As we are half way through 2024, many of you may be feeling conflicting emotions about your planning system. Some of you may have planner hopped multiple times (and some more that you’ll even admit out loud).

Setting up a new planner can be an exciting and empowering process, laying the groundwork for increased productivity and a more balanced lifestyle. However, it can also feel like a daunting task; leaving people feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and disorientated. In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to set up your new planner effectively, turning it into a powerful tool for goal achievement and time management.

Choose the Right Planner (or Planners):

There are so many planner options out there! Start by researching and choosing a planner that aligns with your needs and preferences. Think about how you like to visualize information and the level of detail you would like to capture in your plans. For example:

• Do you need a high level overview of your weekly schedule? You might be a weekly planner.
• Do you need to know every single detail of the day ahead and have a lot of unique tasks that need to be written down? You’re likely a daily planner.

Many of you might fall somewhere in between. There may even be a few of you that might choose to use multiple planners to show up as your most productive self.

For a in depth look, see this blog post: How To Determine Your Planning Strategy.

Whether you prefer a daily, weekly, or monthly layout, ensure that it suits your lifestyle and helps you achieve your specific goals.

Define Clear Objectives:

Before putting pen to paper and diving straight into setting the planner up, take a moment to define your objectives:

• What do you want to achieve with this planner?
• Is this planner going to be a “catch all” planner – i.e. everything lives here?
• Is this planner going to be one of multiple planners and topic specific?

Whether it’s improving time management, capturing tasks, achieving fitness goals, or increasing productivity, having a clear vision will guide your setup.

Tip: Using sticky notes can be a great way to plan out the sections of your planner before putting pen to paper.

Common Planner Sections:

Planners come with different sections for a reason. They allow you to think about time from different perspectives. I find it helpful to start with the most expanded view and work my way toward the more granular details. In the sections below, I have some images for reference from different planners that I’ve used.

Yearly Overview

Think of it this way: You’re a parent that gets a sheet of paper at the beginning of the year with the school schedule. You might even have multiple children with different school closures and daycare dates. Now you’ve got a decision to make. Should you:

1. Go through your entire planner and write all this out for each month…
2. Hold onto that piece of paper until the relevant month occurs and pray you don’t lose it…
3. Implement a quick system so you can recycle the paper & have the dates on hand all the time.

I don’t know about you, but option #3 is a no brainer for me. When it’s time to do my monthly planning, I reference the annual overview before putting anything else down. Over the years I have routinely implemented this strategy in my own planning system so that I know what’s happening at a glance. I also keep a PTO tracker in this section so that I know what my PTO balance is for the year. Being able to visualize this helps me make sure that I’m taking my PTO on a regular basis to avoid burnout at work. It’s also nice to see when the kids are off school incase I want to plan a fun trip with the family or in the event that I decide it’s time plan a kid-free self care day.

Quarterly Overview

Not all planners have a quarterly section, but for me it’s a life saver. You may not need it in your own planning journey, or you may just not understand how powerful this little section can be. Quarterly overviews give you the ability to do long-range planning without having to decide exactly when you’re going to do something. I use this a lot when I’m brainstorming ideas.

For example, you have a really good idea for a project or a task that you want to get done, but this quarter is swamped with other priorities. You can write down the idea/task/on a sticky note and put it in the next quarter to revisit later on. The reason that I recommend the use of a sticky note is so that if you find you need to revisit the item sooner, you can move it. If you no longer like the idea when you circle back to it, you don’t have to use whiteout. It gives you a trigger to ask yourself, “is this important and does it align with my goals for this year?”

I utilize my quarterly overview the most on what I lovingly refer to as “planner move in day” and when I’m working on my monthly overviews.

The quarterly overview becomes a high level archive for me. Imagine a high-level place where you can see annually recurring items that you need to remember – i.e. car registration/tags, oil changes, sports physicals, class registration, tax deadlines, when you’re due for your next wellness appointments. The ability to answer the question “when’s the last time I _______” without flipping through 12 different monthly calendars – that’s what this section is useful for.

If you don’t think this approach would be helpful, there are countless other ways you can make this section a powerful tool. Many people use it to track habits, log reading, goal tracking, or simply use it for birthdays/pay dates/school closures (if they don’t use the yearly overview for this).

Monthly Overview

The monthly overview is where you start to see details emerge as you begin capturing important dates, deadlines, and events for the upcoming month. I’d recommend considering color-coding or the use of icons/symbols for different types of activities to enhance visual clarity in your monthly overview. While it’s easy to over-do it, a balanced approach can really help you quickly differentiate what’s important.

