There was a lot
13:25 more properties here of things I wasn't
13:27 actually tracking, so I just got rid of
13:30 them, and it's a lot cleaner. Instead of
13:32 having like my vision and strengths and
13:34 weaknesses, all those things up top
13:36 because I wasn't looking at them. What
13:39 I've now put up top are things that I
13:41 need to access on the regular. So, my
13:44 projects and goals or everything to do
13:46 with my ADHD business hub, which is a
13:48 community I have for business owners and
13:51 coaches who have ADHD. My business
13:53 dashboard, like everything that I work
13:56 on every single day is in this dashboard
13:59 is also included in the organized
14:00 business if you're interested in that
14:03 template and also the organized coach
14:05 hub. And then my life dashboard, which
14:08 is just everything that I use for my
14:11 regular life, like my dog's medications
14:14 or um things that I'm doing on
14:16 ancestry.com. By the way, I've just
14:18 started using that. It's so good. So,
14:20 having these things at the ready makes
14:23 it easier for me to get to them right
14:24 away as opposed to having to go into
14:26 search or click around in my notion
14:28 setup. I kept my weekly priorities
14:31 because I really love having this front
14:33 and center. I also kept this little
14:35 quote area. I will change up the quote
14:37 every once in a while. My to-do list
14:39 works great the way it is. But the other
14:41 thing I mentioned that I really wanted
14:44 to do differently was put strategy front
14:46 and center. So, while I still have my
14:48 stories and my wellness habits that I'm
14:50 tracking, what I've included here are my
14:52 business metrics. So, the things that
14:55 I'm committing to doing on the regular
14:57 that move the dial in my business. So,
14:59 I'm going to track how much I'm spending
15:02 every day on meta ads if I'm doing that,
15:05 what I'm sharing on Instagram and what
15:07 my daily revenue is. And then I also
15:10 have weekly metrics, which is my
15:12 Instagram views, my YouTube views, any
15:14 news email subscribers that I get, any
15:17 blog post that I do, and my video that I
15:19 publish to YouTube, and also my podcast
15:23 as well. So, these are things that I can
15:25 measure that I am in control of. I'm
15:28 really not control of views, but I am in
15:30 control of the content that I put out,
15:32 which then influences the views that I
15:34 get. So, I think that this is going to
15:36 be super handy. And these just didn't
15:38 need to take up as much real estate. And
15:41 then for now, my content is in the same
15:43 format. And then I will eventually
15:45 change my reflection questions, but I'm
15:48 going to keep this as is for now. So,
15:50 like I said, it didn't require a huge
15:53 overhaul, but these small tweaks are
15:55 going to keep what's most important
15:56 front and center for me so that
15:59 hopefully it helps me with behavior
16:01 change and doing the things that I want
16:03 to do now in order to get the outcomes I
16:06 want to get down the road. So, there you
16:08 have it, guys. If you want the most
16:09 practical and tactical way to change
16:11 your life for the better, start building
16:14 the intentional skill of planning. And
16:16 that of course, as I mentioned, starts
16:17 with understanding what's most important
16:19 to you and what you need to track and
16:21 plan in order to achieve what you want
16:24 to do. And then organizing your planning
16:26 system in such a way that your brain
16:28 sees the most important things front and
16:32 center every day and then building that
16:34 habit of checking your plan and
16:36 executing it every day and reviewing
16:38 your weeks until you get to the point of
16:41 where you want to go. So, I hope you
16:42 found this helpful. And of course, if
16:44 you'd like to explore vision action or
16:46 the organized business, then they are
16:48 both listed down below. Thanks for
