If there’s one thing Natalie has taught me in the time I’ve known her, it’s that I have to kick my paper planner to the curb.
It’s kind of like the death of a friend, though. I always looked forward to buying paper planners at the beginning of every school year. I took great pleasure in scribbling things off of my to do list, and last year, I even made my very own customized planner that was all beauuuutiful and colorful and just for me.
I acknowledge that digital to do lists and planners are better for the Earth and perhaps easier to access given that paper planners can get lost or torn. Still, I found myself in Starbucks this past weekend annoyed that I didn’t have a piece of paper to write on. I ended up using the wrapper from the bagel I purchased to jot some notes down.
Sometimes, I just really have to have the pen and paper to hash out ideas or get the satisfaction of crossing through items on a to do list, but all in all I’m trying to convert and maybe you should too. Here’s why:
1. Scheduling with the Hubs
Given how increasingly hectic our lives are, it’s really helpful to have a joint calendar with my husband. It helps me to know if his on call nights got changed or if he has a meeting scheduled after work. It’s always such a bummer for me to expect him home at a certain time only to learn he’s going to be an hour later because of a meeting. A joint calendar helps me to be aware of how my day is going to go.
2. Accessibility from Anywhere
I frequently work at coffee shops on the weekend, and I enjoy having my entire editorial calendar and to do list saved in drive so that I can access it from anywhere. If I used a paper planner still, I promise you I would forget it and have to try to remember what I’m supposed to do that day. My life with two new babies has gotten so hectic and I really do need my calendar to keep me on task. Having it digital really helps with that. Plus keeping my editorial calendar for my blogs digital helps me to share them with my lovely biz partner and also my virtual assistants that help me with my other sites.
3. Easily Altered
When you use a digital planner, you can easily change things. Once you write something on paper, you can mess it up by writing in the wrong date or cancelling an appointment. Then things start to look ugly and ain’t nobody got time for that.
Overall I’m glad that with some prodding, I’ve now moved over to a mostly digital lifestyle. There are still those times when I really want a piece of paper, but they are getting less frequent as the days go on!
Do you use a paper planner?
