monthly review Archives

Planning May: What’s Staying vs Changing from April

What’s staying vs changing (and why!) in my planner for May. My favorite thing to see from other’s journals are the flip-through segments. I decided to slow it down and do a flip-through of the pages that I like and what didn’t work out for me.

Sneak peeks from the video:

After the pen for “All the Things” page
Journals for my kids (one for each!) and a little flip-through of those
Circle Badges for all the months and days showing off the preview sketches – coming soon to the shop! Thanks to @Darknss (find the handle) for the recommendations!
‘After the pen’ weeklies
Writing on spreads that are ‘too pretty’ – spread from the eclipse after the pen
Habit by number
Declutter my life two spreads (Initial & Updated)
How I bookmark/tab pages with washi tape

Watch the video below and hit the subscribe on the lower right-hand so you’ll be notified when a new video comes out.

Welcome Page

Welcome pages are funny things to me, it took a while for me to start using them because they just seemed like ‘fluff’ pages. They might be ‘fluff pages’ but other planners have welcome pages or monthly separators. It’s usually where the tabs are attached. Last July was my first-ever welcome page and I’ve used one ever since. It almost became a summer seasonal welcome page, but I combined it to the Welcome May and Summer page.

Calendar Page

When I set up my current planner in March, I made the future log pages very large, one month to a page, two months to a spread. I intended to drop monthly pages and just jump straight into weeklies. That lasted all of one month. I need visual planning!

In April I tried again to create a monthly ladder layout, I really love the concept of listing everything in linear form (that’s why I keep going back to it). I think that’s what the original bullet journal was designed with, but a calendar grid works better for me at a glance. In May I’m experimenting with smaller boxes and larger notes areas.

Coming soon! All the months in circular badge format! April’s creation inspired me so much that I sketched out (and started working on the months in this format.

April Weeklies

In April, I chose a common color scheme and theme for the weekly pages. Using a common color scheme across the pages was definitely challenging. It was a fun challenge that I’ll accept month after month. Space and circles dominated my weeklies, I do wish they had a little more structure but that is something I can do in the future. Space is always a fun theme and I like using circles too! In fact, if you didn’t see, I have a whole post about using circles.

May Weeklies

The weekly layouts are the biggest changes for the month. I didn’t foresee using a spread per week as summer nears. So I decided to condense two weeks to a spread. Each day still has space for events and notes, it’s just condensed. So far, so good. The boxes are the right size for all the things I need to do, including tasks and events. This just might be a thing when I have less to plan.

For the month of April, I switched to a Sunday start on the weeklies. In May, I am switching it back to Monday start. The May monthly calendar page shows Sunday-Saturday, but the weeklies are Monday-Sunday. The biggest reason is to keep the weekend plans together, it just seems easier (and I like to make my weekends feel bigger).

Collections

All the Things

I created an “All the Things” page to replace the failed “One Line Per Day” page. It is my new favorite page of all, perhaps ever. It was rare that I wrote on the ‘one line per day’ page daily. Instead, I write in spurts when I have a moment to reflect and think. So I would end up with several blank lines and missed details. “All the Things” uses categories instead of days. One section I’m going to add a “to journal” to keep a blurb for the things to add to my kid’s journals.

Habit Tracking by Number

I started “Habit Tracking by Number” in April. Using numbers to define my habits made a huge difference in tracking them, but not just tracking, but the motivation to do them. Each habit had a definition and something measurable!

That shift plus the shift in perspective that I needed to give these habits priority instead of trying to do them all in the last moments before I went to bed made a significant difference in my attitude towards these acts I am trying to form into habits.

Personal Habits & Business Habits

I’ll track the same personal habits for May as I did in April and add a section for habits for chocolatemusings.com. Also staying: flip-out habit definitions. I might use that idea on other pages too. And I just realized that I forgot to add a quote to my habits page, that is something I miss. I like motivational quotes on the habit tracker page. Especially the one I created in January.

Things I Miss Already & Things I Love So Far

I loved April’s theme – space, circles and the colors. Lavender fields inspired May’s color scheme, and I really enjoy it, but maybe I need to do a lavender space theme. I enjoyed the whimsy and the free-flow of the different pages. I’m looking forward to the structure of the May boxes because I tend to write until I run out of room. Maybe that’s why I like circles, they are whimsical, but have edges to keep me inside, If I want to. I really like the two-to-a-spread weeklies so far.

Question:

What pages in your journal do you change-up every month and what do you keep?

