 Hi, this is Mitch Mitchell and today I'm going to be talking about my Franklin planner while I listen to my Schubert Sonatas. You know, I just love kind of listening to classical music and I think I mentioned in some of the videos previous that I have this beat that keeps running through my head because I don't sleep enough. So classical music helps to knock it off and so I just love listening to this stuff. Anyhow, that's not what we're about. What I'm about today is talking about my Franklin planner. Now this is just the cover of it and inside I've got, you know, my pages in it and you know, I've always kind of loved having my Franklin planner but I gotta tell you the truth. I don't keep up with it as often as I should and if I did, then it's quite possible that I would actually get a lot more done and be a lot more successful. For instance, last year was one of those years where I had a lot of things on my plate. I was working on my second book on leadership. I was working on a lot more marketing online on social media. I was creating more videos that I'm doing lately and I'm probably going to start making a few more at least for April because I'm thinking about participating in what's known as a video a day in April that Amy, you know what, I don't know how you say it last night, but she calls her channel Sexy Social Savvy and she runs this thing every year and I've never participated in it in that regard and I may do it this year. I have to think about it but you know, I have a lot of these things going on every once in a while and when I do, it's good to go to the planner because then it helps me to keep my mind in perspective and to get things done. It always works better if you can write it out. You know, I do have some things on my computer where I could put things on there but then I have to kind of open them up every day. The planner is always sitting right next to me. So I should be using it all the time and you would think because I actually get things done with it that I would use it all the time. When you want to know something, this is kind of embarrassing. The last time that I used my Franklin planner, I don't know if you can see that, September 16th. That was the last time. Look at this. I have gone through basically, well, what is that? Five months where I didn't even open it and it sits right next to me. And so I wanted to talk about why we sometimes don't use those things that work for us, how to use the Franklin planner or something like it and its benefits. So let's talk about the why we don't. You know, this is one of those things that I try to explore all the time, you know, because I have my smartphone, which I left in the other room so it wouldn't bother me. I just remembered that where I set daily alarms for things to remind me. It reminds me to take my medication. It reminds me to eat. And I've had to put that in there because I have forgotten quite often to take my medication and to eat, believe it or not. So I'm not a small guy, but you know what? I'm older and I have to eat regularly. I'm also diabetic. Then I put in the alarms that remind me to write and alarms that remind me I have to go buy something or do something here and there. And I have these, you know, little quick alarms, but it doesn't help me as far as planning things. You know, it doesn't help you define everything that is out there that you really want to do. You know, having a planner lets you plan for either the day or the week or the month, it allows you to put notes in it for things that you really want to remember. And yet we don't always do it. I don't always do it. And I was talking to my friend Kelvin about it because he's had one for decades and I asked him, you know, how does he keep up with it? And then he admitted, well, you know what? I keep up with it more than probably a lot of other people, but I don't do it as much as I should. And we both acknowledge that when we use it more often, we're more productive and it helps to collect our thoughts. And I'm going to, you know, kind of show you how it does it. And I think that we probably all get to a point, it's like people who need their medication, you know, to get going on things, maybe with mental health or different things like that, where you're taking your medication, you start feeling better, say, well, I'm feeling better now. I don't need it anymore. And bam, things just kind of fall apart. And, well, in the area of mental health, really bad things happen if you don't keep up with your medication. But for the rest of us, we start feeling better and we stop doing the things we should. I mean, I should be stretching every day. I'd get this set of stretching exercises because I have a problem with my back and a problem with my left leg, but I start feeling better. I don't do it. And I'm walking anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 steps every single day, which means I'm putting stress on my body. And stretching would help me a lot, but I don't do it until I'm in pain. And that's a bad way to react, but it's, you know, just human nature. So anyway, I am going to start using this thing in March. And yes, it's the, let's see, I'm starting this on Sunday, the 13th, so the video is probably going out on the 16th. But still, I want to show you some of the things that I do with it. And the first thing is I have the main March page. And as you'll see on here, I have written some motivational things, if you can read that. And if you can't, that's OK. Anyway, on the main page, I