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How I use my Daily Review Planner

How you use your Daily Review Planner is entirely up to you – I designed it to give you this freedom within some broad guidelines. Many people have been asking me recently how I like to use my planner so I thought that I would walk you through my process on a typical day. My planner practically lives in my bag so it ends up getting beautifully creased and bent – just the way a well-loved planner should look.

Writing in my planner is an entirely ceremonial ritual for me. I know, I know, this may sound strange if you are not a stationery lover but trust me, it is a magical process that you should embrace. I will select my favourite pen (it has special ink that can be erased!) and make myself a large mug of green tea with honey. My dear friend recently gifted me some incredible green tea that she got on a trip to Japan that I am loving.

I also make sure that my writing corner and desk are tidy. I am one of those people who can only work in a tidy environment – my brain refuses to focus if there is any mess around! To put myself in a super-calm and focused mindset I will put on a soothing playlist from Spotify. Something without words or too up tempo is perfect. The other thing about me is that I cannot focus when it is too quiet – I need a bit of a buzz. That is why I love to work in coffee shops but if I am at home a playlist is essential.

I will then write my three priorities for the day. These are the things that will really make a difference if I manage to complete them. I make sure to describe them in enough detail so that I will know when they are completed e.g., instead of: “Work on new notebook ideas”, I will write: “Brainstorm new notebook ideas for one hour and send details to designer for feedback”. I find this way of formulating priorities much more energising.

In the notes section there is space for me to write what I need to do to achieve my daily priorities. For instance, this could be an email address of someone I need to contact or a list of items I need. The notes section is your space to wander.

I always love looking to the bottom of the page for the daily quote and pondering it for a moment. For some weird and mystical reason, the quote always feels spot on for what I am feeling that day – don’t ask me how this works!

Anyone familiar with the Daily Review Planner will know that the Review section is a central part of the daily layout, and I learned how essential it was when I was training to be a coach, but life happens, and we let the busyness of the nothingness get in the way and we stop doing what is important. A little over a year ago I embarked on a counselling skills course to top up my coaching qualification and it has been such a life-changing experience. I am excited not just because I passed but, more importantly, because the course made me fall back in love with self-reflective reviews. I use the review section to dig deeper into how my day went. If I feel that I had a shit day, then I will write all the reasons why I felt it was so shit – it is essential to be honest with your feelings. I will then reflect on these feelings more objectively to see if I can work out why they might have occurred and if there is any deeper meaning. This process is one of the most powerful parts of the planner (hence the name 😉) and I strongly encourage you to build this habit.

Happy planning!