Happy You Year: Day Designer

At the beginning of the month I shared with you the first in a series of posts that I will be sharing regarding what kind of year I hope to have. We all set out to achieve certain goals and accomplishments throughout the year....and often become discouraged when those goals or items on our lists fall by the wayside. But this year, I'm aiming for more than that. I am launching out on a HAPPY YOU YEAR....a year where despite challenges and successes I'll try to measure my days, weeks, months and indeed, my year in terms of attitude and moments that can't be measured. We often gauge whether we are growing by what we achieve. As a stay at home mom/blogger that is a difficult task...because what I achieve in a day may not be what I had set out to achieve and the list of what you don't do, or what you aren't can often then become a weight of what you may perceive yourself to be failing at.

My Day Designer under a stack of  "to do" items.

Does this make any sense to you?

If so, I guess I'm glad that I'm not alone, and I'm sorry for that. Because there is just so much pressure to do do do. To grow, grow, grow {I'll be talking about this in my next post in this series} and when you are constantly feeling behind and like you are always playing catch up, you feel as if you aren't growing but just treading water.   So I want to share with you want I aim to do this year to make a change. I will from here on out look at what I do accomplish and own that more than what I don't accomplish each day. I will be positive and focus on my 'wins'. Recently I've had several tasks that have thrown me for a loop. I became over-booked. Between personal life obligations to my family, church service and kids' obligations not to mention the mushrooming demands here with Commona My House {which are exciting and everything I've worked towards, btw} I realized that I had to find a way to prioritize. Prioritizing will give me balance not only in getting through the tasks at hand but also will provide structure that I need to deal with things appropriately.

Enter the Whitney English Day Designer.

{via Whitney English Etsy Shop}

This planner has been instrumental in allowing me to...

1. ...Stay positive and feel in control of my day, week, month. Rather than what had been happening....me feeling like my day was moment to moment, and it controlled me.

2. ...Have structure for all of my tasks that I would like to tackle, but I am able to focus on a small # of VIP tasks that are top priority. I consult my planner throughout the day, adjusting where I need to spend my time.

3. ...physically feel as if I am accomplishing things. As a mom, you can seriously be in Groundhog Day mode every day, day in and day out. Dishes, laundry, kid stuff, wash, rinse, repeat. Previously, I had been organizing my tasks on my iphone calendar and I'd delete things as I went. This actually made me more frantic in trying to race through things. I don't know why, but for me, being able to physically cross out or check off an item gives me motivation and I guess, like I mentioned above, the control of my day, rather than feeling like I am a hamster running in a wheel. 

4. ...have an experience...this may seem way weird, but the Day Designer is beautiful. It is special. Whitney and her team, no doubt, wanted it to be that way for you, for me. When I wake up each morning, I am now in the habit of consulting my Day Designer at 6:00am and looking at my day ahead. I read the lovely quote of the day and get into a happy mindset...again, completely the opposite of how I did things before {I'd look at my iphone calendar and freak out about how I was going to get things done}.

So, what is the bottom line?

I still have the same # of hours in a day.

But I am being organized and calculated in dealing with tasks I NEED to accomplish, which ones can take a backseat and what I've maybe forgotten to even think about or remember {There are prompts for what you're making for dinner, what you need to download, how much you've spent for the day, and the most meaningful one for me: Daily Gratitude}.  

Somehow, all of these items lined up on a sheet each day has helped me immensely to find a HAPPY and productive day each day over the last 3 weeks. 

What sort of planners/systems/habits do you use in order to take hold of your demands and stay motivated and focused on living life as a happy you?

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED POST. I HAVE NOT IN ANY WAY BEEN COMPENSATED FOR A REVIEW OF THE DAY DESIGNER. I LOVE IT AND WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU PRODUCTS THAT ARE POSITIVELY IMPACTING MY LIFE...THAT IS ALL :)
SPONSORED POSTS ARE DISCLOSED AS SUCH AND EITHER WAY, 
I NEVER COMPROMISE MY TASTE NOR YOUR TIME