~Tricia

I started the mid-month habit check a couple of months ago, without thinking it would become a thing, but it was quite by accident. I’ve made a habit of checking up on my habits mid-month. I almost hesitate to call it a habit because me and habits (except the bad ones) don’t get along in the best way. Though I am trying to make friends with them. You know, start with casual conversation and work up to the ‘friends’ thing. I’d like to be friends, but they seem snobbish. Did I just seriously go there? I guess it’s a good analogy.

Here’s the video of putting together the Habit Tracker for the month:

November’s Result

Soooooo… You might be wondering what happened last month (and if you sneak down to the mid-month check… you might wonder about this month too!) I wonder what happened too. But the thing that I have learned when I fall off the wagon per se, I have to hop back on as though nothing happened. I recently read a book (ok, I listened) on habits – “Better Than Before” (the link is below) in keeping with my “Things to Work on” goal list – to read or listen to more books. So I requested it again. There were so many good things she talked about, but she did say that if you take a break from habits, it is generally harder to keep with it again. If you need a break, define the break and then start-up again like you never stopped. So I was just on a break with my November tracking.

What to do when you habit-fail at your habit tracker

November Habit Tracker: We Were on a Break!

After listening to those words, they really resounded with me. How many times have I tried to lose weight or tried to start exercising or all the things that we intend to do, but stop? It is so much harder the next time! I am just telling myself that ‘we were on a break’ and that I never really stopped, I will just resume where I was before and keep going. I’ll have to report back next month to see how that goes.

Summertime and holiday time are the hardest times for consistancy – because life is anything but consistent during those times. I probably should have taken that into consideration when I created this month’s habit tracker and scaled it down a bit. So here’s the habit check for the month – I kept the same habits from the last couple of months and added a couple of extras.

December Mid-Month Habit Check:

The results as of the 15th of December: I must still be on a break. If I get up earlier, I tend to get things done in the morning and don’t procrastinate doing them and just not get them done at all because I don’t feel like it in the evening. So I have learned, if I have a lot of tasks to do, I need to get up early and get them done. I told my husband that I wanted to be in bed at 11 – and he has reminded me a couple of times to wrap things up at night so I can mark it on my tracker. I appreciate him knowing me so well.

Overall, I am not too concerned with the {lack of} this habit tracker, giving myself a set break and a date to return in full-force is comforting to me.

Mood Tracker Ratings

Moods are on a scale from 1-5 – partly because I didn’t have colors on hand, partly because I filled up the page and didn’t leave room for a key so I decided to do the tracker in black and gray, but with a little pattern filling up the boxes. Attaching a little key to the outside of the sheet with washi tape is another way to extend your page if you run out of space. I may try that next time.

December Habit & Mood Tracker goes perfect with A Christmas Story "I can't put my arms down" quote - Vertical layout

How I Use My Habit Tracker:

One way is to actively track the habits I am trying to form. I always try to turn it into something positive. ‘No spend’ is a money management tool and not a ‘don’t do that’. The other way that I use my habit tracker is an assessment tool. I’ll include habits that I have not yet decided to change or that I am thinking of changing, but I need to get a realistic idea of where I actually stand. I could be a lot worse or perhaps a lot better than where I was before. This method also makes my habit tracker less intimidating. It provides an interesting mix. I don’t indicate which, I just kind of know in my own head but it has helped me actually use the tracker.

Yes, I realize that I spelled ‘horrible’ wrong. I discovered it after I took the picture. But It just kind of adds to how ‘horrible’ the day would have been. There are certain mistakes that you just have to shrug and move on. I just hope the internet doesn’t scold me too much for a simple mistake. If it does, it must be having a ‘horible’ day too.

How I track moods:

It wasn’t until recently that I started tracking moods. I could never classify one mood per day. Some days were like a rollercoaster ride and all over the place. To track moods, I knew I needed to break the days into sections of time or regular events, so I track by Before Work, Work, After Work, Dinner, After Dinner, and Sleep Categories and I rate by the time of the day. Sleep isn’t really a mood, but it’s nice to know how well I felt I slept.

Question for you:

I am curious for those who track just one or two moods per day how you classify your moods. I can have a crappy day at work, but be fine at home. Let me know if you track your moods and how in the comments below. I’d love to know! If you have an Instagram post or a Pinterest pin or a blog post – feel free to leave a link to your habit tracker/mood tracker. I’d love to do a feature post!

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

~Tricia