Planner Systems That Support My ADHD & Chronic Illnesses

(Mentioned) Planning for Energy Levels, Overwhelm and Feeling Stuck: • Planning for Energy Le...
Playlist: • Planning for Chronic I...
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✨ ABOUT ME ✨
Hi, I'm Katie and I may plan a bit differently from others. I am neurodivergent and planning around chronic illnesses, so I write in pencil and leave things very flexible. I also misspeak and misspell a lot due to auditory processing and dyslexia. I use tarot and oracle cards to help me navigate my upcoming week along with a separate vertical life planner, work planner, and daily journal. I also love to do tiny tidies around the home in unique ways that work for my brain and energy.
Buy Me a Coffee: www.buymeacoffee.com/katiesan...
Some links contain affiliate links and I will receive compensation when you use them.
✨ PLANNERS ✨
Sterling Ink Common Planner in A5 & TN: sterling-ink.com
Papertess Designs: papertessdesigns.com
Hobonichi Weeks: www.1101.com/store/techo/en/l...
Magic of I Yearly Astrological Planner: magicofi.com
✨ TOOLS ✨
Zig Clean Color Dot Markers (link includes new smokey ones) www.amazon.com/Kuretake-AP-Ce...
Zebra Mildliners: www.amazon.com/Zebra-Pen-Mild...
Zebra Neutral Mildliners: www.amazon.com/Zebra-Pen-Mild...
Frixion Pens: www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5YM7XJZ
Pen Case: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07...
A5 Cover: www.amazon.com/dp/B0BY337MCL
Pencil Board: www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6TRMYYW
A5 Black Moterm Cover: www.amazon.com/Moterm-Leather...
TN Moterm Cover (I got mine used off of Ebay): www.amazon.com/Moterm-Compani...
Midori Index Clips: stationerymanor.com/products/...
Tombow Markers: a.co/d/2C0bocc
✨ STICKERS & WASHI ✨
Sterling Ink: sterling-ink.com
Knockout Printshop: knockoutprintshop.com
Symposi Press: www.etsy.com/shop/SymposiPres...
Green Washi Tape: www.amazon.com/dp/B08R58K4MJ/
Laurel Denise: laureldenise.com
Teal Washing Tape: www.amazon.com/dp/B08TTDYJ8V/
Flower/Print Washi: www.amazon.com/dp/B089S5NJDF
Solid Washi Brights: www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2Z9TV4V
Solid Washi Darker: www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVST6LY2
Solid Washi Thin: www.amazon.com/dp/B0BBWKP3G3
✨ DECKS ✨
A Deck for Wonder Walking: www.amytwon.com/product/a-dec...
The Future Ancestor Tarot Deck: www.lexaluna.com/product-page...
Sacred Earth Oracle: www.amazon.com/gp/product/073...
The Good Tarot: www.amazon.com/gp/product/140...
Spirit Song Tarot: www.amazon.com/Spiritsong-Tar...
✨ OTHER PLACES YOU CAN FIND ME ✨
Website: katiesanders.com
Instagram: / i.am.katiesanders
Podcast: mysensesmyspace.com
Weekly Newsletter: katiesanders.ck.page/681279401a
Sub Count: 1070
#chronicillness #neurodivergent #adhd

[@sambbbb]

I won't be able to watch this whole thing before I have to head to my appointment, but I wanted to commend you for being so quick with these videos! I'll comment again later once I've watched it all :)

[@i.am.katiesanders]

Yes! Thank you! I record on Fridays/Saturdays so I was really glad to get feedback last week and now have ideas for the next couple weeks. :)

[@Killcupidsaaki17]

I literally cobbled together a system with free printable pages I found online like a weekly and monthly calendar, and a little habit tracker too! Its all in a binder so I can add pages as I need, take out what isnt working or rearrange things. I LOVE your system ideas as a fellow ADHDer and may try out a few in my binder. Great video! Thank you!