write things that I like to carry over from month to month. Since I skipped five months, I've had to go back and look to see what I wrote beginning of September and rewrote these things. And this is supposed to help you to get your mind in the right place when you start your day. So my very first thing at the top says take care of yourself first, because I tend to believe that we in our daily doings, even though we may think we're thinking about ourselves first, we're really not. Our minds are elsewhere. But we have to think of taking care of ourselves first. And then I have some other things on here. But one of the things I have on here for business purposes, which I need to do because I don't do it all the time. I need to remember that is to market something at least once a day, because I have products and I do consulting and I do a lot of other things. And I really do need to market myself more often. And probably I'm doing it if I'm lucky twice a week. So I need to do that more often. And I have some other stuff on there. Then I have my daily list. And I try to write this thing down here. And these are things that need to be done on a daily, you know, that particular day or hopefully, you know, it's something to maybe I can carry over the next day. But by putting it on here, there's also the check boxes so you can check off things you have to do. Like one of the things I definitely have to do, which by the time you'll see this, I've done, which is to call my insurance company to find out how much they're going to cover if I go for my podiatry appointment. I'm supposed to have my feet checked at least once a year. It's supposed to be twice a year, but I'm not going to this guy twice a year. So I go to a podiatrist because I'm diabetic, as I mentioned. So I need to go see him, but I need to find out how much insurance is going to pay for that. By the way, that's a big deal for everybody. If you're going to have something done at a medical provider, you should call and find out how much it's going to be. And then you should check with your insurance company to find out how much they're going to cost. That's just a quick tip. So anyway, I have that. And then I plugged in something because I'm actually going for a foot massage tomorrow because all my feet have been killing me. And so I put that in here, although that's also in the phone. But then I do this thing over here. You know, the Franklin Planner gives you this extra page where if you have certain thoughts during the day, you can write it on there. And like I said, this is actually Sunday, but I wrote it in for Monday because this is what I, you know, I'm planning ahead. And one of the things I wrote on there is one, I need to start on my next book because it was my goal. One of my goals for the year was to write at least one more book, maybe two, but I want to write at least one and I've got to get started on it. So I basically wrote on here what I think my next topic is going to be and it's going to be on diversity, which means anyone watching this channel is not going to buy it. Y'all just own up to yourselves. You're not going to buy a book about diversity. You know, if you do, thank you, but you're not going to. I already know that. Anyway, that's going to be one thing. And another thing I put in here is I need to get back to my detective story. I've been working on this detective story for about 10 years and I'm about 18 chapters in, which isn't bad, but then I pretty much stopped a few years ago. I've had other things on my mind, but what I'm writing that it now gives you time to kind of put your mind in a different direction and to do some thinking on something else. And there's nothing wrong with a little bit of fantasy taking your mind away. I bet a lot of you play video games. I don't play video games. I don't watch almost any TV. And so I probably need something else to take my mind away from always working. So I'm going to start back on that. And, you know, I've got in here because it can basically hold three months worth. So I've got March through May and then I have one more month, June, before I have to actually buy my next one. But this is just a shame, you know? I mean, these things, you know, they don't give them, you don't get it for free. So I need to use something more often to help me to catalog things, to, you know, clear my mind, to remind me of different things and to plan ahead because this is really how you get things done. No one gets anything significant done in their lives just by every day waking up and say, I'm going to do this. It does take planning and writing it down and something like this, or even if you decide you want to do it online you want to write out all these graphs and whatever, that's fine. But, you know, it does take planning and this is how I'm going to do it. And I'm going to do it. I'm telling myself right now I'm going to be committed to this. I am going to plan it. And so, you know, that's my thought. But I want to know what you guys think. Do you do planning? Do you have a Franklin planner or do you have some other kind? I know my friend Joanne Del Balso. I hope I said that right. I got the Joanne part anyway. Anyhow, I know she plans all the time and she's always buying all different kinds of planners. I'm not quite that nuts. I just buy the Franklin planner and that's as far as I'm going with it. So let me know your thoughts. Anyway, this is Mitch Mitchell. I hope you're planning for a wonderful day and a wonderful week. Y'all take care.