How many times have you been sitting at your desk chugging away at work only to realize that you forgot that you had an appointment 20 minutes from now?
If it happens a lot, then you may need to get a planner to get organized. This could help you keep track of daily appointments, your to-do list, and so much more!
Sounds amazing, right? Keep reading to learn more about how to use a daily 2023 planner, how to get organized with it properly, and how it could benefit you in the new year!
The Best 2023 Planner
When you pick out a journal planner, you want to make sure it has everything you will need to use it successfully.
One of the best planners out there is the A5 by Ronnie & Co.
Why? Because of the number of things that are included in it and how easy it is to use! So you may be wondering at this point what it comes with and what it looks like.
Let's walk you through that.
The Right Size
When you pick out a planner, you want to make sure it is the right size for you.
If you work from home, you may not need to take your planner anywhere so the size could vary. However, if you are constantly on the go, then you want a planner that can fit in your bag!
The A5 planner is the perfect on-the-go planner diary for that!
Week-to-Week Layout
Having a week-to-week layout can benefit you in so many ways.
With a week-to-week layout, you can see everything you have for the week when you open the planner to that week. On top of that, you can also jot down your daily tasks on each day.
With a vertical layout, this is even easier since you can lay it out in more of a schedule format to see what appointments you have or certain deadlines. A planner with hourly times is beneficial so that you can go hour-by-hour for your daily planning.
The A5 has slots for 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. with sections for half-hour planning as well!
Goal Pages
Having a monthly goal page is beneficial because it helps you to keep yourself accountable for setting goals and sticking to them. You can even jot down the rewards for when you do meet the goals!
Monthly Overview
No planner is complete without a monthly overview. This allows you to see what your month entails. Since it is over 2 pages, you can see the entire calendar for the month when you open that page.
This will help you to keep yourself accountable for meeting deadlines, remembering appointments and important dates like your parents' birthdays, and so much more.
Daily Space
In addition to having a schedule to plan out in your planner, having space on each day is beneficial to jot down other important notes that you do not want to forget.
For instance, you may want to plan your daily meals, track your habits, or just jot down an important number while you are on the phone with a client.
Whatever it is, you can jot it in a space on the day! Having a 2023 diary in Australia will make your life so much easier.
Dot Grid Pages
Dot grid pages are perfect for creative planning and scheduling.
You can use these pages for budgeting, other trackers, vision boards, or even note-taking! You could also use this for meal planning and ingredient prepping!
Pockets
If you find a planner with pockets, this is incredibly helpful! You can use these to keep important reminders, receipts that you have to keep for documentation, or other documents as well.
A pocket in your planner diary that is expandable is your best bet, too!
Planner Tips to Make the Most of Your Planner
Having a planner is one thing. Making the most of using your planner is something completely separate.
If you simply let your planner sit and rot away in your backpack, that's not going to help you get organized! That's why knowing how to use it is so important!
Start With Writing Everything
For starters, you need to jot down everything on a separate piece of paper that you feel is important in your life.
Here are a few examples of things to jot down:
- Goals you have for the year
- Your best friends' and parents' birthdays
- Important meetings at work
- Your weekly coffee dates with your significant other
- Work deadlines
- Important appointments like the dentist or another doctor's appointment
- Monthly to-do lists
This is just some of the stuff you can write down. You may have tasks that you like to do daily as well, so you should write those down, too.
By everything, we mean everything!
Create Daily and Weekly To-Do Lists
One way to stay on top of your to-do lists is to set aside time to actually write out the to-do list.
Once you have everything written down on paper, you can transfer that all over to your planner. Start with the months and get smaller to the weeks and then the days.
In addition to doing that, you should then set aside time on a Sunday to plan out your week with important tasks. Every night, you should spend 10 minutes planning your to-do list for the next day to stay on top of everything that has to get done.
At the beginning of each month, you should also create a monthly to-do list. You may feel that the month is long, so you can jam-pack a ton into it, but start easy.
You can always add, but subtracting may make you feel bad!
Prioritize the To-Do List
While creating to-do lists is so important to know everything that you want to get done, you also need to prioritize the to-do list.
Your list may have 99 things on it, but realistically you have to think if you will be able to get to all of that. If you think it is better to narrow it down, move some of the less important items to the following month. Then focus on the ones you've kept.
From there, you should narrow down your top 5-10 priorities for the month. These are your non-negotiables that no matter how busy you get that month, you still have to make sure you get them done and prioritize them that month.
Leave Some Space in Your Planner for Improvising
Since you have space to write things down, it may be tempting to fill every single space. However, you realistically will burn out if you do that.
Instead, you should leave some space where you can improvise at that moment. Or, you could even schedule some self-care onto your planner so that you know you have to do that - there's nothing else on your schedule but that!
Additionally, trying time blocking is a great way to get things done. You may have to go through a trial-and-error period, but by doing this, you are giving yourself time frames for each part of your to-do list.
Not only will this give you a clear picture of what needs to be done and when, but you also won't procrastinate as much since you scheduled it into your day rather than just putting it on your to-do list.
It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect
If you are a planner, you may feel that your planner needs to look and be perfect in every way. However, this will keep you from using it correctly and to your advantage.
For instance, instead of worrying about how it looks, consider using it to just mind-dump everything onto paper in the blank spaces. You can use this to organize other aspects of the planner later, but that is why those pages are there!
It is better to use it and do it imperfectly than not use it because you are waiting to figure out how to do it perfectly. You can learn along the way.
Get Your Yearly Planner Today
Having a planner that you use daily can completely change your life. You can say goodbye to forgetting meetings and missing deadlines and hello to feeling like you are in control of your life again!
Are you ready to get organized and take charge of your life? You can shop our planners and more on this page to get there!
Make your 2023 your best yet with new organization. Happy planning!
