It may only be July, but I am already getting things ready for Christmas! In fact, we are putting the finishing touches on the 2019 edition of The Nice List, and pre-orders are open! You only have until the end of August to order your copy of The Nice List! More on that in the coming days including the big reveal of our new illustrator! OMG! Just wait until you see the gorgeousness she is drawing for The Nice List! Everything is hand-drawn and absolutely beautiful.

Ok! Ok! Here’s a tiny sneak peek…

Oh! I can’t wait to show you more, but we have to be patient just a little longer.

In the meantime, I did a really fun webinar with the Okayest Moms Blog on Monday. The replay will be available soon if you missed it, but I also have a whole new section of content on the website: Planning & Planners.

If you have been around awhile, you know that I used to be a teacher. I am still very interested in brain research, and several studies were published a few years ago that really caught my attention — and confirmed what I suspected. Students who take notes by hand have a distinct advantage over their peers who type notes on a computer. Writing something down by hand activates memory in significantly different ways and assists in deeper learning.

What does that have to do with planning?

Well, planning is more than just running a calendar. It is deeply thinking about priorities and allocating resources (time, talent, and money) in ways that meet goals. That calendar on your phone or your computer doesn’t require that you actually plan. It just schedules. But using a paper planner takes that schedule to a deeper level and helps you prioritize.

Deep? Yep. But planning is a practice. I call it my “mental yoga,” and my new planning section has articles detailing HOW I plan, what materials I use, and WHY I do what I do. It improves my memory, my time management, and our family’s schedule. That’s also why I wrote The Nice List! It is a planner that will help save Christmas!

So I hope you’ll stop by and check it all out!

Stay tuned for more this week! I’ll be revealing the illustrator of The Nice List on Instagram (and here, too).

Be sure to pre-order The Nice List, and have a Happy Wednesday!

XOXO
Angela

@MidModernMama