In my experience, people that plan and people that execute on that plan are two completely different persons and I am unfortunately the first type of person. I love planning and goal setting but then actually executing the plan is maybe not my strong suit. But planning gives me peace and joy and I still think that if I keep planning and keep developing I will one day be able to do both.
Tools
I have used countless tools for planning the past several years. I started bullet journaling in 2018 which I kept up in different formats until the end of 2020. At that point I was spending so much time at a computer and so a more digital approach started to speak to me. The first thing I tried was to use the Microsoft app OneNote which I found a bit hard to work with. Coming from a bullet journal system I was used to a lot of freedom and being able to draw up my pages freely. I did enjoy setting up the OneNote system, however I did not enjoy using it.
I then did a bit of research and discovered that a lot of people liked to use the app/website Notion. Setting up Notion was even more fun than setting up OneNote with a lot of built in features that made it easy to make aesthetically pleasing while still being very functional.
I unfortunately ran into the same problem with Notion that I very much enjoyed setting it up but not really using it. I also found the way that I like to plan out my weeks and months a little bit too hard to set up in Notion. Additionally, the best part about bullet journaling is that you can skip months and you won’t notice but the way I had set up my Notion this was not possible. I do still go on there since I still have some useful information collected on there but I don’t use it as an everyday tool.
At this point I just use my work outlook calendar for appointments and then use Google spreadsheets and docs for all my planning. I find this gives me all the structure I want while still giving me freedom and I’m prevented from taking too many creative (and timely) liberties which I think contributes to me sticking with the system. I actually spend the time planning and not making it pretty.
My planning spreadsheets
I literally have a spreadsheet for every single aspect of my life; horses, budgeting, blogging and youtube (still stuck in the planning phase…), books and so on. And then I like to keep one for yearly, monthly, weekly and daily planning. Up until December all of these were in the same spreadsheet file but I have now created a new file for December to test that out. In the spreadsheet I have a table that looks something like this:
| Date | Day | Plans | Work | Peppa | Penny | Socials | To Do |
| 1 | Thursday | Vet | Off | Rest day | Rest day | ||
| 2 | Friday |
Each column is wider than in this table and so I can plan out high level for each category on each day. For example, on Thursday the 1st I have taken the day off work because both Penny and Peppa are going to the dentist. Because they are going to the dentist and they might have some toothache they are both getting a rest day.
Below this table I also like to keep a list of my monthly goals, a list of my income and bills and other expenses that I know will fall on that month such as vet bills or student loans, and a list of books I read.
I will then create a new sheet for each week. In those sheets I keep a table with the time schedule for each day. I like to plan out my day in 30 minute increments. If we continue taking Thursday as an example you can see that I get to sleep in for an hour before I need to feed the horses. After getting ready it’s time to get going at 7 to be at the dentist by 8 when we have our first appointment. They will probably take an hour each so we will be back home by approximately 11. This style of planning probably doesn’t fit everyone but it works for me and prevents me from making too ambitious to do lists. When I have populated my schedule with everything I have to do that day it gives me a more realistic view of how much of what I would like to get done that I will be able to fit in that day.
| WEEK 48 | |||||||
| Schedule | Monday 28/11 | Tuesday 29/11 | Wednesday 30/11 | Thursday 1/12 | Friday 2/12 | Saturday 3/12 | Sunday 4/12 |
| 5 | Sleep | ||||||
| 5:30 | Sleep | ||||||
| 6 | Feed the horses | ||||||
| 6:30 | Eat and get ready | ||||||
| 7 | Drive to vet | ||||||
| 7:30 | Drive to vet | ||||||
| 8 | Vet | ||||||
| 8:30 | Vet | ||||||
| 9 | Vet | ||||||
| 9:30 | Vet | ||||||
| 10 | Drive home | ||||||
| 10:30 | Drive home | ||||||
| 11 | Stable chores | ||||||
| 11:30 | Stable chores | ||||||
| 12 | Feed the horses | ||||||
| 12:30 | Lunch |
In this sheet I will also make to do-lists as necessary and plan out minor projects.
Habitica
Another tool that I use is the habit tracking app Habitica. The app is a gamification of habit tracking, daily chores and your to do list. It is a really cool app that I definitely recommend. You receive XP when you finish your tasks and other inventory such as eggs and positions that you can then combine into pets. The goal is then to collect all pets. I really liked the pet collecting feature in the beginning but now that I have collected them all, what keeps me coming back to the app is the community. You can join a Party and together with that party you go on quests and defeat bosses. All you do is click accept when you receive a quest request and then work on your to dos and habits and that will automatically damage the boss. You can also do challenges. I’m participating in a challenge to read 5 books each month, but there are tons of other challenges such as playing an instrument.
December Goals
Personal
Since I just recently started this website and blog, a lot of my personal goals are centered around my posting schedule and what to post.
- I want to start posting on a schedule.
- I want to have a workable design of the website before 2023.
- I want each sub-site to contain content.
Horses
Penny has had November off so my goals with her is to work her from the ground 2 days a week, 2 days trailing and 3 days a week will be rest days, see example schedule below:
Monday: Long reining
Tuesday: Rest day
Wednesday: Trailing
Thursday: Rest day
Friday: Long reining
Saturday: Rest day
Sunday: Trailing
With Peppa we’re going to go to one jumping lesson, otherwise we will just focus on building strength and focus in preparation for the next season. I also want to practice movements in LA:1 because we want to test our wings in the dressage ring one day and I think LA:1 might be a good program for us. I used to ride this a lot on pony so I feel comfortable with it as well.
So, that was a quick summary of how I plan out my months and a little bit of goal setting for next month.
What tools do you use to plan out your life? Do you like to plan out a time schedule or daily or weekly plans? Do you keep to do lists?
I would love to hear what systems work for you!