And like that…It’s November – 1st Week of November – Minimal for Function

November 1, 2017 9 Comments

And like that…It’s November.

What in the world? It’s November! I just got used to writing 2017 as the year. We are in the thick of holiday season (or very near to the thick – is that a thing?) and I am definitely relying on my minimalistic weekly designs to guide me through this busy time of year. I decided this month to start at the beginning of the month instead of half the week’s spread from October and the other half as November. So I ended up with a couple of half-week layouts.

I had big plans for the start of this month

My big plans were to start this month off beautifully. I even went grocery shopping this morning to get ahead on…well.. life without having to drag my three kids along. All those good intentions were met at every turn with something just trying to bring me to my knees.

You ever have one of those days you know, the day that just won’t quit? That was today for me. I have worked very hard to simplify this next month and show more gratitude. I firmly believe that if I wouldn’t have tried so hard to include these two things in my life today could have quite possibly knocked me down for a good part of the month. It was that bad. I didn’t realize I would gain strength from simplifying my life and having an enhanced attitude of gratitude.

This week has just five boxes on this page plus a ‘to do’ section – it’s strange how a minimalistic design can bring such peace and tranquillity amidst chaos.

What do you do for tranquility?

So I would like to know what you do that helps bring tranquility to your life when your whole day goes awry.

Do you meditate?
Do you exercise?
Yoga?
Eat Chocolate?
Binge-watch your favorite show?

After I post this, I am going to go mindlessly doodle. Maybe it will be amazing. Maybe not. Today it doesn’t matter because I need it to mentally recharge. Regardless of the outcome of my doodles, I feel like because I planned – not just my day but planned my month to live beautifully I am able to overcome and bounce back ready for a new day with renewed resolve.

Dimensions of the Spread:

Here are the dimensions of the single page plan – this could be used for a work week with just 5 days and fit two weeks to a two-page spread.

Tomorrow is a new day hand lettered quote

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

Tricia

Starting in the middle of the week with the beginning of a new month? Here is a minimalistic weekly design for your bullet journal, minimalism

Give your Goals & Plans a Defined Timeline

October 31, 2017 7 Comments

End of Year Planning – Don’t Leave it to the Last Minute

Start Early on Next Year’s Planning with a Super Simple Planning Spread – Give Your Goals & Plans a Defined Timeline. November seems like a great time to set some goals for next year. Specifically the first two weeks of November. Why then? Well because Halloween has come and gone and Thanksgiving or other holidays have not come yet. Visiting family will not arrive yet, and if you are vacationing or leaving, you have some time before the packing begins. There is a certain quiet about this time – the air is still buzzing with excitement that comes from the end of the year activities, but parties and plans have not started up – yet.

Goals & Plans a Defined Timeline - setting up for this month, next month & next year

The other reason it makes for perfect planning for next year is that next year is close, but not too close. You have some time to think. You have some time to reflect. The time is perfect to think about what you want from the next year. I am not talking about achieving anything – though you can certainly include achievements – I am mostly talking about what you want to become as a person. Become what is important to you. Decide to spend your time doing the things that will give you happiness, joy, and peace in your life.

Use the quiet spaces in the month to plan ahead and define your goal timelines | Start your goals with a timeline, not an obscure 'someday'

Define Your Timelines

This is my variation of the short-term, mid-term, and long-term goal planning. I was never good at using those planning terms – I needed a definition for the meaning of short-term, mid-term, and long-term. So I defined the timelines for me. It makes me work harder because I now have an accountability to time.

Short-term for me is Monthly.

Mid-term is something I want to accomplish in the next 2 months (sometimes I extend it to 3 months). In this case, I will be planning to complete by the end of the year.

“Next Year” I define as ‘by the end of next year’ – these are long-term goals**. I will define these more in-depth for the start of the year. This section is actually the reason I created this spread. I wanted to start thinking about my plans and goals for next year so they didn’t get swept away by the flurry of the holidays.

**I have an even longer-term goal type (more than a year) but I did not include that on this spread.

Break Your Goals into Achievable Times

Break your goals down into achievable times – when you expect to get these things done. Start where you are and give yourself a timeline – not an obscure ‘someday’. Stretch yourself a little, be patient with yourself and make goals realistic.

This month with my focus on simplicity, I made a planning & goals page extremely simple so I was not distracted by all the ‘shiny’ things. I tend to flit from one place to another and never get anything done. So I laid out this page with simple functionality in mind. (The bottom picture shows without lines for an even more simplified look).