[@i.am.katiesanders]

Yes! Sometimes it’s the best to make your own. I used to with discs and I am so close to doing the same with rings. Let me know if any help you. Thanks so much for sharing 💕

[@doulaanara]

when you were talking about needing time to accept that you have to do something made me think of demands avoidance that's very common with us atypicals 😂😂😂 I feel you. I'm the same way

[@i.am.katiesanders]

Yup! I do talk about it in my other videos in this series, either the Initiating for Messy Middle one. It’s such a hard thing 💕 This is how I have found I can work through it.

[@sambbbb]

So many similarities! I'm currently in a SI N1/TN vertical, but just ordered the SI N2/Weeks horizontal to use as a health/wellness book and I've been highly considering ordering a passport weekly vertical for an EDC overview of my scheduled activities. That said I struggle hard with putting information in more than one place, so that passport would definitely be an experiment regarding my patience and diligence haha. I've also extensively eyeballed that Papertess B6 over the past year, but doubt I will take the plunge? I like how you use it, but I worry it'd overwhelm my brain, or if I had a week where I avoided the book I'd feel guilty about all the wasted pages. I've always been a one-book gal, so even adding the health planner will be rough on the ADHD side of things. From the ASD side of things, I'm concerned about how I'll handle using the SI Weeks since I used the Hobonichi Weeks last year - my thought is that since I bought it super on sale this is just for testing purposes - if I like the concept but can't stand the differences I can always swap back to the HB Weeks for 2025. We'll see!
It's interesting that we are vastly different in how we navigate our conditions, yet the concept behind the systems are pretty similar! (Of course our issues are also different, so I don't intend 'my way' to at all imply 'the correct way'!) For example I refuse medications and don't trust most doctors, so my health/wellness planner is all about seeing the patterns so I can catch and correct things, ensuring I'm doing my nervous system work regularly, planning sustainable exercise so I can expand my world, taking notes about parts work/therapy/realizations, making sure I'm engaging in important health behaviors (circadian rhythm stuff, daily walks, ample sunshine, practicing a felt sense of safety, meeting my sensory needs), and hopefully planning meals/making sure I have healthy food available. Same book style and topic, but different utilization :)
Definitely the same mentality for the hourly book - I have no sense of time, I get really confused by numbers and dates, and I often lose entire days with no idea what I did. I write in all my scheduled activities in green (with a multi-pen) then fill in what I did each day. If I don't do this then I generally am clueless as to when something happened, how long it's been since I did a task, and could not even vaguely tell someone what I did with my time. On the left column I write to do, to buy, and cleaning (the last category will swap out depending on what's going on, but I'm in spring cleaning mode I guess) - red is for very important/urgent stuff, blue is for things copied over from last week, and black is for everything else. I use the notes pages extensively - for all sorts of collections, for big lists of niche topics, for taking notes on my special interests, daily-logging, etc.
One hitch right now is that I have a separate TN notebook for my journal, and I don't feel very connected to it at all. Last year I experimented with journaling in the Cousin for the last half of the year, but previously had always used a separate journal. Now I'm trying to figure out whether I want to return to a combined book next year (I'm planning to size the TN up to a B6 or maybe even A5 for 2025) or keep them separate but swap to a different size/style of journal. With everything in one book I feel very anxious about using any deco or having my journaling in there, because if I did bring it to an appointment I want it to look relatively 'professional' (not full of stickers, tip-ins, colorful fountain pens, etc), and I certainly don't want my private thoughts in a book that I'm toting around and opening in public! Medical professionals are usually already annoyed by my autistic nature (independent thinker, has obsessively researched all topics before arriving, detail-oriented, asks a lot of questions) - I really don't need to give them any more reasons to dismiss me. My hope is that if I end up separating the books more (to main book, health/wellness, and small EDC) that perhaps I can feel more comfortable settling in to each one's specific use case.
Edit: Have you seen this video yet? She walks through a new planner with two weeklies: one more like the B6 Papertess (without the extra notes pages) followed by a vertical hourly spread. Interesting. ua-cam.com/video/-eUdZdYulZI/v-deo.html

[@i.am.katiesanders]

Thanks so much for sharing! A lot of similarities and great ideas too. I am looking at my health planner and seeing what I want to change for the next half of the year. What info will really help me in the long run? And yes I am so excited about the Hybrid Planner!!! Definitely preordering!