0:13 Let's talk planners, specifically why
0:16 planners fail me. If you have ADHD, you
0:19 probably know the struggle. You want to
0:21 use a planner, but then you buy a
0:23 planner and you use it for like a week
0:26 or sometimes, if you're like me, not at
0:29 all, and then it just goes into the
0:31 void. the planner graveyard. Uh,
0:33 personally, I have tried every kind of
0:35 planner. I tried the the colorful ones
0:37 with all of the stickers and pretty
0:39 stuff because I thought, "Oh, give me
0:41 dopamine and make me happy." I've tried
0:42 the ones that you can just get at the
0:44 big box stores. I've tried the really
0:46 expensive ones that you can customize
0:48 and spend a lot of money on. And none of
0:51 it ever worked for me. So, after a lot
0:55 of wasted money and effort, I just kind
0:57 of gave up on it. I was like, I'm just
0:58 I'm just not going to be a planner
1:02 girly. and that's okay. But then I found
1:06 this discbounce system and it completely
1:08 changed the game for me. I'm going to
1:11 tell you why I like the discbound system
1:15 and how I make it work for me. So, first
1:18 thing is it's completely modular. I can
1:20 change anything I want. Like if
1:21 something doesn't work for me, I can
1:25 just be like like see you later. Bye.
1:27 Uh, if I want to add things throughout
1:28 the year because I see something cool or
1:30 new that I want to try, it's easy to do.
1:35 The one sizefits all like pre-made, just
1:37 absolutely not. Doesn't work for me at
1:39 all. Um, this allows me a lot of
1:41 flexibility. You know, I only keep three
1:44 months in my planner at a time. And this
1:47 lets me set things up exactly how I want
1:49 them to be set up. And that's really
1:52 important if you have ADHD because
1:54 everybody with ADHD is a little bit
1:56 different. and different things work for
1:59 us. Second, I can keep it simple. If you
2:01 don't like keeping it simple, that's
2:04 fine. Uh, but for people that have ADHD,
2:07 I always recommend a simple planner
2:10 setup because all if you do too many
2:12 stickers and flourishes and colors and
2:14 you've got 10,000 things, it can really
2:16 lead to overload and you can get more
2:18 distracted by the planner itself. So, it
2:20 really loses its functionality and its
2:23 purpose. So, for me, I keep everything
2:26 really simple. I keep a highlighter,
2:30 this awesome little dot marker, a pen, minimal
2:31 minimal
2:34 stickers, and that works really, really
2:37 well for me. The third thing that I do
2:39 to make this work for me is that my
2:42 planner is always open. People with ADHD
2:44 struggle with what's called object
2:47 permanence. So basically, that means
2:49 that if I don't see something, it
2:52 doesn't exist. Like if this is closed
2:55 and it's on my desk like
2:59 this, this no longer exists to me. This
3:01 might as well not be here because
3:04 nothing inside of it is real anymore. So
3:06 by leaving it open, it becomes my
3:09 external memory. So I'm not missing
3:12 tasks just because I don't see them. So
3:13 I'm just going to quickly take you
3:14 through my planner and show you how I
3:16 have it set up that works for me. But I
3:17 do want to point out that if you have
3:20 ADHD, it's really important to try
3:23 different setups. That is one reason the
3:25 disbound system works so well because
3:27 you can try different setups. You can do
3:28 different things until you find what
3:31 works for you. It took me a few tries to
3:35 get to the system that I have now. So,
3:37 first of all, I love this this cover.
3:40 This is cactus leather. Um ADHD people,
3:42 we have sensory stuff. So, I actually
3:45 like the way that it it feels. Um, I
3:46 don't like things that are overly
3:48 smooth. This is smooth enough, but has
3:51 like a nice texture to it. Um, you know,
3:53 I keep it really simple in here. There's
3:54 a lot of pockets right here. I know a
3:56 lot of people love to keep um, you know,
3:58 their page flags and and various things
4:00 in here. For me, that can become really
4:02 distracting. Normally, I actually don't
4:04 have anything in here, but this
4:07 journaling card is uh in the April
4:10 intention box, and I actually really
4:12 really love it because I like the way
4:14 that it feels in my hand, which sounds
4:16 silly, but again, if you if you know,
4:18 you know, uh the grommets in it, which I
4:21 think are so clever and so cute. Uh just
4:24 it's like a fidget toy in my planner.
