Monthly planners are extremely useful for scheduling, as well as for keeping track of significant occasions, spending, and savings. They give you an overview of the full month. Following a planner makes your life more structured and productive. That, in turn, reduces stress and allows you to achieve more goals.

You can use a regular store-bought planner for these purposes or customize one based on your goals using a photo calendar creator with a free download. Whatever planner you pick, follow these next simple steps on how to utilize your monthly planner as efficiently as possible to boost your productivity.

#1 – Determine Your Goals

Before you start planning, you need to brainstorm for a moment and decide how you will use your monthly planner. Meaning, you need to define your aims. Are you trying to become more productive? Lose weight and drink more water? Make savings for a new car, house renovation, or kid’s college? Write down whatever goals you want in order to achieve them faster.

#2 – Use Special Goal-Setting Pages

To set your goals, use a goal-setting spread of your planner with twelve boxes. You can either schedule a goal for each month of the year or target a specific topic (work, gifts, renovations, etc.).

#3 – Write Down Your Tasks

Mark in your planner all the tasks you do on a monthly basis or you’ve planned ahead, so you don’t forget anything. Need to pay the bills? Make an appointment to visit a dentist? Book a flight? Attend a work conference? Note everything that has to be done.

#4 – Fill It Up with Important Dates

Keep track of your key dates, so you don’t forget anything. Here are examples of some significant dates:

• Birthdays & Anniversaries
• Public Holidays 
• Vacation Duration 
• Exam Dates 
• Deadlines of Any Kind
• Kids’ Performances/Competitions

#5 – Track Your Accomplishments

There are additional note pages between the monthly spreads. Use them to record your goal achievements. The successes keep you motivated and show how much your life has improved. So keep a record of them to analyze at the end of the year and transfer unfulfilled goals to the next year.

#6 – Make Your Notes Concise but Understandable

Don’t write too briefly, because, after a while, you won’t recall what you wrote about. At the same time, don’t overload your planner with huge text. Instead, write something in a few words, but without losing the idea. 

#7 – Customize Your Planner for an Easy Use

Uniquely, build a planner to make it more functional and easier to follow. Use sticky notes and different colors of highlighters for different activities. At a glance, you’ll be aware of what’s going on during the day, week, or month. Also, check out other essential tips for monthly planning to make your scheduling more effective. 

Conclusion

It’s not always possible to remember everything you need. But you shouldn’t waste one of your most valuable resources, your time, either. Keep an eye on every significant event in your life and manage all your responsibilities with the monthly planner!