In this post, I want to share with you my planner setup blueprint. It has taken me some years to perfect my planner system to a point where no matter what planner I use, I know it will work. Right now I use a Gillio Personal Wide in Croco Mat brown but I own a few other brands and sizes like Filofax or KikkiK. If you want to see my collection, I’ve uploaded a video some time ago.
The inbox section is my place for all things that I just want to plop into my planner and not think about it where it has to go. This could be a note from a phone call on a sticky note or a business card I got when I am out and about. It is my catch-all place and I usually clean it out each evening during my late night planner update.
This is where all the timed stuff goes. I start this section with my Year at a glance insert, then there is my perpetual calendar for all the birthdays I don’t want to forget. Then I have an insert for my travel plans as they are usually planned out on a more long term basis. I also keep a future log to write in any long term appointments or deadlines. I call this my future log.
Next up is my monthly sub-section which actually has two parts. First, I use a month on one page insert in a vertical layout. I like to be able to see two months at a time as it gives me a better perspective on what is coming up. I also color code in these inserts to differentiate between the single entries. Thes entries are mostly time-bound to a specific day like appointments, bills, and travels.
The second part of my monthly sub-section is my monthly task list. In this list insert I keep track of all the bigger tasks I want to accomplish in the current month. I usually don’t plan my tasks more than a month in advance as they tend to change a bit depending on the projects I currently work on.
Next up in my calendar section is the weekly sub-section. I have a week on 2 pages insert for the whole year in my planner. This insert does not contain any time-bound entries, just my weekly tasks, trackers, and my meal plans.
As the name of the section says, this one contains all my notes I want to have on hand at all times or the notes I have created when I am out and about. They are pretty random and during my monthly planning, I like to clean this section up and toss or migrate any notes to their proper home. (I do keep various other notebooks for different topics.)
The first insert in my lists section could be moved to the monthly section as it is my monthly recurring task list. At the beginning of the year, I write down all the things I need or want to do on a regular basis like changing contact lenses and cleaning the car.
A very important list in this section is my someday-maybe list. I adopted this part of my planner after finishing the book “Getting things done” by David Allen. This list is home to all the things I want to do someday but not necessarily in the near future.
Of course, I have a “to put into planner” list in here as well. If you are like me and like to watch planner flip-through and planner setup videos of other members of our community, you should add this page to your planner as well! I have gained so many ideas and new approaches from other members of the planner community!
Other lists in my planner are:
This section mainly houses my period tracker. I am grateful that I am not in need of permanent medication or have any other health issues to keep track of. I do have a monthly habit tracker in this section but my habit at the moment is, not to fill it in. Kind of missing the point here, am I?
One thing I do keep track of is my reading log where I write in when I started or finished reading a book and how I liked it.
The last section of my planner is my Home section. Since all the other sections have covered quite a bit of my home things anyway it’s a quite thin section. At the moment I only have my car maintenance log in there.
I have a video on my YouTube channel where I set up my Gillio Compagna Personal Wide where I explain my planner setup in more detail:
You might wonder why I didn’t mention daily pages or a weekly timed overview. Well, I use a different planner for these two sections. I like to keep track of the daily things in a bound notebook so I can reference it way after I have finished a book. But this would be another blog post of its own!
Let me know down in the comments which planner sections do you always keep in your planner?
