Getting From There To Here

Although I have been writing professionally for most of my adult life, I have just been reminded by the last blog published by date that it has been a solid minute since I have formally submitted a blog post. One pandemic, two surgeries and three moves later, I am very happy to know we have settled into a lovely adobe-style compound in Las Vegas, Nevada, complete with desert rabbits, pipe organ cacti and a persistent thirst for hydration. I call it a compound because it is. I quite like it that way too. Most people can’t even find the entrance. I’m good with that. 

Most of my unprofessional writing has been in the form of social media posts, written for somewhat rapid consumption on Facebook at Plannerology and now also on Minds at Plannerology. Somehow, Instagram still feels like a quiet place for me, and I managed to showcase the nicer points of the past few years with ambient imagery. However, every time I sat myself down to write-write, I had some inevitable emotional fire that needed squelching. My book chapters faded into the jet stream of good ideas and I began to despise “having to” maintain a sense of pulled togetherness which normally occurred naturally, and now, evaded in the midst of a health, family, emotional and world crisis- becoming a well-blended, silky smoothie of WTF-ness from 2018-2021. 

None of my planning systems seemed to be working. I couldn’t keep up with what needed to happen from one event to the next. I got the basic fundamentals of planning and I knew what was needed to be done but I couldn’t follow through because I was just too busy hurting myself in the fires of life. I don’t like overarching themes when they point out my deficiencies. I do like them when I have outgrown my deficiencies and can use them as stepping stones to keep growing. However, in that moment of pain and sorrow, I despise being able to see my own faults and worse yet, calling myself out on them-‘cause it’s not like I can’t see them. 

Now, things are different. I’ve committed to a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, I’ve had my spinal fusion surgery, which has made being mobile an absolute joy and I am diving headfirst down the minimalist path of being able to let things go because they no longer serve me here. They served me when I was there. But they no longer serve me here. “There” is where my breakdowns lived. “There” is where I was. I am no longer there but I am here. “Here” is where there is no need to have or use the things I once used when I was there. I did use them there. But it didn’t work out for me there. So, I moved from there to here. Things were bad there. Things were bad when I moved here. But once I moved here, things got better, slowly. Now that I am here I can take my well-deserved breath of hot desert air and create an oasis of mindful, slow living. I can sit in shaded path of morning and evening routines while sipping on the mojito of simple actions and decision making. 

I found a general sense of myself hidden in the spaces between my objects. I didn’t need to look very far. Push a few things to the right and suddenly I recognized myself in the created space. Remove the items altogether and the visual space created welcomed me. The visual noise ate up the visual space, so my commitment was to remove the noise; The side effect was creating space. Peter Gabriel has a song called “Signal To Noise” where he points out the ratio of turning up the signal, while turning down the noise, radio terminology used to indicate the clarity of the desired sound coming through versus the undesired background noise, aka Signal To Noise Ratio; SNR. 

So the formula is simple really, but you have to be in a position where you can eliminate the noise. When I was there, the noise is all I heard and that’s because I was meant to deal with eliminating the noise. How can you eliminate something you can’t hear, see, feel, taste, or smell? The only way through is through. If you sidestep it, it’s still there and now you’ve cheated yourself on time having to start going through again. If you are in it, up to your eyeballs, keep going through, you are almost out. 

Keeping a notebook of things you want once you get here is a great way to keep you motivated and solidify in your mind’s eye what you actually want. You may kind of, sort of know what you want but do you really know what you want? The only way it actually happens is if you write it down. You can put it on some digital list but if you don’t access that list daily, it doesn’t do it’s job of reminding you what you want, does it? Writing it down on paper, printing it, setting it up as your dashboard, tacking it to your mirror, and generally putting it in a place where it is access by your eyeballs at least 3 times a day is where the RAS starts getting activated. You remember the Reticular Activating System, right? The RAS? It’s what makes things happen when you think about making things happen. It works for good and bad so please be mindful of what you are thinking about. The RAS works when you don’t. Set up enough thoughts that are written down and your RAS will take it from there to here (see what I did there?).

How do you determine if there is too much noise versus signal? Easy. Are you able to do what you want, when you want and how you want? If yes, then your signal is coming in loud and clear. If not, you’ve got interference. The noise is getting in the way. Leave. It. Out. 

November Doldrums And Why Planner Fail Is Often Scheduled Now

You know it. That age-old dilemma of wanting the space of an A5 but needing the footprint of a Personal. There is no greater wringer of hands than this conundrum. Worse yet if you use larger sizes like I do. B5. Oh dear, B5 you are so grand. Large enough to make A5 blush and small enough to feel puny next to Letter or A4.

Court is now in session and the Queen of Planner fail for November is presiding over this divergent topic. My current disaster includes a delicious Filofax York Deskfax with mostly Filofax inserts. A series of luxurious Gillio A5s cast aside like yesterday's newspaper and the neat and tidy argument of a gaggle of Gillio medium sized planners in varying models Mia Cara, Amica, and the rarely photographed Trifoldasaurus.

There has to be a point where a line can be drawn and defeat or victory can be declared. 

Deskfax/B5 <---Something Gillio REALLY needs to consider when looking at the plethora of women like me who work for a living and need to function out of a larger display for professional application. Same argument for people who need a larger smartphone display.
This item is meant to be stored on a desk as the name indicates. I do a lot of my thinking and brain-dumping in B5 format (double the size of A5-just put two A5 sheets horizontally one above the other and you will get an idea of the wonders of B5.

I don't want to carry my Deskfax with me. It is rather cumbersome to write in on the go and doesn't create a propensity for writing on the fly. What gets written on the fly? Why is everyone so concerned with writing "on the go."? Are we attempting to lob golf balls into their respective holes as we attempt to make a shopping list? Are we having trouble holding the motorcycle handlebars while simultaneously color coding next week's appointments?

Not that kind of "on the go." When I am out meeting with clients or heading to a meeting, I want to have my world with me so I can mange anything that comes my way. What if I need to handle an emergency for the house? Do I have all the house emergency details with me? Do I need them all with me?
Those contrasting questions are at the heart of planner fail.

Remember: It's never the planners fault.

