For as long as I can remember, I have loved to be organized. When I was a young child, I inventoried my Halloween candy. What can I say? The organization impulse is ingrained.
In the last five years or so, I have become even more serious about organizing my time in particular. I fell down a paper planner rabbit hole, and I have found that taking the time to plan on a regular basis just works for me. So, if you’re curious (I always like receiving a peak behind the curtain about how others do the extremely mundane and practical parts of life), here it is: How I plan.
The Tools
As I mentioned, I love a good paper planner. I am particular about paper color and quality, page layout, and binding. I have tried many planners, but I keep returning to Emily Ley’s Simplified Dapperdesk. She makes a beautiful and functional product. I hate coils, so I look for book-bound planners. I like a place for a daily to-do list, a weekly list, and an hourly schedule. The Dapperdesk fits the bill on all of these counts.
(Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus system has heavily influenced how I plan, and there is even a Full Focus Planner that I have used from time to time, but it is undated, and I hate filling in the dates. Inevitably I make a mistake and throw the whole planner off. The planners also are expensive and only cover three month segments, and I find it more useful to be able to look farther ahead.)
I have tried using multiple planners, but I find it simplest to stick with one. I have several other journals I keep—a prayer notebook, a book log, a one sentence five year journal, an exercise tracker—but for task management, I use one planner and co-mingle work, household, and personal tasks.
I love a bold, inky black gel pen. I am picky about my pens. A good pen makes all the difference in how enjoyable it is to write and use a product. If you are curious, my favorites are currently Tul 0.7mm and Zebra GP-402 0.5mm.
The Process
Yearly Goals
Like any good Enneagram 3, I am obsessed with goal setting. I set yearly goals and have experimented with several goal setting systems (again, I will mention Full Focus and also Power Sheets), but I like to keep it simple. I often will make a list inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s list for the year (this year is 23 for 2023, and next year will be 24 for 2024, and so forth…). I keep the list written on a page of my yearly planner and refer back to it each month as I set monthly goals.
Monthly Goals
Each month, I set goals based on my yearly goals. Sometimes I will break down a significant goal into a smaller chunk (e.g., I’ll make progress towards my reading goal by reading x number of books), or sometimes I will complete a goal on my list (e.g., this past month, I raced a 5K).
I tend to plan meals by the month. I have a loose theme for each day of the week—”Pasta Monday,” “Sunday Leftovers,” and so forth—so it is easy to do a month at a time. I may or may not strictly adhere to the monthly meal plan, but I have a list of 20 or 25 meal ideas. I fill out my monthly spread in advance with major events so can plan meals accordingly.
I also track the books I have read, recipes I would like to make, items I would like to buy or sales I would like to follow (which helps with budgeting), shows I would like to watch, and any daily habits I would like to track. This sounds extremely regimented, but I find that it makes me more intentional with how I spend my time. I like adding “fun” things to my list—like recipes I would like to cook and shows I am anticipating.
Weekly Preview
This is the foundation of my entire system, and when I started putting it into practice, it was a game changer. Again, thank you to the Full Focus system. Every week, I look ahead to the upcoming week and run through the same questions and process. Many recommend doing this on Friday or Sunday, but because of my work schedule, I do this on Thursdays. I think it could be on any day that is a natural end to your week, but it should be consistent from week to week.
Here is the process:
I transfer the dates from my digital calendar to my paper planner. This may seem redundant but it is helpful. I keep a digital calendar because it is practical and helpful for sharing with my husband Dan. But I like solidifying what I have going on for the upcoming week by manually transferring events. That two minutes of extra time prevents so many potential snafus and scheduling issues because I am tracking any conflicts well in advance and can adjust accordingly.
I reflect. Full Focus recommends some questions, and I like most of them. This is almost like journaling, and I find it beneficial to look backward. I am naturally inclined to look ahead, but there is much to gain from reflecting on what just happened too. I keep these notes in a separate small notebook (the Full Focus planner has this built in between weeks, which is nice). The questions I run through include:
What were the biggest wins of the week?
What worked? What didn’t?
What would you like to keep or change?
What tasks did not get finished? What are the upcoming week’s tasks?
What are the biggest three tasks for the week ahead?
What three things will I do to care for myself?
I review last week’s tasks for tasks that slipped by or remained undone and decide what action I need to take. I create a weekly list that lives on my weekly planner spread. I then identify the three biggest ticket tasks. This step is much easier to complete because I have already done steps 1 and 2. I also will make lists of follow-up and discussion items for staff members at work (the right page of the notebook in the picture below).
I take care of household maintenance. This is easiest to do when I already have a sense of how my week is unfolding. I can see which nights are crazybusy and need an easy dinner. I see when I have large blocks of time. This sort of planning includes:
Meal planning (I choose five meals for the week but do not always assign them particular days. I prefer to see what I am in the mood for, but I do designate busy nights for slow cooker meals and leftovers)
Cleaning tasks
Feeding my sourdough starter and making bread (This is a two day process and must be planned ahead)
Paying sitters
Restarting devices (This is a good time for me to do it so I remember)
Daily Planning
My daily planning is fairly simple because I have a thorough weekly roadmap. I theme certain days, as you have seen with my cleaning schedule. Certain kinds of tasks for work and home always happen on Mondays. I will write a task into a particular day if I know when it needs to happen. I work from my weekly list if a task does not have a specific due date. Filling out my hourly schedule gives me a good sense of how much time I actually will have to work on any given day. At the end of the day, anything not completed will be transferred to the next day or deferred to later in the week.
The Payoff
I realize this level of structured planning is not for everyone, but it works so well for me. When life seems chaotic and overly full, I appreciate having what is swirling around in my brain ordered into neat little lists. Of course not everything on every list always gets done, and life throws curveballs. Sometimes needs from my people arise and I jettison the plan altogether. But for the most part, I operate according to this process.
I will say that consistency and beautiful tools make a difference. Going through my process regularly means that it is never overwhelming, so I do not dread doing it—in fact, it’s quite the opposite. The hour I spend planning each week pays off in spades. And for me, gorgeous products are worth the money. I spend $60 on my planner for the year, but I open it every. single. day. It stays open on my desk all day long. The cost per use is negligible, and a $10 planner with cheap paper just does not bring me the same joy. I may make small tweaks to my tools and system from time to time, but the basics have remained the same for the past several years. In a nutshell, this is how my brain manages my time, my needs, and my aspirations.
Now I want to know: Do you have a planning process? Favorite pens and notebooks? Tell me what you do!
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