This year I have three diaries/ notebooks going. I know what you’re thinking and I agree, three is probably too many but I’ll explain the intricacies below.
Shining Planner
Moleskine weekly diary planner
Bullet journal
- Shining Planner
I use the shining planner to review the month that’s just passed, and to set goals for the month ahead. It has a really thorough review and intention-based process. I use one of the pages not as it’s intended because I just do a list of all my goals for the month on that page.
I also love these prompts at the start of every week:
- this week I want to receive…
- I want to give myself the gift of…
- I want to feel …
- I am grateful for …
And your top 3 priorities – personal and work – for the week.
For the rest of the week, I put in anything that has a scheduled time but that’s it.
—>>> Goals for the month, setting intentions for the week and top 3 work and personal for the week. These top 3’s are usually taken from my goals for the month, or something urgent that’s come up, like a geyser thing we had a few weeks ago.
This planner stays on my desk at home because it’s too bulky to carry around with me.
2. Moleskine weekly diary planner
This is my preferred diary format – a weekly horizontal down the left and on the right, lined paper for my lists.
(do you know how few diaries have a horizontal weekly layout? I’ve seen only 3 – this one, my beloved Legami and another spotted on the fly – I should do an instastory from Exclusive Books!)
I write those same scheduled things from the Shining Planner down the left side of this diary (standard things I would write out for the month, like Tues 6pm Barre, 7pm Spanish). If the nanny’s off work, I would note that down here, or if I’m working from home, I also note that down here. In other words, all appointments with others or with myself (upholder!)
The right side is for my personal and blog goals. Beth and I chat every Thursday night and set goals for the week ahead. So on a Thursday night of one week (say, 5 October) I write things down on the next week’s page (week starting Monday 9th October). Meanwhile, I still complete (mostly!) the current list for the rest of this week. If this is confusing, sorry about that. It makes complete sense to me because I’m just “pausing” the current week for 30 minutes to think about next week, without actually starting next week until it arrives. Make sense?
I usually put no more than 4 – 5 personal and 3 blog goals for the week ahead. These are all from my monthly goals. Sometimes they’re carried forward from previous weeks – it’s all okay.
If other things crop up, I can easily add it to either of the lists (I leave space) without feeling overwhelmed. Other non-goal things I add are usually appointment-making things.
3. Bullet journal
The only real planning that goes on here is my weekend to-do list and the daily to-do list I write when I work from home. That’s really it.
If you read this post, you’ll see I mention the goals review and goal-setting here too. This is just for a quick brainstorm, key points, etc. to jog my memory.
My weekend lists are my favourite things ever – I like a combination of out and about (I’m an extrovert), productivity (either in the house or on computer) and true relaxing (reading/ photos, etc).
The items on my weekend list are sometimes carried over from the Moleskine (finish a book, or finish editing photos, for instance) but are mostly new things. I never put house stuff on my weekly list because I work full-time and the only time I get to potter and organise is on the weekend, unless it’s to do a quick 10-minute organising project.
Then the whole thing repeats every week, and at the end of the month, on Goals Night, I do my monthly review and goal-setting.
And that’s it!
All that said, I’m already excited for next year because I decided I’m not ordering the shining planner so I’ll only have my diary (it’s looking like a Moleskine for now) and my bullet journal.
Has this helped anyone? Please let me know.
How does your planning system fit together?
Interesting…I have seen other people with more than one notebook and I wondered why? For me anything more than one is too complicated. I also find myself unable to use both a digital and analogue tracker. It has to be one. Is the the bullet journal not versatile enough for all your needs? I like a place that has all my stuff in one place and I can quickly jot things down and I don’t forget.
I am planning a to give a traditional bullet journal a try for my next one.
I enjoyed reading about your system! Do you do something separate for work? I work a lot from home and only one day in the office, so it helps me to have all my lists together. I’ve been using the passion planner this year, it really suits me and I’ve ordered one for myself (and for my sister!) ready for next year. My children are still pretty small so I haven’t found enough time to make the most effective use of the goal setting and reviews in the planner, but I really like this feature and hope that my sister and I (we’ve discussed and planned this already!) with the same diary, can be accountable to each other around our goals and review each week.
I use one separate notebook for work (will put in Instagram stories today for you) and I write an eat the frog list every day as well as normal client meeting notes.
My phone calendar syncs to my work calendar for scheduled meetings, and that’s it.
I do also use a master to-do list to keep track of all the many client pieces (I may write about this because a colleague has asked).