How to Make Using Your Planner a Habit

We can all agree one of the best feelings is opening a crisp black Golden Coil box and unwrapping a new planner. You page through it and can see the months ahead of you. Everything is fresh and ready for you to start organizing your life. Then fast forward two or three months ahead. Life is busy, you are stressed, and barely keeping up. Planner, what planner? Your planner is buried under a stack of papers and you haven’t written in it in a month. You are not alone! We’ve all been there. But today we’re brainstorming ways we can make using our planners a part of our daily routine, even when our routine falls apart, even when we’re stressed and busy, even when we don’t feel we have time. 

Check Ins 

Make time each day to sit down with your planner. All you need is five minutes! Put the planner in a central place where you will see it each day. We love to do a 5 minute check in in the morning and 5 minute check in the evening. We’ve been known to set a reminder on our phones to make sure we don’t forget. In the morning, take a look at the day ahead. Prioritize the most important tasks of the day. Check your schedule and any to-dos or appointments ahead. Nighttime is a great time to reflect on your day. Take note of the best moments of your day.

If you’ve read this blog before, you know we’re huge fans of habit stacking. A great way to make a new habit is to stack the it alongside another already established habit. Say you make coffee or tea each morning. If this is part of your daily routine, while your drink brews, do your morning check in with your planner. If you watch tv or read in the evening, take 5 minutes to do your evening check in. 

We also love to make time for a weekly planner check in on Sundays and a monthly planner check in at the beginning of the month. The more you engage with your planner the more you’ll want to use it! 

On the Go 

Traveling or out and about each day? Bring your planner along. When appointments and meetings come up or ideas strike, you’ll be ready to go and won’t lose important details. We love to throw our planners in our bags along with our pen bags when leaving the house. Tip! Next time you order a planner, add in some blank or lined pages towards the back so you always have pages for a quick brainstorm or last minute meeting. 

Make it Fun 

The better the planner, the more you will want to use it! With our planners you are already starting with a beautiful foundation. But the more you can personalize and make it yours, the more you will pick it up. Utilize tools you love. Do you have a favorite pen? We’re currently hooked on these. We adore these highlighters and sticky notes too. 

And lean into your passions! Do you love collecting lists? Practicing daily gratitude? Tracking your daily habits? Planning meals? Make time each day to engage with your favorite parts of your planner. Next time you are ordering a planner, make sure you check our site for layouts you haven’t tried yet. We’re currently hooked on the Sections 1 layout. It touches on all areas of the day! 

We hope these tips inspire you to keep your planner in daily rotation! Let us know in the comments below how you use your habit and which tips resonate with you. For more tips on habit building, check out this post!