Planning is something I’m incredibly passionate about. I have to be. I have my fingers in many pies: running a freelance business, dealing with clients, running four websites, planning my life, and watching lots of sports. If I didn’t plan, I’d forget everything! That’s why I thought I’d share my planner line-up for 2023 on the blog.
EVERYDAY PLANNING
When it comes to everyday planning, I tend to plan on a weekly basis on a Friday afternoon before I start my weekly reset. Sitting down to plan my week as a whole just seems to work best for me. However, I do plan monthly so I can see my plans at a quick glance.
For weekly/monthly planning, I use a mixture of a Paperchase dotted bullet journal, Asana, and Google Calendar as well as a daily to-do list notepad. Whilst I do like digital planning, there’s something so satisfying about sitting down with pens and paper! My bullet journal layouts are very standard because I have zero artistic ability!
I’m a big fan of colour coding so my Google Calendar, Asana, and bullet journals all sync up with colours. It makes it so much easier to reference key tasks when everything in one category is the same colour. For example, I use purple for my freelance business, grey for client work, blue for this blog, etc.
GOALS
One thing you all know that I’m big on is goal-setting. There are three places that I keep my goals: in my monthly blog post, in a lined Paperchase notebook, and on a Notion page. I like having them written down for reference when I’m at my desk but Notion is perfect for when you’re out and about!
Unlike my monthly goals posts on the blog, I actually categorise my Notion and journal. For the most part, I have business, blog, health/wellbeing, and personal goals. Whilst I do set weekly, quarterly and annual goals, monthly goal setting is the one I focus on the most, especially during my monthly reset. Having them written/typed up in multiple places means I can check in weekly, at least.
CONTENT PLANNING
It might seem excessive but I have a lined bullet journal for each website (four). These are just where I jot down ideas and write up some notes on each idea. This is a task that I like to do at the end of every month.
Following that, I plan out the next month’s content in a calendar booklet I got from TK Maxx. Previously, I had a Paperchase one but alas, they no longer exist. I like to see the month as a whole but only write everything in pencil.
The final step is to add my content plans on Asana and Notion. Currently, I’m in the process of moving everything over from Asana to Notion but it’s a work in progress. That also makes it much easier to move things around if a last-minute idea crops up or I’m not feeling that piece of content.
I’ve been using this system for a couple of years now and it seems to work. Sure, I don’t always stick to my plan but it’s a lot easier than having no plan at all! In 2023, I’m trying to stick to my pre-planned schedule as much as possible.
ENTERTAINMENT
Another unnecessary journal but one of my favourites is my entertainment/fun journal, a thinner dotted bullet journal from Paperchase. Back in 2019, I started tracking what I was reading, watching and seeing at the theatre as well as a bunch of other things. It’s fun to look back at the end of the year to see what I enjoyed. I watch a lot of TV so it can be quite embarrassing to track how much TV I actually watch! Here is what I’m tracking in 2023:
- 101 things list for 2023
- Self-care tracker
- Empties tracker
- Sleep tracker
- Cleaning tracker
- 52 areas to declutter around the house
- Reset and routines in detail
- Blog/business social media stats
- Seasonal bucket lists
- Travel itineraries
- Theatre shows seen
- Pages read tracker
- Books read tracker
- Monthly TV + film watchlist
- Episodes watched tracker
And that’s my planner line-up for 2023! Whilst I love being inspired by other people’s line-ups, it’s still important to note that what works for someone else might not work for you! You might prefer one planner for everything. Or you might do a mixture of paper and digital planning like me. Alternatively, you might have everything online so you can plan on the move too!
If you enjoyed reading all about my planner line-up for 2023, you can find my other organisational posts here. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram, where I share much more of my planning on a daily basis!