I have come to the conclusion our planner fails are really a failure on our own parts to delegate what kind of inserts we need and how to use them purposefully. True, the wrong planner can really get annoying quickly and you will find yourself moving out before you have ever fully moved in. It's visceral hurling of one set of standards while embracing a completely different set. Gillio has ruined me forever. I can never go back to a nylon stitched Franklin Covey or Filofax. The old Filofax models still make my heart beat faster though. Have I gone off course? Yes? Okay. Inserts.

PLANNEROLOGY LAW NUMBER 4: Our circumstances dictate the environment in which our planners will be used. 

What?! Take a seat and wonder upon the trueness of this statement. If you are an active sort of person, with gym memberships, children running amok and something to be picked up at the cleaners on a weekly basis then your circumstances of playing chauffeur to your self and loved ones creates the circumstances for you to want a quick-access, tell me what I need to know right now because I can't think too far down the line kind of planner. Deskfax is not for you in this circumstance. 

HOWEVER, even you warrior breeds like to have a bit of down time and reevaluate personal goals, to-dos, and pantry levels. If you do these things on the go, then carry on with the smaller sizes. If you do these things in the quiet stolen moments at home or work then perhaps it's time to think about a larger footprint for corralling these thoughts into workable bits of data. 

I always want to have my world with me in my planner, but my world changes with every activity I participate in. So the only out from this Dante-esque level of hell is to maintain only 1 calendar (as I have consistently done and professed) and attach or supplement said calendar with a satellite TRACKER. 

What gets tracked? Anything you feel would bring a sense of control to your life if you weren't home or at your command center of life. 

So then, where's the out? It comes when you come to terms with the ever changing circumstances of your own life. Our lives are not stagnant. Why then, do we assume that our planner choices must be stagnant? Is it possible to have only one planner and move on with life. Yes. Be prepared to track who you are becoming as you step into December. Here he comes. 

The Delights of Ostrichy Cows Or How I Learned To Love Non-Flying Cows

The Delights of Ostrichy Cows

Or

How I Learned to Love Non-Flying Cows

Planner courtesy of Gillio Firenze

Review courtesy of Plannerology

As planner aficionados, we all can agree that a great planner really sets the space for our planning needs. Many times I have found myself unable, YES, unable to write a single word down in a planner simply because the outer shell was not in agreement with what I wanted to experience. Everything is energy. In this particular review, the energy Gillio sent me came in the shape of a Medium Mia Cara wrapped in, never naturally occurring, purple ostrich, which in fact was also never naturally occurring, purple cow’s leather embossed with an ostrich-like pattern.

Behold! The Non-Flying Cow hailing from the island of Purpletopia (aka Florence, Italy). Can there be anything lovelier? I think not.

I had been enjoying the non-flying capability of the purple ostrich Appunto on A5 so I was familiar with the genus and species. Knowing I had a penchant for Medium Mia Cara models, the good folks at Gillio managed to make a non-flying ostrichy cow FLY across the pond to my home in Williamsburg, Virginia. I was shocked customs didn't’ think we were engaging in exotic animal trade. Pleased as punch, I engrossed myself in the usage of this planner to offer a very specific review on capabilities and limitations.

The following are my thoughts and my photos except for the two Mella Pieper shared with me. I have indicated her photos as her own.

First Thoughts: Resilient and hearty leather! For anyone that has already experienced the non-flying cow leather, I am sure you will agree with me the leather is robust and gives the use full confidence in considering participating in “Planner Throwing” events in Olympics. Not that I would want to throw this planner. I am simply saying the quality one experiences at first touch gives a resounding reflection of heft and sturdiness I have not encountered in any other leather save for Scotchgrain; weatherproofed leather! There is an essence of Saffiano leather which comes through slightly but doesn’t go all the way down that path. I love the texture and find myself gliding my fingers over the copious “dots” along the grain. Planners were made to be used-chucked in handbags, plopped on tables and demonstratively handed over to assistants glaringly whilst saying “I don’t have all the answers, I am the talent. Find the answer in here.”

Suggestion of Design No.1: Although seemingly wonderful, the pen holder on the Mia Cara was designed during an era when pens were an afterthought. I have never been able to properly use the pen slot designed for the Mia Cara models because either my pen will slip out as I tip my planner or it will mar the leather with various angles from the clip. I HIGHLY recommend an elasticated pen loop (or two while you are at it-one larger, one smaller).

Secondary Observations: As with all things Gillio, a lot of care has gone into the overall feel and function of this planner. One doesn’t even need to pick it up to notice the penchant for quality design. In keeping with the Mia Cara standards, all seven card slots accommodate various credit cards or Identification cards. I have never worried about these slipping out and this model continues to reassure me of this feature. Overall, the non-flying cow leather gives the planner a slightly “spongier” feel to it which is not altogether unpleasant. I quite like the rather haptic feedback my planner gives me when I am bit stressed out and I start to squeeze it. It doesn’t feel odd or awkward. It feels pleasant and welcoming.

Depending on the angle the light hits the non-flying cow leather, the color changes. Note the variations within my own photos which were taken indoors, with natural light, close to 12:00 PM with a bright blue sky. I have not added or edited the photos except for adding a black border around them.

The Dots! Dotting the landscape (get it?), the user finds elevated bumps intended to mimic the pores of the non-flying ostrich! Although slightly exaggerated in shape and color, they give a wonderful ton-sur-ton color combination, in effect allowing one to have a bi-color planner all within the same color hue.

The Dark Side of Dots: Lo and behold, the dots on my A5 Appunto have started to wear down and out revealing white marks underneath the darker purple hue. I was rather dismayed when I shared this finding with Mella.

And then she revealed to me something extraordinary. Pay attention, oh ye of little faith. Someone had come in to the shop with an old ostrich planner, showing where the years of usage had worn down the ‘bumps’ down to their nubs. What a thing of beauty! I’m not saying this is for everyone and certainly this planner needs some conditioner (in the name of everything holy, please condition this planner!!!) But my goodness, doesn’t this look lovely?!

These photos convinced me to learn to appreciate the non-flying cow leather in a different way than I was used to. You can’t listen to classical music and then say you can’t dance to it. It wasn't made for dancing. Similarly, you can’t look at ostrichy leather and say why doesn’t it stay the same way I bought it? Because this is how it patinas.