Start Early on Next Year's Planning with a Super Simple Planning Spread - Give Your Goals & Plans a Defined Timeline

Whatever Your Plans, No Matter Your Goals

Whatever your plans or goals for the coming months or year might be, take a moment to begin your planning for next year, whether it be to spend more time on self-care, cook more, lose weight, de-junk your house, using a planning & goals page is a good place for jotting down your ideas for yourself.

Do this now before life becomes more hectic so when you are sitting down after Christmas laying out your January planner you smile knowingly at yourself and can think “I’ve already set my goals for next year”. Go ahead, call yourself an overachiever. Because you are ahead of the game.

View the entire Monthly Planner Set up

I’d love to hear what you do to plan out your next year’s plans & goals.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

Use the quiet spaces in the month to plan ahead and define your goal timelines.

Tricia

November Plans – Focus on Simplicity and Gratitude

October 29, 2017 7 Comments

November Journaling Focus

Simplicity and Gratitude

After the fun holiday of Halloween comes a period of anticipation. It feels like there is almost an electric quality in the air – a magic that only comes with the holidays. With that comes the flurry of activity, the parties, the traveling, the family gatherings, the traditions, the end of year hustle that is born around the end of October and dies after New Year’s day. During the first two weeks of November, there is almost a calm before the storm. For me, the holidays become overwhelming. So this is why I chose to focus my journaling and blogging efforts on Simplicity and Gratitude.

Instagram/Twitter Challenge – November 2017

I decided to host an Instagram/Twitter challenge focused on those two things. If you’d like to take part, find the prompts here and tag me @ChocolateMusingsCreates using #DailyWordMusings on either Twitter or Instagram. I’d love to see how you create Simplicity and Gratitude into your holiday plans.

As I am writing this, I can’t help but wonder if there’s the same feeling for those outside of the United States as compared to in the US. September/October bring a change of season heading into the colder time of the year, the end of October is Halloween followed a few weeks later by Thanksgiving (US) and you can feel the excitement mounting in the air. Christmas time brings another change of season and is of course highly anticipated and headed up with New Year’s celebrations and the start of clean, fresh, new year. Where I will struggle writing the new date until June.

Allow Your Mind Tell You What You Need

For me, I know the last three months of the year blur by in a flurry of activity. Earlier this week I gave a sneak peek of my welcome page. Every time I thought of doodling a turkey or Thanksgiving feast, I would postpone planning for a while longer. I didn’t like the idea. So as I listened to my mind’s reaction, I closed my eyes, relaxed, and let my mind wander. I imagined walking through a forest of aspens crunching through the frozen snow. The scene was quiet and the word “serene” came to my mind. I could tell that is what I needed for the month of November.

With this in mind, I planned the month of November and all the weekly pages in one planning session. Each of the weeks are very minimally designed – using the same square shape to create unity, but varying the layout for each week.

Plan With Me Video – November 2017

Here’s a video of November’s set-up. I plan on highlighting each week just before it starts. Check back each week for each new download of the layout with the measurements. The minimal design is something completely new to me (with the exception of this layout) and thrilled to try it out. I have come to realize that when life gets complicated or hectic, it is time to simplify. Check out the video below and be sure to hit like and subscribe for more content.

I will put together another post with the collections for this month – the Planning & Goals, Meal Ideas, Habit Tracker & Mood Tracker where I’ll track moods based on activity. I can’t wait to doodle on my weekly pages. Because I left lots of room for doodling.

Save to Pinterest for later – and while you are at it, follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration!

Follow @ChocolateMusingsCreates

I’d love to hear what you want to see in future videos so leave me a comment below.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

Tricia

Want to know what I used in this video? I’ll tell you. (Contains affiliate links – if you click through and end up purchasing a product, I receive a small commission – though the cost is the same to you.)

Planning for November Starts…Yesterday – November Title Page

October 25, 2017 7 Comments

Hello November Welcome Page

An understated title page heading into a very busy period of time.

My best tip for the season is to simplify. Simplify your planning, simplify your tasks each day so to enjoy the season.

Simplify everything you can. Remove the fluff, remove all the extras because there are a lot of things to do, see, bake, care for etc that will complicate your life. Simplify everything else so when these extra things creep up into your life, you are not completely overwhelmed. Unlike October or September, I wanted a calming and simplified November’s title page.

