BLOG – My Planning System.

In my previous post, I gave you some information about why I started planning in the first place and I gave you the list of things that I have to work with and plan for.

I have spent a lot of time planning in ring bound systems and I love the flexibility of that. I love the decorating aspect and I love that you can change things up whenever you like. As you’ll discover, I have multiple ring bound planners currently and they are integral to my system.

In the last year, I also discovered bullet journalling and it really appealed to me. As a list maker, it seemed like the ideal solution for my on-the-go planning. It was just a notebook that I could easily fit in my work bag and take with me wherever.

Still, I had 4 other beautiful planners sitting there on the shelf, so I decided to make use of them and create my planning system. Now I use a fusion of both bullet journalling and traditional planning and it’s so comforting to know that everything has a place.

As the planner community knows, this isn’t a static thing – planning is dynamic and fluid and that is why we love it. We can change things whenever we feel like it. If something isn’t working, we can adopt a new method and continue on.

As I mentioned, I have 5 planners now and some get used routinely, some are more reference-type systems and I’ll go through them briefly now. In future posts, I will delve more deeply into each system.

Bullet Journal.

I use a Leuchtturm 1917 dot grid notebook. It is a softcover notebook because I needed it to fit inside my Kikki.K pink leather notebook cover.

This is my day-to-day planner. I used to separate work and personal and photography and planner paper goods all into separate planners (and I still do to some extent) but for agenda/calendar planning, it made no sense to me to have them all separate.

Let me explain: if I have to go to Sydney for my work, and I also have a flatlay shoot to do, then I need to be able to see quickly and easily whether I’m actually in the right city to do that job. I don’t want to consult multiple calendars and try to coordinate each of my lives. So I use my bullet journal predominantly for my calendar and day-to-day planning.

Reference Binder.

There are some things that I need to keep, to write down, to record, but I don’t need to carry them around with me. And so, my reference binder was borne. I also use it for my professional and personal development notes.

I will take you through this planner in an upcoming post.

Photography Planner.

This A5 size planner goes with me when I meet with photography clients. It holds everything I need for discussing a job, including some forms, business cards, some examples of my work and lots of notes pages for the business but also for general notes, just in case it’s the only planner I have with me.

desleyjane_plans Planner.

This is my newest planner and one I am still mapping out. It’s the one that I use most often and I just love it.

At the moment, I’m also trying to improve my handwriting, especially since I am starting to post my spreads to Instagram and FaceBook. My writing can be ok, but more often it’s quite a mess – when I’m in a meeting or on a call, I typically write very quickly and very messily.

So, I’m currently doing #rockyourhandwriting which is an Instagram challenge with daily prompts for you to handwrite a response. I have printed dot grid paper and popped it in there as I prefer to practice my handwriting that way. It’s small enough that I can take it with me if I think I might have time to do something.

This planner is quite dynamic, I’m not sure I will stay in this for handwriting practice as I may need more space than a personal size gives me. I’ll keep you posted. I’ll also show you inside this planner in a future post.

Work Planner.

This is my planner for my 9-5 job. It’s also personal size, and accompanies my Bullet Journal as my every day carry. It has just four tabs for:

• clients
• products
• marketing strategies
• business planning and notes.

More on this one later as well.

So that’s my entire planning system and a little bit about why I plan. I hope that gives you some insight into how and why I do what I do. I try to incorporate a little method into the madness. It brings me order, and consequently peace, but it also lets me be as creative as I want to be. There’s ample room for decorating, for practicing my handwriting, for doodling and for working out all (well most) of the kinks in my brain. 

As I said, they may not stay as they are, I may modify what I use each one for, as my needs change, but that’s why these systems are so useful – they are not fixed and unchangeable. There is always room to improve and update. 

PRO TIP: Styling photos of your planner and planner pages can be very difficult. You can up your photo-game substantially by making sure that the camera/phone is held level. If you struggle to do this (it’s not easy!) then you can deliberately place your planner on an angle in the photo – this makes a huge difference.

If photo-styling tips would be useful to you, please let me know. I would love to share my secrets with you.

Until next time, happy planning!

#PlannerLoversUnite

x desleyjane