Suggestion of Design No. 2: Dear Gillio, dual poppers. That is all.

Firstly is the Medium Mia Cara and secondly is my used A5 Appunto. You can see the wear in the bumps on the right. Also, the Appunto has slightly raised bumps whilst the Mia Cara has flatter bumps. I think overall, that will affect the patina for each planner.

Medium Mia Cara

A5 Appunto

Handmade items will always wear out and will do so recording the history of their timeline as well as they user’s thoughts. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on one of these models, I highly recommend embracing the variations. I am not saying this because I was given review sample. I am saying this because I fundamentally believe in the classic yet modern beauty these planners represent.

As a fanatic of design, I can appreciate the distinction of a typical models created by hand versus cookie-cutter models created by machines. As a self-professed snob of consistency and standardization how can I then appreciate something with so much variation? the answer for me is simple: We can consistently create beautiful designs, unique in their own right, while maintaining high standards of quality. I create resumes for my clients. Each one is different, yet each one is standardized to maintain consistency in various aspects. Make sure when you pick up your planner, you maintain your expectation of standards to the same aspects. That is, if you are about high-quality leathers, stitching and design, continue to evaluate your planner based on those quantifiers.

I am pleased Gillio have picked Plannerology to provide honest feedback for their latest model, the Medium Mia Cara in purple Ostrich print. I welcome you all to join me in further discussing how making first-class lifestyle choices, like picking handmade over machine made, impacts every aspect of our lives and creates the calm or stress we have.

You can find discussions at www.facebook.com/groups/plannerology or via photo at Instagram @KarineTovmassian. You can also find me next year in San Francisco, California at the first annual PlannerCon speaking about the first-class lifestyle and analogue planners in a post-digital 21st century. You can also hear me telling Steve Morton to “shut-it” at our podcast, The HitchHiker’s Guide To The Plannnerverse, available at iTunes and on philofaxy.com

These new colours will be released at 14:00 CET on Tuesday 27th September on the Gillio Website.There will be an introduction discount offer on each of the new colours, see the Gillio website for full details.

Each organiser will come with 2017 inserts and a free pen in a colour of your choice, make your selection at the check out.

Should you want a colour that is out of stock, you are advised to register your email address for each colour you are interested in as Gillio do take notice of the number of email addresses registered to determine which colours to have made next.

As soon as a colour is restocked then the list is cleared down. So if you miss out on a particular colour, please register your email address again.

Rise of The Geeks Is Now Live At PaperPlanning.com

RISE OF THE GEEKS

Planning Doldrums And Other Thoughtlets For The End Of Summers

As summer comes to a sizzling close, I find myself pensively gazing out the windows of my upstairs home-office longingly hoping for a sign of a drip-drip-drop of rain. Some clouds had gathered today for a short meeting but it seems no one had brought coffee, so they dispersed later on in the early part of the evening. Planning on Sunday evenings feels cathartic, needed and natural. It often feels like some kind of beacon, honing in on what the week's pulse is destined to be.

This week we had 9 trees felled at our cottage. We still have a whopping 32 on the property and I know when the storms come later next month, I won't worry as much about which branches are hovering dangerously close to my office roof. Similarly, I have culled a tree's worth of data from 8 months of planner related detritus collected mostly a little thoughts, or thoughtlets, as I like to call them. Some of these thoughtlets were thought with the intention of them turning into full thoughts and upon weekly once-throughs in my planner, they became discarded entities, abstract realities with no tangible connections to projects or goals.


As with all seasonal changes, the beauty of their reality is dependent on our own ability to see ourselves within those same changes. I would very much like to have a clear space when the rains do come, to examine goals progress and adjust milestones to account for the being of human being. Knowing the seasons change should allow us to be kinder to ourselves when we take an account of where we are in the year, based on our own expectations of where we anticipated we might be at the  beginning of the year. We are now different people. In a month or so, so much more will have changed in us and in our lives.

For anyone looking at a laundry list of failed goals, consider this new season one of renewal where a recommitment to idealistic hopes can be reassessed and repurposed, this time with clearer instructions and actions to help pick apart behemoth goals we often set for ourselves. The key to succeeding is to pick 1-2 goals only. Make sure when you ARE picking your goals you are not inadvertently picking out action items to help you progress toward your goal success. Often actionable items can be conflated with goals. For example: I want to exercise more is not really a goal; it is a vague descriptor of an action one can take to gain a better sense of well-being. The goal might be to feel more supple in 6 months or to lose x number of pounds or be able to walk for x number of miles. A well-defined goal, with milestones, realistic outcomes and a motivational reason for accomplishing it all serve to help create momentum around achievement. Habit is what helps us succeed with the drudgery of actually getting things done. 

If, for example, you are setting a goal you hope to maintain as part of a new lifestyle, changing your lifestyle habits must also be part of the actionable items, otherwise you will go back to what you have now. 

I shall be using the remainder of summer to plan out and track a single goal for myself with a deadline of 3 months, to keep me honest. Now to find my to-do list in the pile of papers I've just culled...

Copyright Karine Tovmassian, LLC 2016

Plannerology

The Meeting Place Or: How To Create A Passive-Agressive Planning Hub in Your Home

I want to dedicate this post to the many paper planner aficionados who understand the value of paper planning and want their families to reap the same benefits. Whether or not your family is into writing things down, you can BET they would love to know where you are going to be during the day and I am not just talking about stalking someone's whereabouts on the "Find My Friends" app.

Consider setting up a spot in the home where everyone is guaranteed to go past at least twice a day. This spot exists in our home and I have the following items on an old desk.

1. A lamp
2. A wire basket for outgoing packages
3. An envelope holder for outgoing post (very often we have so many outgoing packages they end up crushing the regular outgoing post, so I have to separate them.)
4. A badder than bad Filofax Sandhurst Deskfax indicating MY weekly plan.
5. An old pen pot with viable pens.

That's it. No fuss, no muss. Our keys are nearby on the opposite wall hanging off a key hook. Here's the basic premise of my plan...If the family gets used to seeing where I will be during the week, they may appreciate anticipating my return to plan out events we will be doing together. But, there is more! I am going to leave a very thin pack of post-it notes nearby to make it look like there is a scarcity. Oh, sorry, that was me falling about laughing thinking there is a post-it note scarcity in my home. I have enough note pads to last me two lifetimes. But, yes, place a thin pad next to the desk fax and see if anyone feels inspired to write their own a-la-Carie Harling.

