On Being Thoughtful
We all know that serving others helps us get outside ourselves and can be a great source of peace. But when we’re busy with our own lives, sometimes it’s hard to remember to be outward reaching or to set aside the time to help someone in need. It can also feel overwhelming to add one more thing to your schedule, which is why we put together some ideas for ways you can incorporate thoughtfulness into the work you’re already doing in your planner. We hope these ideas help you develop the selfless habits you’re wanting to see in yourself!
If you want to be better about remembering birthdays or other important dates, you could create your own calendar with those dates and upload it to your planner. That way birthdays will print into your planner and you’ll see them as you’re planning out your week/month. Then you can make a note for yourself to call or send a card. (Here’s our tutorial for creating and uploading your calendars to your planner!)
On a similar note, you could work to add more addresses of friends and family members to your planner so when you catch word of them having a hard time, you can surprise them with a small care package.
Maybe you feel like there are people in your life that you haven’t talked to in a long time and you’d like to check in and catch up. Scheduling tasks always gets you one step closer to actually doing the tasks, so take a moment to regularly schedule in time to call the friends and family you want to be more connected to.
If you’re using your planner +pages to budget, you could plan to set some funds aside to regularly donate to a cause you’re passionate about. Or, you could set those funds aside to have on hand when an opportunity to help someone comes along.
You could make a small goal to dedicate one to-do item per week to serving someone else. Or, you could use the habit tracker in your weekly layout to encourage yourself to do one small act of service each day. Either way, both of these approaches will help you remember to be more thoughtful on a regular basis!
If you’re able to, you could add a few extra items to your grocery list that can be shared with someone who needs them. Make notes in your +pages where you meal and grocery plan.
If your weekly layout includes a “Next Week” section or an untitled Monday-Sunday list, you could fill that list with people you plan to reach out to each day, acts of service others did for you over the week, or a list of people you’d like to thank over the following week.
You could schedule regular time into your week (maybe once a week on a Sunday evening) to write a thank-you card or two. Try to think outside the box and recognize someone who may go unnoticed. Maybe you could write a kind review for your grocery store clerk who always does an excellent job and leave it with their manager next time you’re there. P.S. The pocket page at the back of your planner is the perfect spot to store thank-you cards!
However you want to become more thoughtful, we hope your planner is a helpful tool! We truly believe planners are transformative in nature because they help you write down your goals and hold yourself accountable to the progress you want to make. Being more thoughtful and outward-reaching is absolutely within your abilities—start by writing it down!