My 2017 Planner: Everything is Possible
My history with planners started when I got a refillable leather organizer. I got it when I was Grade 5. Looking back, I didn't know what I needed a planner for... Maybe I used it for homework or school clubs, I guess. But I carried on the yearly habit of getting a planner to write down reminders I might forget in every day life. It's been 12 years since I got my first planner. I've gone from Best Buy's refillable organizers to a Starbucks holiday planner. (Never again, to be honest.) However, two planners from Belle Du Jour became my go-to products for a productive year.
During college, I wrote in NAVI: Your Life Navigator twice (2011 & 2013). I couldn't use it as much because it catered to travelers which I wasn't that much of yet. I only used it for listing down course requirements or org work. But I found another BDJ planner for the ambitious... I even used this for around three years now! I used it in 2014 and 2016, now I'm gonna use it for 2017!
The Everything is Possible Planner (EIP) provides idealists the pages and tools to turn visions to goals. We only live one life. With that, we must make the most out of it. So we find that one thing that keeps us going each day. We all aim for different desires in our lives. Regardless of the outcome, we need to progress as a person so we work towards what we want. As they said, it's about the journey and not the destination. Everything is Possible helps in bringing us closer each day of the year to making our wildest dreams come true.
Back this year and 2014, EIP is packaged in a blue-green motif with some red hints. For 2017, BDJ redesigned it to kale green with hints of red and gold. It still fell in line with Pantone's Color of the Year, Greenery... People predicted before that Kale was Pantone's color for 2017, but its neighbor Greenery earned that spot. Close enough, BDJ. But good call on the redesign. I'm seeing a lot of triangles for 2017, compared to 2016's octagons. Not sure if we have hipster or illuminati influences there.
The first thing we see when we open the planner is an inspirational quote. For 2017, their quote is "Set a goal that makes you jump out of bed in the morning." Nothing like a warm up to get us turning the pages, eh?
And when we have that goal, what's next? To have the right mindset... and physical capability to work towards the goal. Our passion can drive us to incredible levels, but we shouldn't let it lead to madness. We need a clear mind to make what we want a reality.
After the motivational quotes, we can see the personal information sheet. Shall your planner go missing, its founder can find your contact information here. Obviously censoring my info, because you don't need to know that.
The next few pages includes guides on how to make the most out of the planner. First, there's a guide to make everything possible. Then, there's another how-to on the planner's features and explains the common icons we'll see later on.
The Micro-actions section is the first page we encounter. According to BDJ, micro-actions are "little choices people make every single moment of every day that make the difference between the good and the better." Micro-actions are the mundane tasks we do in our daily routines. They make their difference in the long run. For instance, drinking 60 ounces of water everyday isn't a special activity. But your body would thank you for the next few years if you keep it up.
The Vision Board & No Edit List follow after. We take a good look at how our future would look and feel like. How does the air feel when you visit your dream destination? What does the cake taste like at your wedding? Is the applause of the crowd roaring after you gave your TED talk? Visualization covers all five senses. This is the deeper meaning of fake it till you make it. Also, we can group our goals at the No Edit List. What do you want for your family? For yourself? For the world? You can list them down here, free writing style. No editing at all allowed!
The Ikigai returns in this year's planner. A word of Japanese origin, ikigai translates to "a sense of purpose, a reason for waking up each morning". It's a Venn diagram of four categories, including
- First, that which you love
- Then, that which you are good at
- Next, that which the world is willing to pay you for
- And lastly, that which the world needs
These categories intersect at some point. For instance, that which you love + that which you are good equates to passion. When the intersections meet, they form the ikigai. Before filling in the circles, though, follow the questions on the next page.
Everything is possible belle du jour bdj planner 2017
To set goals tangibly, we need a timeline. The Timeline of Goals page groups our goals 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years from now with our life goals at the bottom. The Priority List sets what we've written in the Timeline, so we get the #goals in order.
When rejection and other obstacles hinder us from our dreams, we remember our reason for starting them. We write down the reason that pushes us to undergo all the hardships for. In My True Reason, we write why our goals should be worthy of sappy, long written social media posts.
The following pages contain very specific goal categories. BDJ also added "milestones", which are the smaller steps that make the bigger picture. We also want
A planner promoting positivity won't go without celebrating the good moments. But it also acknowledges the hindrances that make success even more satisfying.
And of course, every Everything is Possible planner comes with a Positivity Poster. We can write or draw whatever gives us good vibes.
The planner has two types of calendars: monthly and weekly. Quotes for inspiration precede the month, to keep us going. Each month has progress trackers like the Daily Habit or This Month's Priorities. We track the Daily Habit by shading the tiny circles on each day of the month.
Each day in the weekly calendar contains a timeline and three bullets for a to-do list. The weekdays are much more detailed than the weekends. However, it's the first time BDJ added a to-do list for Saturday and Sunday.
Yellow and green ribbons lace the planner as bookmarks. (In all honesty, I barely use these...) The planner extended a few more pages for just plain notes.
And when 2017 closes, we look back at our goals. The goals we to do in 2017 becomes our starting point for 2018. I can't write much about this because we're not even done with 2016. Unfortunately. But if we're gonna be #goals, we need to keep track of our time. We must do what we can because if we let time get by without doing it, regrets happen.
The planner defined bookends literally. We started with two motivational quotes, we end with them as well. Heck, they even repeated the first quote!
EIP truly lives up to its name: everything is possible. Life seems complicated, but it's just a lot of work that we need to break down. With enough focus and effort, we can leave the legacy we want to be remembered for. We learn each year and get better for the next goal.
The Everything is Possible planner is now available in local bookstores nationwide for P598. You can also order online at Belle Du Jour's website.