Here is where the plan gets slightly evil. I will take the planner away in one month. So when they all go to see where I will be, there will be nothing but an old desk surface looking back at them, along with the post baskets. Ideally, they will all call out in unison "Bring Back The Planner!" 

I will begin testing this theory after a month of desk usage and will naturally report my very non-scientific findings here. Developing a habit is not an easy task, let alone developing it in a passive-aggressive way for others to employ. I have high hopes. 

Defining The Space Between Planning and Thinking

There are many reasons to throw one's planner out the window. One particular reason is the perpetual space created between our thoughts and our plans. How we planned something doesn't necessarily end up getting executed the same way we intended. For example, you may have planned a nap in the afternoon and instead found yourself attending to a client that really needed your input. *Ehem, Sam*.

Planner fails happen because we have failed to clearly identify our personal goals in relation to our expectation of the planner's potential. 

It's not the planner's fault you had high expectation of it! You set up these lofty ideals and then forgot to tell your planner how you were intending to set it up. Womp. Womp. Planner fail ensues. The best and quickest way out of planner fail that DOES NOT require more insert purchases is to assign your vision and intention to your planner and set it up with the end goal in mind.

Say you want to keep better track of where you are spending your time during the work week and you forgot that that's what you wanted to see as a result at the end of the week because SQUIRREL! Ideally, you will have noticed on day 2 that your tracking is not going as planned because you have failed to plan. However, if you are like me and you realized your tracking is nowhere to be found an hour before the end of the work week, proceed to the following steps:
1. IMMEDIATELY, go to the next week and pick the end date (the following Friday).
2. Write in BIG, BOLD letters: Congratulations! Tracking achieved!
3. Close your eyes and think how you will feel, yes feel, when you know you have a full week's data at your greedy little finger tips and sit with that feeling for a solid 10 seconds.
4. Open your eyes and create a tracker, tick box, hyperdex, checklist, slot for every single day working back to the day you are starting on.
5. Close planner and feel MUCH BETTER about the fact that your tracking system is now in place.
6. Refer to planner the following day and NOTICE how your end result is there WINKING at ya, helping you succeed.
Once you have your vision aligned with your planner, execution should be a lot simpler to remember and you have now set yourself up for success.

Challenge yourself with little goals like this to help you learn how to identify and prioritize your values so your planner can become a reflection of who you are and how you are evolving throughout the year. 

Planners are more than appointment keepers. They are a living, breathing record of how you are navigating your life and the medium you choose initially may not be the ideal set up for how your brain thinks. If you catch yourself failing to plan, you may have just discovered a system that does not work for you. Don't give up. Keep trying until you get to a point where your planner becomes your assistant. You can name it Jeeves. 

Planning On The Weekends, Like Your Life Depended On It.

There is a definite moment in the time-space continuum where the giddiness of Friday evening, knowing an ENTIRE WEEKEND is about to begin, turns into the reality of THE WEEKEND HAS BEGUN and we must now endeavor to squeeze every last drop of weekendness out of it before it Mondays again.

And to those of us that use the weekend to plan, I raise this cool glass of club soda to you, to us for understanding the potential of next week lays at our fingertips and we must, at all costs, strive to plan before the doldrums of Sunday night overtake our senses.

As we settle in to our planner planning, let me make a simple comment. "Planning out the week will only be as good as the hope you are willing to throw at it." That is, if you can imagine what your week will look and feel like, BEFORE you begin planning you can stir the needed sparks of joy to infuse in your planning and develop an entire theme for how your week will play out. Systematically, define all the waking and sleeping hours and see if you can find corners of mental and spiritual renewal. We live in a culture where productivity is awarded and slothfulness is undesirable. Is it possible to find a time-space where we can refill the well of creativity, thoughtfulness, ambition and desire so we can be productive with purpose versus glorifying busyness?

Taking time to set up the emotional platform for planning means taking time to allow the "what is" to exist with you before you dictate just how productive you will have to be to out produce everyone else you are trying to get ahead of. It's quite possible to have yourself as your only competition and see if you can manage to be kind to yourself whilst being productive. Anyone (and everyone) manages to be productive whilst letting their health wither. That's too easy. So, really, the time to breathe, and think and daydream are all part of the planner planning process and we must listen to that inner voice that longingly calls for "doing nothing" before we begin to plan. That time-space is medium in which our true purpose can exist seamlessly with our thoughts and to deny that is to deny your own inspiration. No amount of "quiet music" can cure the inability to listen to the internal dialogue that comes from sitting quietly. There must be space to breathe so that calm and order and reign within the week you just sat down to plan.

You say you want more peace in your life? You want to start living the First-Class Lifestyle? Start by bringing it into your planning. Quiet down. Power off and see what happens when you let your mind drift for a bit. 

Have a great week ahead kiddies. Don't forget to tell me how your week went at Plannerology.

Why I Gave Up My Dream Job To Stay Home With My Planners

I was recruited by a defense contractor to serve as a translator and interpreter for the US Army in Romania last month. Being born in Romania and speaking the language fluently, I considered this to be an opportune moment to wrap up my life and live out of a suitcase for 1 year, effectively placing all my other activities on hold. I should be ready. Most of my stuff has been KonMaried, I know where all my documents are. I have scanned copies on Evernote.

During the in-processing with this company (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty),  I was asked to provide a slew of documents, get physical examinations and was presented with the restrictions on what I could take with me. After having read all the documents, I understood that my life was to fit into 2 rolling duffle bags and anything else had to be mailed to me once I was in country.

THIS was THE opportunity to pop open my planners and belt out my lists contents in operetta form, because I had been preparing for this since forever. I had whittled my planner collection down and was prepared to carry 4 planners in a backpack for 3 weeks until I got to where I needed to be.
I had all the travel loyalty cards and new all their access codes. I had logins and passwords written down for my husband to access all accounts in my absence.
I told my clients to be patient.
I bought new clothes
I closed out loose ends
I deposited checks, sold last minute items, posted things to the mail.
Brand new computer bought (smaller than what I need for editing but perfect for 1 year abroad).
I GOT IT ALL DONE.

