Plan Like A Pro: My Planning Method & Tips

Planning your time. Something that comes up somewhere during high school, and never leaves you afterwards. Especially if you work from home, like I do, to plan your time is extremely important, in order to get things done and stay sane at the same time. I like to think that I’ve gotten the skill of planning down pretty well, I believe I’ve figured out a good way to optimise my productivity and how I use the time I have available. I’d like to share with you just how I go about planning my time, and my most useful tips, to hopefully help you out with your own planning.

I like to plan digitally. The biggest advantage of planning digitally is that everything is reversible; you don’t have to scratch out or white-out any activities that have been re-scheduled, which really helps keep everything looking nice and clean. I also like that when I plan digitally, I have my calendar, editorial calendar, to-do lists and notes all with me on my cellphone (which I carry everywhere anyway), without any added weight and always. I can also access them from any computer anywhere, since they’re all online, and they can’t get lost. The main tools I use are Sunrise, which I use as my personal calendar, Wunderlist, which is my to-do app of choice, and the WordPress Editorial Calendar plugin, which I use to schedule my blog posts.

The most important thing I do, is to sit down once a week (I choose Sunday for this), and plan out the entire week to come. I plan out my week in quite a detailed manner, because I’m a little bit of a control freak and I like knowing exactly what needs to be done when. Of course you can plan into as much detail as you’re comfortable with and as works well for you! This is just how I prefer to go about it.

First off, I have made a set work schedule for myself. A full on work schedule with time blocks and breaks and set start & end times, as if I was actually working in a company. I’ve established that I will work on workdays from 9-5, and Sundays from 2-5. Working 24/7 is a pitfall for business owners, and this way I ensure I get at least all evenings and one full day off. If I stick to my schedule, that is.
Within the workday blocks, I’ve actually gone so far as to divide my time between different tasks I need to do every week. For example, on four days out of the week, I’ll do the database work I do, from 3 to 5. Sunday 2 to 3 is for administration, and I’ve even scheduled in Tuesday mornings for cleaning, grocery shopping and other household activities.

Having a set schedule helps me get a grip on how much I’m working, how much time I have to finish certain tasks, and when my deadlines are. It helps to boost my productivity and reign in how long I work for (reduce stress levels), at the same time. Win!

Now that I’ve established how much time I have available to me, it’s time to fill the schedule up with my tasks for the week.

To do this, I start by taking my editorial calendar. My editorial calendar is where I plan out what blog posts and videos are going up when. I plan at least two weeks ahead in my editorial calendar, so that I have plenty of time to prepare for any more complicated posts and can make sure that the different types of content I produce are distributed evenly.
I’ll write down everything I need to do for that week’s blogposts and videos; that’s filming, taking photos, buying props, editing, writing… Of course, when you’re not a blogger, just write down all the work tasks you have to do that week.
I like to put everything into my Wunderlist app, sorted under the category “Loepsie Posts”. I’ve said it before, to-do lists are what keeps me sane. Having everyting I need to do before me, clearly sorted into categories and deadlines, helps immensely with figuring out what you need to do when and what has the highest priority. What I like about Wunderlist (and having digital to-do lists in general), is that I can sort my tasks by day, week, or category, with the click of a button. Very convenient!
Then, I’ll take my regular, personal calendar, have a look at any events I’m going to or activities that I’m doing that week, and put anything I need to do, prepare or buy for those into Wunderlist under the categories of “Loepsie Other” or “Personal”, depending on which category fits better. I also have a couple of tasks that are scheduled to automatically return daily in Wunderlist, like checking my email, or weekly, like planning out blogposts.

Now that I should have everything I need to do during the entire week in a nice list in Wunderlist, I’ll put it side-by-side with my calendar and work schedule, and give all the to-do’s deadlines. I have my standard schedule with set times as a starting point, which I’ll alter depending on the events that are going on that week. If I’m missing a lot of work time on one day due to a non work-related event, I’ll catch up on that time another day (either an evening, or the weekend).

Of course, I’ve been doing this for a few years now, so I know approximately how much time I need to, for example, film a Beauty Beacons video, or do a recipe post, so I’m able to schedule in enough time for them. If you find it hard to estimate how much time you’ll need for a certain task you do more regularly, try setting a timer for it next time you do the task. After a few times you’ll notice how much time it takes on average to finish a task like that, and know that that’s the amount of time you need to schedule in for that particular task.

If you have any big project going on, it helps to break it down into smaller tasks that are easier to plan and time-manage.

And that’s how I go about planning my time and tasks! I always love when you guys help me and each other out in the comments, so if there’s anything you do to plan that’s different from my method, please share!

Best of luck!