I’ve been struggling with planners my entire life. I think part of it is due to my mixture of left- and right-brainedness. Part of me is so left-brained that I crave the structure and ability to put my life into the neat little boxes that come with planners. But I also have a pretty dominant right-brained side that thrives on a bit of chaos. So usually, I would be in one of my left-brained modes, and decide I must have a planner, run out and buy one, and get really excited about it for a few weeks. And then stop using once I got sick of the tiny little boxes. Mostly because I felt trapped by the structure of the planner.
I know, I think way too much about something as trivial as a planner.
I’ve tried everything. I tried buying paper planners that people swear by (the cheap ones, the expensive ones, and everything in between). I tried designing my own planners. I tried using online planners. I tried going without a planner (and that sorta worked, until I got pregnant and the pregnancy brain kicked in). And nothing really ever felt right. I never was able to strike the balance between organized and chaotic—which is pretty much where I love living in my life.
And then I had an idea. What if I could come up with a not-as-rigorous planner—a “planner lite” if you will? So I started thinking about what things I did want out of a planner—a place to keep my to-do list, a list of my daily chores, and maybe a daily schedule. I realized I could fit all that in one sheet of paper, and my daily command center printables were born!
I actually use these in conjunction with an online calendar (more about my online calendar system here), which is where I track my due dates, work schedule, life events, and editorial calendar for the blog. I like using an online calendar for my actual date book, because it makes it so easy to move and change dates (which happens a lot) and share it easily with Craig. But I also really like the paper and pen feeling of crossing off items on a to-do list. These command center printables really let me have the best of both worlds.
To use these command center printables, I just print them out for the day—usually I print the whole week’s worth—and put them on my pretty clipboard. I’ve been thinking about laminating a whole week’s worth and using a wet erase marker instead of printing them out each week, but I haven’t gotten there. And I really love the ability to use stickers and colorful markers, so I might never.
Usually in the morning, or, if I’m on top of things, the evening before, I’ll fill in my due dates and to-do list (working off my online calendar), and fill in the dinner, workout, and any extra cleaning tasks I want to accomplish. And then I figure out my rough schedule for the day. I also have a box at the top that is a free space—I usually fill it up with some quote to help guide my day.
As I go through the day, I cross off tasks (on both the list and the schedule) using a highlighter. There is also a small box at the bottom for things I need to make sure to mark on tomorrow’s list.
These have been working so well for me! I feel organized, but not restricted. I am loving these!
I figured there might be a few more left- and right-brained folks out there who would thrive working off of a “planner lite” like this, so I’ve got the command center printables ready for you to download. Of course, my version is pretty specific to my life (you probably don’t need a task listed as “Walk PF” or to follow my cleaning schedule), so I made a blank version for you guys. I did include multiple colors, because, well, colors are fun. But other than the colors, each page is the same.
Happy organizing!
Thank you so much for this layout. It has helped so much with getting life on track.
Thank you so much! These look great!
PS
Keeping track of water drunk each day was totally BRILLIANT! Thank you!