Still paperwork kept rolling in. With a week to spare to my leave date, we decide to take a family trip to the Virginia Tidewater area to look for a house because our lease was up in January 2016. Ten + hours each way with my husband, mother and puppy, with pee pee stops every 2 hours or so. None of the houses we had selected worked out.
One of the houses the realtor suggested worked.
Still paperwork was coming in. No time to respond, no sleep to speak of. Clients pay no attention to "we are closed until the new year" sign. Orders keep pouring in.
"Stop at the underwear store, I need new underwear for one year" Underwear bought

Offer placed on house, Offer negotiated.
Thanksgiving Day Offer is accepted
Next day. We get word my mother in law passed away. My husband starts making plans to fly out for the funeral.
10+ hours driving back in torrential rains.
Phone calls, Pack up husband. Make more lists. A few loose ends still not tied up and now new loose ends with powers of attorney needed for my family.
Now, the family will be moving without me present. All my life will be packed in boxes and stay in boxes until I get back.

It's all going to be worth it. This is the job you've been waiting for, K.

More vaccinations needed for new job. Stop working, start driving to meet all the requirements.
New requirements for new job spring up. Meet requirements. Check.
Tickets? I need tickets? Call company... tickets on the way. Tickets arrive. One business day before weekend of travel:
Mom wants me to follow her in my car to get to Carmax to have our cars appraised. This. Now.
While at CarMax...
We will need the following original documents for your processing-COPIES WILL NOT DO.
"Um, I only have copies." (Friday Morning, flight slotted for Sunday)
"That won't do."
You never said you needed copies before, I have provided you everything in my life and thinking: why would you NOT list such a specific request on day one?!
Friday Afternoon "Am I flying out Sunday or not?"
No phone call, no email. Notice of flight cancellation sent by airline.

Executive revelation had and decision made Sunday while at the dog park with husband and puppy:
You didn't have your life together at all. You had the framework for getting it together. You have now just started to get your life together. What's it worth to you to be away from your life now that you know what to do in order to get it together? What's it worth? Is it worth your health?

These people still haven't called or emailed me. It's Monday afternoon. I have only words of gratitude to them, for allowing me the massive stress, the upset to my health and the horrific last-minute , mad-dash planning on my end to pretend my life was in order.

We are getting ready to move to our forever home. FOREVER HOME after being moved around almost every year for the last 15 years. There is an office for me in our new home (which we haven't closed on yet but are very close to). This office is upstairs and in the back corner. It's a sunny corner of a corner house in Williamsburg, Virginia. It has french doors to it and when you walk in to the rectangularly shaped room, you notice the sun beaming down on the hardwood floors-floors that were reclaimed from a pier during the Boston Tea Party. My planners want to live here and not in boxes waiting one long and lonely year for me. I want to meet my friend Steve during designated hours and record our radio program. I want to start putting down roots. I want to take my dog to the dog park. I want to plan it all out so I can see it from the comfort of my home, which I have earned every square inch of.

I'm calling Apple today to see if I can swap out my very tiny laptop for a 27 inch iMac so I can clearly see the wonderfully horrid resumes my clients send me, so I can help them move past their unhelpful resumes and move into what they need, a document to serve them.
I'm scoping out yoga and pilates studios, and making pedicure dates with my girlfriend in DC and wrapping my head around what it might feel like to not have to ever pack up and move again. Being an interpreter is still my dream job and I don't want to have to live in a self-induced nightmare to get it. Because when a dream shows up as reality, the effort needed to get there should have already been made, gracefully and not in a panic, without the terror of not knowing if one has enough underwear to last a year.
Getting ready to KonMari the rest of the house before the move. Now that's a dream I can look forward to.

Tidying Up Your Life And Other Steps To Loving Yourself

There may be quite a few fanatics of author, Marie Kondo out there. I am one of them. I have devoured her book, "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" and am quite content FINALLY understanding what all the stuff in my life was doing. 

Some of it was filling a void. Some of it was trying to be first class. (please read my blog post on being first class to fully grasp this concept). Some of it was useful and some of it was a very good representation of my emotional state while armed with a credit card. 


And so we come to Charlie Chaplin. Yes, Charlie Chaplin. I paraphrase this thoughts here because the actual quote varies on many levels. 

As I began to love myself I freed myself from anything that is no good for my health-food, people, things, situations, and everything that drew me down and away from myself.

At first I called this attitude a healthy egoism. Today I know it is "love of oneself."

I have experienced the "magic" of #KonMari's techniques. I have seen my house linger with the awesomeness of being complete in all tasks BEFORE the weekend even begins. I have...seen the back wall to my closet. And all of these are unpaved steps on the journey of self love and self respect. 

Sadly, this is not a topic taught by most parents or schools. The self care my body, mind and soul requires is compartmentalized within the scope of exercise, study and prayer. However, no one has ever conceptualized the divine grace of combining all three aspects into a discipline of the self as a form of active self respect and self love. There can be no greater gift. No amount of money can purchase this sense of well-being and there is something wonderfully attractive about discipline. 

I have already seen the social media commentary about people who have tidying up their lives so completely that their therapists are beginning to intervene, requesting their clients not take up so much time tidying, as it is most probably serving as a distraction from real issues. If this is your therapist please understand, your therapist probably says that because he or she thinks the focus on tidying up takes away from purposeful living. Most people freakishly tidy up as a matter of bringing temporary order into their lives. Your therapist doesn't get that you are mindfully invested in living deliberately. This is not a chronic thing. It used to be and to most people perpetual cleaning, unstopping, decluttering, and all that that entails is manic behavior which is indicative of a long-term (read long time paying) client. 

The ability to self asses and realize that living in a tidy and orderly home is not a fantasy and having something like that is not reserved for the rich and famous. 

Have you noticed how the wealthier people are, the less stuff they actually own? Clutter is non-existent in wealthy homes, while it is pervasive in poorer homes or homes where debts are owed. 