4:26 So, that's really what this has become
4:28 for me. Uh and I actually sit there in
4:30 meetings and do this. This is another
4:32 way to engage your hands if you don't
4:35 happen to have a notepad available. Um,
4:37 so I do that a lot. So, I just really
4:38 like that journaling card and that's why
4:40 it's there. Normally, I don't really
4:42 keep anything there. As you can see, I
4:44 have a few dashboards. I do like the
4:47 dashboards. I think they're fun. I often
4:48 change them out. This is one of my
4:50 favorites. Chaos Makes the Muse. I think
4:53 that speaks for itself for somebody that
4:55 has ADHD. Uh, so I keep that in there
4:57 pretty much all the time and swap out
4:59 the other ones. Uh, this is something
5:01 that I actually added recently. I did
5:03 have a regular annual spread, but I
5:05 never used it. I didn't find it to be
5:07 very functional. The layout just didn't
5:08 really work well for me. And then this
5:11 came in the January intention box. And I
5:13 thought it was so fantastic because it's
5:15 so I don't know. I don't know what it is
5:17 I like about it, honestly, but I love
5:20 the pull out and um that it's really
5:22 easy to read. It's just great to get a a
5:25 big picture overview. Works well for me.
5:27 Uh, I don't plan that far out. So, you
5:28 can see that it doesn't have a lot on
5:31 it. Just kind of what's going on right
5:33 now if it's important, like I have my
5:35 kids birthdays and um a trip on there,
5:37 but I don't really use it for daily.
5:39 It's really just a great reference
5:41 calendar. Um, then of course, we have
5:43 these little doodads in here. You'll
5:45 notice that I do just do three months of
5:48 planning at a time. So, I've got March,
5:50 April, and May. Uh, I was going to get
5:52 the nicer tabs that have the months all
5:54 preprinted on them, but I happen to have
5:56 these at home already, and I'm
5:59 impatient, so I just wrote the months on
6:01 there. Um, it's not the most aesthetic,
6:03 so, you know, it is what it is, though.
6:05 So, what we'll what I'll do when I get
6:08 to the end of March and I'm looking at
6:10 April, because I do try once a month to
6:13 spend at least 10 minutes looking at the
6:14 whole month. So, what I'll do when I get
6:17 to April is I will go ahead and I'll add
6:19 June in. I have the whole year of
6:22 inserts. I just don't like having them
6:23 all in here because I find it to be
6:26 really overwhelming. So, I keep them on
6:28 another set of rings that I keep in my
6:30 office and then I just add a month as I
6:34 take a month away. So, that's how I do
6:36 it. And just to show you how I have it
6:37 set up, I will give a little bit of a
6:40 trigger warning. If you are very type A
6:43 or bothered by uh handwriting that is
6:46 not super aesthetic, this may be a bit
6:48 of a jump scare for you because this is
6:52 my real planner and you know I don't I
6:55 don't usually show my real planner so or
6:58 my planner at all. So it is what it is.
7:00 So at the beginning of the month uh I
7:03 love this layout right here. Um, at the
7:05 beginning of every month, I have the
7:07 goals section, which I do find helpful.
7:09 Sometimes those can get a little
7:10 overwhelming for me, but I do find this
7:13 particular layout helpful. And I just
7:16 write in work and then home across here.
7:18 Uh, because I always have a lot going on
7:20 in both. So, you know, I've got my job
7:22 here and then I have, you know, a big
7:24 wonderful family at home. So, um, I try
7:27 to leave space for goals for both. So, I
7:29 just try to keep it simple. For work,
7:31 I'm writing in the big picture things
7:33 that I know I need to work on that I
7:35 want to remind myself of throughout the
7:37 month. Uh, and then for home, you know,
7:38 we're doing a lot of spring cleaning
7:40 stuff right now, trying to get things
7:43 ready for spring and summer. I live in
7:45 Florida, so we tend to do that just a
7:47 little earlier than maybe they do in
7:49 other parts of the country. So, you
7:51 know, things like cleaning up our lai,
7:53 finalizing summer vacation plans, all of
7:56 that. Uh, important dates. Usually I
7:59 write down like spring break for the
8:01 kids when they're out of school. Uh
8:03 birthday, you know, any traveling that
8:06 I'm doing. Um I I don't think my life is
8:08 that entertaining most of the time. So
8:10 this is actually a lot for this section
8:14 for me. Usually it's full of events that
8:16 have to do with my kids. Uh because
8:18 that's life when you have kids. And then
8:21 I try to always make at least three
8:24 priorities that are for myself or my
8:27 family. Uh very often I'm bad at
8:29 prioritizing those things and this
8:30 little section here has helped me with
8:33 that. So for this month I'm trying to do
8:35 more meal planning because I am the
8:38 queen of Door Dash and I really want to
8:40 improve on that. So I'm working on more
8:42 meal planning. And then I have a move
8:44 goal with my job. I do a lot of sitting
8:47 down, lots of meetings and I get really
8:50 hyperfocused when I get going and then I
8:52 forget to do things like stand up or
8:54 move at all.
