Being organised means that we can accomplish so much more than when we just go with the flow. Having a planner changed the way I do organise everything both in business and in my personal life. So, as there are so many on the market these days, I decided to put this post together to make picking one a lot easier.
I really do recommend that you choose wisely and take my number one tip on board before you buy: organise your mind. By that I mean figure out what exactly it is that you need to organise.
Once you have sussed that out, you can move on to finding out which planning system works best for you. If you have a job and are running a creative business, not to mention all of the family events that you may need to keep track of, you absolutely need to avoid getting into a tangle of tasks and one of the best ways to this is a planner – that way it is all in one place. TIP: A good incentive for using a planner is buying an expensive one, that way you will feel like there is no escape from staying organised!
#1. The Simplified Planner by Emily Ley:
As a married, busy mother of three little kids with business to manage, Emily Ley got the idea of a planner from her own need to manage her day well. With this planner, she wanted to help others like her get their work done alongside their other responsibilities. This planner has a daily and monthly layout. The daily pages give you space to fill in the day by half-hour intervals and make notes on the side of the page (perfect for writing lists) Get hold of yours here.This planner comes in at $58.
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#2. The Happy Planner:
- Comes in 2 different layouts; vertical or horizontal.
- There are lots of different cover designs to choose from.
- It is super versatile as you have the option to clip in extra pages.
- Allows personalisation using colour coding and stickers.
- Year at a glance planning
- Monthly intentions and dates to remember sections
- Includes monthly calendars with space on the side goals or notes.
- Beautifully designed monthly dividers.
- Offers extension packs so that you can create additional sections in your planner for things like budgeting, homeschooling, goals, fitness goals and hourly planning as well as wedding planning and Christmas planning.
The Happy Planner has a monthly and a weekly view which means you can plan well in advance and make sure you are doing them in the right order.
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#3. Passion Planner:
The Passion Planner aims to help you break down your goals and create steps that fit into your daily life to make your goals actionable. At the end of each month, there is a section which asks you questions that help reflect on the progress of your goals. This planner provides you with a weekly view with time slots so that you can really plan your day in a very detailed way as well as monthly and annual views. To get hold of your own Passion Planner and stay focused on your day check out the website here
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#4. Bullet Journal:
The Bullet Journal is a customizable analogue system designed by Ryder Carroll. This system is an awesome way to keep a log of your tasks in a very simple and super effective way. Watch the video below to find out more about how this system works. Get your own Bullet Journal here.
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If you don’t feel like any of the above planners will work for your schedule, you could create your own planner so that you can really customise it to suits your needs.
Here is a little insight into how I stayed organised and on top of my tasks:
- Erin Condren Life Planner for day to day tasks and planning months ahead for both personal and business. (I can’t deal with two separate ones for personal and business)
- A random ideas notebook for anything that pops up in my head that I think is a good idea and worth looking at later.
- A notebook for blog post ideas.
- A notebook for taking notes from my business mentor / group masterminds that I attend.
- A notebook that I use solely for learning new things. So, notes from webinars, online courses, or in-person workshops.
- One folder that I used for reference. I put mindmaps / charts so marketing workflows and automations or notes for things like opt ins/downloads seeing as I have so many. It makes it easier for me to refer back to things that I created months/years ago that I can stil utilise now. I also have a section for each big project I curently working on and for each cleint that I work with so I have an easy reference when I need one.
It may sound like a lot of notebooks, but if I didn’t have these, I wouldn’t be on top on anything and my brain would probably hurt. If you want to run a business rather than letting it run you, being organised is super important so if you havent’t already, grab yourself a planner.
If you have any planner recommendations or other any great ways to stay organised drop them in the comments.
