I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to feel like I’m more on top of things. By the end of last year, I kept feeling like I was always two steps behind… like I was letting things slip through the cracks, and that I just didn’t feel like I was making progress on anything because there were always more things to be done.

This isn’t exactly a simple goal, and there’s not one quick fix to it. It’s going to take continued time and effort throughout the whole year. But one thing that I wanted to change was my planner system/to-do list. I changed from a paper planner to using my iPad as a digital to-do list plus Google Calendar a year or so ago, and I like the digital way of doing things, but it needed a little bit of fine-tuning. I missed seeing my week laid out in planner style, as great as Google Calendar was for more long term tracking. So I wanted to find an in-between solution.

I was updating my resume last year (I hadn’t done a real overhaul since graduating college, and a lot has changed since then!), and I bought a template for my new resume from Etsy. I don’t have the graphic design skills to make things look polished, and Etsy has so many options of things that look polished and professional. So after that success, I decided to look for a digital planner template on Etsy, too.

I’m kind of picky when it comes to planner formats, even if they are digital. I don’t like monthly or daily views – I just want to see the whole week at a time. I want the week to start on a Monday, and I want the blocks for weekend days to be the same amount of space as weekdays. It’s a bonus if there’s space for a to-do list, too, on the same page as the week itself, so that I can dot things down as they come up.

After lots and lots of searching, I found this template, and it’s perfect. It has everything on my “wish list,” and it works with Good Notes, which is the app that I was already using for list making. It was super easy to download and start using – there wasn’t really any set up involved at all. It’s been great in keeping track of my weeks, and I love that I can “erase” things digitally when plans change – the perfectionist in me always hated having things crossed out when they were cancelled!

My fingers are crossed that this helps me feel a little more in control of my day-to-day, and helps keep me productive and on-task, too. I just feel so much calmer and more relaxed when I’m on top of my schedule!