In order to change the direction of your life, particularly if you agree that self respect and self love are the best gifts you can give yourself. Then why not start disengaging from anything that draws you "down and away from" yourself? This is the premise of KonMari's book. She captures her concept with "does this item spark joy"? I HIGHLY encourage a new reader to follow the order of releasing items from your home because the order actually determines your ability to succeed. There are many who will advise you begin decluttering by working in one room a little bit each day or setting aside a box of items you no longer use. These are all the same methods you are already aware of and these methods have led you to the same stuffed closets and cupboards you have today. Belongings MUST be grouped together in like categories before attempting any release. All Clothes, all books, all papers, FROM EVERYWHERE around your home must be gathered up together. That's why she urges one grouping at a time. 

The relationship I had with my belongings before I read Marie Kondo's book was almost non existent. I was the perfect consumer, buying, slightly using and then throwing or donating items to cycle in the newer and fresher things, never grasping the magnitude of my wastefulness. Particularly in full understanding the amount of money being spent on things that continued to make me unhappy. This realization alone, was worth the read for me. And it is very different when you read these words off a blog instead of living them. 

I also recommend the two-part Japanese video series about a fictional KonMari character who does a better job of explaining why belongings need to be sorted in a particular order. 

Droves of people are swearing by her technique. I am one  of them. I also see the value of how tidying up your life is the greatest demonstration to the rest of the world of how to treat you. 

Be First Class In Everything

I recently came across a sticker that read:
You can't have a first-class body while eating off the dollar menu

This truly resonated with me and in my journey to streamline all aspects of my life. How can I expect to have anything worth having if I don't commit my whole self to it? I have to be first class in everything I do so I can live the first class lifestyle.

There are plenty of celebrities who we see traveling in style and jet-setting in first class accommodations. The critics will criticize but, one thing is abundantly clear, you never see them eating off the dollar menu. Some of the wealthiest people have full-time live-in chefs that create daily menus. These celebrities make a concerted effort to eat well, take care of their bodies and create a daily routine that makes their well-being the centre of their activities.
Yes, they do get paid to take care of themselves. But in a way, you and I get paid to take care of ourselves too. We are the ones that have chosen the careers we have. We have chosen our mates, our homes, our cities our menu items, our routines or lack thereof.

In our every day lives we all pay a price to buy the things we want. We also pay a price for neglecting the things we don't take care of. In essence, if you don't take care of yourself and instead, you neglect yourself, you have a great chance of losing your given investment of health and well-being.

The actual cost is then measured in co-pays, drug side effects, insurance costs, time away from family, time away doing things you HAVE to do in order to make it through another day, phone calls with incompetent administrative clerks, mistakes, schedule changes and various other time suckers which would otherwise not exist in a healthy person's world.

The sicker we feel the less we are able to do for ourselves and I'm sure most of us have held a pity-party or two for those god-awful, can't get out of bed-days. So how do we come out of this comatose state of perpetual dis-ease? It starts with our mindset.

Mindset, or the things you tell yourself when there are no words coming out of your mouth, defines your life. 

Research has shown that 95%-97% of the choices we make during the day are made by the unconscious mind. That's a HUGE percentage! The number really has had an impact on me. I have made a vision board out onto one of the walls in my pilates room. Yes, I am that woman. My husband bought me a pilates reformer machine when we first moved to Kentucky. The entire room is dedicated to well-being. The wall that faces the machine is covered with images I would like to incorporate into my lifestyle. These images include, fit people, disciplined people, images of faraway, exotic travel locations, camping gear, fine dining, prayerful images, hopeful images and all the other daily moments that I want my 95%-97% to be influenced by. I visualize my life on paper through planning but I also visualize where I would like my life to go through an ever changing collage of images to give my brain clear guidelines on what to create. My path is created by my DELIBERATE efforts to coax my unconscious mind into purposefully select things that are good for me.  This is the first fundamental of being First Class in everything.
Create space in your life for your first-class lifestyle

How to create space in your life for deliberate living

The next step is eliminating anything that does not support that first-class lifestyle. Ratty t-shirts, clothing that never gets worn and only takes up space, miscellaneous items that clutter up space, books upon books of stories that have already been accessed and are sitting, lifeless on the shelves. These things take up space. They take up all the second and third class space you are willing to allow. 

Ever notice the main difference between first class and economy seating? More space. The nicer treatment is a plus, but what everyone is really after involves more space. First class lounges vs. economy lounges? More space. Fine dining vs fast food? More space (even in the kitchen). In cultures where space is at a premium, like the Japanese culture, you will find people eliminate a lot of other miscellaneous items to create the sense of space, which in turn, creates a sense of calm. Some sushi bars and ramen shacks are extremely tiny. People have to squeeze in. Nevertheless, every millimeter of space has been accounted for to create a space worth sharing or a space better left empty. Compare wealthy peoples' homes with those who complain about not having enough. Notice, I am not saying poor people.  Truly poor people have very few belongings. I am talking about those who complain about not having enough money and yet their homes are bulging with belongings. Why do all the home makeovers look so drastic when they are complete? Because they have created more space, either by building a bigger room or eliminating excess clutter.


Space give us a clean slate to do with that space whatever we want. I don't like filling up my walls with paintings or decor. Wall art is not decor for me. It's visual noise, even if it is a beautiful work of art. That bit of art is another artists's interpretation of how my wall should look ALL THE TIME. There is no room for me to bring in my own thought or interpretation. Blank walls, empty desks, or roomy airplane seats allow for breath and movement. This empty space will also allow for your mindset to shift. This is really the only way to provide yourself first class service in life. Always look for more space and if there isn't any, create it. My hero for creating space has been author Marie Kondo "KonMari." In her book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" she gives the formulaic layout for creating space in your life FOR EVERYTHING. I highly recommend her book and her system to as the first step in understanding the process of being first class in everything.

October (is really the last month of the year) A Planner's Perspective on the most important planning month of the year.

This was meant to be published in October of 2014. However, due to a cross-country move, I am now extremely early for October 2015. Consider this your first quarter check-in for your annual goals. 

So, October. Right.

 How can it really be the last month of the year? I mean we all know the last month is December. 

Let me break it down for you.

