Putting goals into practical steps is key to your success!
Your Day Designer enables you to map out your routines, habits, schedules, and plans. On the blog today, we’re sharing our top tips to help you make the very most of your planner on a weekly and daily basis.
1. Review your week before it starts.
A weekly planning session will set the foundation for a successful week!
Start by picking a time and creating a ritual where you reflect on the past week and plan for the week ahead. Celebrate what you’ve achieved, and brain-dump everything you need to remember and accomplish in the next week. Some of our planner friends do this on Friday afternoon, many on Sunday, and others first thing on Monday mornings. Commit to a time and jot it into your planner!
During your weekly planning session, you’ll want to review your goals and priorities, current projects, activities and events, and your meetings and appointments.
Weekly routines will help with follow-through and efficiency, opening up time for yourself and your family. Consider establishing weekly routines for self-care, meal planning, grocery shopping, other errands, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and family time.
Whenever possible, batch your work to increase focus. For example, you could set aside a day or a chunk of time specifically for errands, emails, phone calls, or meetings.
Pro-Tip: Your ideal week is not meant to become an unreasonable standard to which you hold yourself. Be sure to prioritize what’s most important to you and leave some room for flexibility and the unexpected to simply enjoy the life you’re working so hard to create!
2. Design your day.
Long-term goals and plans are critical to success, but real change happens on a daily basis in tiny, incremental steps.
To stay on track, you’ll want to design your day first thing every morning, or even better, the evening before. Either way, in the morning, make it a habit to always touch your planner before you touch your phone!
If you are using our Flagship Daily Planner, the prompts will guide you to map out your schedule, your list of to-dos, and your top three priorities. You’ll also find space for notes and your daily gratitude. The quadrant at the top right offers space for Due (bills or projects), Dollars (saved, expenses, or sales), Dinner (where, when, what, or with whom), and Don’t Forget.
This page truly serves a dashboard for your day.
If you’re using our Flagship Weekly Planner, you’ll have the opportunity to map out your day as you visualize the entire week.
3. Have a midday check-in.
It’s only natural for plans and priorities to change as your day goes on. Set a time for a midday check-in. With so much going on, it’s so easy to get off track!
Review your top three and adjust your plans for the remainder of the day, if needed.
4. Reflect: How was your day?
Set aside a little time at the end of each day to reflect on how it went. Check off what you’ve accomplished. Be truly grateful for the progress you made! If you’re using our Flagship Daily Planner, this is a wonderful time to fill in your daily gratitude box.
And don’t forget: When a day doesn’t go quite as planned, no matter how hard you tried, remember to give yourself grace. Tomorrow is always a great second chance!