After enjoying two-and-a-half months of focusing on my family and our new baby boy, I am slowly trying to rediscover my mojo and get back in the groove of working. Needless to say, I’m not nearly as productive as I used to be, but I’m working hard to create new habits — habits that allow me to be focused and productive during certain work hours without sacrificing the girls’ school or time with our little guy.
The first week of the year, I focused on work, and it went fairly well. But the girls were still off school. Last week, we added school back into our schedule, and it went really well. But I didn’t get any work done.
So this weekend, I spent some time reading Crystal Paine’s new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, reviewing the various daily planners that other bloggers have shared, and revamping our Daily Action Planner. While my Invite.l planner had been working really well before Jackson — and I hope to return to that system in the future — I need a more detailed planning tool for this season.
Here’s what I came up with:
Daily Action Planner {New & Improved}
The new Daily Action Planner {full size} or {half-sheet} includes several important sections:
Today’s Focus: This area is right at the top of the planner as a place for my One Word for the year, a quote or a verse I want to live by each day. Taking the time to choose a focus for each day helps me live more intentionally and evaluate the things on my to-do list in light of this focus, which I hope will help me choose the best rather than trying to do everything that’s good.
Three Projects: There are a million projects on my to-do list right now as I attempt to finish the Life Your Way redesign, homeschool the girls, release new Life Your Way projects, etc. But trying to do everything at once leaves me unfocused and overwhelmed. Instead, I’m following the Storyline method of selecting three projects per day to focus on, And in all honesty, mine will actually be two projects — one for the early morning and one for the afternoon — plus homeschooling midday.
Appointments: This section gives me a place to list any appointments so I can plan my other activities around those time-sensitive commitments.
Have-Tos: Because there are a ton of things on my to-do list besides actual projects, the have-to list allows me to list small to-do items that don’t fit under a project heading but still need to be done. The limited space forces me to evaluate those and pick the most important. (And “shower” is definitely a have-to!)
Get-Tos: I stole the idea for this section from the Storyline planner as well, as a place where I can list things like exercise, reading goals, movie night, etc. This helps me stay on track with my goals (and reminds me not to waste time zoning out on social media when I could be reading instead) without making those fun items feel like drudgery. It also lets me make time for them without feeling guilty.
Meals & Water Intake: And finally, taking a few minutes in the morning to decide on meals helps me actually prep ingredients ahead of time so we can stick to the plan. I also haven’t been drinking enough water lately either, so I added 8 circles to remind me to drink 8 glasses of water.
Other Planning Printables
But a daily planner wasn’t enough. I also added my 2014 Monthly Calendars {full size} or {half-sheet} so that I can see all of our commitments and appointments for the month in one place, the Weekly Overview {full size} or {half-sheet} where I can write down appointments, blog posts and other time-sensitive projects, and a blank page for a weekly brain dump.
I then made myself a cute little cover with my word of the year (Live) and a verse (Galatians 2:20).
However, depending on your needs, you might want to pick and choose from these printables instead:
Daily To-Do List {full size} or {half-sheet}
Master To-Do List {full size} or {half-sheet}
Weekly Meal Planner {full size} or {half-sheet}
Weekly Action Planner {full size only}
How do you keep track of your daily commitments, goals and to-do lists?
Mandi Ehman is the blogger behind Life Your Way. She and her husband have four beautiful girls plus one baby boy on the way, and together, they live, work and homeschool on a little slice of heaven in wild, wonderful West Virginia. She loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces.
A Peek Inside My Current Planner {Plus a New Printable Daily Action Planner!}
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