Most of the Northern Hemisphere on planet Earth begins slowing down, rhythmically with the seasons. One of my goals in 2015 is based around mindfulness. Therefore, if I am being mindful of the fact that seasons indicate change in nature, then as a natural being, I too must align myself with that change. So, starting in the Fall, things start to slow down. I am very fond of this season, because aside from dealing with an unhealthy dose of anxiety, I enjoy watching nature slowly turn the volume down a little bit each day, from muted colors in the plants and trees to the changing winds that bring the aromas of apple cinnamon spice cider, pear tarts and pumpkin soups.

Right about the time the Halloween nonsense starts to appear in stores, I start a virtual timer in my mind and take into consideration the "turning down" of the home, work and life, very much like the turning down of a hotel room and bed. There is a certain freshness in having deliberately decided to do a particular activity. When we leave our hotel rooms, the staff come and "make up" the room. Preparing it for activities that involve being "up." We could just get into a made bed. That's what most of us do at home. But the mindfulness aspect of living comes into play when we purposefully, "turn down" a bedroom to prepare for doing things while "down." The "making up" or "turning down" implies a routine, simple steps that take a space from x to y. I find October to be the month to transition from "made up" to "turned down."

Unless you are hosting massive halloween parties every year, there is really not much planning to have to get done for October. However, right around the corner is Thanksgiving. Meal prep, family phone calls, spare room refreshening and general house tidying comes alive. My birthday also happens to be at the end of November so I am usually planning a getaway for us. Sure enough, right after Thanksgiving, Christmas celebrations are in full swing and depending on where you live in the world, the weather starts making itself very known. When we lived in Alaska, one of my favorite moments was the rush to ensure we had enough provisions to get a good chunk of the winter out of the way without having to leave the house too often. No one really wants to make a run to the store for bulky items at -35F. Porches were swept, cobwebs  removed, garage cleaned-out and a small stockpile of dry goods would magically appear in the house.

With all this going on, I really am not thinking about the planning that is going to happen for the following year.  I don't want to think about the future right now; I want to enjoy the now. These 3 months are the most magical months for me and I allow myself to mentally and physically enjoy the final months of the year by using the first 2 weeks of October as "Turn Down" weeks. October 15th is my deadline to order planner inserts for the next year. This way, I am not caught in any of the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year's rushes and my inserts arrive with plenty of time for me to work out any new tweaks to my system.

Ordering inserts in October also gives me time to start filling in what I will be doing the following year. Now, I may not know where I will be but, I can certainly start defining what my goals I want to incorporate into my life and how I want the year to play out. Having my inserts early, allows me the time and space within the spare moments stolen during the quiet months to get my thinking done. I make time to be alone and I make time to ensure my Master Task List from the previous year has been reviewed and unfinished items moved into the new year's list.


Once the New Year is come and gone, I am normally eyeballs deep in getting resumes out and giving talks on streamlining. I don't want to have to start thinking about what my goals are in the first month of the year. I have been thinking for three months and am activating all the processes I have planned out. I admit, January carries with it a sense of heaviness. There are 12 long months ahead of work and plans and all sort of things that need sorting out. There is also a sense of freshness and newness and the chance to make everything new with what didn't work in the year before. I make a point to steal quiet moments in January, as much as I can. These moments usually involve my planner and I would not want to be in the second week of January hoping my inserts would arrive already!

I hope this year, you create some permanent rituals for yourself and your household to "turn down" the year but, until then, we've got some work to do.

Wabi-Sabi-The Japanese concept of finding perfection in imperfection

The widely referenced website, Wikipedia, has a rather accurate description of Wabi-Sabi:

Wabi-sabi (侘寂^?) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".^[1] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin^?), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō^?), the other two being suffering (苦 ku^?) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (空 kū^?).
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

I recently decided to purchase an "as-is" Gilliodoro planner from Gillio
Photographed from the point of view as a "flawed" item, this Red + Gold (dual tone) Amica A5 planner, was positioned on display with the intent of disclosing, with full transparency, the obvious issues, the most prevalent being a discolored spine from having been placed in a sunny window display. This decidedly red planner had a blotchy, orange spine.
I kept looking.
The description stated it was missing its original box and as an added "flaw," it was equipped with a non-elasticated leather pen loop.
I kept looking.
And heard a little whisper say, "Look at the perfectness of this imperfect item." Thousands of miles away and I took a chance to order this unwanted item for a more than reasonable price. It finally arrived last week.
Here are my thoughts as we go through some photos I took early on a cloudy, Southern California morning. The cloud coverage added a hint of blue to the red. In fact, the red is brick/crimson red with soft, soothing undertones bringing an overall harmony to the entire planner.
Here is the open planner. As you will notice, the spinal discoloration is hardly visible in this light.

Let's take a closer look at the leather on the cover. You will notice a rather sumptuously textured and grained epoca leather.

There is a simple, refined, old world elegance to this planner. It's almost pensive.

As I opened the planner, I noticed the workmanship on the clasp, including the even and consistent stitching, the unbridled graininess of the gold leather on the inside and the little pocket of collapsible leather alongside the popper to add aesthetic design, show mastery of leather-work and clearly define this important mechanism of the planner-the gateway.

We are now presented with a rich visual marriage of red and gold autumnal colors to underplay the subtle and nuanced aesthetics of proper craftsmanship and design.

Notice the careful stitching alongside the pockets and card slots.

The interior is a visceral and tactile experience, drawing the senses to experience all the tamed portions of leather. This is the embodiment of refinement.

As we move across the planner from left to right, let us observe the matte Krause rings. My fingers took a loving stroll alongside these rings when I came across them. In a world where often gaudy color palates combat sophisticated and simple tastes, I am BESIDE MYSELF to find understated, high-quality, REPLACEABLE rings in a luxury planner. This small gesture speaks volumes to the overall value added when looking for an every day planner to inspire, quiet and record daily thoughts, plans and calls to action.

The back inside cover has two, full length pockets and 3 card slots with the Italians reminding us once again, they are, indeed, the gods of quality design and execution.

 As I wrap up the planner tour, I will attempt to highlight the blotchy orange spine again. To try and convince you there is actually something wrong with this planner. The lighting in my office and the cloud coverage blend the orange but it is readily visible to the naked eye.
It doesn't bother me. I thought I was going to rush out and get the color matched evenly, to try and bring it to a uniform standard of quality Gillio is notorious for upholding.

