The Ultimate Guide to Planning

The number one way I personally stay organized, crazy-productive, and stay on top of my responsibilities is by planning. I dedicate a small amount of time each day to plan, and it truly sets me up for success! Wow, am I passionate about planning or what?! So in this ultimate guide to planning, I am going to spill all of my planning secrets and give you the tools you need to be successful! Let’s get into it, this is going to be good…

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Planning… what’s the big deal?

Yeah, I hyped planning up just a bit there, didn’t I? Well, I can’t help myself, it has changed my life. So, before we dive into this guide to planning, let’s ponder the top benefits of planning:

• Increases productivity – helps you tackle that to do list!
• Gives you better control over how you spend your time
• Decreases anxiety
• Helps you focus on your goals and objectives
• Decreases uncertainties and creates an easy roadmap to success
• And SO. MUCH. MORE!

Related: 24 Fantastic Stress Management Techniques to Try Today

Top Planning Supplies

There is just something about new planner supplies that just pumps me up! Are you that way too? The best part about planner supplies is that, even though everyone plans in their own way, we all are in need of a few supplies to get us headed in the successful direction. Plus, planning supplies makes the process WAY more fun. Am I right?! So here are my top planning supplies, I absolutely SWEAR by these and wish I had used them sooner!

• The Olden Chapters Ultimate Student Printable Planner: I was never able to find a paper planner that perfectly fit my needs, so I created my own! This planner includes over 50 great planning layouts, student worksheets, financial planners, project trackers, and so. much. more. Plus, because it is a printable, you can print off any page as many times as you want! Check it out!
• The Olden Chapters Goal Printable Planner: This is the ultimate goal printable planner! With over 25 different workbooks, calendars, trackers, goal worksheets, and more, this planner includes everything you might need to reach each and every goal this year.
• The Olden Chapters Project Planning Freebie: Another great resource (and completely free, I might add!) is my Project Planning Freebie! This includes a project planner dashboard and a complete project planning checklist to help ensure each of your projects are planned to perfection.

Related: Master the Project Planning Process in 10 Easy Steps!

• A5 Filofax Binder: Hands down, my favorite binder to put my planner pages into is the Filofax A5. I prefer the Malden style, but they also offer a great Original binder and a Finsbury binder (plus more options seasonally…). Kikki K offers some great A5 options too!
• Bullet Journal: Along side a planner, many people turn to a bullet journal to jot down their everyday thoughts and ideas. Many have also created a great planning system with it as well! This system is outlined in Ryder Carroll’s bestselling book.
• Coleto Pen and Refills: Every planner needs a great pen. The Coleto Pen is my current favorite! It is a multi-pen that offers four different colors to use, all at your finger tips.
• Zebra Mildliner Highlighters: Another planning must-have is a highlighter set, of course! These help ease your color coding process and allow you to highlight important events or tasks. Zebra Mildliners are, hands down, my favorite go-to highlighter, as they are much more mild than regular highlighters and offer two different sized tips!
• Colorful Page Flags: Page flags help you index important pages and easily navigate through your planner. A cheap must-have planning essential!
• Washi Tape: Finally, washi tape is my planning supply obsession. It is colorful tape that you can easily write on, allowing you to decorate your planning pages, flag multiple dates on a calendar, and more.

Check out my Ultimate Student Printable Planner Bundle, it has everything you need to skyrocket your GPA, plan your life, manage your finances, score some killer scholarships, and so much more!

Project Planning Freebie

To help you kickstart your planning journey and skyrocket your productivity, here is a my project planning freebie! It includes a project planning dashboard and my project planning checklist. This is my tried-and-true way to turn giant tasks into smaller, bite-sized actionable steps. Download yours today to get started!

How to Start Planning

Alright, so let’s say you’re completely new to planning (if you’re not, you can go ahead and skip to the next section). Where do you start? Here are the quick-start steps to planning:

1. Gather your supplies (listed above!)
2. Find that perfect planner (obviously I recommend my Ultimate Student Planner and Ultimate Goal Planner)
3. Research top planner and planning tips to get inspired (here is a list of my top planner tips!)
4. Create the perfect planner routine (see below!)

That is pretty much it! Once you begin your planning journey, you can modify it and continue to tweak to ensure it continues to serve you as your life changes.

Related: 17 Killer Tips for Planner Organization

Daily Planning Routine

Next up in this guide to planning, let’s set up your daily planning routine. This is the heart of a successful planning system. A daily planning routine is a short and simplified list of tasks you complete each day to ensure you stay on top of your to do list, calendar, events, priorities, etc. Below, I have listed out the backbone of a daily planning routine.

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I encourage you to use this list as a starting point and modify it to fit your needs. And by use it, I mean you should actually pull out a piece of paper or a page in your planner and write down, step by step, what your daily planning routine is going to be! Then, each day, set out 5-10 minutes to walk through each short task. Simple and effective!

1. Review your day and check off completed tasks
2. Migrate unfinished tasks
3. Review tomorrow’s schedule
4. Create tomorrow’s task list
5. Check in with habit tracker
6. Check in with other daily trackers (such as goal trackers)
7. Reflect and journal

Learn more about daily planning systems here!

