I’m trying out the Panda Planner to help focus and manage my time. I find that mixing up how I manage tasks from time to time is good for me. This is my latest venture.

Things I like about the using a physical planner in general:

• There is something about writing down a task and then checking it off that is satisfying.
• Writing down only the three to five tasks that I will complete today (no matter what) makes me realistic in my planning. I no longer have tasks that carry over from one day to the next to the next.
• I can refer to my day without the distraction of a screen and all of the alerts that come with it.

Things I like about using the Panda Planner in particular:

• It forces me to think in of the month, week and day. I do that anyway, but I like the added emphasis. For each month, week and day I’m:
  • Tracking goals
  • Tracking wins
  • Recognizing how I can improve
• It has an “I’m grateful for” section each day, helping me to cultivate gratefulness.
• It has an “I’m excited about” section each day to help me get excited about what the day has in store.
• There is a place in the daily planner to reflect on how the day went, what went well, and how I’ll improve for tomorrow. I love that! I don’t do enough reflection like that.
• Focus. There is a spot on the monthly page and daily page to write out what are you focused on. For example, this month, my focus is to “plan well.” But, because I have a lot of meetings today, my focus for today will be to “listen well.”