Happy New Year!
Big changes lie ahead for me this year. I have officially submitted my retirement paperwork; my last day at my day job will be April 30th. I face this change with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Trepidation because, well, let's face it - retiring is a big deal. I've been working since I was 16 years old. Excitement because I'm looking forward to a lot of things, not the least of which will be no longer getting up before the sun. (I'm not a morning person.)
I am a very detail-oriented person and an excellent time manager. Both of these traits have played an important role in my ability to perform the functions of my day job. However, with retirement only a few short months away, I'm already trying to figure out how to change my processes so they will continue to work for me in the future.
I love calendars. (Almost as much as I love Christmas wrapping paper, but that's another story.) I have one wall calendar at home that I use to keep track of birthdays and anniversaries. Everything else, such as doctor's appointments, I keep track of on one of my many calendars at work. Obviously, that option will end on April 30th. My husband and I have agreed to a monthly dry-erase board on the refrigerator as the best option for tracking appointments and I have already implemented that change.
But what about everything else? I also use my work calendar and a variety of multi-colored sticky notes to serve as reminders of bill due dates and various and sundry other things that come up. I have never been the type to use a personal planner; I had no need to due to the variety of calendars surrounding me at the two locales where I spend most of my time. But, I began to notice advertisements for a plethora of planners on various social media channels. As I researched them, I determined this would be the best route to take, but which one to choose? The sheer number of options was overwhelming. And expensive. I couldn't bring myself to spend $50+ on something that might or might not work for me. So, I made a trip to Target and purchased a $10 planner and a variety of pens, then went to Amazon and ordered stickers.
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| Let the planning begin! |
My new planner has pages for monthly and weekly planning which I think will work well for me. I have had a blast getting it set up over the last few days. This planner will fill many of my needs, not just for managing appointments but it will also allow me to use my multi-colored pens to doodle and personalize pages while the stickers will take the place of the sticky notes I use at work. I know it's going to take a while for me to get used to a new process for tracking things but, if I start now, it should be second nature by the time retirement gets here.
What changes are you looking forward to this year?