8:57 So, I've tried to make it a goal that,
8:59 you know, I'm not sitting for longer
9:00 than 30 minutes at a time without a
9:02 break because that's really bad for your
9:04 body. Uh, and then summer camp, just
9:06 getting things ready for the kids for
9:08 summer so that they have their things to
9:11 do while I'm working and everybody gets
9:14 to stay sane in our house. So, I try to
9:16 keep it simple. Um, I will often write
9:18 bills down here. I didn't do that this
9:20 time because that seemed weird to do
9:21 when I'm showing it to thousands of
9:24 people on the internet. So, um, normally
9:26 I'll write just bills that are not
9:28 typical bills. I don't find that I need
9:30 to write down things like rent,
9:32 electricity, a lot of things are on
9:33 autopay like that, but bills that are
9:36 maybe unusual, um, you know, bills I get
9:38 in the mail, things that are not monthly
9:40 things, I will write them down here. And
9:42 I'll also put an what I call a note to
9:44 my future self, which you'll see here in
9:46 a minute, uh, on the date that I need to
9:48 pay it, cuz that helps me remember to
9:50 pay those things that are not super
9:53 routine for me. So then just moving on.
9:56 Um oh, you'll see this is um some of the
9:58 doodling that I do. Uh there's a
10:00 separate video actually that involves
10:04 why I do this. Um but moving on from
10:07 that, this is how I do my planner
10:09 layouts. I try to keep it really simple,
10:11 really clean. You'll notice I don't have
10:14 a lot of different colors. I don't have
10:16 lots of different stickers and page
10:17 flags. And the reason that I don't do
10:19 that is because for me it becomes
10:21 distracting. Uh, and they almost become
10:24 like toys because, you know, I like them
10:26 and I think they're fun to play with and
10:28 it's it's fun to make very aesthetic and
10:31 pretty spreads. But functionally on the
10:34 daily for me, this is what works really
10:37 well. So, over here is um my task
10:39 snowball. If you don't know what that
10:42 is, uh there's another video about that
10:43 that explains how I use that for
10:46 productivity. So, this is like my weekly
10:47 task snowball. This is where I start
10:50 out. Um, this is actually another one
10:52 that's for a larger project. So, you
10:54 know, I write that down and then a lot
10:57 of times I will draw a line and just
10:58 write this is where I put like personal
11:00 tasks that I need to get done that
11:02 particular day or week depending on what
11:05 I'm doing. Um, and I try to always make
11:08 a line between the two because I do work
11:11 from home a lot of the time and I I need
11:13 some kind of separation so that I don't
11:15 get things too mixed up throughout the
11:17 day. Um, and then I'll make, you know,
11:18 whatever memo is really important over
11:21 here. It can vary from day to day. I
11:22 don't really have a rhyme or reason to
11:24 it. It's whatever makes sense. At that
11:26 time, you know, on this day in
11:27 particular, I needed to remember to
11:30 check in for a flight. Um, the little
11:32 the little dot stickers here, uh, they
11:34 don't really serve a purpose. This is
11:36 just one of those things that I love the
11:38 way it looks and it calls it out. And,
11:41 um, out of all the stickers we have, I
11:43 will say that the dot stickers are
11:46 probably my favorite. I love these
11:48 stickers. I would buy them in 20 colors
11:51 if we made them because I love the way
11:53 they feel. I like the way they stand
11:55 out. Um I really like the clear ones
11:58 because as you can see over here, um I
12:00 do the dot with the marker and then I
12:03 put the clear button over it and it just
12:06 makes it a little bit fun. So, you know,
12:08 for me, like I said, I keep everything
12:10 simple. So, I've got simple tools and
12:15 then I have um you know, one pen. I only
12:17 really let myself carry around or have
12:19 on my desk one pen at a time. I'll have
12:22 more more pens like I have more pens I
12:24 should say. Uh probably a million of
12:26 them, but they have to stay in the
12:27 drawer. I only really let myself have
12:30 one pen on my desk because again trying
12:33 to keep things free from distractions.
12:35 And I will tell you, I love this pen. I
12:39 really was not a fountain pen person.
12:43 Um, as you can tell, penmanship is not
12:45 super high on my priority list most of
12:48 the time, but I got this in the December
12:51 intention box. And I it's really heavy.
12:53 I feel like it actually improves my
12:55 handwriting. Yes, this is the improved
12:58 version of my handwriting,
13:01 um, just in case you're wondering. And I
13:03 really, really have enjoyed it. So, I
13:05 switched to the fountain pen. This one
13:07 in particular, like I said, I love it.
