Planner Slump? - Here's How to Get Over it
Don't worry. It's totally normal and even inevitable to go through a planner slump. At some point, you're going to feel burnt out, bored, or lack the motivation to sit down with your planner everyday. I'm writing this because I went through a period of about a month where I just didn't know what to do when it came to my planner (though I blame it on Mercury being in retrograde). There weren't any new inserts I felt like I needed and I liked all the products I was using just fine even though I'd been using them for a while.
I’ve been planning regularly for quite a long time now and I love it. It is my passion. The planner community has completely changed my life and opened up a bunch of new opportunities.
However, in August, I got a new job, which turned out to be quite demanding. Together with that job I obviously also run EO Edits and have two Instagram accounts that require my daily input.
I wasn’t ready for such a sudden change in my schedule. Planning and anything to do with EO Edits was put on the back burner. With my other job as an Interior Designer with Havenly, a client schedule is determined for me automatically based on a projects progress. This schedule is generated online so I just have to log in and see my deadlines for the day/week. It's so convenient and obviously an amazing tool for the business. Having an automatically generated plan is fantastic and ensures that I can stay organized with my clients and have more time to focus on what I do best - the designs. This sudden switch to digital planning resulted in my beloved Filofax Ebony Croc to be, well, a little useless.
So, I had to change my way of thinking when it came to planning and I had to become passionate about planning all over again.
Here's what worked for me:
1. REMEMBER WHY YOU LOVE PLANNING IN THE FIRST PLACE
I had to take a step back to remind myself why I choose to plan the way I have for the last few years. While my focus was on my new job and getting myself settled and comfortable, I realized that there is a lot more to life than work. Yes, digital planning is convenient and efficient for my design clients, however, there were other areas of my life that I realized I let slip because I wasn't planning for them. Exercise, self-care tasks, errands, etc. My work schedule didn't include these types of tasks that are so important to my health and happiness.
Think back to why you love planning. What about planning helps you, makes you more successful, and makes your day to day life better. Is it still a tool that you can use? Is there something you can tweak slightly to make it fit you better at this stage of your life? You may be in a planner slump right now, but planning helps you in so many different ways. It's worth pushing through.
2. TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF AND GO BACK TO BASICS
The worst thing to do when you're in a planner slump is to put pressure on yourself and force it. Take a step back and slowly ease into it again, building up your motivation. There's no point overwhelming yourself when the whole point of planning is to make life easier.
3. WHAT IS WORKING? NOURISH THAT
Sometimes we can overdo it and that inevitably will lead to burn out or lack of motivation. Go back to what you know works for you and listen to your intuition. For instance, at the smallest inkling of wanting to track my habits, I designed a whole new habit tracker. That alone got me feeling motivated enough to pull my planner out everyday to track, and that's half the battle, isn't it?
Take some time and flip through old planner pages to note what you liked and what you didn't.
4. HAVE FUN AND BE CREATIVE
Going hand in hand with taking the pressure off, the best tip is to have fun. That's probably why you got started planning in the first place, right? You enjoyed it. With that mindset just sit down with your planner and have fun planning again. Experiment and try something new without the pressure of it having to be perfect.
5. SEEK INSPIRATION
If the thought of opening up your planner right now makes you queasy, try seeking inspiration in unusual places. Go for a walk, scroll through Pinterest, visit a market, or travel. Whatever you need to do wherever you need to go to get inspiration, do it.
6. STOP COMPARING
It's far too easy in today's day and age to scroll through Instagram and feel like you're not good enough. I admit, sometimes I do that too, but as soon as I get that horrible feeling in my gut, I tell myself to cut it out. There are so many beautiful, talented and creative people out there and no matter how good you are, there's someone out there that you'll think is better than you. Repeat after me:
STAY IN YOUR LANE
Stay focused on you and what you do best. You have the potential to bring something totally different to the table that no one else can. If you have to, stay off social media for a little while.
6. TAKE TIME OFF
If you absolutely have to, take some time off planning. One or two weeks without planning isn't going to hurt at all in the long run. Do what's best for you.
What do you do when you go through a planner slump, or any creative block? How did you overcome it? Share your experiences in the comments below. I hope you found this useful, and if you did please share it!
-Emilee