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How to Customize a Planner to Work for You - 4 ways
The beauty of the Personal Planner is that you design it to fit your life, not the other way around. Learn how you customize its pages to work for your situation!
#Planning #Organisation #Guides and Tips
Life is constantly changing, as we move through different stages. We study, work, change jobs, become parents, get new hobbies, retire. In our zig-zagging life paths, we face countless choices. But regardless of where you are right now, theres a perfect planner for you. Or rather, it doesn't exist just yet - but once you create it, its there! The perfect planner to match your life situation.
Weve created 4 different profiles with quite distinct life situations, and have listed our best tips for each one on how to customize a planner or organizer to suit their current life stage to perfection. Mum, Student, Teacher, or Nurse - which one do you resonate with? Jump straight to the type of planner youre most interested in:
Lets quickly look at a few basic features that are always included in our planners:
- Weekly Layout: These are essentially your weekly calendar spreads. Your weeks can be displayed horizontally, vertically, in boxes, or with the week on the left and a blank page on the right.
- Modules: Youll find these at the bottom of your weekly spread. Theres space for 3 modules here, and you can choose between lots of different ones, like meal plans, quotes, or illustrations to color.
- Themed Pages: With over 70 themed pages to pick from to add at the back of your planner, you might have trouble finding your favourites! Theres lists, meal planners, budget pages, goal setting templates, and much more.
Our customisation options available are almost endless, but dont worry - youll get the hang of all the different customization options and features once you start creating your planner in our design tool!
How to Customize a Student Planner
Are you about to start college or university, or are you in high school? The secret to enjoying the carefree days of a student is PLANNING. Its the only way youll be able to stay on track with all your assignments, exams, schedules and everything else you have going on! Heres five features you can customize to create a perfect Student Planner:
- Weekly Layout Best-of-Both 6 Pick layout number 6 in the design tool. This is one of our Best-of-Both spreads, and features the week on the left page and a lined or blank page to the right. That gives you plenty of space to write some quick notes and other important things for the week. A great cross between a planner and a notebook!
- Timetable Add a timetable to your week, and start planning by the hour. Enter your lessons, lectures, study dates, and more. We suggest alternative number 1 for this.
- Academic Year As a student, you want the months in your planner to match your school year. With us you always pick your start month, so you can decide the date range of your planner or organizer. No wasting of any months here!
- Monthly Overview Use this to write down important dates and deadlines, and to a great overview of everything.
- Themed Student Pages Weve created a section of pages specially designed for your life as a student. These pages are always included in the price of your planner, so you can pick and choose and add those pages that suit you best. We suggest trying Year Overview Compact, School Year, Schedule 1, and Academic Grades. And if you want to shift focus from your mind to your body, try adding some workout pages and yearly trackers. Filling in a habit tracker will give you a great overview of your things like your moods, eating habits, sleep and other things over the course of a year.
Did you know that weve created a Student Planner with all these features and pages, designed to suit your life of learning (and playing!)? The only thing left for you to do is add your name on the cover and the start month - easy-peasy!
How to Customize a Teacher Planner
On the other side of student life is the teacher. That emphatic and engaged role model who empowers both big and small people with the knowledge they need to succeed in life. As a teacher, youre already a planning professional, and what you need is a planner where you can fit both lessons and student info, as well as your own private life. These are our recommended custom options for you:
- Weekly Layout As your work is (mostly) centered around weekdays, a great layout for you is alternative 1. This layout displays the weekdays a little bigger than the weekends, offering lots of space for everything youve got going on during the week especially.
- Themed Teacher Pages Pick themed pages that are specially designed for you as a teacher, e.g. Themes & Projects 1 & 2, School Year, Student List, and Seating Chart. Dont forget to take care of yourself outside of school too, with our Self-Care Journal.
- Custom Date Range - Perhaps you prefer to plan 6 months at a time. With us you can pick how many months you want the calendar section in your planner to run for. Good to know is that when picking fewer months, you free up extra space for more themed pages at the back!
- Year Overview & Monthly Overview These are absolute must-have pages to get a visual overview of all your important dates at a glance.
- Modules Combine planning and fun, with a few nifty modules. How about the ever popular quote module, or the quirky illustration module to color each week? If youre looking for a bit more space to write, pick blank or list modules.
Interested in a teacher planner with all these features already in place? Try our Teacher Planner! Click below to find out more.
How to Customize a Personal Planner for a Mum
If youre a mum with younger kids, you probably find yourself managing the logistics of your troops on a daily basis, aka youre the whole familys Project Leader. And every project leader needs a personal assistant, aka a Personal Planner. Heres our 5 best customization tips for creating a planner that will help you stay on top of it all!
- Weekly Layout Best-of-Both 8 Yup, theres a layout so well balanced we named it Best-of-Both. In this layout (alternative number 8) the weekdays are displayed in boxes on the left page, whereas the right hand page is either blank, ruled or has a few helpful lists printed on it. This is the perfect layout for the planning super mum!
- Monthly Overview This is a non-negotiable page to have, as it will give you a clear overview of important dates at a glance, e.g. school excursions, parent-teacher interviews and other personal happenings.
- Modules - Add a motivational quote at the bottom of your weekly spread, or opt for a practical module, like the meal planner or a list. Theres lots to pick from!
- Personal Dates A real all-time favorite with our customers is the ability to add your own preprinted dates in your planner. Birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations - add any dates that are important to you and your family! Once youve added your dates, your list will be saved on your account so you can add it easily next time you create a planner or organiser.
- Themed Pages Pick those pages that can simplify your everyday life, e.g. Meal Planner, Budget Planner, and Organize & Declutter Your Home. Its also lovely to have a few pages to oneself here, like our mini journaling page Every Day Gratitude, or different mood and habit trackers.
How to Customize an Organizer for a Nurse
Nurse, police officer, or retail worker? For anyone working shifts or inconvenient working hours, a planner where you can write down your hours and keep track of your fluid schedule is crucial. Try these customization options in a personal organizer:
- Weekly Layout If you need lots of space to plan every day, layout number 5 is the one for you. Here, both weekdays and weekends are displayed in equally sized boxes, plus you get an extra box for additional notes or lists.
- Monthly Overview - Use this to get an overview of when its time to work and when its time to play!
- Daily Details These little clever extras go in your daily boxes in the weekly spread. Pick the one called Work to enter your hours for each day.
- Modules When each day is different, its a good idea to keep track of your wellbeing with the help of modules like Best & Worst or Tracker. You could also add a To Do list or a plain lined module for extra writing space.
- Themed Pages Pick a Year Overview and a few List pages to stay on top of all your important dates and to dos. Make sure you add a few pages that help you wind down and relax in between your work shifts, e.g. Coloring Pages, Self-Care Journal, or a Books & Movies tracker.
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