In my opinion, the key to staying productive and achieving your goals is having a well-organized planner. When designing the new discbound system for the Daily Grind Planner, I wanted it to provide structure but offer a range of versatility so that you guys can build YOUR dream planner to your liking. With our new inserts, from the 4-month Daily Grind planning system and the Habit and Budget Tracking Challenge Inserts (don't forget those extra blank dot grid pages for all you doodlers out there) to our Daily Grind custom tab dividers, you can create a planner that not only meets your needs but also empowers you to take control of your "daily grind.” With the discbound design of the Daily Grind Planner, you can change things up however you want, whenever you want so that your planner is EXACTLY what you need. There's no right or wrong way for how to set up your Daily Grind Planner, but I wanted to share some Daily Grind Planner organizational tips and tricks of my own that help me stay productive, have fun and keep focused on my goals.
CREATE A PLANNING MOMENT
Whenever I’m setting up my planner, I like to go “full creative mode,” spread out on the floor or a big work space and have all my planning materials in front of me. With some music or a good movie in the background and a drink in hand, I like to take my time and have a full “creative moment” when setting up my Daily Grind Planner. So get cozy, sprawl out on the floor like more, grab your inserts, covers, discs, dividers, stickers, pens and all, and let’s get to work! It’s important to make your daily planning FUN and that’s what the Daily Grind Planner is all about. We put the “fun” in functional planning for sure!
PRIORITIZE YOUR INSERTS
In addition to the 4-month Daily Grind planning system insert (the MAMA JAMA guts of the Daily Grind Planner), I wanted to create Daily Grind Inserts so that you can add to your planners and make your “daily grind” even more of a game-changing experience. Whether you’re looking for help with tracking your habits and building a routine that works best for you, or you need to get a grip on your finances and track your spending/savings, the creation of the Daily Grind Inserts is an opportunity for you to tailor your planner to what matters most to you. There’s never any pressure to get all of the above, but if you’re looking for extra tools to help maximize your goal setting journey, that’s where these inserts come into play!
So when you’re having your “planning moment” and you’ve got all your inserts in front of you, select which sheets you want to put at the front of your planner to track month-long progress. Then take the sheets that track your habits or your budget on a weekly basis and see where you need to place them among your Daily pages. You can also build out sections in your Daily Grind Planner using the inserts. For example, you can place your Daily Grind Planning Insert at the front of your planner, next comes your Habit Tracking Insert, then your Budget Tracking Insert and lastly your Dot Grid pages to designate a creative space. These are just two ideas for where to include all your Daily Grind Planner pages, but the combinations are ENDLESS!
And what’s great about the discbound design of the Daily Grind Planner is that YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND! If you don’t like how you originally set things up, you can change it in no time! That’s what I love most about the Daily Grind Planner. If I wanna shake things up and rebuild my planner because I don’t like my original layout, I can do it in literally less than five minutes! Use your inserts to your advantage and place them where they work best for you, but don’t be afraid to move things around until you find the perfect configuration for your Daily Grind Planner.
TAB DIVIDERS ARE YOUR BEST FRIEND
Here’s where organization gets to be extra colorful and aesthetically pleasing. The Daily Grind Tab Dividers are designed to keep your Daily Grind Planner organized and looking pretty too. Not only do these tab dividers come in handy when designating sections of your planner to keep your inserts and pages organized, they also come in the CUTEST designs and some even have really sweet affirmations or fun sayings to bring a smile to your face. I honestly love our tab dividers SO much and they really make all the difference in my Daily Grind Planner!
COLOR CODE FOR CLARITY
When I was designing the style and form of our Daily Grind Highlighters, I wanted to make 100% sure that they were PERFECT. Not only did I want our highlighter set to offer tons of pastel colors, but I wanted them to be a color-coding tool to maximize organization and goal setting. Color-coding can REALLY enhance clarity and organization in your planner. I love using my Daily Grind highlighters to color code my goals and habits to easily see cohesion and my overall progress over time. PLUS it makes things look super sexy and OH SO pretty too! Try using your Daily Grind Highlighters when filling out your Habit or Budget Tracking Inserts and I promise those colors are gonna make your progress/tracking charts look SO COOL!
ESTABLISH A CONSISTENT ROUTINE
Like I always say, consistency is key when using your Daily Grind Planner. And that also goes for staying organized too! Think about it - if you organize a space in your house and then never keep up with its tidiness, the space quickly becomes unorganized all over again. Not saying that happens with your planner, BUT by using your Daily Grind Planner consistently each day and creating a planning routine, you’ll soon find that you’ll maximize the organization of your planner so that you increase your productivity and progress.
REASSESS YOUR PLANNER NEEDS
Going back to what I was saying about how the discbound system of the Daily Grind Planner is such a game-changer, the structure of the Daily Grind Planner allows you to be flexible throughout your goal setting journey. Because of the undated nature of the Daily Grind pages, if you skip a day, need to take a break, or don’t use a page, you can easily move it around, take it out, or save it for next month’s planner setup. What’s great about the Daily Grind Planner is NOTHING gets wasted. And by using your Daily Grind Planner every day, you can reassess what pages you need and what can be removed, moved around and so on to maximize your planner’s purpose and organization.
Remember, your Daily Grind Planner is a tool designed for EVERYONE to feel empowered in their “daily grind.” No matter what your planner’s purpose is for you, the Daily Grind Planner can be tailored to your unique goals and planning needs to make progress, be consistent and stay organized. I hope these tips helped with how to maximize your Daily Grind Planner and ways to keep your planner organized and efficient. Happy Planning!