I am happy with this perfectly imperfect planner. It is a planner that I have been waiting for without even knowing it. I accept this planner with its perfect imperfections and would like to impart upon you the value of luxury ownership through something one of my heroes is quoted as saying:

"Luxury lies not in richness and ornateness but in the absence of vulgarity."-Coco Chanel

If we begin to look at our lives (our planners are a part of our lives) as an experiment of building consistent quality, then we ought to certainly not be afraid of finding imperfection. The Gilliodoro planner I shared with you is imperfect and can also be brilliant example of luxury. The imperfections do not take away from its essence of old world elegance. Similarly, your imperfections do not alter your essence. 

I consistently refine and simplify my life. I encourage all my clients to do the same-to remove what is unnecessary and become mindful of all our abilities and blessings. This A5 Amica, with no back pocket, no-elasticated leather pen loop and blotchy orange spine has now become the most valuable and luxurious planner I own and although I own more expensive planners, there are none more perfect than this imperfect model. 

I help my clients create strategic life plans, focusing on creating and designing a streamlined life. Yearly goals are broken down into monthly, weekly and daily routines that are built around small but permanent habit changes. I am thrilled, beyond measure, to place my routines, goals and permanent habits into this planner and carry with me the imperfectly perfect legacy I am working on in 2014 and will happily carry over in 2015. Automation Nirvana resides here. 

Stay tuned for my upcoming book "The Streamlined Life: Quick + Easy Tips Bringing Order to Your Whole Life, by Planning, Tracking and Designing Small + Permanent Habit Changes

Planning Your LIfe On-The-Go

I was not born knowing how to plan and keep my life organized. I learned this process by experimenting with different set-ups and invariably succumbing to consumerism. Being able to design a life on the go requires some planning. Not a lot. But some. 

First, how long will you be on the go? 

Are you taking short business trips, able to use your home as a landing space?

Will you be taking 1-2 month long trips away from your home State or country?

Are you just planning the "on the go" to mean time away from the family and the house while you are at work?

Assess your needs. Then create a plan. And work on it every single day. 

The household must keep running while you are away. What information will a stranger need to help your household continue running smoothly?

Gardner? Handyman? Pool guy? Seasonal charity? Cleaning? Pets? 

Inventory of things and life are probably the most valuable items one can have, away from the home. One of the most frustrating things I experienced was being in a foreign country and unable to determine how much damage was incurred to my flat, back home, from flooding. 

Here iis how I have set up my On-The Go planners for my needs.

Business travel 2-3 times per month

Average stay 4 nights 5 days 

Mode of transport: Airplane and car

1. A5 Gilliodoro Amica planner which contains my client list, schedule, and project management.

2. Medium (Personal) Gilliodoro Navy with DIY Fish inserts to track personal goals, development and well-being, including gratitude journal, vitamin tracker and exercise log.

3. Filofax Piccadilly Red Slimine for my wallet which has Daytimer soft silicone credit card inserts to hold practically every credit card, loyalty card, gift card or any other unnerving card that has a tendency to float around my office. They are all contained there. And when I do find myself shopping while away, I can always have my gift cards at the ready. I do a little happy dance when I use one up and can get rid of it. Making space in my wallet means making space for money to find its way to me. 

4. Laptop (depending on the workload) or iPad Mini, a tripod stand and a bluetooth keyboard with access to a full version of Word to keep my editing on track. 

At the airport, I merely have to have my slimline with me to show ID or use a debit card for miscellanous purchases. None of these babies get checked in. EVER. The only things I am willing to check-in are things that I would be ok losing. That is, I can always replace clothes, make-up, shoes, etc. But I would be lost without my planners and my trip would probably come to a standstill without proper ID to check into hotels, money and cards for car rentals. These items are always on me-usually in my handbag.

I travel with (read: carry on) a vintage Louis Vuitton Randonee Grand Model (GM). This has been a staple for me in the last 5 years and no matter how many other bags I try, nothing else comes close to the simple, practical clean lines. It goes with everything and holds the whole lot!

One suitcase: A Rimowa Cabin International (black) which can be checked in or carried on. I will do a separate post on what I take and how I pack. 

Keep in mind this is only for 5 days travel. However, the minute I leave the house (and my office) all my clients want to reach me. So I make sure I carry the essentials with me to remind myself of conversations I have had with my clients. Having a personal assistant (thank you, Joanne) also helps tremendously. 

International Travel

Average Stay: 1-2 months

Mode of transport: Airplane, train, car

When my husband and I travel we like to take our time and see our friends. We are lucky enough to have access to free plane tickets around the world and as such have to have a VERY flexible schedule. This means traveling light and being able to manage the home while we are away. 

1. Traveler's style leather notebook with important client details transfered over to include the past month only. Special pocket holds my passport

2. iPad Mini with tripod stand and bluetooth keyboard.

3. Filofax Piccadilly Red Slimine for my wallet

We have annoyingly cheesy, matching Gregory Rucksacks and we only take about a week's worth of clothing with us, because we usually get our laundry done on the go and can always buy more as we go. On trips where we are going to stay put in 1-2 places for the whole tiime, we pack regular suitcases and have now gotten into the habit of posting them via UPS ahead of our travel, so our belongings can meet us at the hotel. No losses, no damaged suitcases and we can always ship what we want home. 

Staying connected is important but even more important is having a system to make sure things are running the way they always do. Finding reliable and trustowrthy housesitters is probably one of the best choices you can make for youself on long trips away. Providing your housesitters with a manual on how to run your home is priceless. Currently, I am using a Filofax A5 Red Finchley. It seems to be working fine and holds up to the daily wear. 

I am a big fan of enjoying life. Being a connoisseur of life, such that travel is actually enjoyed and when I get home from my travels and I don't need a week to recover because I have been resting enough while I have been away. Although we do travel with alarm clocks, we only use them to make sure we are on time for the often early airport roll calls. Other than that, the alarm clocks stay tucked away and we do what we like. If we feel like we want to stay in and sleep, we will. That is a tremendously freeing experience. Our mantra has been: Travel light and often. Eat well while on the road, sleep in dark, cool and quiet rooms and stay hydrated. 

We hope to spend Christmas with my Godmother in Germany this year. Traveler's notebook is ready to go!