You'll boost your productivity
One of the most profound effects you will notice from using a daily planner is that you will increase your productivity by a lot. And better yet you’ll be doing more work without even feeling like it. Having a structured day helps us to stay on task and spend less time wondering what we should be doing currently or even thinking what we will do next. You already have your daily tasks outlined and all you have to do is get to work on whatever you have set and watch your tasks fly by and get completed.
You'll form habits
When using a planner you can also set what your daily habits will be and tick them off as you complete them. For example if you want to set the habit or meditating every morning you can simply assign a time in your planner for meditation every day. This will encourage you to do it since you can tick it off and finish that task for the day. Not to mention you won’t find yourself forgetting as easily since you’ve already set your intention to do it in writing.
I like to set my habits weekly in a separate section as well in order to track how often I complete them and make sure I do them. It helps when you can see yourself making progress.
You'll train yourself to focus
If you set a time for each task to be done for say 25 minutes. (which is what I usually do since I use the Pomodoro Technique). You’ll have committed to using this set amount of time for a singular purpose. Knowing that you just have to buckle down and do this one thing for a certain amount of allotted time encourages you to focus and makes it easier to do! The more you work at it the better you will get.
It helps you to keep records
If you use a daily planner you will be automatically recording what you do each day and also hopefully the events that happened as well as anything that has been completed. This will give you complete records of what and when things were done. Keeping records is always helpful and at the end of the year you can even choose to go back over your records to look at everything you have accomplished.
It helps you remember things
We’ve all been there before. We forget the due date of something or forget about that meeting we were supposed to attend. If you use a daily planner this eliminates the probability of missing important dates and makes it so much easier to remember important dates in the first place.
You'll get more out of each day
This goes along with increased productivity, but it bears repeating how much more you will get done each and every day you use a daily planner to schedule your life. It even feels like you have so much extra free time at the end of the day because you have been so efficient in your daily tasks and got them done so much faster. It also eliminates you needing to think as much about anything you may have forgotten since it’s been written down and recorded.
Minimizes stress
Since you have everything planned and down on paper already it takes the stress away from worrying about what you need to be doing. You already know what you should be doing its been scheduled for the day. So all you have to do is get to work and stick to the schedule. You won’t be stressed about forgetting anything, you won’t have to worry that you’re wasting your time, and you won’t have to wonder what to do next. Your day, week, month, or more has already been planned out for you so it really takes a lot of the stress out of things. There are times when something comes up and takes time out of your day, but if you prioritize and do the most important things first you will have either gotten them done already or you can simply get back to them once the interruption is taken care of. It really is a great feeling.
Improves memory
Since you will be looking at important upcoming dates every day and writing things down it really helps to improve your memory. Especially since with a daily planner you will be more structured and organized. Just writing things down will give your brain extra neural paths to connect and link to which strengthens your brain and builds a stronger memory.
Provides a creative outlet
If you’re like me and use a daily planner that has free space you will also have room to journal. I highly recommend this. The extra space gives you room to doodle, sketch ideas, put down thoughts, and just write about your day. These are all great ways of fostering creativity. It helps you get thoughts out when you write them down and and furthermore it just feels great to write what you’re feeling in the moment. One thing I like to do is write down any quotes or words of wisdom I come across in the journal space so that I can both remember them later and use them as words of encouragement.
Helps you learn from mistakes
Since you’ll be writing everything down you’ll be writing down not just your accomplishments, but also you failures. This helps you to learn what works for you as well as what doesn’t work which helps you to optimize your life as well as not repeat the same mistakes.
Shows your accomplishents
You also get to write down and see your accomplishments on paper. This reminds you of all the things you have accomplished and bolsters positivity!
Boosts positivity
I recommend writing down things you are grateful for every day. Either when you wake up, before you go to bed, or both! This helps you to have positivity throughout life and be grateful for all that you have. Another tip is to also write down anything good that happened to you or a compliment someone gave you. Try to stay humble though. 🙂
Helps you reach your goals
It is important to outline and write down you goals. You can take a yearly goal and break it down into bite size steps for each month, week, or day respectively. This makes your goals seem so much more attainable and quite easier when you are just working towards the smaller steps. Next thing you know you will have accomplished massive goals that you never would have thought possible!
Helps you set your priorities
When planning out your weeks or days it’s helpful to prioritize what things are most important to you and schedule them to be done first. This way you will get the most important things done first and reduces the likelihood that life will get in the way of getting them done. Furthermore if something does happen and you are thrown off schedule you will be able to start back on the most important stuff. I’ve had days where I didn’t get much done because something came up, but as long as I got the highest priority things done I can still look back at the day as a success.
Makes it easier to relax
This ones a few benefits summed up into one. Since you’re making the most of your day and being more efficient with your time you are getting more done. Hopefully you’re getting it done quicker as well. This leads to you having more time at the end of the day to relax. Next since you are accomplishing so much and are sticking to your schedule to the best of your ability you are going to feel more fulfilled at the end of the day. You will look at your planner and think to yourself “wow I really got all of that done?” This will give you a sense of fulfillment that is really awesome and will leave you satisfied with each and every day. Lastly, sine you are fulfilled and you have more time to relax you can relax without feeling guilty. You’ve earned the time at the end of the day when you can do whatever you want and unload. Just be ready to do it all again tomorrow!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. I highly recommend using a daily planner/journal combo to take control of and track your life. It has honestly changed my life in so many ways for the better. I hope you pick up journaling and using a daily planner today!
I have no affiliation with any companies or products at this point, but if you want to know what journal I recommend I use the Better Self Journal. It’s not exactly cheap, but it’s worth it. It has everything you could ever want in a journal/daily planner. I love it.