My portable planning system

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days" - Zig Ziglar

Jan 27, 2025

Over the years I’ve experimented with many different tools and methods to manage my time, priorities and schedule.

Although I’m currently in a phase of trying to simplify my life and often conflicting responsibilities, the reality is I have multiple roles within my work, clients that each come with their own requirements, children in different schools, and my personal ambitions and goals to try to make time for.

So, if your life is similarly hectic at times, these are the notebooks and tools I’ve settled on to meet my needs, organise my time, and help me to feel somewhat in control, most of the time.

Purpose

Planner

Brand

LEUCHTTURM1917

Name

Weekly Planner & Notebook

Size

B6+

How I use it

Focus of the day
Meetings & appointments
General/personal to-do list
Track freelance hours
Notes/things to remember

Why I love it

This is the planner that I return to, time after time. If I stray from this layout, having been lured by a new and expensive brand, then find myself overwhelmed and burnt out from trying to keep on top of everything, I come back to this planner, and everything feels calm and organised again.

I love the simplicity of it, with the days and dates of the week on the left, and a full blank page on the right. Yet at the same time it’s so versatile. I can bullet journal in it, I can habit track in it, I can contain my endless to-do list in it, and I can fit it into every bag I own. The additional notes pages also mean it’s the only notebook I need in a meeting. This handy B6+ sits in charge of my whole planning system, in fact my whole life. Everything goes in here, and then it’s duplicated anywhere else that’s relevant such as the family calendar or my Outlook calendar.

Annual cost

£21.50

Purpose

Journal

Brand

LEUCHTTURM1917

Name

Pocket notebook

Size

Pocket (A6)

How I use it

General journaling
Thoughts, feelings, free writing
Diary - what I’ve done, especially when travelling
Logging events, concerts, holidays, days out
Capturing quotes, books, films & TV series I’ve loved

Why I love it

Leuchtturm’s philosophy is ‘Writing by hand is thinking on paper’. This sums up how I use all of my notebooks, but particularly my journal. I work out what I think and how I feel by writing. It helps me to reflect, plan, and make sense of the world. I feel lost if I don’t have my pocket journal nearby. I take it with me whenever I’m away from home. I like the undated version as I don’t feel the pressure to write every day, and although I do end up writing almost daily, sometimes it’s a couple of sentences, or even a quote I’ve read, and sometimes it’s pages of ideas and confusion that I just need to get out of my head. I also love that the pocket notebook is about the same size of my phone, so I’ve easily got into the habit of carrying them both around with me.

Annual cost

£9.99

Purpose

Task Management

Brand

Todoist

Name

Task Manager

Size

Desktop & mobile app

How I use it

Work separated by projects
Deadlines & reminders
3 core tasks per day
Priority ranks
Use comments to track progress

Why I love it

I became obsessed with the Todoist app sometimes around the middle of last year. I binge-watched Carl Pullein’s videos on the various ways to use it and have since developed my own way to keep track of my tasks without the constant worry that I’m going to miss a deadline. It works for me because I can make each client or area of work a ‘project’ and then look only at the task list that’s relevant to the work I’m currently doing. It allows me to put in all the deadlines or due dates for the bids and reports I’m working on. I also like to set recurring regular tasks such as prospect research, and creating my core content and online courses. But the most positive effect using this app has had on my working week has been the ability to see really clearly my schedule at a glance, including meetings and tasks. It’s this layout that has helped me to analyse what’s causing the overwhelm and to try to plan out everything I need to do that week in a much more balanced and realistic way.