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I’m a planner, and I love having a physical notebook as part of my planning system, but I spent many years choosing my yearly planner based on aesthetics rather than function. I’ve struggled through planners that didn’t meet my needs or had too many features that were useless to me, and it always left me feeling frustrated. But this isn’t only about a physical planner; your entire planning system needs to work for you!
Planning is meant to be a stress reliever, not a source of frustration, so let’s talk about what makes a good planning system and how to find the right one for you.
What problem are you trying to solve with a planner or new system?
A good planning system actually solves the problems you’re experiencing, whether that’s decision fatigue, mental overload, or lost and forgotten tasks. To find the right system for you, start by naming what you want to accomplish with planning.
Is it simply having a system for remembering a busy schedule with appointments and activities? Do you also need to track home or work tasks like chores or deadlines? Many people like to track their habits and routines, and marking that checkbox every day gives them a lot of satisfaction. You may also need to consider your weekly meals and grocery lists and how you’ll manage those.
This is where planning is more than just a notebook and becomes a full system because each of these pieces needs different energy and attention paid to it. Simply jotting down appointments and school schedules will only take a few minutes of your time, but planning out a week’s dinners involves a bit more thinking and coordinating.
The point of planning and creating a system is to reduce your load, so try not to let these pre-planning questions overwhelm you! Simply identify which of these ideas and questions weighs on you most during the week and focus on solving that problem first.
What information needs to be planned to create calm?
A similar sentiment to the first, but slightly more tactical. What are the actual things that make your life feel calmer and more organized when they’re planned? For me, this is meals and grocery lists, as well as scheduled events and a task list. Having a place for all that stuff to live, that’s not my brain, gives me a lot of peace.
Structure: more or less?
Structure can get a bad wrap as being too restrictive, but most people find at least some amount of structure gives them a feeling of freedom. This is because it helps us set expectations. When things feel predictable, we know how we can allot our time and energy. But, for some people, too much structure does hinder them and cause inconsistency. As the adage goes, “Know thyself”.
When it comes to picking a planner or calendar for your system, this is where you decide what’s important to include and what isn’t needed. Do you like to have timeslots for hour-by-hour planning, or do you prefer to have a weekly overview? Is digital better for you, or do you like a paper planner?
While I like a weekly vertical planner with hour markers, I don’t need a planner that includes a water tracker or meal planner, or a daily win section. I like a minimalist planner with sections for notes and to-do lists.
You can structure your system however you like. If you want to time-block and be more strict with how you spend your time, you can set your planner to match that. Or you can simply have a list-driven system that uses daily or weekly priorities to ensure important tasks are completed.
You may need to think about how involved the rest of your family needs to be in your planning system. Will a shared calendar where everyone can see what’s happening suffice? Or does each person need to be able to manage their own schedules and tasks separately?
This is also a good time to think about what needs to be tracked and managed daily and what can be done weekly. Most planning can be done on a weekly basis, but having daily check-ins and reviews will make the planning process more successful.
Experiment with what suits you best! Planning needs to work best for your real life, not an ideal version of it.
What makes planning sustainable in the long-term?
I have found that most people need to start small in order to find success. This is hard for those people who identify as an “all or nothing” person, but taking things one step at a time leads to greater long-term sustainability than jumping in headfirst.
A new planning system is a new habit, and the habits work because of consistency. If you want to be a better planner and feel more organized, consistency matters much more than perfection. As I said before, test out different methods and systems to find what works for you. You might naturally gravitate towards one style of planning, even though everyone says something else is the “best way”. The only “best way” to plan is the way that you’ll use and stick to week after week.
What are the signs your planning system is right for you?
If you’re going through the experimentation phase, you’ll know when you’ve found the right method when your brain feels less cluttered. Planning doesn’t mean that life slows down or gets less busy, but a solid system helps you feel clarity without pressure. With a good system, you don’t feel like you’re scrambling anymore.
The right system will also help you have a better sense of your capacity because you understand the expectations on your time and energy. When you know exactly what needs to get done and how much time you have to do it, you’re able to adjust your energy and push through a rough patch, knowing there’s a break on the other side.
And, of course, a good planning system is the one you keep coming back to each week.
A 15-minute planning routine in 4 steps.
If you’re not sure where to get started, here’s a simple 15-minute routine you can use today to get yourself a bit more organized. You’ll need some type of calendar or notebook to keep track of a few things before you get started.
Step 1: Review your week
Time: Approximately 3 minutes
Take a few minutes to write down any appointments, deadlines, family commitments, errands, or anything out of the ordinary in the week. You can make a list or add each time to a timeslot in your schedule. A couple of things to consider as you review your week: When will this week feel busiest? What absolutely needs my attention?
Step 2: Choose some priorities
Time: Another 3-ish minutes
Pick 3-5 tasks or to-dos that will make the week feel successful once completed. Remember, not every task deserves equal energy, so try not to pick five high-demand tasks.
Step 3: Make an action plan
Time: 2-3 minutes
From your list of priorities, chunk bigger tasks into smaller steps. If you wrote something like, “get organized”, break it up into action items like “schedule doctor appointments for kids”, “make grocery list”, “clean the hallway closet.”
Step 4: Take one small action now
Time: Remaining time
Take one of your smaller steps and accomplish it now! Create tomorrow’s to-do list, prep something for dinner, tidy your desk, and schedule an appointment. This is for creating momentum and not just letting the plan sit around as a “good idea”.