Weekly Planning Routine

Alright, now that you have your daily list down, let’s dive into the weekly planning routine. Here is the backbone of my weekly planning routine:

1. Complete daily planning routine
2. Process inbox
3. Create this week’s schedule
4. Create this week’s task list
5. Check in with master task list
6. Check in with current projects
7. Check in with weekly and monthly goals
8. Delegate and prioritize tasks
9. Assign each task to a day of the week
10. Plan tomorrow
11. Prep and plan this week’s budget
12. Plan outfits for the week
13. Plan workouts for the week
14. Prep healthy meals for the week
15. Plan and prep… anything else you need to for the week

Learn more about weekly planning routines here!

Monthly Planning Routine

Moving right along in this guide to planning… let’s cover the ever-important monthly planning routine!

1. Complete daily planning routine checklist
2. Complete weekly planning checklist
3. Write out a monthly brain-dump
4. Fill out monthly calendar spread in planner
5. Create tasks from upcoming events
6. Complete a full monthly goal review
7. Create an upcoming month goal list
8. Create a new monthly habit tracker layout
9. Compile a fun seasonal bucket list
10. Complete a monthly finance check-in
11. Finish the rest of your monthly planning tasks

Learn more about monthly planning here!

Quarterly Planning Routine

Next, let’s cover quarterly planning routines! I recommend completing these four times each year (end of March, June, September, and December). They are usually quick and help ensure you keep the big picture in mind! Here is an outline to help you create your quarterly planning routine:

1. Complete daily, weekly, and monthly planning routines
2. Review the previous quarter
3. Re-evaluate master to do list
4. Review and modify calendar of events
5. Revise current routines
6. Complete full quarterly goal review
7. Finish off any other quarterly planning tasks

Learn more about quarterly planning routines here!

Yearly Planning Routine

Lastly, here is an outline of a yearly planning routine that is great to do at the end of each year.

1. Complete daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly planning routine
2. Review previous year and brainstorm ways to improve new year
3. Reevaluate master task list for the new year
4. Create a new calendar of events
5. Complete a yearly goal review and write out your new year’s resolutions
6. Using your new goals, create new routines

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Setting and Achieving Your New Yearly Goals

Top Books on Planning:

Books that cover productivity and planning are my favorite kind of non-fiction books. Is it just me? Am I weird? Oh well! If you’re in that same fun productivity-loving boat as me, you will adore these great planning books!

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

This is the O.G. of planning books (in my opinion…). This book is the reason I started reading other great productivity books. I can not recommend it enough! In fact, I have read it multiple times (I listen to it on Audible while I am driving to and from work). What is it about? Well, David Allen creates this unbeatable productivity technique that can be incorporated into anyone’s planning system. It is a must read. Check it out HERE!

The Getting Things Done Workbook: 10 Moves to Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

If you loved Getting Things Done (um hello, how could you not?!), you will love this great workbook! It is pretty much a kickstarting workbook that forces you to get more productive. Check it out HERE!

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll

Okay, The Bullet Journal Method is another must-read planning book. It is a complete guide to bullet journalling by the creator himself! What is bullet journaling, you might ask? It is a completely flexible planning system that you make up as you go! It is based in a blank dotted journal and works on a cataloging system. Want to learn more? Or, perhaps you already use a bullet journal and want to learn the top secrets of success? Don’t miss THIS book.

The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

This best selling book has been a hot topic item for quite some time now. It tells the amazing tale of how Ferriss went from working 80 hours per week, to 4 hours per week (with the same income!). This book is filled with productivity tips, goal setting hacks, and so much more to ensure your energies are spent in the right areas of your life. A must read!

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

My last favorite productivity and planning book is The Power of Habit. This book covers the importance of habit creation in our daily lives. Duhigg covers how one habit can truly change our lives and how we can control our future with small, everyday changes.

Related: Life-Changing Books on Planning and Organization

Planning Series

This post the last of my planning series. Be sure to check out the other posts to get a full, comprehensive understanding of planning, planning routines, productivity, and more! Here are each of the posts, in the order I recommend reading them in:

1. An Ultimate Guide to Daily Planning: How to Get as Much Done Each Day As You Can!
2. The Perfect Weekly Planning Routine to Skyrocket Your Productivity
3. This Monthly Planning Checklist will Help You Reach Each Goal This Year
4. An Ultimate Guide to Completing a Personal Mid-Year Review
5. Everything You Need to Know about Quarterly and Yearly Planning
6. How to Plan an Entire Year in Advance
7. The Ultimate Guide to Planning

Further Reading

Finally, here are some of my favorite planning and productivity posts.

• A Complete Guide to Bullet Journaling
• Master the Project Planning Process in 10 Easy Steps
• 13 Time Management Tips to Explode Your Productivity
• Complete Guide to Planning – Everything You Need to Know
• Discover 10 New Secrets to Student Productivity
• 18 Life-Changing Productivity Tips to Master Your To-Do List
• Try these 17 Planner Tips to Organize Your Life Today
• The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Successful Goal Planning

That. is. a. wrap! Wow, we really went through a TON of information there, didn’t we?! I hope you were able to snag some useful tips and resources. Happy planning!

Don’t forget to grab your free project planning freebie!