Sticky notes and colored page markers are thrown in our faces. Highlighters and brightly colored pens are heavily advertised. Separate notebooks, folders and book organizers are encouraged for each respective class that we take. Teachers say one thing in class and more than likely, an email will follow with completely different or new information. Those colored pens and class material all end up on one iconic notebook: the planner.
This little book is supposed to help people organize their week and successfully execute whatever projects or seminars need to be handled that day. However, planners are deceiving devices. These notebooks are adept at helping students plan for the future, but become a hideous to-do list the day when those things need to be completed. Why do we shy away from the plans until the day that we need to accomplish them?
We have all gone through the phase, and are probably still dealing with it, where the sky seemed to come crashing down in the form of mornings. The moment that alarm goes off is the instant we all wish we could roll over and bury ourselves under a mountain of sheets and pillows. This is an issue that antagonizes our relationship to planners. Ideas and goals are best accomplished in the morning when we feel rested and our willpower is stronger. Whether you slept for three or eight hours, your mind is sharpest right after you wake up.
The issue is our fear of mornings and our hatred of the phrase, “Early to bed, early to rise” when the college norm is “late to bed, late to rise.” If you wait to roll yourself out of bed until the morning is almost over, you won’t have much time to cross things off your planner. The afternoon is full of class, exercise, clubs and jobs. Also, as the day goes on, your willpower gradually depletes and leaves you feeling lethargic and yearning for the comfort of your bed.
But, some of those plans and homework assignments need to be crossed off one way or another. Therefore, we find ourselves wasting away in the library after midnight because those little notes crept on us again. As the night progresses and your focus dwindles, you start to move assignments and tasks to the next day. It feels easy to do when your brain feels like Play-Doh, but come the next day the same feelings will come back. And, because you had to stay up late, morning will turn into midday before you push yourself out of bed. The same vicious cycle continues.
Planners are supposed to lend a helping hand by taking the chaotic mess that makes up our extracurricular activities, school and social life, and help us accomplish tasks day by day. More than anything, organizers list what has to be done, but end up stressing us out. The more we start to put things on a schedule and cross, circle or highlight tasks, the more they just become things to get done.
Eventually, coffee dates with friends, volunteer activities and fun extracurricular events will also become another homework assignment. The more we push stuff off, the more we don’t want to do it. Our time for friends and fun activities become another note that has to be pushed to another day or week and ultimately, we forget about them. That lunch date with an old friend becomes another thing that we feel we have to get done.
Maybe a planner is more than just pieces of paper bound together. It’s an extension of our minds because it has the ability to keep us in the moment. We don’t have to worry about what is coming next. It’s already written and when that day comes, we can feel confident in our capacity to complete the task at hand.