2021 didn’t exactly sneak up on me, but I had some challenges that made it hard to focus on things that needed to get done.
Starting in February 2020, my family lost six family members, a friend and our nearly 16-year-old puppy.
A few days ago, we said our final goodbyes to my sweet cousin Pam. She and I were more like sisters than cousins, and she went home to be with her Savior and Lord on Jan. 2. (Click here for my tribute to Pam.)
Less than two weeks before that, my aunt died. We also had losses in October, September, August, June and February.
I always hesitate to unload a lot of personal drama on my blogs and in my newsletters, because, really, that’s not what you come here for.
On the other hand, this is part of life, and if I posted only spreadsheets and time-saving hacks, I would be “all business” and less human, less relatable. So, flaws and all, I’ll share my humanness with you.
And, even though January is more than half over, I want to tell you about a few things you can expect this year from Suzy Oakley Solutions.
PLANNER — DIGITAL FIRST, THEN PAPER
One very important thing for 2021 is that Pam and I had been planning to create a planner, with her beautiful artwork for the cover and inside embellishments and my spreadsheet-y nerdiness for the nitty-gritty of the pages.
About the time we started trying to pull it together (probably in 2017 or ’18), she started experiencing health problems. (Actually, I did, too, but my problems are mild in comparison.)
So every day I see the folder on my computer desktop: Pam & Suzy Planner Project. (The folder name is gonna stay. My daily reminder of Pam, as if I needed one.)
Our together-planner never happened, but I’ve continued to work on my part. I promise I will going to release it before the end of 2021, LOL, but I still have a few things to work out.
You can help me by completing my survey, which asks what you’d like to see in a planner (or whether you’re a digital- or paper-planner person).
As for covers, I got permission from Pam’s husband to use my favorite piece of her artwork on the cover of a planner that will be Bible focused. Pam’s signature line was Soli Deo Gloria (glory to God alone), and I can’t wait to show you the cover using that piece of art.
NICHE PLANNER FOR RUNNERS
I’ll probably release my running planner/tracker first, because that’s 99 percent finished. (My delay is that I haven’t created my online shop yet — was gonna do Etsy, but now I’m probably going to go a different direction.)
You can expect content like this from Suzy Oakley Solutions in the coming year:
- Planners (multiple types, depending on your survey answers).
- Habits and tracking.
- How to use your electronic devices more efficiently (I nerd out over this stuff, y’all).
- A get-organized course I’m planning.
- Possible live online sessions where we can declutter and get organized together, in real time. (If that sort of thing interests you.)
- Videos. I plan to increase my YouTube presence this year.
- Helpful websites and other resources for getting things done.
Stay tuned, and feel free to leave a comment telling me what you’d like to see from Suzy Oakley Solutions. If you’d prefer not to comment publicly, you can contact me here.
Here’s another link to the survey so you don’t have to scroll back to the top.
And if you’re not already a subscriber to Suzy Oakley Solutions, click here to get on the newsletter list. As my thanks, I’ll send you my 2021 printable calendar pages.
COMING UP: In next week’s post, I’ll share tips from stopping — or at least decreasing — robocalls on your phones.
