There are so many planning tools out there that it can be overwhelming to figure out a system that works. To be clear, I use a variety of tools to keep myself organized for my business and in my personal life. My weekly planner pad brings those elements together for what needs to happen, one day at a time.

For my business

I use Dubsado as my customer relationship management system, and it’s been a lifesaver! As part of this incredible tool, I utilize the task boards function to map out my client administrative workflows in a step by step way. This includes any emails I need to send to a client, when I need answers to their wording questionnaires, and any meetings we’ll have. This gives me a reminder to “email Jane with her design kickoff note” on the appropriate date. It’s so helpful to not have to remember this for every client, and I’m thankful for Dubsado’s amazing functionality!

Because I’m old school, I map out my actual work for clients on a wall calendar with mini PostIt Notes. For example, if I know it will take me three days to do the envelope calligraphy for Jane and John’s wedding, I block off those three appropriate days to avoid overbooking myself.

For my personal life

To keep track of personal appointments and things going on in our life, I use good ole’ Google calendar. I like to keep it simple so nothing gets lost in the shuffle! This way, everything gets blocked off in advance and I don’t have to remember anything. Plus, this syncs with my Dubsado scheduler tool so my availability is automatically shown correctly for client meetings and calls.

So how does this translate into using a weekly planner?

Each weekend…

At some point during the weekend, my husband Adam and I go through our schedules for the upcoming week ahead. Here, I check my Google calendar to determine what we have going on. We love to cook, so for the nights that we will be home, we map out which meals we’ll be cooking on each of those nights. I write down those meals on my planner under each day, so we never have to have the dreaded “what do you want to do for dinner?” discussion.

After he and I have chatted about our personal activities, I also go through my Google calendar and add in any pre-set client meetings and appointments into my weekly planner. I block off these blocks of time for the entire week – not just for the meeting itself, but also any driving time as needed.

I also prep for the week by adding in the daily content I’m planning to share. This way I don’t have to guess about what type of articles and photos I’ll be putting out into the world. Likewise, I add in my exercise I’m planning on doing over the course of the week, so it gets prioritized and accounted for – before other commitments inevitably pop up.

From there, I map out my Monday. More on that below!

At the end of each day

As I finish up each workday, I take a few minutes to assess how the day went. I write down my daily win, and mark off the habit streak I (hopefully) maintained.

Additionally, I look at my next day’s Dubsado admin tasks, along with the next day’s “heavy hitter” client project I have assigned on the wall calendar. I write these into my weekly planner, and batch out my workflow for the day ahead. I then have a full game plan to ensure I’ll get done everything that needs my attention.

It feels really good to reflect on what went well during the day, and to give myself the plan for the day ahead.

Want a weekly planner for yourself?

I thought you might… Get yours HERE. Or, just check out below!