I’ll be the first to admit it, I can be a little type A. I love a plan. I crave structure, I depend on a list. My love of lists and plans has grown over the years and I now maintain 4, yes 4 different plans and lists. You might not need some of them. You probably don’t need all of them. Pick and choose what works for you, and if you adopt any of my plans please let me know! I love chatting about all of these types of things with you!
Quarterly Plans
This is my most over-arching plan. I just started doing this back in May. It was the missing piece that I needed. I struggled with more long-term planning, which made it hard to keep momentum. Now with quarterly plans, I have a clear vision of where I’m going. I included 4 main sections in my quarterly plans.
TpT: I plan out all of the projects I’m working on in the next three months. This includes new products and continuations of products. I also choose a couple of products to expand on each quarter. Additionally, podcasts and blogs are also planned out in this section.
BCBA: I plan out the treatment plans I need to get done in the quarter and any major meetings that I know are coming up. I also add in the continuing education units I am working on. I TOTALLY should have been using this template to keep track of my IEPS and training back when I was teaching as well.
Recipes: Now that we are heading into the coldest part of the year, this is the time to make the pot roast and the thick stews, the hot toddies and the Super Bowl snacks I bookmarked months ago. I put them in the notebook so I can reference them when I make my meal plans each week.
Life: I have both books from Kindle Unlimited and books from the library. I also include some fun date ideas with Corey and things for me. I used to really struggle with not knowing what to do when I had time off during winter and spring break. If I had a running list like this going, I could have quickly found things to do with that time.
Monthly Plans
Monthly plans were the first element I added to my routine. I made my first one back in December 2020. In late 2020 I dived deeply into BCBA supervision while still trying to run my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I was having a hard time balancing everything and needed some organizational help. Thus, the concept of a monthly plan was born.
It was simple. I had my major projects for supervision that month. It also had my podcasts and emails planned out, as well as all of the different TpT products I was working on. I already knew I strived off of structure and having a neat, typed-out plan was just what I needed. I depended on these to get me through the next six months of supervision. I started adding some fun things to them like reading and going on dates and that helped keep me calm through that stressful period.
I stopped them from July 2021-Decemebr 2021. Awful idea. I desperately needed them. We brought them back in January 2022 and I’m so glad I did. While I love the quarterly plan, sometimes I need a more narrow view for the next couple of weeks. The monthly plan lets me know exactly what I need to do.
Want to learn how to make your own monthly plan? I have a tutorial linked here!
Weekly To-Do List/Google Calendar
I wouldn’t say I “added” the weekly to-do list because I have been doing these since college. I have always had a running list of everything I had to get done. I kept those up as I went into teaching, started grad school, and moved into my adult life. I still write them out every week. I pull this from the monthly list. Are you seeing the domino effect yet? Each type of list helps me narrow down my vision so I know the most urgent things in my life right now.
The google calendar is new. I had tried big chunks on my schedule and that was not effective. When I switched things up back in the summer, my husband suggested trying google calendar. I look at each task and decide how long I think it will take me.
For example, a podcast episode takes me about 4-5 hours. I will split that into 3 separate 90-minute chunks and spread that across the week. I do that with each task to build out my schedule. By switching tasks throughout the day, I find I tend to get a lot more done and it helps me be more productive.
Daily To-Do Lis
I use this one the least. For the most part, I can go on my google calendar, look at my weekly list and go from there. In my weekly list, I will write out the task in order. Using the podcast as an example, I would have the header “podcast”. Below it I have each step: brainstorm the idea, write the script, edit the script, record the podcast, edit the podcast, write the show notes, and make the reel or Instagram post. Those are in order because I can’t edit the podcast before I record it and I can’t record it until I have the script.
I can see that I have a 90-minute podcast slot on google calendar and I can see what task is next on the weekly list and go from there. That usually works, but sometimes I do need even more structure. If I’m feeling unsure about something at work, if I have a less productive day before, or if I just wake up in a funky head space, writing a daily list can help. I just love to visually track and being able to color in little circles indicating what tasks I get done in a day can really help me.
Click the image above to listen to the podcast version!
I don’t necessarily think everyone needs 4 separate lists. Maybe you just need a quarterly plan and a weekly to-do list. Maybe you like the idea of a monthly list posted above your desk. Maybe you are a scribble-a-couple-of-tasks-on-a-post-it note kind of person or maybe you don’t need a plan at all! If you are team no plan that is fascinating to me, but also you do you. But I hope this blog gave you an idea of some support you could build into your life if that is something you need. If you try any of these, please let me know! I would love to geek out about plans with anyone and everyone!