You Need A Planner

In her Motion to Organize weekly column, lawyer Jennifer Gumbel talks organization, productivity, and more.

I thought I was not a planner person.

I had a planner when I was a new adult (in the pre-digital era by the way…. I actually had to write down people’s contact info). And it served me well from high school through planning a wedding. But, as I connected with people over Facebook and kept my calendar on Outlook, I really didn’t see a need to have a planner anymore. I was never one to diligently write down my plans anyway. Even when I didn’t have an iPhone and Windows Suite available at all times, my entries were sporadic at best. I jotted info down on an as-needed basis. Let’s say I take a minimalist approach to journaling.

But you know what I did have? Lots of legal pad sheets and post-it notes floating around. As I became a full-fledged attorney and mom and home-owner and blogger and podcaster, I started having a ton of ideas, thoughts, lists, deadlines, and creative brainstorming doodles that didn’t neatly fit on my work Outlook or my Pinterest page.

There are just some things I need to jot down and refer to without opening an app or logging on my office computer. I guess I need a planner, and I’ll venture to say you do too.

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Written by Jennifer Gumbel

Jennifer Gumbel is an estate planning and probate lawyer in Austin, Minnesota. She takes her morbid nerd-dom to another level by talking about how to organize your after life, with the website An Organized (after)Life and the podcast, An Organized (after)Life, which you can find on the website, Spreaker and ITunes. You can also find her on Instagram with pics on death organizing and small town Minnesota life at the handle @jengumbel.