Serenity, Peace & Confidence

The last couple months of the year also bring a time of reflection. I associate reflection with the word serenity, peace, and confidence. Serenity and peace to my soul closing out the year and confidence going into the next year. It’s a very exciting time to plan and decide what is important for the coming year. Looking at this page, I feel like the minimal design says all those things to me.

I do not plan on writing on this page but instead just keeping it the way it is. No more details.

I am putting together the monthly set-up for November but wanted to give you a sneak peak.

What do you do to deal with the hectic of the holiday season? Let me know in the comments below.

Plan your life so you live beautifully.

All my best, Tricia

P.S. Don’t forget to pin for later & follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration. I have a whole board dedicated to Welcome Pages and other boards dedicated to bullet journal and planner detailing. I kind of love it.
Follow @ChocolateMusingsCreates

I post more ideas and fun stuff on Instagram. Find me @ChocolateMusingsCreates

What I used for this spread: (contains affiliate links)

For this post – yep, that’s it. Black and white ink drawings sometimes take the most imagination.

Weekly Layout – Mini Time Block + Pumpkins & Mummy Text

October 21, 2017 4 Comments

Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread with Mini-Time Block with Pumpkins & Mummified text

It is nearly the end of October! What happened? This month went by faster than September! This month has had some ups and downs. I think I take on too much emotionally. I internalize everything. Journaling has helped me overcome this and get me out a slump or help me pull myself back up and keep moving on. I created a simple weekly horizontal spread with a larger place for daily ‘to dos’ and a small area for time-blocking.

This spread focuses focus on just the area of time that I am struggling with – the evening time, which is when I do a majority of my blog/video work. I find that if I am slipping into a slump of some kind simplifying gives me freedom, which reignites my creativity. This is a HUGE reason why I am an advocate for my bullet journal. I have the flexibility to change things week-to-week or even day-to-day based on what I need.

Weekly Horizontal Bullet Journal with mini-time blocking and cute pumpkin doodles

Last week I tried to time block my whole day but left little room for those pesky ‘to dos’ that creep up but don’t need a time-slot. If I start using dailies, I think that weekly overview of the time blocks would be more beneficial. I haven’t made the leap to using a daily planner yet.

Ways to use the time block

In the video, I thought I might write the tasks assigned to the time block below, using brackets to designate the tasks for the block of time. But I could instead use color to appoint blocks of time assigned to a task. Hmmm.

Left side weekly spread view, pumpkin details and time blocking are sure to warm up that inspiration | Chocolate Musings

Cohesive Weekday Plans and Off-the-Cuff Weekends

I start my weeks on Monday if nothing else to make my weekends look larger. But I like having my weekdays together – it makes things feel more cohesive. A little section for meals, general ‘to dos’, fill up what might be considered the un-scripted bottom part on the left page.

Saturday and Sunday nestle nicely together. I do not time block those days – we do lots of family things like going to the park or playing frisbee outside or in the cul-de-sac or building the tallest Lego tower ever so Lego Batman can scale to the top of the table or going to QT (QuikTrip – a local gas station that has fun drinks!) that are completely unscripted and usually spur-of-the-moment type activities. Sometimes, we just sit and watch a movie. Often times, my little girl (who is turning 6 tomorrow! – what???), will ask me to show her my art for the week and she will try out my techniques. She saw my ‘mummy video’ (see the post here on how to create mummy text) and immediately tried it out.

If I have errands or events, I will jot them down in the Saturday/Sunday slots – but those days usually stay pretty clear.

YouTube Planning Video

I created a video of my set up for this week. Watch the video below or on my YouTube Channel here. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for future videos.

Mummy Text and Script Hand Writing

I discovered that making Mummified text was so much fun – and completely appropriate for the nearing holiday, I added some mummy text to the weekday names. If you missed it, here is the tutorial for making mummy text or mummy pumpkins or mummied mummys. Whatever you wish to mummify. The orange washi tape is to mark my monthly calendar (see the set-up here). I love the sparkle!

Doodle Details

I love the days written over the top of doodled pumpkins and the swirls of the green vines on the pumpkins below. Just enough whimsy and doodle to keep the page interesting, but give enough space to write and plan and all the things.

Overall

Overall I love this Simple Weekly Horizontal Spread. It has enough space to plan and create and enough function to accommodate schedules.