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    • PAPER VS DIGITAL

      Posted at 9:45 am by Yvonne Chin, on February 9, 2020

      The age old debate…should we go the old school paper route, or should we be taking advantage of what’s at our disposal and go digital?

      Well, to be frank, there’s no right or wrong. Bear with me. I know that many people have said this, and then end up going back and forth between the two trying to find “planner peace”. Honestly speaking, I have gone back and forth between both and have been so frustrated when something doesn’t match up perfectly to what I’m looking for, but I’ve come to realize it’s because there is no perfect planning method.

      As we grow older and change from school life to a career, and even develop our careers, our planning needs will change. In school, we have a very structured life with a time table and also deadlines for projects, tests and homework. In your career, things are very different because every job and every role is different. You can be a Restaurant Manager where you have weekly reports to do, but also have to plan two or three months ahead for big dates. You can be a Project Manager, manging multiple, well, projects at the same time with overlapping deadlines. You can be a Consultant, an Artist or even an Engineer. Your needs are going to be different from the person next to you.

      So, again, paper or digital?

      I have always found that paper sticks in my memory better because I tend to write slower than I type, and it allows me to slow down and think about what i’m jotting down. There are many layouts of planners now out there – daily, weekly, monthly, ring bound, leather bound, individual sheets, etc. Your options are endless. And it’s flexible! You can always switch to a different system. The downside? You can’t make plans at 2 AM when you’re drunk in a bar and expect yourself to remember to put it in your planner later. You also may not always want to lug the planner around with you, or even worse, you may forget to bring it. All of a sudden, your well planned out day is gone and you may not remember all the things you have to get done.

      The great thing about digial planners and to do lists is that it’s always with you. Granted, if you are not a phone or computer person, then this may not apply to you, but in this day and age, many apps are cross platform and are also accessible on a computer so it’s nice to get a full week or month overview, but also to be able to zero in on one day. You can have multiple calendars (bye bye color coding on a paper planner!) and can even have access to other people’s planners. It’s versatile, and it’s convenient on the go. I have a tendency to plan my life on the go when I’m in the middle of my commute, or when i’m waiting around for my meetings or for friends. The downside? Well, if you don’t vibe well with the layout of an app, or you don’t like certain functions, it can be quite hard to commit to the app. Also, if your battery dies, or your account gets hacked, or the cloud stops syncing, things can fall apart.

      I personally still am drawn to a physical planner but I have finally found a system that works best for me on digital platforms. I will go deeper into this on a different post some day, but I have no doubts that my planning method will change again over the next few months / years when my life and career path changes.

      So, how should you pick a planner? I always suggest trying things before going all in. A lot of paper planners now have printables for you to try, and Pinterest is a great resource for different printables that you can use. For apps, there are free versions as well as premium versions a lot of the time. You can give the free app a go and watch YouTube videos for a preview of what the premium version is like and what it can offer. Test things for at least two months to give yourself time to adapt and try things. After two months, if you find that it’s not working, you can try a new app, but never delete your original list until you have found somthing that works 100%. That way, you can always revert back to the original list if you decide you need to, and you have a master list that you can refer to when moving onto a new app.

      One of my favorite channels to watch is Keep Productive. It’s given me great insight to a lot of different platforms and apps, and also gives me better insight into tools I wasn’t utilizing fully. Check them out!

      So what about you guys? Do you guys prefer paper or digital planning?

      Currently watching: FRIENDS.

      Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments
    • FEBRUARY’S 30 DAY CHALLENGE

      Posted at 12:00 pm by Yvonne Chin, on January 31, 2020

      FORWARD GRATITUDE

      So, I dabbled in a gratitude journal on and off for the last year or so. I was in a tough spot in my life and I was trying to reevaluate what made me happy, who made me happy, and what was important in my life. I’ve always been a big fan of people such as Rowena Tsai, MuchelleB, Matt D’Avella and Kalyn Nicholson. I was watching a lot of their videos, and they were really focused on productivity, self love, and self help.

