July 16, 2021
A planner has been a huge part of my life. Every school year, my mom would buy me one that would last me 2 calendar years. In grade school, I received an agenda that was mandatory and happened to have a 3-D effect to it. I never cared for it back then, but I love them now. I have learned to appreciate my planner for its simplicity and effectiveness. Hopefully by the time, you've finished reading this, you and your child will be using planners not only for bills and school work, but to also help with all of the events life has to offer.
1.) Manage your time
Most of us tend to keep things like dates, events, and meetings in our heads hoping we will remember it. When in reality, the best form of reinforcement is to write things down. We all have 24 hours in a day, and how we use our time is very important especially if we want to accomplish our goals. Social media has widely impacted our students ability to learn which as a result has lowered the average persons attention span to 8 seconds.
This is why people often spend time wasting on their social media scrolling for hours, when they originality intended to start with one app. Not only does it effect productivity but also contributes to a person's anxiety (but that's for another post). A planner can help regain control of your life, write down all of your assignments and due dates not to mention limiting your time on social media.
2.) Visualize your future
Seeing your goals visually, helps reinforce what you are trying to attain and where you want to be in a few months to years. As humans, we can't predict everything, hence why I don't plan out my goals past 5 years. I'd honestly recommend starting with 30 days to 12 months and adjust your schedule as needed. Make a chart separating your short-term and long-term goals. Then, separate goals into weekly and daily tasks. Color coding each goal also gives a colorful view of what you envision your life to be.
3.) Stay Organized
School can be overwhelming, between assignments, quizzes, tests and homework, there is always something that needs to be turned in. Having a planner at your disposal can help prioritize what is the most urgent work that needs to be completed. Not only will this avoid pulling an all-nighter one day before the test and then not remembering everything you crammed in the night before. This will prevent your child from test anxiety because they have studied days if not weeks ahead. Not only is this a life hack that a student in elementary school can use. This will trickle into secondary school and post-secondary and so on.
Thank you for making it this far! I hope this post was very informative and helpful. Hopefully your child and the whole family decides to get a planner very soon!