Set-up No. 1

Skills Guide Content

Goal: Set realistic expectations, and build resiliency

Any time we start something new, there is a learning curve. It takes time to get used to things, feel comfortable, and build habits. Using this planner is no different for your student.

This planner gives them space to explore and practice what works for them. Here are a few things to remind them throughout the process:

1. Be kind to yourself — you don’t expect others to be perfect, so don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself, either.
2. Tear out and move on — if you miss a day or a week or something you tried didn’t work, rip it out and move on!

Activity from Planner

I’m sure if you were honest you circled “I want this planner to make things easier” on the previous page. The goal of this planner isn’t to wave a magic wand and give you special powers of organization and follow-through. The goal is to give you space to explore and practice what works for you. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you start to explore what makes things easier for you:

1. Be kind to yourself — you don’t expect others to be perfect, so don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself, either.
2. Tear out and move on — if you miss a day or a week or something you tried didn’t work, rip it out and move on!

Extended Activity

First things first — write your name on the back cover. If your planner gets lost or left behind, we want to make sure it can get back to you!

Any time we start something new, there is a learning curve. It takes time to get used to things, feel comfortable, and build habits. Using this planner is no different. You may have felt defeated when trying to organize or stay on top of your schoolwork and schedules. Through this process, you may still feel defeated at times. The goal of this planner isn’t to wave a magic wand and give you special powers of organization and follow-through. The goal is to give you space to explore and practice what works for you.

Finding what works takes trial and error. When inventing the light bulb Thomas Edison is famous for saying, “I have not failed. I’ve just found ten thousand ways that won’t work.” and “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

With that in mind, we made some rules to help anyone using this planner succeed. Some of you aren’t really rule followers, but we promise these will be good rules. There isn’t a “planner police” that will give you a ticket if you break a rule, so it will be ok.

1. Be kind to yourself — you don’t expect others to be perfect, so don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself, either.
2. Tear out and move on — if you miss a day or a week or something you tried didn’t work, rip it out and move on! Part of the reason we are having you tear things out is to stay in the moment. Don’t focus on what didn’t work in the past; just move forward with what might work now.
3. Be patient and go slow — It might be tempting to do all the skills exercises right now, but we’ve paced them out for a reason. Just like you can’t get a semester’s worth of history knowledge in one week, you won’t be able to grow these skills overnight, either.

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