How to Set-up your Planner
Knowing how to set up your planner will determine whether your planner works for you. You decide what you need and how your system works. However, it’s much simpler than you think. If you are new to paper planning or are interested in my planning system set up, this post is for you.
Schedule
My schedule is my ride or die. Without it, I am toast. Last year we moved to a digital calendar, but that’s mostly for forward planning of doctor appointments, church events, and school dates. This method allows our teen to add her own plans to the calendar, which is nice to not be the only person who knows all the things.
However, my schedule is still in my planner. I update it monthly or even bi-monthly to use during planning days and mapping out the year.
I track these in my paper planner:
- Birthdays, Holidays, Anniversaries
- School holidays and events
- Vacations
- Doctor visits and even the reminders for visits
Goals
Reviewing your goals is not a one-time thing. Your season will depend on how often you need to break down your goals and how detailed they should be. This is not a step you should skip completely regardless of your season. Goals are inspiring and necessary to become all you hope to be.
In the beginning of the year I like to:
- Create a 5-year vision plan- What ages everyone will be and what we need to accomplish by then.
- Review of the previous year in life goal areas: Faith, marriage, health, family, home, job, friendships, hobbies, digital life and finances. How are you doing in these areas and what needs to change?
- Choose the Top 3: At the end of 2025, what 3 achieved goals would mean the most and get me closer to the big vision?
Of course, I pray throughout the year and adjust my goals as needed, but staying focused on the next thing you know to do gets you right into God’s ultimate plan for you.
Collections
This section is 100% personalized to you. You decide what you keep in your planner and what is worth tracking. Depending on your needs, you may need a section for work or a general note section. My note section seems to change with every season.
My note section has things like home projects, meal ideas, cleaning routines, kid’s clothing/ shoe sizes and clothing needs. This section can be a great tool when you use it often.
To-Do’s
The next thing you will want to set up is your inbox system. How will you add and review your to-do list? This can be as simple as a post-it note to review weekly or monthly or note paper in the back or front of your planner. Most importantly, know where this list is and plan to review it.
Planning session
Your planning routines will make or break your planner system. I preplan these so they happen monthly, weekly, and even daily. When people say planning doesn’t work, they don’t use their planner consistently. It does take time to plan, however you are investing in so much more. Planning saves time, money, and energy. When you see the benefits, you will love it!
MY PLANNER
Currently, I am using a Planner Perfect TN. I enjoy this system and go between this and my A5 ring-bound planner. I also use this planner for monthly planning.
BLOG POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
Until next time,
