Shellie's Planner Story

I don’t know about you all, but I LOVE my stickers and other tools that I have for my planner and things that make my life better! I find it hard to use them though.   I worry that I won’t find it again, that I will use it up and it will be gone and this thing that brings me happiness I won’t have anymore. I am trying to think of it with a different thought process, if it brings me joy in the packaging, it will bring me joy when I use it! I have this trouble with workbooks that I get to help me think through my mindfulness or discovery. My mom bought me A BookThat Takes Time for Christmas.   I have it sitting in my workspace at home, but I am scared to use it. I know that she bought this for me knowing it would be something that I would love and really take away from, to get that pen to paper; I am having a hard time. I know I need to use the same philosophy as my stickers and planner tools.   This book isn’t too far off from my planner either, so I should be able t...

I am addicted to checking things off lists.   I am sure that most of us who plan love to make lists and checking them off.   It also makes me more accountable if I write down what I have for a goal for my new habit. I do know though, I am having a hard time filling in my Habit Tracker… does this happen to anyone else? I have heard repeatedly that it takes 21 days to form a habit.   If you do a search for how long it takes, the answer varies. Some of the studies I am seeing it takes over 254 days! WOW, that’s a lot of habit tracking!! The good thing is that you are building that repletion and you will get it down.   I think the key is try to find a habit tracker that works for me.   Sometimes it means that I’m not tracking it with my planner, the important thing is that I track it one way or another. I use my phone and watch to know if I have done my steps for the day, my workouts, and my food. It’s easier; I get reminders from my phone, which helps me ...

I am practicing writing things I am grateful for in my Happynichi (ok, I don’t doodle enough in it to be a real one… as I have said before I need to work on it). In doing this, it makes me look for more things that make me grateful. This has given me a different perspective on my life.   I feel like I am getting less frustrated and enjoying life a little more.   I sit at my planner at night and take the time to jot down my thoughts. This is where the keeping a mood tracker or gratitude list fits in.   Looking back on things that make you thankful gives you that feeling again.   I know we don’t all write just our plans in our planners, but we write things that happened and make us feel a certain way.   We like to make our planners pretty and filled with color because they make us happy, more than likely we already are jotting down those grateful moments. I also think that sometimes we might not be able to fully express our gratitude to the person we w...

I’ve been listening to the podcast “ Don’t Keep Your Day Job ” it is inspiring to know that there is such a positive inspiration out there!   If you haven’t listened to it, I would highly recommend it.   I have gotten to a stage in my life where I am looking to be satisfied with my life.   I know that need to make my own satisfaction; no one is going to give it to me.   As I mentioned in my last blog, I have to work at being happy.   In that work, I also need to work at being successful.   When you think about successful people, they are fighters, smart and driven.   You cannot just sit back and expect that people will give it to you.   You have to know that you can do it.   What I am figuring out is that I have to find my niche.   No one is going to tell me what I should be doing! As I think about the things I enjoy, that is what I am going to focus on.   I LOVE art, I love being creative.   I have heard most of my l...

I think that some people believe I am a naturally happy person, but have to work to be happy.   It has to be a conscious effort to make sure that I am happy.   One of the things I know I need to do is surround myself with positive/happy people. Remember being the manager of a retail-clothing store that when I would look at employees, I wanted mine to be happy, because if people were negative and down, they brought me to their place. I find that if I have things going on in my personal life I need to check those bags at the door and vice versa with my home and work.   It nice to walk away from my problems and get my mind somewhere else, then the issues might not be so big when I return to them! Another thing I believe is that being happy can be contagious.   If people know that they can expect it from you, then they tend to feed off your positivity.   If I know there will be something that will be hard to do, I will psych myself up so that I am prepared...

I have been thinking about my planner style.   I thought at first that I was fun… then I have learned I am VERY functional.   I love the STICKERS! I am sure this stems back to my middle school days and the puffy, glitter and smelly stickers I would collect! I love to look at them and it took me quite a bit to feel good about pulling them out and using them.   It’s like I have this fear that if I use them, they will be gone forever.   It took me quite a while, but I have grown to be able to use them.   First is a fear of being a hoarder, but second, I have decided that if they make me happy in their sticker book, they will make me more happy if I use them! So, I have gotten used to pulling out and try to use stickers for everyday! And… I figure that if I use up a sticker book, it will be ok for me to go out and buy more.   Besides, some will disagree, but the way I see it, I can only have so many sticker books in my tote! I have 4 planners at this t...

I don't mind Mondays so much now, mostly because I really like my job! But who wouldn't when your job is about deadlines and making lists if you are a planner! Another thing I do on Monday's is that I like to think about my weekends and the best things we did!  We celebrated my husband's birthday and also attended the Metro Parks Summer Event!  It was so much fun.  If you follow me on Instagram you saw my post about the stick journal, probably my favorite thing ever!! Working on it with my son I just LOVE! He is my little artist and nature buff, so this was right up his alley!      Vincent is using his as his Nature Journal (we are letting him work on spelling through sounding out words, so it's his own creative spelling). He is planning on doing rubbings and drawing the things he sees out on our nature walks! If you are interested, you can check out my IG (@shelliesstory) and there is a pic of my Stick Journal and the Instructions, a super ...

I have been planning for... as long as I remember. In high school that was one of the first things you got so you could start to "plan".  I loved it. I was using the Levenger Circa system for years since I am left handed, I loved the fact I could pull the paper out and put it back, was so excited to see Rollabind (which doesn't exist anymore) and then the Arc System at Staples.  Then one day I needed expander rings and then I found my new love... the Happy Planner! It was incredible! I love that it brings my love of creativity, color and stickers all together - also makes me look like I know what is going on! It brought me back to my grade school days with my sticker books and binders!   So I am starting this blog to motivate myself to be more creative and share.  I am trying to think out of the box and be fabulous!