So many of us already use a planner to help keep track of all our commitments. A planner can be a great tool for reducing anxiety because it’s a place to write down all of the things you want or need to remember.
If you’re already using a planner, that’s amazing and today’s topic is for you! There are certain strategies and techniques I’m going to share with you today that can implement in your planner to help aid your mental health journey. These are small shifts in how you’re already using it, to help you feel better and empowered each day!
Tips for using your planner to improve your mental health:
1. Use your planner to document what you actually did that day, rather than using it as a “to-do list”.
Use your planner to document what you actually did that day, rather than using it as a “to-do list”. We often use our planners to keep long to-do lists of things we would like to get done. This puts a lot of pressure on us because if we don’t complete all of those tasks on the to-do list, we feel defeated and often carry over those tasks to the next day and the next. We usually overestimate what we can get done in a day, and those lingering to-dos often add pressure to us, making us feel unaccomplished, behind, and unsuccessful.
Instead, I recommend keeping a running to-do list on a separate piece of paper or sticky note. You can add that sticky note or piece of paper into your planner that has all the things you “need” or want to do that week on it and check things off as you do them, writing them into your planner as you actually do them.
Use your planner to write down each of the things you did accomplish that day. This helps you keep a positive perspective because it reminds you that each day you did do something to move you in a positive direction and that the day was not wasted. This tip helps you feel more productive and effective with your time. That way, if something from your running to-do list does not get checked off, it’s not serving as a permanent reminder in your planner of all the things you weren’t able to accomplish each day. You simply remove the running to-list insert from your planner and move it to the next week or toss it out when you finish it or want to write a new one. What’s left in your daily or weekly planner is documentation of all the incredible things you DID get done and all the ways you made progress towards your goals!
2. Tracking daily habits without pressure.
You can use your planner to keep track of daily habits that you think impact your mental health. Some examples of habits that may impact your daily mood- making your bed, getting 7+ hours of sleep, praying, stretching, etc.
If you’re feeling really crummy, you can reference your planner and see how your habits align with your mental and physical health. I use this for keeping track of what flairs up my chronic pain. If I didn’t stretch at all the last week and my pain has been sky-high, I’m able to see that correlation and know what changes to make moving forward to feel better.
On the flip side, if you’re feeling amazing one day, you can reference your planner and notice that maybe for you, every day you make your bed results in a happier mindset and more productivity for that day. Keeping track of a small list of daily habits is a great way to inform yourself on patterns and behaviors that impact your mental and physical health.
The trick to this tip is to do it without pressure. That means, there’s no NEED to accomplish those daily habits you’re tracking. You simply highlight them or track them each day you do accomplish them as a way of gathering information. It’s not necessary to do the habits, there’s no pressure or feeling down on yourself if you didn’t do them, because they aren’t a reflection of your worth or productivity. Instead, they are simply a tool to help you gather information about what makes you happiest and feel your best!
3. Use it to cultivate gratitude!
You can write down one small thing you’re grateful for each day in your planner to create an attitude of gratitude. Writing your daily gratitudes down is a phenomenal way to shift your mindset because each day you’re intentionally looking for the good stuff, wondering which good thing you will choose to write as your daily gratitude in your planner that day. You’ll also start each day knowing what you were grateful for the day before. This mindset of seeking out the good stuff in life helps highlight the good stuff. You notice it more often, you seek it out and create it, you more fully celebrate it, and you cherish it afterward as you move on to the next task or next day.
If your perspective has been pessimistic or low, if you’ve been struggling with depression, lack of motivation, or a negative mindset, implementing this into your planner routine will help you feel so much better. The act of writing down a daily gratitude is so much more powerful in rewiring your brain to see the good things in life than simply thinking that you’re grateful. The things you write down have power. Use that to your benefit and to benefit your mental health.
4. Use it as a brain dump
Use a spare sheet of paper in your planner to write down all the things that have been on your mind or overwhelming you! This helps get it out of your mind and gives you a way of referencing it later without any fear of forgetting it or a failure happening. You’ll have that information written down to reference later. By writing it down, you’ve given your mind permission to relax a little. It frees up some of your energy and brain’s capacity and memory to focus on the task at hand instead of being overwhelmed by all the tasks that still need to be done.
It’s a great way to feel in control. Because when you use your planner to brain-dump, you’re keeping track of all the things that feel super important, allowing it to not weigh so heavy on your mind and body. You can reference that information whenever you need to without keeping it at the front of your mind. This allows your brain and your body to relax a little bit, making it a super valuable tool for feeling better when you’re anxious or overwhelmed.
There you have it! Those are 4 ways I made small shifts in how I use my planner to help promote mental health. Do you use a planner? If so, do any of these tips speak to you? I’d love to hear which one you want to try out. Leave a comment down below and let me know how your planner helps support your mental health.
And check out my other post “How Creative Hobbies Improve Mental Health” for more information on how creative hobbies (like keeping a planner) support mental health!
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