Rituals to Results
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do can we accomplish all of the things we desire in life? One action at time. Last episode I talked about architecting habits and designing an environment for success. In today’s episode, I will review a new tool I am using to help me build rituals for results here on the View 112 Podcast.
Good afternoon, today is Monday January 20, 2020. Today is also a federal holiday celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I’ve enjoyed time off of work today and seeing different observances for Dr. King’s life on TV and Instagram. While watching Good Morning America, they did a segment on Books N Bros Reading Club, an initiative founded by then 10 year old Sidney Keys III of St. Louis. I’d heard the story of Books N Bros before and am glad to see the progress this young man has been making over the last 3 years with his non profit organization that promotes literacy for young boys. They have a new donation program “Adopt a Bro” which enables a young boy between the ages of 7-13 to receive a free book each month and other perks from the program. So I decided to donate and Adopt a Bro for 3 months for $75. They have 6 and 12 month donations as well. I love a good literacy advocate!
Over the last few months, I’ve been stalked by an ad on Instagram. This ad was showing a planner titled, My Next 90 Days. This was intriguing to me because, I love to knock out my annual accomplishments one quarter at a time. For those of you unfamiliar, the first year of this podcast, I would record episodes on quarterly goal setting and follow up on the results. So for me, a planner like this (after my very own heart) seemed too good to be true. My skepticism caused me to ignore the Instagram ad for months even though it would pop up on my feed every day. Additionally, since I have a lot of technology already, I have been determined to use my technology over the last few years for planning and organizing. I’ve spent so much time trying out countless apps in the name of going paperless. Still I’ve found that I have more success retaining info and staying on track when I write things down. Maybe that just the generation X in me?
At this current state in my life, I have a ton of things happening. I slowed down and did a little self assessment. I discovered in my effort to rely solely on technology, I’m feeling more unorganized and unclear on what I’m doing than ever before. The reason is, I have so many things “organized” all over the place and I’m not using any method effectively. Between mail, calendar, notes, project management apps, voice memos, etc none of these systems were working cohesively. For this reason, I wanted that old thing back. Yep, pen to paper. So I clicked on that Instagram ad.
The actual planner is titled the Savor Life Planner and as it turns out, this company is pretty freaking legit. Savor Life Planner was designed by women and is all the rage in the entrepreneurial community, and even endorsed by the likes of Martha Stewart. According to the site, The Savor Life Planner is for “Busy entrepreneurs, on-the-go moms, managers, professionals, and anyone who need a system to "remember it all" for prioritizing the day.” This beautifully designed planner comes in a few color options. I chose Pink Champagne.
Any skepticism I still had about spending $29.95 on a planner sold to me via an Instagram ad vanished as soon as I received and opened the planner. Bruh. This exceeded my expectations. I also read the Bullet Journal last year on my birthday trip to Mexico so I knew planners had come a long way since I last used one in say 2010. Still, I was not at all ready for how thought provoking and useful this Savor Life Planner would be. Allow me a moment to explain the layout of the Savor Life Planner so you can understand how I’ve been using it and the benefits.
Before even getting to the calendaring section of the planner, there are 2 tabs: Vision and Plan. The vision section asks thought-provoking questions, causing you to do an assessment of what matters to you most. After answering these questions, I began to really shape and understand some of my goals and could begin vision casting what I wanted to accomplish. Next, the vision section provides an opportunity to create actionable ideas and structure to bring your goals to reality. Finally, after assessing my previous 90 days and setting the vision for the next 90 days, I was ready to move on to the plan section.
The plan section introduces 5 ways to go about the next 90 days:
Detox Your Brain (similar to in the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen)
Define 3 Priorities
#SelfCareEveryDay
Structure Your Day
Pull Weeds
Plant Seeds
In the calendar, each day there is an area to pull weeds and plant seeds. At the end of the week, there is space for reflecting and planning.
Finally so far my favorite part of the weekly calendaring section has been this space for brain storming, visioning, doodling, etc. This section of the planner is now another built in tool that gives me space to work through my creativity everyday! Its because of this section, I’ve been able to ideate quite a bit this week. I’ve even been able to map out the next few podcast episodes and get some writing done!
This planner has set up me up to have an amazing week. I’ve accomplished so much already! Beyond just planning, I’ve been able to DO things. I’ve planted seeds I can’t wait nurture into results. For example, I researched and signed up for 6 different classes for my growth and development in various areas of my life by simply having the space to assess what I need and want to do.
Did I mention I purchased colored pens and markers? Yep, like I said planners have come a long way since I last used one. On Amazon, there are so many options of supplies you can use to personalize your planner. I’ve always been a doodler and even though what I draw is nothing but a mess, the process of pen to paper does something to my brain. In fact, I know it does. Research has shown that doodling keeps the brain stimulated. Every time, I’m in a meeting class room setting and I’m writing notes, I am also doodling. Presenters have mistaken this action on my part as lack of engagement, but the truth is I am fully paying attention. I participate more and I get more out of the class or meeting when I doodle. Utilizing the pens and markers, along with stickers provided in the back of the planner (yep!) keep me creatively driving toward my accomplishments.
My tried and true strategy of tackling the year 90 days at a time has a new, inspiring method of execution. With this new tool, I am building daily rituals toward the results I want to achieve. In late March, I will assess what I have truly been able to accomplish using this tool for the next 90 days and decide if I will buy another one. I posted a picture of the Savor Life Planner in my Instastories and many of my friends commented that they have seen this planner and were curious in trying it. So the social media marketing game of the Savor Life Planner team is strong. At any rate, tell me if this review has been beneficial to you and if you want me to keep you posted on my results in 90 days. Thank you so much for reading/listening! Subscribe to the the View 112 Podcast on Apple Podcasts if you’ve not done so already and join the View 112 mailing list by subscribing on view112.com so you can get notifications when I put out new work and projects.
