Paperworks Months and Weeks

Sorry I totally disappeared on you for a couple of days. I didn't mean to but it happens. 

Last time we met, I shared with you the planning system, Paperworks, I use by Emily at JDC. Starting today, I'll show you how I use it.

Right off, I print the monthly calendar. I pull up the family icalendar and jot down general things. No times unless its something very specific I should remember. I need the activity of writing to help me feel in touch with the month. (A total aside note: Writing was one way I helped my students learn their music. I told them I wanted as many senses involved as possible. If I could have made their music scratch and sniff, I would have.) It may look like overkill to have a digital calendar and a paper calendar and for some it is but this is what works for me.

Then I print out the weekly calendar. This is where I plan out more details. Basketball practice at 6. Overnight kids on Tuesday. Clean out fridge on Wednesday. 5 miles on Monday. It all gets put down here. I use the bottom portion for notes and goals. Sure, I've got this in my Wunderlist app (the productivity app I'm currently using, free version) but it helps me breakdown my week. 

I love the Wunderlist app because it's where I collect my thoughts and to-do's and always have it with me. However because of that very reason, it tends to collect my to-do's and gets very overwhelming. The paper week by week, keeps me focused. I don't have to look from this thing to that thing and get distracted (as much). Tuesday is a 4 mile tempo run and in the kitchen I need to wipe down the cabinets. I want simple and clean and get it done kind of mentality. (This is also why I like training plans and house-cleaning plans. More on those pending another post.)

I try to get my planning done on Sunday. It feels right to do it then. Then they go in a 3-ring binder which I can grab and cross off when completed. When the week is done, I transfer anything I need to and then throw it away. (There is a day planner page in the new planning system but I won't be using it.) There is plenty I don't write in. I don't write in personal Bible study time. I don't write in "read 15 minutes to the boys". I can't write it all in; it would feel to stifled and regimented. 

It would be very easy to focus just on the to-dos and the cross-it-offs and the like. That's my kind of personality. It takes work for me to balance it all out. I was directed somehow to this post by Ashley Ann about how she makes it all work out. She would first tell you it doesn't always all work out. (And my friends, I think we need to comes to terms with that. For real. There will be some unchecked tasks.) After I read her four goals for each week, I have started trying to incorporate them into each week. In case you don't hop over to her post, here is what she says: "Each week I give myself one goal in the following areas: Home Organization, Project completion, Something for Someone else, Each Kid." Ashley Ann from Under the Sycamore blog

 I'm an extremist and I'll go uber-tight or completely lacksadaisical. I need to infuse grace into this Martha mentality of mine, be it Martha of the Martha and Mary duo or Martha Stewart. At the same time, I don't think Jesus for once dismissed Martha's work. She just happened to miss the mark in one particular instance (that gets recorded for all time in Scripture). It's just that when Jesus happens to be reclining at your home and your sis is soaking Him all up, you can't exactly get Jesus to bend to your will because you tattled on her. This may be earth-shaking news only to me but people are people, not projects. 

I'm all over the place it seems but I'm still in process of figuring it out. Does this make sense to anyone else? I'd love to here from you. What encouragement do you have for me, for us? What's working for you? Here's how Emily uses portions of her Paperworks.