Hi, my name is Mattie and I’m a planner junkie. Well, a recovering planner junkie because I actually don’t buy as many planners anymore. It’s hard, it’s really hard not to buy 3 planners everytime I go to TJ MAXX or Target, but I push through everyday. Keep me lifted in your prayers.
Recently, I really edited down my planners and why I needed them.
To be clear, I still use digital calendars to do some very detailed scheduling (and reminding) for launches, meetings & calls with my team – I really love Google calendar. But there is something about a physical planner that makes me smile. I just love to write things down.
My rule of thumb when it comes to using my planners – write no more than 3 things to do in a day. The rule of 3 (which I’ve been familiar with and using for a while but was recently re-introduced to it when I read the Productivity Project) is key for productivity. Yes, three. I’m using a planner to help me be more productive.
A laundry list of things to do in a pretty planner only makes me feel productive. But the rule of 3 allows me to accomplish three things 100% everyday vs. doing 12 things at 20%. It’s not about what you do, but what you accomplish.
In my current season of life, I use a planner for everyday life, work and content. This may seem excessive for some, but it has really allowed me to close all the tabs in my head and get really organized. Now, I want to be clear by saying that I do not sit down and write in my planners everyday. I typically look in my planners daily to review my schedule, but I do not write in it daily. That would take up way too much of my time. I set aside a couple of hours every week to write out all the tasks, appointments and plans in my planners so that way when I reference it in real time during the week, I’m set up for success.
For me, this has been the most successful way to use a planner and get the most out of it.
As I mentioned, I use planners for 3 aspects of my life: day to day life, work & content. Here’s what I write, plan and schedule in each type of planner.
DAY TO DAY
Doctor appointments
What’s For Dinner
Travel
Birthdays & anniversaries
Personal errands
Daily Habits
Reminders
WORK
Shoot dates
Payment dates
Meetings
Professional goals
Reminders
Deadlines
Relationship builders
Events
Planning
Expenses
CONTENT
Title of posts
Title of YouTube videos
Title of podcasts
Blog stats
Social stats
Income goals
Below, I share exactly what planner I use for what aspect in my life and why I like it.
FOR LIFE
For my everyday life planner, my planner of choice is the Erin Condren Lifeplanner (in Bloom Rose Gold Metallic – personalized). I was actually introduced to Erin Condren planners in 2016 at the Create & Cultivate when they came to Atlanta and they gifted all the speakers a gift card in our gift bags. I’ve always loved this particular style and it’s on sale right now!
This year, I had my go to motto – Slay Your Day – personalized on it and I absolutely love it.
I love this planner for my everyday life because of the space they have in each day slot in the weekly planner. The worst is when a cute planner doesn’t have enough room to write. In this planner, I write in any appointments for the doctor, dentist or people who will be visiting our house. It’s also so helpful when I write down what we’re going to have for dinner on each day to remember if I need to buy or defrost anything.
The great thing about Erin Condren is their accessories. They have great pens and stickers that add on to the planner beautifully.
FOR WORK
Create & Cultivate Planner (sold out online)
These have been such a hit on Instagram, so you can imagine my excitement when Create & Cultivate sent me over some of their fantastic planners. I use the C&C planner for work. For me, work is different than content because I’m writing steps of my process and appointments in this planner. From shoots, meetings, calls with brands – this is the planner I use to record all of this. I typically reference both my life planner and content planner to determine how to schedule what & when in this planner.
I love this planner because I can write down goals and even my mantra for the week. It really helps with staying encouraged and affirming my success for the week. I especially like the “Better Together” and “Self Care” sections which allows me to be more mindful of the work I’m doing for the week. Plus, it’s a very cute (and pink) planner – my cup of tea!
FOR CONTENT
The Content Planner
Last but not least is my planner for content. It’s called – wait for it – The Content Planner. It’s such a cute planner and I was excited to grab one of the last few periwinkle ones. (They have the yellow one available, but only a few left!)
In this planner, I write out my posts for the blog, podcast, and YouTube channel. It gives me a bird’s eye view of what content will go live for the month. Because I plan out my content a month in advance, this planner helps me keep all content in view. This is also where I write out my goals for social media and blog impressions. It’s just so great to have somewhere to write all of these things out vs. keeping them in my head. So far, it’s really helped me with staying consistent posting.
Do you use a physical planner? What’s your favorite planner of the moment?
This is so good!!! Having everything in one planner leads to me getting overwhelmed and not getting anything important done lol so I will definitely try this out 😊