13:09 The quality is great. It's nice and
13:12 heavy. That's my pen right now. And then
13:15 I also use a gray highlighter. Again,
13:17 some people prefer the colorful
13:18 highlighters, but to me, when I'm using
13:20 the colorful highlighters, it is to
13:22 really highlight something, and that's
13:24 not what I use my highlighter for. I use
13:28 my highlighter for crossing things off.
13:30 For example, I just finished these, so
13:32 actually cross that off. because to me
13:34 it's like shading it and saying I'm done
13:37 with it. So that's something that I use
13:40 the gray highlighter for. This I use for
13:43 pretty much everything. I love this
13:45 little dot marker. Love it in different
13:47 colors. Everything you can think of. Um
13:49 I make my own little check boxes
13:50 sometimes when I'm doing these smaller
13:53 breakdown lists of big tasks. Um or like
13:55 right over here. So that's the probably
13:57 the most typical way that I use it. But
13:59 sometimes I'll also use it like
14:02 decoratively. Like over here for
14:04 example, I made like a fun little
14:08 marquee. So, um, these are really the
14:11 only three tools that I keep on my desk
14:13 all the time because they're the
14:15 essential pieces of the planner. So, try
14:17 to keep it really, really simple. Um,
14:18 I'll swap them out, but I have a rule
14:20 that if I add something, I have to put
14:22 something in my desk drawer so that I
14:24 don't become too overwhelmed with
14:26 choices. It's really very simple and I
14:29 keep it very simple intentionally. Uh
14:31 the workflow, you know, really just
14:33 flows throughout the week. I'll make
14:34 this big list at the beginning of the
14:36 week and then it kind of flows into the
14:38 next pages. You know, obviously things
14:39 crop up during the week that I didn't
14:41 know were going to be happening on
14:43 Monday, but typically I can predict a
14:45 lot of the tasks that I have to do. So,
14:47 I'll just keep carrying it over
14:49 throughout the rest of the work week.
14:50 You can see I've already added some
14:52 things here. This is actually what I'm
14:54 doing right now. So, um I'm going to
14:56 just cross it off. Even though I'm not
14:57 all the way done, I'm just going to I'm
14:59 going to cheat right now and just cross
15:02 it off. Um and then this here, uh is
15:04 another thing that I do that helps me a
15:06 lot. This is what I call my notes to
15:09 future self. Um I used to use Post-its
15:10 all the time. I was somebody who had
15:12 Post-it all over my desk. I had them all
15:15 over my computer monitor. I used it to
15:17 manage my tasks and to try to remember
15:18 things. And what I learned is that that
15:22 is a terrible system for me. So, I made
15:25 a rule that post-it notes are only for
15:27 temporary things. They're only for
15:29 temporary reminders and things that are
15:30 not super important. If something is
15:33 really important, it has to go in here
15:37 to remind me. So, my notes to future
15:39 self, or at least that's what I call
15:42 them, is basically when I'm sitting here
15:43 and I'm thinking through my week and I'm
15:45 like, "Oh my goodness, I need to make
15:48 sure that I order groceries on Friday so
15:50 that my family has food to eat this
15:52 weekend." So, I will write it on a
15:54 post-it and I will stick it in this part
15:55 right here because I don't really feel
15:57 like it needs to go in the main task
15:59 list. So, then when I do order the
16:01 groceries, I, you know, can take the
16:03 note and I can throw it away. I'm not
16:05 going to do that because I do actually
16:08 need to remember to order groceries for
16:09 my family. So, I'm gonna put that back
16:12 in there. Um, and yeah, so I just do the
16:14 same process week over week. I try to
16:17 keep it the same mostly. I switch things
16:19 up very slowly if I do because I don't
16:21 want it to become something that is
16:23 taking up too much of my time and, you
16:25 know, negating the purpose of the
16:27 planner, which is to be organized and
16:30 productive. So, that's what works really
16:32 well for me. Long story short, if you
16:35 have ADHD, you need a planner, but you
16:37 need a planner that works for you.
16:39 Something that's customizable, simple,
16:43 and most of all, visible. That's a
16:45 planner system that will work for you.
16:47 Uh, beyond that, get something that's
16:49 modular. There's, you know, discs like
16:51 this. There's also ringbound planners.
16:53 Some people prefer those. There's
16:55 various sizes. This is a half letter for
16:57 those who might be wondering. This works
16:59 really well for me cuz it's not too big
17:01 and not too small. So find what works
17:03 for you. Try different things. Don't be
17:05 afraid to say, you know what, this
17:07 doesn't work for me. And try something
17:09 else. That's how you find the system
17:10 that works for you. And when you do,
17:14 it's a complete game changer. So that's
17:16 it. Let us know what works for you.
17:19 Happy planning. [Music]
