My community knows my love for planning, and I’ve used my paper planner (an Erin Condren Hourly – *affiliate link) since 2018. In combination with my phone calendar, these two tools keep me sane! I use a different set of tools for my full time job which I’ll talk more about below. I often get questions from my community on how I “do it all,” stay organized and stay on time! I love talking about all of these things, so I’m excited to share all of my favorite tools and tips below. Let’s go!
How I use my Erin Condren Hourly
Let’s first start by diving into how I use my Erin Condren hourly. I love ordering a new one in November for the upcoming year, and then sometime in December “moving into it” by setting up the year ahead the best I can. You may be thinking, “Whoa! Planning out the whole year in advance?” Let me explain! I like having a master list of the things I have to do in a given year. It may seem like some work up front to get it all written down, and it is! However, I’ve found that for me it’s worth the time to plan ahead than for something to slip through the cracks when I forgot about it.
Here are some examples:
- Annually – doctors appointment, car inspection
- Quarterly – change furnace filter, dentist
- Monthly – make my content calendar, deep clean house items such as shower and microwave
- Weekly – vacuum, laundry, place grocery order, book workout classes, therapy
- Daily – vitamins, walk the dog, drink water
I then go through my Erin Condren dashboard pages for each month and write in the tasks! So car inspection only gets written in January, whereas dentist will get written into January, April, July, October. Of course things may shift a bit as the month gets closer, but I like flipping to a new month and seeing the reminders of what should take place that month. On my weekly spread, I will typically write my weekly items along the side notes column, or I’ll write them onto specific days when I know I’ll have the time to do them. I literally write take my vitamins and walk the dog on every single day in my planner. I don’t write drink water daily anymore because it finally has become a good habit of mine! Vitamins and walking the dog I still need that daily reminder for, so I’ll write it in every day to hold myself accountable. And I love highlighting it when I’ve finished!
I make my weekly spread every Sunday for the upcoming week. I spend about an hour sitting with my iPhone calendar and planner to make sure I’m all set for the week, and it always pays off! Map out everything I have to be at or do – it all goes down in my planner. Then, I ensure I have time ahead of that to do any preparation that’s needed. For example, say this week I have written down I have a networking event Tuesday, a presentation Wednesday and a doctor’s appointment Thursday. I’ll make sure I block time on Monday or Tuesday evening after work to make sure my presentation for Wednesday is good to go. I may write in Tuesday morning (and add a reminder to my iPhone reminders app) to pack business cards for the networking event. For the doctor’s appointment, I’ll make sure I have time blocked on either side of it on my work calendar for the commute time. I love waking up in the morning knowing everything is good to go for that day, I just have to follow my schedule! When unexpected things do pop up, it’s even easier to manage them because I have the brain space – everything else for the day is already taken care of and doesn’t need any more thought.
Calendar block if you need to, to get certain things done. For example Monday morning or afternoon is usually when I plan to take an hour and hammer out any annoying little tasks like calling to make an appointment, emailing my HOA president with that question I had, calling to get a prescription refilled, maybe get that quick vacuum done, etc.
My planner doesn’t travel with me. I usually check in with it every morning and evening before bed. I also love a paper planner because it’s a creative outlet for me! When I was younger I used to love using disposable cameras and scrapbooking. Once I started in the working world and let that hobby go, I found that planning in my planner with stickers and photos from my Polaroid Snap Instant Camera was a great way to bring that love for creativity back in a functional and helpful way! Because it doesn’t travel with me, I always make sure my iPhone calendar and planner matches for the week. In my phone calendar, I keep the things I have to be at like meetings, events and appointments. The tasks like prep for the presentation ahead of time, vacuum, make a call, etc I just keep written in my planner and highlight them as I complete them! I like picking a new color highlighter to use each week that matches with the color scheme of the stickers I’m using. I love ordering sticker kits from shops like Stick it Pretty and Sticky Peonies.
Mentally preparing for the week ahead
For me, I need to be mentally prepared for each thing I’m doing in order to be my best self! If I’m feeling rushed or caught off guard, I don’t perform at my best. I like to be present for all events, meetings, dinners with friends, etc so I make sure I can be in a clear headspace because everything else is taken care of and there’s nothing else to worry about in that moment other than what I’m doing! Speaking of rushing, during my Sunday sit down I also look at how much time I need to get ready for each thing I have planned. For example, if I’m going into the office 2 or 3 days a week, those mornings look different for me than the mornings I am working from home. I may need a bit more time to get ready for the day and out the door. I may also need to block commute time into my calendar if I’m going into the office, coming home to let the dog out and get ready for my evening plans, then head back out for the evening. If I have a friend’s birthday party that week, I know I’ll want an hour to shower and get ready (vs. getting ready for a networking event might take me 15 lol) so I’ll look at my day and see if I can block out that time I’ll need ahead of time so I can cut down on scrambling as much as possible. Of course there are days where I am scrambling, and that’s okay, but at least I know about it ahead of time. I know where I’ll be short on time in my schedule so I can at least mentally prepare and be less stressed.
Tools I use for my full-time job
At Lighthouse, we’re a Microsoft house, so we use tools such as Outlook, Teams, To Do and Planner. My Outlook calendar is EVERYTHING. I always keep it updated between 8-5. My team can also see certain aspects of it, so it’s nice for them to know when I’ll be out for an event and which days I’m WFH or in the office. Once I plan out my week Sunday evening, I make sure all of my calendars match up. If an event or appointment is taking place during the work day, I make sure my Outlook calendar is blocked off and showing busy. I use Calendly for my clients and candidates to book meetings with me, so if my calendar isn’t updated, it shows as free time for others to book! I hate having to reach out to someone and reschedule them when it’s my fault the time’s showing free were not accurate. To Do is basically my work version of my personal iPhone reminders app! Each morning I put my top 3-5 tasks for the day into To Do and work from that list and cross them off along the way. Planner is a great tool for larger tasks or projects, and it’s super collaborative with other coworkers!
Other general tips
- Use a shared calendar with a significant other or family if it makes sense to do. I love the iPhone shared calendar user experience and functionality.
- Find what works best for you! I know someone who likes to work better from a list in their phone notes app, than putting everything in their calendar. For example creating a note for that month and then each event gets its own line item with a date. I know folks that are all paper or all electronic. There is no right or wrong. It’s taken me years to keep refining how I plan and to figure out what works best for me.
- I’m a huge fan of scheduling tools. I consider myself a Calendly super user. I use it for my work at Lighthouse, as well as to schedule networking calls and my career coaching work. From 9-5 I use my Lighthouse link to send people, from 5-9 I use my personal Claire is Coaching Calendly link. Since I keep all calendars updated, it’s so nice to just send someone my calendar link and have them pick a time to chat that works for both of us, knowing all my time needed for events, etc is already blocked off as unavailable.
- Add everything to your calendar, even things you may want to go to but aren’t committed yet. As the date gets closer, something else may come up that takes priority or that I would rather do, and then I take the other item off my calendar. And if not, as the day gets closer, I may decide I want to commit to that thing I was sort of interested in! It could be a networking event, concert, pop up market, whatever it may be! I personally like to stay busy, and I like having options of things to do. I can always decide to pass and stay home and relax, but I like knowing what is going on and when in case I do want to get out and do something.
- Communication is key. If I have plans with other people, I always text them the day before saying looking forward to seeing you tomorrow! And then I text them again an hour or so before saying see you soon! I’ve found this is the best way to ensure if people’s plans change they will let me know. If they respond that things have shifted or they will be late, I can even better manage and have control of my time because of the advance notice.
I hope this was helpful! Happy planning!
Claire is Coaching 