3 Must-Have Planning Tools to Get Your Life Organized

Before diving in, I should warn you that I am a serious type-A planner. I’ve always been obsessed with planners, notebooks, fun highlighters, etc. So I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on the topic. I’ve tried just about every single planner and planning tool out there and I’ve got it down to a science. There are 3 specific tools that I recommend, each of which will be covered in this article.

Here’s the exact planning process I use every week to set myself up for success:

Step 1: Compile a running list of tasks in ClickUp.

ClickUp is the first planning tool that I swear by. It’s essentially a digital task bank where I list out and organize anything and everything that I need to accomplish for the next several months/years. Any time I have a new work project assigned or I think of a task I need to accomplish at home, I throw it in here.

Here’s a screenshot of what mine looks like right now:

So you can see on the left-hand side that I have several “spaces,” which are broad areas. I have a space for each of my three blogs, my freelance writing business, my teaching job, and my personal to-do list. This is completely customizable so you can change it to whatever makes sense for you! For example, if you’re a college student, you might have a dedicated space for each class you’re currently taking.

Under each space, you can add tasks (and subtasks, if you’re super type-A like me) and assign them dates based on when they’re due or when you’d like to accomplish them. I kind of use Clickup like a placeholder – I assign dates to tasks based on what I think I want to do and then I edit them if plans change or I need to move things around.

Step 2: Plan for the upcoming week with the Ink+Volt Dashboard notepad

This Ink+ Volt dashboard notepad has changed my life. I know that sounds super dramatic, but seriously, it’s true. I would get super overwhelmed looking at my giant task list in ClickUp and knew I needed a way to see only a week at a time. Here’s what my notepad looks like when it’s filled out:

I love this tool because it gives me a weekly overview at the top where I can see what I have scheduled (workouts, appointments, etc.). This helps me quickly see just how busy my week is going to be and helps me decide what my priorities should be. I use my “spaces” from ClickUp to write headings for each to-do list and add all the tasks I want to accomplish for the week in that area to their corresponding list.

I also LOVE the habit tracker at the bottom! Coloring in each of those squares after you do a habit is honestly so satisfying.

Step 3: Spend 10-15 minutes each night time-blocking for the next day using the Day Designer

I won’t lie, this Day Designer planner is kind of expensive. I think it’s worth it but you could also just use a free daily time-blocking template, which works just fine. Some of you might think using both a weekly planning tool and a daily planner is too much, and that’s fine! For me though, I would find that I had all these plans to accomplish tasks during a week and then it would be Friday evening and I’d wonder why nothing got done.

I tend to procrastinate and that often means mindless internet scrolling which took up SO MUCH time and I didn’t even realize it. That’s why I started time-blocking my days and I’ve never looked back. Time-blocking allows you to specifically plan out where your time is going each day. Once you start this method, I think you’ll be surprised at just how much you can accomplish in one day. Here’s what a day in my planner looks like:

I like to color-code my planner – pink for workouts, purple for work tasks, etc. That helps me see with a quick glance what I should be doing for each time chunk. I love these highlighters because they’re pretty colors but still fairly neutral and they’re easy to draw straight lines with.

So there you have it – my top 3 must-have planning tools. Any other planning tools or planners that you can’t live without? Let me know in the comments!