A Little Bit of Spanish

Following on from my last post on running, I thought I would share how I’ve been managing to accomplish another goal I have set for myself. A while back I wrote down all my goals and decided that now was the time to start working on some of the larger ones.  If not now, when?

We are all busy people and often pushed for time so I began to think about the time that I do have and how best to utilise it. I realised that there is a lot of time in my life that exists during everyday tasks such as driving, cooking, cleaning, running etc. that is not being used effectively.

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts recently and have come to really enjoy them. There really is something for everyone and all for free! The ones I have been listening to are informative and educational.  I started to catch up on my favourites while doing my everyday mundane tasks and do you know what? Those tasks became a lot more fun 🙂

A goal I have had for a while is to start learning Spanish.  We travel to Spain each year to holiday there and it would be fantastic to learn enough of the language to get by and be understood. So, I decided to listen to a short podcast on each of my runs.  Normally I would listen to music, which is great, but by listening to something educational it is helping to smash another of my goals.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before!

The podcast I am currently listening to is Coffee Break Spanish and it’s great. Just enough content in each session to give you some basics.

I’d really like to know if anyone else is using any other great resources or has any tips on language learning. Please comment below.

The Perfect Planner/Diary

‘Productivity is never an accident.  It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort.’

Paul J. Meyer

Whenever I come across someone who looks as though they are doing it all and juggling everything, I often think to myself, how is this possible? They are so lucky that they have the time to do x, y and z while working full time and taking care of children. It is only really since having children that I have truly begun to understand what it really means to be organised.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not without organisational skills. I mean, I’ve taught classes of 30+ children for the last 15 years so I know that I’m not a total disaster.  It’s just that I never seem to have enough time to do EVERYTHING I need to do in a single day.

So, in my quest to find out how to do/have/be everything, I did what I do best.  Researched.

We all start off with the same amount of time in any given week – 168 hours to be precise. I just came to realise that some people make better use of their time than others. So all these people who look as though they are effortlessly cruising through life? Well they’re not, they’ve just learned how to manage their time efficiently.

I started to look for tools that could help me to do the same. Many people use electronic calendars and apps and really get on with that but after a short trial I realised that this method just wasn’t for me. Possibly in the future I may have to switch over to this method as life gets more complicated and I can see that having the option to synch my calendar with my husband would work great when co-ordinating the school run etc. However, I love the physicality of my pen and paper. I love handwriting and colour and writing lists and plans so I carried on with my search.

I wanted something different.  Not just a boring old diary.  I want to enjoy carrying it with me each day and enjoy crafting all these plans I will be making. So the diary section at Staples, WHSmith and Rymans just didn’t cut it. I turned to the internet for help in finding this beautiful little tool I craved to help me to be that person who does it all .

I narrowed it down to two options. The Passion Planner and Emily Ley’s Simplified Planner. The Passion Planner is available to buy or download.  I decided against a planner that I would have to print out as I thought it may be costly (I don’t have a great printer) and if I had to take it to Staples or somewhere to get it bound etc I may never get around to it.

Therefore I came to terms with the fact that I would need to purchase my planner as a ready-made product. Hmmmm.

The Passion Planner

OR

Emily Ley’s the Simplified Planner

Which one would you choose? Both so pretty and so functional.

I finally decided on the Simplified Planner. Why? Because it is just that. Simple.  I knew that I wanted half-hour time slots throughout the day so I could manage my time efficiently: both planners have this. The only other things that were top of my wish list were a to-do list and a meal planning box. Both of these items were covered. Perfect for home life and my never ending list of teaching duties at work.

I really loved the passion planner also but I felt it was more of a journal type planner and although there are so many cool features in it, I think it would be too distracting for me and I would want to fill in all the journal pages and spend lots of time making it look pretty. I LOVED the goal setting part of the Passion Planner and aim to take something from the logical way the PP allows you to integrate your goals in to your calendar. It’s definitely a product that I would use in the future and I will keep it in mind for 2017!

The Simplified Planner is now sitting in its beautiful box on my desk just waiting to be used. I can’t wait to start 2016 with intention and new plans. I’m taking back MY time!

Anyone else have experience of using these Planners? How do you organise your time? Love to hear from you x