I recently was inspired by a blog post from one of the most creative DIY Planners I've come across: Whitney from Life by Whitney. This blog post has DIY Planner layouts for how to be more productive.

I felt like it was the perfect layout to help organize a SUPER busy week for me

I modified the layout slightly in that I didn't give each hour an equal space. There are times of the day when I'm more productive, and times when I'm not that productive 😅. Thus, it made sense to make some rows taller than others.

While I filled in this layout for the purposes of a video, the actual implementation involved:

Sunday Night I outlined the grid including rows for hours and columns for days (I also made Saturday & Sunday less wide than weekday columns too).
Each morning while I had my coffee (first thing I do in the AM) I would pencil in on the right-side of that day what I wanted to work on for each "chunk" of time.
Every few hours I'd go into my planner and use a pen to color code my activities to show what I *actually* was working on for that time block.

That's it! My days are pretty crazy, so I would just use each morning to plan my day. If your days are more predictable, you could complete your week in one sitting and save even more time planning your productivity.

What do you think of Whitney's layout?

Now that I've started a new planner, I wanted to try and be more focused with my time. Previously I would have a weekly layout for general items, and a basic daily notes spread so I could write down things I had done each day. (Because I'm getting older and it's starting to get TOUGH to remember what I did yesterday 😅 .)

Here's the video; I'll explain my reasoning below:

I divided my activities into 7 different categories. These are areas that are important to me, my business and my family. Some to make sure the house doesn't fall over, and others to make sure *I* don't fall over!

You can pick as many / few as you'd like, and make them personal to your situation.

I've used:

Errands
Business (Development)
Creative Pursuits
Household Duties
Meals
Practice / Reading
Me & My Family

(I also have small columns at the start and end of each row to make of awake and asleep times too.)

By dividing my activities into these categories I can try and make better decisions about how I spend my time. The categories are flexible enough, so I can "veg out" watching a TV show after my Little Dude is in bed, because YES! I need some "me time" each day.

Do you think this strategy might work for you? 👇

MATERIALS USED (the following contains affiliate links, which do not increase an item's cost, but does pay me a small commission if you are so kind as to make a purchase based on my recommendations)

Notebook - Leuchtturm 1917 dot grid hard cover, my last notebook was a dud, and I'm so glad I ordered a new one because the page quality is SO MUCH better

Pens (Small) - Stabilo 88 FIneliners, my new favorite pen for my planner. The tips are durable enough I can write from a variety of angles (which is important when using different lettering styles)

Pens (Brush) - Pentel Touch Sign Pens, Flexible Tip, great for practicing letter forms too