The “Planner” That Changed My Life

Yes, I just said that a planner changed my life.  I’m quite aware that sounds dramatic, but that doesn’t stop it from being true . Before you dismiss this as the rantings of a crazy lady, here me out.  (Unless you’re a 100% tech person and you don’t like pen and paper.  In that case, this is not for you…but it may be for your mom, partner or BFF…so keep reading anyway 😉 )

In my 15 years of legit adulting, I have tried pretty much every organizational system/planner/to-do app out there.  Each had its merits and some got me on track for a few weeks…maybe even a month or two.  And I’ll admit I had some great success between 2006 and 2008 with a planning system that I loved…at the time.  But in the decade since, I have not been able to achieve such a harmony again, not even with my planning first love; not until about 8 months ago, that is.

That is when I finally made the investment in my very first set of Smart Life Push Journals.  I say investment because money was tight at the time and I knew my dear, sweet husband had to be tired of me bouncing from one system to the next, but I had a really good feeling about this one.  It seemed to pull all of the things that I loved about the other systems I tried plus the things I felt like I was missing and finding myself creating additional notebooks for all in one place.  I owed it to myself, my time and my future to finally move the set of three up from my “saved for later” section on Amazon and make the purchase.  (And yes, I went all in with the 3-pack to make sure I gave it a fair shake…and with the savings it was like getting one free.)

I was elated when that first box came in the mail and I haven’t turned back since. 

I am on my third case to date and I can’t imagine what would throw water on this fire we’ve got burning.  I could spend all day talking about them but I value your time, so here are the highlights:

• It’s not only a planner; it’s a goal-setting, planning, tracking and evaluation system.
• It’s my life on paper.  It houses my goals, to-do list (master list and daily tasks), food, activity and sleep trackers and schedule
• It walks you through a process at the beginning of every month that really forces you to set intentions for your life.
• It has taught me some things about myself that other people have tried to tell me for years – like I place too many expectations on myself.  (As it turns out, I’m not actually super woman…and that’s OK.  An invaluable lesson that I learned from my “planner.”)
• It taught me (and continues to remind me) that it’s ok to change my goals
• It forces me to check in with myself every 30 days so that I’m not working on things that no longer make sense.
• I have gotten more VALUABLE work done in the last 8 months than in at least 4 years prior.
• It fits in my purse so I can take it everywhere, even if I don’t have my laptop bag with me.

Like I said, I could sing the Smart Life Push Journal’s praises all day but I’m simply going to say that if you are like me and you need something to help you get it all out of your head, make sense of it, and keep you accountable, you need to try this life-changing system.  I recommend you commit to giving it 90 days to really give it a chance to become a part of your life, but I’m pretty sure you’ll be in love after the first month.

Whatever you decide, I still love you.  Now go get to planning and change your life so you can change the world.

~Crystal

Note: At the time that this post was written the single journal was no longer available for purchase, but if that is your preference, you can check here to see if it’s back in stock.

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