      Well, Matt D’Avella does something really cool for 30 days, every month and he posts about his experience. Some are really cool and I’ve applied it to my life (meditating daily) and some sound just painful (cold showers on a daily basis? Hell no). But, I wanted to use the 30 day challenge to try a new twist on the gratitude journal.

      Typically, a gratitude journal means you sit down for a few minutes, and journal each day. Most people suggest the morning time as it sets the tone for your day. I do admit that this did help me, but instead of gratitude, I would set my intentions for the day. That’s a story for a different day though, sorry. When you journal, you are supposed to write down a few lines of what you are grateful for – your health, your family, your career, etc. After a few days, it gets repetitive though and it requires you to look a little further into your life and get more focused – the way my dog greets me every time I come home, or having a hot meal ready for me when I am off work, or 30 days of exercise each morning, etc.

      Well, like many people in the world, I am not good at keeping habits and gratitude journals were one of my failures. I couldnt find “deep” things to be grateful about and I felt like a shallow shell of a human who was ungrateful and couldn’t see the silver lining in things. Well, that person sucked and was beating herself up because she didn’t know what to look for.

      So, I tried something new for a few months on and off, and it worked really well. If you are someone who wants to try gratitude journals, give this a go. Maybe it’ll help 🙂

      WHAT I DID

      Well, it’s simple. At the end of the month, I sat down and opened my notebook to a blank page and I wrote the month at the top, and numbered each line for however many days there were in the month. Then, I will look at my calendar, and see what things I have scheduled for that month on those days, and write out everything that I am looking forward to. It can be anything from gym sessions, new workouts, a shopping day, a manicure, or even just a coffee with a friend you haven’t seen in a while. Just write down whatever is sparking joy (LOL).

      I like to do a two page spread, because on the page next to it, I will do the same layout, but instead of writing it in advance, I will sit down for a few minutes at the end of each day (or the next morning, depending on how many whiskeys I had the night before) to write down what I was excited / happy / grateful for that day.

      At the end of the month, you will get to have a comparison next to each other. I found that I usually had twice as many things I was excited and happy about than I had originally thought. This was a great way for me to realize the little things that sparked joy in me.

      So, if you’re up for it, please join me in doing this challenge!

      Posted in 30 DAY CHALLENGES | 0 Comments | Tagged 30 day challenge, gratitude, journal, self love
    • WHY?

      Posted at 1:04 pm by Yvonne Chin, on January 22, 2020

      Like most people my age or younger, I have been one to dabble in blogging over the years. It’s never stuck and it was more a hobby / something to satisfy my curiosity. Usually I’d burn out after a few weeks of trying to maintain a schedule, trying to find interesting things to write about for the two friends who were kind enough to read my horrible writing and I’d end up dropping it. I never really knew why I wanted to blog but I guess I just wanted to put thoughts into words and share a bit of me and my interests with the rest of the world.

      Well, what’s new this time? I guess before I was writing about food (like everybody else) and travel (like everybody else). Don’t get me wrong. The people I follow and read I admire for their effort and dedication. Their blogs are beautiful, and I always found inspiration in it, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to write which was probably why I burnt out so quickly. I love food and travel, but I am no expert on food, and I am not someone who wants to compete with the travellers out there.

      I realized that over the last few years the blogs, the reading material and the YouTube videos I was drawn to were focusing mainly on three things:

      • Productivity
      • Self love
      • Getting your shit together

      I have always been someone who struggles with productivity. I am overly organized (I have a touch of OCD according to my therapist), but have the most chaotic brain and a constant mess / clutter in my room. I so badly want to be organized, clean, and on track with all my work and projects, but sadly I am not. I have always wanted to be someone who is so on top of her life that she can meal prep, gym 6 times a week and still maintain a perfect social life, drink like a College Freshman, be a good daughter, and still treat my body like a temple and wake up at 6 am fresh as a daisy to meditate. Realstic, right?

      Well, I’m giving it one more try. Whether the world sees it or not, this is me keeping track of my goals, my attempts at getting my life together and sharing my thoughts on getting shit done, and hopefully it helps someone else do it too.

      Currently listening to: Ring – Selena Gomez

      Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments | Tagged GYST, organization, self love
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