A quick note: You don’t have to put every single thing that’s happening in your monthly section (or any of your sections for that matter). This is a common mistake I see a lot in people who tell me that their planners are overwhelming. They are trying to capture too much information in the wrong place. When setting up your monthly sections, consider the frequency with which you’ll be visiting this section. It’s not helpful to put all the details in a place that you’re not going to be referencing more than a few times a month. If you’re a monthly planner that doesn’t use weekly pages, the level of detail you capture here will be different than someone who lives in their weekly or daily pages. If you need granular details to be able to feel on top of things, you might be a daily planner.

When setting up my monthly sections, I usually do it one quarter at a time. I’ll use this time to reference my quarterly pages and write down anything that needs to be done, i.e. get an oil change, start planning a birthday party, etc. I’ll go ahead and put pen to paper for things that are not likely to move, i.e. school closure dates, birthdays, or days off work. I use a template so I know what to write where in my monthly boxes so that I always have a space to write additional things that may pop up.

However, my monthly sections are a sticky note dumping ground until I’m about a month out. This is largely due to my need for an agile planning system because kids are always a plot twist, and one of the things that really bugs me is when I have to use whiteout in my planner. I’ll usually sit down mid-way through the month and clean up my sticky notes as I confirm dates for the following month. It’s not perfect, and it’s not necessarily pretty – but it works for me.

Weekly & Daily Pages

In my opinion, weekly and daily pages are where the magic happens. These pages are where you get to break down your monthly goals into actionable steps. It’s also a space to allocate specific tasks to each day, visualize your schedule, prioritize your most important activities, or even track the consistency of their habits.

What’s important is that you figure out the best way for you to visualize time and what information is important for you to keep here (if any).

When I think of time, I visualize it by week. I love the idea of the additional space that daily pages provide, but if I can’t see my week at a glance, I feel lost. I also feel guilty when I have blank dated daily pages. It can also be challenging to find time each day to write out a plan. Some people can consistently do this as part of their morning routing, and I applaud you! In the morning, if I can get out the door with my sanity intact and matching shoes, it’s a win.

When setting up my weekly pages, I have some non-negotiables that I use to ensure that I’m keeping myself on track to have a productive week. One thing you’ll learn about me is that I love templates and I thrive on checklists. I incorporate them frequently in my planning so that I don’t have to try to remember what I need to do each week (or month, or quarter…).

Personalize Your Planner:

Make your planner something that you want to open. If you don’t love the aesthetic, you’re less likely to even open it. Spend some time thinking about ways to make your planner uniquely yours. This could mean personalizing the cover, adding stickers, quotes, or even photos that inspire you and sets a positive tone for your planning journey.

Things to keep in mind: If you’re easily overstimulated, take it easy on the stickers and embellishments by adopting a more minimal approach. It’s okay to have white space and frequently our brains need this to be able to focus on our objectives.

For an in depth look, see this blog post How to Determine Your Planning Aesthetic.

Utilize Sections & Tabs:

Most planners come with various sections or tabs. If they don’t, they can easily be added with the plethora of planning supplies out there – or just use a sticky note. Are you noticing a theme here? A common default planner set up is by time, i.e. you have sections for monthly, weekly, daily, or notes. Depending on the planner, you may be able to segment out the different aspects of your life, such as work, personal, health, and finances. A lot of this comes down to the binding and the flexibility that you have with adding/removing pages and sections. No matter how your planner is set up, you can make adjustments so that it is easier to navigate and locate specific information.

Incorporate Goal Pages:

Some people cringe when they hear about goal planning. However, dedicating a section of your planner to your long-term goals might be something you want to do. Sometimes planners come with this section pre-defined. If not, try using part of the notes pages in your planner instead. Here, you can break goals down into smaller, achievable tasks, and track your progress regularly. If you feel like you’ll never reference the section because it’s hidden away, you can add goal breakdowns as part of your monthly, weekly, and daily systems. A more consolidated approach will serve as a constant reminder of your aspirations.

Review & Reflect:

While not technically a “set up step”, this is a critical step in making your planner aspirations successful. Scheduling regular times to review your planner is essential to know if it’s really working for you! This may be on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. You may choose to reflect on different areas at different times. No matter the schedule you choose, you’ll want to reflect on what worked well and what needs adjustment. This iterative process will help you refine your planning system over time.

One last note: Remember that life is dynamic, and plans change. Embrace flexibility and be open to adapting your planner as needed. The goal is not perfection but progress.

You’ve reached the end of this guide and hopefully you’re now prepared to take the next steps towards a more organized and intentional life! By taking the time to set up your new planner thoughtfully and consistently using it, you’re investing in your own success and well-being. I hope that each page bring you closer to achieving your dreams and living a fulfilling life! Let me know below what part of this guide helped you the most!

Happy planning!