I need a planner to function, stay organized, and know which way is up when things are at their most chaotic. If you’ve been following this blog for quite some time or have gone back to read some of my older posts, you know that I credit having a planner for how I’ve managed to remain on schedule with my blog posts. So it should no surprise that I have already started setting up my 2021 planner! Though it’s not full yet (I don’t know my work schedules, homework assignments, doctor appointments, etc to fill in), I wanted to give everyone a brief insight as to what it’ll look. Later on in the year I’ll actually show what it looks like filled up, but for now, here’s what I can show you of my 2021 planner setup!

So if you read my small business review of Con*Quest Journals, then you’ll have seen the original planner I chose for 2021… and then the one I bought that I will actually be using (the first one was blank, so I can save it for next year). So it’s a very similar setup to the one I was using this year, so for the most part, I am keeping it fairly similar to my old one with some slight adjustments. All this planner has pages that my other planner didn’t, so I want to utilize them as best as I can. Some sections I still haven’t made plans for, but I can see what else I might want to add later on.

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So these were three pages that my other planner didn’t have and ones that I’m grateful this planner has! Being able to refer back to my 2021 goals with the turn of a page means that I will be able to keep better track of my progress on them. I used the 2021 reminders page as a reminder/inspiration page. Using stickers that came with the planner, adding some of my favorite song lyrics, and adding a few reminders for myself, this page will be great to turn to whenever self-doubt starts to creep in. The monthly to do list is helpful for seeing what I want to accomplish long-term and remembering important dates. I can add more dates as the month goes along, but the dates I have right now are ones that I know are important to me! I haven’t decided what to use the Rememberall section for (if you have suggestions, let me know), so I’m leaving that blank for now.

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So these two pages are very similar to what I had in my old planner. The set up or the first page will remain the same with a few tweaks. So the middle section will no longer be home to my daily word count (I’m keeping track of that a different way in 2021). Instead it will keep track of my homework assignments because trying to squeeze those in the section with appointments, my work schedule, etc, was a nightmare! And I have decided to keep the lower section as my to-do list, but I colored it green to show the importance of the to-dos. I have decided to have 5 important to-dos everyday and any other to-dos will be on a separate sheet of paper. I try to do too much in a day and I overwhelm myself, so I think focusing on 5 important tasks will definitely help my productivity and my mental health. For the end of the month reflection page, I’m using that as my blog tracker for both my blogs. Keeping track of my followers isn’t new, but the other sections are. So I’ve decided that keeping track of my most popular post each month is a good idea because it will help me determine what posts people seem to be enjoying the most so I can post similar content and continue growing. And I think keeping track of what days I get the most traffic can be good for determining if I continue posting on the same days every month or I should switch it up. My current day of Wednesday, is a hit or miss sometimes, but overall I feel it’s a fairly good day to post. However, due to changes in my work schedule (I added a second job), Wednesdays and Saturdays have now become full work days, so posting on Wednesdays won’t work for me in 2021. My new schedule for 2021 will be Mondays and Thursdays.

And then here is my color code! It’s straight forward and to the point. I use coordinations coding as a quick and easy way to know what I have for the day. So if I have a blog post that needs to go up, a doctors appointment, and work, I can see at a quick glance that I have all of them and plan my day accordingly. It has been the easiest way for me to stay on top of everything. For 2021 I’ve decided to go with erasable pens so if anything gets canceled or changed, I don’t have ugly scribbles in my planner (that really bothers me). I can just simply erase it and move it, which will be a lot better visually.

So that’s my 2021 planner set up! As I mentioned above, I will be showing what it looks like when in full use sometime during the year (I’m thinking March, but we’ll see). Overall, I’m really happy with what I’ve put together so far and I think this will be a good setup for me.

Have you set up your 2021 planner yet? I would love to know! I hope everyone has a well-organized week and I wish everyone a safe and Happy Christmas/Yule!