Hello everyone!
Today we will be talking about how to master your planning system just in time for a new
semester.
The purpose of this video is to help you understand what the best type of planner for your personality
and lifestyle is, and independently of the type, being able to master it and incorporate
it seamlessly into your daily routine.
Just like I did last year, I will be providing the schedule for all the videos you might
expect during this summer, plus a few unannounced bonus videos and surprise giveaways that may
pop up any day of the week.
If you want to stay in touch, it is very important to subscribe and click the bell button to
get notified whenever there is a surprise giveaway or a freebie coming up in a new video.
For even more bonus content I will be posting study tips on my Instagram and a new blog
post up on my website each Sunday.
All the links will be provided down below so let’s get started with today’s video.
I am one of those people that finds trouble achieving planner peace.
I have jumped back and forth between ring bound, coiled and hardbound planners, as well
as bullet journals, digital calendars and journals.
Here are two things that you need to accept right now: (1) everyone has a predisposition
for a different type of planner but (2) that will adapt according to your needs and the
way you manage your time, in a specific moment in time.
Mastering your planning system means understanding these two steps and applying them to your
current life situation.
For instance, if you have an incredibly busy schedule, considering an artsy bullet journal
will not be the best option for you.
On the other hand, if you have a very straightforward lifestyle, without requiring tons of different
things to manage, perhaps an expensive Filofax planner will not be necessary, considering
those planning needs.
Here is a very quick sum up of what I believe can suit most planning types:
- If you love customization to the max, appreciate a classic planner layout but also enjoy keeping
tons of lists and spreadsheets for different things, love portability and have a disciplined
planning schedule, a bullet journal is the way to go.
- If you are always on the go and have to coordinate multiple things regularly, like
your home organization, your work, family schedules, hobbies and education, I believe
that a ring-bound planner such as a Filofax will be a great tool.
- If you are a straightforward planner, being disciplined and patient with your planning
routine but also currently focusing on only one area of your life, like school, both a
coiled or hard bound planner are great options for you.
- If you are always on the go, need to manage and share your calendar with a team or your
family and prefer the ability to seamlessly alter things in your planner instead of customization,
I recommend a digital calendar, like Google Calendar or any third-party app, like BusyCal
or Fantastical.
- If you love to handwrite and customize but also enjoy the feeling of not having to rely
on a physical planner, synching your data between devices and also prefer adding new
pages and creating almost a digital bullet journal, you can buy a digital planner PDF
and use it with any PDF software on your iPad or other touch-enabled device and a stylus.
I will be giving one of these digital planners away, so stay tuned until the end of the video.
Personally, I love each and every method and I have used all of them, but I must admit
I have been loving planning digitally.
It’s super-efficient and the color coding allows me to divide tasks by topic or by function,
drag them and reschedule them on the go, and check my calendar on my phone, if I am not
at home, or in my iPad or laptop if I have them at hand.
I also enjoy the fact that I am not wasting paper and buying tons of supplies just to
fit my planning routine.
After you think what your planning needs are, let’s get on with four major tips to master
your planning system.
Regardless of the choice of planner, relying on a simple color coding system will allow
you to be more efficient.
Being able to visualize tasks and time slots by color can be really useful, and the ability
to apply this system throughout your planner, be it with colored pens, dotted stickers,
highlighters and even planner dividers, it will automate most of the planning for you
and allow you to label and group tasks and events accordingly.
If you are not much into colourful schemes and prefer neutral tones, you can also opt
for muted colors, like I did using these Tombow Brush Pens or opt for a system of symbols,
which you can draw with any black pen.
A great planner has to be structured in order to clearly distinguish between tasks and events.
Events are occasions limited in time, like classes, doctor’s appointments, a music
concert or dinner with friends.
Tasks represent the work you have to do and in order to be actually done, they should
not be sitting idly in a to-do list at the back of your planner but rather be smartly
incorporated into your daily routine, as if you were scheduling specific blocks of time
to tackle those tasks.
As such, a good planning system should distinguish between events and tasks but also allow you
to incorporate tasks by blocking a specific amount of time in your day so you can treat
them as events.
Calendar blocking is a great tool for this, and you can use it in spite of the type of
planner you choose.
A crucial thing about your planner or organization system is having space to allow you to put
your thoughts onto paper.
These can be bucket or reading lists, mind maps for projects or notes for a meeting or
a presentation.
Some people have the need to jot down notes every single day, so they may benefit from
a planner that incorporates daily pages.
People like me, who mostly rely on lists to organize their thoughts, definitely need some
loose paper in the back of a planner but do not require a daily layout.
Independently of the amount of space you need to pursue your planning goals, be sure to
minimize your system without relying on multiple planners or journals, which can put you out
of track and make you feel even more unorganized than before.
My last practical tip to master your planning system is to learn, once and for all, how
to grab a big project and breaking it into smaller, manageable tasks.
This can look so simple but it makes such an amazing difference in how you manage your
time and get things done.
For instance, when I have to upload a YouTube video each Friday, instead of planning that
major deadline, I break each YouTube video into smaller tasks that I can accomplish independently.
Usually, each one of my videos is created through an 9-task process: brainstorming,
writing the script, recording the voiceover, getting the footage filmed, do the first edit,
create all the graphics and thumbnails, making a final edit and uploading.
Each of these individual tasks are also individually scheduled in my planner, which allows me to
spread out a big project into several blocks of time, which makes me understand clearly
how much time I will actually need to reach the end of the project, and how dividing that
project in several chunks also allows me to manage other aspects of my life, like my university
or house work.
As promised, I will be giving away a digital planner by Goodplanr.
All you have to do to win is subscribe to this channel and leave a comment below saying
you are entering the giveaway.
Don’t forget to turn on your YouTube notifications so I am able to contact you in case you win!
I hope you have enjoyed today’s video.
Don’t forget to subscribe for tons of updates, challenges and ideas for this back to school
season and I will see you next week.
Bye!