How to Plan Your Best Life
Planning can assist you in so many ways. All of the various reasons have been studied and documented. But in order to find out what planning benefits will support you the most in your life, you have to start planning. Just start! You have to also remain consistent with the practice of planning. I have posted on ways to decide what type of planner is best for you and other planning tips. That post is located here.
Once you have decided that you are going to use planning in your life and you have decided on your planner, you have to start planning. The characteristics of a blank page in a planner always brings me excitement. It is ready for goals and responsibilities to be filled in and accomplished. If you are new to planning or have been planning for awhile, you will find some guidance to help you plan in this post.
Planning your month
Create a central location where you keep appointment cards, sticky notes, and other monthly announcements. Review these each month as you get ready to plan by placing the appropriate event on the date and time it will occur.
If you track birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays, mark these on the appropriate date.
Keep a list of goals you want to accomplish as an individual and/or a family during the month. These can be added to the monthly view of your planner. Update this list every month so you can visually track your progress throughout the year and celebrate your accomplishments! You can also choose a word of the month to keep you motivated and focused.
If you chose a monthly theme, you can decorate your monthly layout as well; just for fun. This helps release creative energy and also increases the chance that you will review your planner if it is pleasing to look at.
Planning your week
Review your monthly layout for the upcoming week and fill in any scheduled appointments, meetings, practices, etc. Then, check other responsibilities to include work tasks that are scheduled week to week and fill these events in.
Do a brain dump to allow you to organize your tasks and achieve some order to everything.
Unsure of where to start with a brain dump. Here is a resource that can assist you.
Planning your day
Depending on the type of planner you decide to be, daily planning may be for you. I find that daily planning helps me when I have priorities that I need to complete for the day, errands that have to be run, appointments that have to be attended, board meetings that have to be discussed, and so on.
Daily planning can allow you to list all of your activities for the day and place them in certain time slots or you can use a free flowing list with no time slots depending on your preference. Block planning also can help you organize if you are more productive with blocks of time designated for certain tasks.
Choose a time that you are going to plan for the upcoming week and make that a regular part of your next week prep. At the end of the month, get ready for the upcoming month by planning what you need to do during the next month.
What type of planner are you? Are you new to planning and just figuring it all out? Keep in mind that planning is not to create more for you to do. It is to help you get control on what needs to be done. If you have ever felt like your life was moving out of control, planning can help you gain some of the control back.
This is Post 1 of 5 about planning. Check the Blogtober 2021 tab for more posts as they are released.
Let me know if you use a planner on a daily basis. How has it helped you? This blog focuses on you creating an optimal life for yourself & family with a balance between professional life & home life- allowing you to excel in both areas. Let’s use planning to assist us in accomplishing more each day while still allowing ourselves to schedule in self care. Decide what is important and fun for you to do for yourself and include that in your plan also.
Be you, be well, be focused! Find Your Flourish! |Shanna|
[…] How to Plan Your Best Life […]
[…] contains much anticipation of what is still to come with Christmas. There is a lot of prepping and planning that goes into that time, which I enjoy so much as […]
I use a planner for both long term and short term goals… I use a daily planner with my to-do lists to keep track of it all and long term planner is to keep me aligned with my goals and have a SMART manifestation plan
Fayne- You definitely have everything in place to be awesome at planning and goal accomplishing. Hopefully, you are moving forward towards your short and long term goals. I find that knowing what works helps me be more productive with my daily tasks. Thank you for reading and commenting! |Shanna|
I have a planner and like to spend time planning for each week and month. if I miss this time I feel uneasy and worry that I’ll forget something that week. Of course, things come up and I don’t always get everything I’ve planned done but I can usually roll over to the next day. I would love to decorate my planner more xxx
Claire- I am thankful you took time to read this post. It sounds like you have a great planning routine that addresses your needs. We do get dependent on that planning time. Without it, I can feel out of sync. I try not to miss my planning time because of this. Planning helps me gain control of my schedule. |Shanna|
I work through loads of lists! I have weekly lists, daily lists and monthly lists which really helps keep me on track.
Jupiter- I am definitely a list person as well! I have many, many list pads and list notebooks. Let’s say I haven’t met a list pad I didn’t like. I am glad that listing is your go to for organizing your life. |Shanna|
[…] a recent post, I brought up the subject of using a brain dump. Some of you may immediately have thoughts and a […]
I usually start off good planning at the start of the year then it falls to the wayside and then I tend to just use google calendar that coincides with hubby we we both know what everyone is doing and when.
Fee- I think using whatever works for you and yours is best. As long as it helps everyone stay on the same page and schedules are communicated, technology has its place. We use a Cozi calendar for our family along with my other planning because everyone has their own color, we can communicate schedules, it has a shopping list, and a chore list. Thank you for reading! |Shanna|
I love a new month and a new week just so I can make plans. I am not so good at planning my day though, something always seems to come up and makes me change plans. x
Kim- It seems like you know what works for you. I enjoy the start of a new month and week as well. There is something about new possibilities that get me excited. Hopefully something in this post will help you continue to flourish with your planning. I appreciate your comment. |Shanna|
I use a planner and absolutely love it. Not only does it help to keep me organized but it reminds me of everything I have accomplished. My planner has a month section, then a weekly section and finally daily planning sections, which works great for me. I usually write my year goals in the front cover or on the bookmark in the planner.
Evie- It sounds like you have a wonderful planning system that supports you and your goals. That is awesome. Happy planning! I appreciate your comment. |Shanna|
I usually start the year off strong with my planning and then it drops off probably when I’m super busy and need it the most. I like your suggestion to set aside time each week to plan.
Ruth- I hope you do locate some time to plan each week. That should help you maximize what you can get from planning. It is always so ironic that planning tends to fall away when we are busy and could use it as a support in those times. Thank you for reading! |Shanna|
I have my daily plans (a useful to-do list) but I like the idea of plotting out the things I need to do later on in the week — that would be really great to start doing. Thanks for the tips!
Molly- Thank you for reading and commenting. I am glad you found something that will help you find your flourish. Planning ahead does help prepare you for what is to come and helps you know what you need to focus on in the present. |Shanna|