Try this New Way to Plan Your Days!

Sometimes (okay, almost all the time), planning your days successfully isn't just about creating a to-do list.  I used to plan my days this way, and it just wasn't working for me.  In fact, my ineffective to-do list led me into a SUPER embarrassing moment!  Check out the video here or keep reading to hear about my planning fail and what I do now instead that's working SOOO much better for me!

I first realized my planning system needed an overhaul right after we moved across the country a few years ago.  My daughter was one, and my son was a newborn.  We were in a completely new town, new state, had to find new doctors, grocery stores– you know, everything that goes with a major move.  My husband had started a new job, and I was just getting my business off the ground.  All of this led to some major overwhelm!

I was still trying to plan my days (after all, my business was/is about organizing!), but I was still using the basic method of making myself a to-do list for the day.  But I had so much going on that if I were lucky, I would get maybe 20% of that list done.  Then I'd feel like a failure.

Not long after we had moved in, we got back to our new home to find a brightly colored paper stuck on the front door.  We went and checked it out.  It was a notice from the water company of non-payment.  This may seem like “not a big deal.”  You just pay it, pay maybe a small late fee, and move on with your day.

However, we lived in a tiny town that we affectionately named “Mayberry.”  Mayberry can be great– you know everyone.  That's also what's bad.  In that short time we were out, at least ten people who knew us saw that brightly colored paper.  We literally got texts asking if we were having financial trouble.  Cue some awkward moments!

I had plenty of money in our account to pay the bill.  It had just slipped through the cracks on my to-do list and I kept pushing it to another day.  It was only a 3-5 minute task!  This was the moment realized something had to change, and I came up with my three bucket system!

Three Bucket System

It's still a pretty simple system (as most good systems are!).  You have three buckets into which you divide your tasks for the day.  The greatest strength of the three bucket system is that it helps me be realistic with what I can actually get done that day, and it prioritizes the most important things.  Here are the three buckets:

Bucket 1

This is where your top 3-5 priorities for the day go.  If you go to bed at night, what are the 3-5 things you absolutely MUST do?  These things go in bucket 1.  If you have trouble deciding what to put here, you can also “HOP to it.”  The letters in this acronym help you figure out your priorities.

• HABITS– What habits are you trying to establish?  This can be anything from exercising, to washing your dishes every night.  Going to bed at a certain time so you're well rested might be one.  It's best to choose just one (or maybe two related) habit at once so you can really focus in and be successful.
• OBJECTIVES– These are your goals for the day.  I try to choose only 1-3 of the most important tasks for my day.  If I go to bed and only get these things done, will I be happy with that productive day?  What is so important that it absolutely has to be done that day?
• PASSIONS–  What are you going to do today that will fill your bucket, feed your soul, and care for yourself?  This could be exercise, reading a book to your kids, a date night.  It could be a nap or watching a Hallmark movie, taking a bath…or just doing whatever you enjoy!  Find something that isn't work and that may be completely unproductive.  We all need rest and rejuvenation every day to function at our best!

Bucket 2

Bucket 2 is probably the “easiest” of all the buckets.  It's your appointments.  When do you need to physically have your body somewhere specific?  All your other goals will have to fit in around these appointments.  While there's no specific limit on appointments, just be sure you're not overbooking yourself.  Do you have time to travel between appointments without the stress of running late and rushing?  Can you space the appointments out over the week rather than cram them into one day?  Do your best to be kind to yourself and reasonable when you make your appointments.

Bucket 3

This is your wishlist!  This wishlist might be REALLY long, and sometimes mine is!  But here's the thing:  if you don't get even one thing crossed off this wishlist, but you do buckets 1 and 2, then your day was still a huge success!

Bucket 3 are where all the things go that you'd like to do or that you may need to do soon, but they aren't urgent, and they can wait until another day if you run out of time.  That water bill might go in this list until it starts coming due, and then it gets moved to bucket 1 so I actually get it paid in time!  Sometimes things stay on my bucket 3 list for a very long time, and then sometimes I decide I don't actually want to do them at all, so I cross them off before ever getting to them.

Bucket 3 helps you not forget about things you need to do, but it takes the pressure off, and you are still a success even if you don't do any bucket 3 for the day.  Bucket 3 is all about taking away the guilt!  When we have less guilt, we're more productive.

Sometimes I get none of bucket 3 done.  Sometimes I'm on fire, and I get so much done that I wipe out bucket 3 for my day entirely!  Either way is okay.

Our Planner

Once i knew the 3 bucket system was working so well for me, I developed our planner around this system.  It has places for writing things in all 3 buckets, and it's a super effective way to plan your day.

But you totally do NOT need our planner to start using this system!  You can use a dollar store notebook or a piece of scrap paper, or even the Notes app in your phone!  This concept will work for you no matter what you use to keep track.  The most important part is to just DO it.  Even if you're reading this at 3 pm, you can still plan the rest of your day.  Sometimes the hardest part is just starting, but if I can do it, you can to, and I promise you'll be in a much better place than if you hadn't planned at all.

If you'd like to give our planner a try, you can join the waitlist so you'll get notified when it's ready to order.  Whatever you end up using– happy planning!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives