AI, The Planner and the Course Correct 🤖 📖 ✨

In early February I started a new job. The tasks themselves don't require much but the job is heavily AI based and they're training us to use AI to support the system. If you know me, my nerd side loves a good challenge and I was learning a job and AI simultaneously. Pretty big call. 🤓 Especially when I can easily say that probably for the past few years I haven't had to use this side of my brain much.

At first I was breezing through — then after a few weeks what started to happen was I started to feel like I was falling behind. I was being slow. I was watching my colleagues nail slide decks, landing pages and the likes and I was still building systems.

I cried a lot…. I mean a lot. 😢 And my head noise was highly critical. Within weeks I found myself in a place I hadn't been in for a while — hypervigilant, anxious, questioning everything. Can I do this? Am I what they need? Am I enough?

The beauty of this new business is that it's a coaching business, and they're very supportive. About six weeks in we had a coaching meeting all about planning. The systems, the tools, the structure. And sitting there I had the most ironic realisation of my life.

I hadn't been using my planner. 🤦♀️ 🙄

I — the person who created this thing — had stopped writing things down. I was reacting to everything around me instead of creating my week intentionally. And the gap showed up exactly where it always does: in my confidence, my clarity, and my sense of control.

The interesting part about AI 🤖💡

It's all online. It plans, it organises, it sorts. But even in its efficiency I got so lost.

And here's the science that explains why.

A 2025 MIT study found that long-term unconscious reliance on AI can create what researchers call "cognitive debt" — where short-term reliance on AI gradually weakens our own cognitive abilities. Like a muscle that stops being used. The moment we stop actively thinking, planning and processing for ourselves, we quietly lose the ability to do it as well.

And on the flip side — research published in Frontiers in Psychology found that handwriting activates far more brain connectivity than typing, particularly in areas tied to memory, learning and focus. 🧠 When we write by hand, our brain actually pays attention. We process more deeply. We retain more. We think more clearly.

I remember when people would ask me if I would make a digital copy of my planner. I never wanted to — because I always knew there was power in writing things down. I just forgot to keep doing it myself. 😊

Here's what I know to be true 💛

After 10 years of watching this work for thousands of people:

When you're proactive you feel in control. ✅ When you feel in control your confidence rises. ⬆️ When your confidence rises you show up better — to your work, your relationships, your life. 🌟

When you're reactive it goes the other way. Things slip. You miss things. Confidence drops. Self-esteem follows. It becomes a cycle that's hard to break. 🔄

The planner was always designed for this moment. The course correct. That's why it's undated — because life gets busy and messy and sometimes you put it down. It doesn't judge you for that. It just waits. And when you pick it up again it brings you back. 📖

The Course Correct 🧭

It's been two weeks since I started what I call the Course Correct. I put everything away, took myself off technology for the weekend to gain clarity.

What I realised was I need both. I need to be able to write things down AND use the technology. And in the two weeks since, my planner has been exactly that — a compass. That's the beauty of the undated design — it's specifically made for these moments. I've felt more in control, more grounded, and not lost in all the tasks. 🌿

I'm looking forward to what's next. To practising something new. To creating a new habit. To using my planner alongside all the AI tools and systems my new role requires.

Because technology can tell you what to do. But your planner helps you remember who you are and where you're going. 💛

If you've put yours down — this is your invitation to pick it up again. 🌿

And if you've been thinking about getting one — the store closes 30 June 2026. Just under 200 remaining at $45 including postage.

👉 nfpplanner.com

Many Blessings, Grace E. McLean 🌿