The templates are saved in Microsoft Excel ".xlsx" format and can be used with the newer versions of Excel that support the XML document standard (Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and Office 365). If you have one of the older versions of Excel that only supports the ".xls" format (Excel 2000, 2002/XP & 2003), or if you don't have Excel installed, use Microsoft Office Online or one of the Microsoft Excel/Microsoft Office alternatives FreeOffice PlanMaker, LibreOffice Calc, Google Sheets and others, which are all free of charge ( OpenOffice Calc unfortunately has minor formatting problems when opening our calendars). Also compatible with Microsoft Office for Mac (macOS) and Microsoft Office mobile for iPad/iOS, Android and Windows 10 mobile. Dr. Lyons points out that the benefits of having a planner or agenda aren't just aesthetic. "Often, structuring our time takes us out of a reactive mode and out of a place of urgency, and as a result we're more proactive with our time as opposed to reactive. And that, in and of itself, lowers our stress levels and makes us more able to manage our attention efficiently. Trying to complete a task while holding our entire agenda for the day in our heads is an inefficient use of our time and energy, so that ends up leaking out and we aren’t able to be as efficient as we could bein other important facets of our lives, like our relationships and our self care. There really are a lot of ramifications for not being efficient with our time management." What to Look For in a Planner This is only one example, the possibilities are endless. You can make any printable that meets your needs. Dr. Lyons points out that the satisfied feeling you get from writing down tasks actually has a psychological basis. "There is some interesting research about mobilizing," he explains, "where even just writing things down can help reduce stress, because we’re motoring some of that energy and anxiety into action." Plus, he says, "Some things you just can't type out," such as emphasizing important notes by underlining or highlighting.

The files are saved in Adobe PDF format (file extension .pdf) and can be opened with the Adobe Acrobat Reader and most other PDF readers, for example the PDF-XChange Viewer and the Foxit Reader. The files can be scaled up and down so they can be printed on paper sizes larger or smaller than standard letter paper (see instructions). Fashion stylist Sarah Nearis often finds herself running from appointment to appointment and city to city, splitting her time primarily between Nashville and L.A. and styling the likes of Rita Ora, JoJo, Michelle Rodriguez, and more. To stay organized, she uses a planner app called Structured."I love it because I’m a very visual person and its layout inspires me to be more organized," she says. "I feel like, as artists, sometimes we can be scatterbrained and I get distracted easily, but this app is super user friendly, visual appealing, and motivates me to be more organized."Pros: includes space for planning, to do lists, and gratitude; has two built-in bookmarks; easy to carry around; editor-approved For certain parts of the day, decide what you’re going to focus on, and focus solely on that one thing," she says. "I put things into my calendar, and when I do that thing, I do that only. As much as you can, do one thing at one time and schedule it in your calendar. I even have my morning walks and my meditation in my calendar. If you think about it, when you’re doing six or seven things at one time, your energy is fragmented among those six or seven things, so it’s going to take you six times longer to do each of those tasks. But if you focus on one task at a time before moving to the next, you’ve got fully focused energy that’s not fragmented. And that’s how you become more efficient and save more time and energy."

This option was created by Cameron herself, and has a focus on gratitude journaling. She explains, "My gratitude journal has spaces to show gratitude for five things that I have already and for five things that i’m manifesting. It has a goal statement, it has a state of being statement, and it has a statement on sending love (so it's 'Who am I sending love to today?')." She says part of her motivation was to open people up to what she calls the two types of gratitude: "There's gratitude for what you have in your life already, and there’s gratitude for manifestation. There, you’re grateful not for the things you have but for the things that are on their way." The templates are saved in Microsoft Word ".docx" format and can be used with the newer versions of Word that support the XML document standard (Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and Office 365). If you have one of the older versions of Word that only supports the ".doc" format (Word 2000, 2002/XP & 2003), or if you don't have Word installed, use Microsoft Office Online or one of the Microsoft Word/Microsoft Office alternatives FreeOffice TextMaker, LibreOffice Writer, Google Docs and others, which are all free of charge ( OpenOffice Writer unfortunately has formatting problems when opening our calendars), or use a docx to doc converter (available for online or offline use). Also compatible with Microsoft Office for Mac (macOS) and Microsoft Office mobile for iPad/iOS, Android and Windows 10 mobile. Get super organised for 2023 with the perfect diary and calendar to plot out your busy schedule and count down the days to those exciting events. He also adds that it's important to lay out in your planner "where there’s time for recuperation, because in the same way that we can’t effectively multi-task, we can’t sustain a work day for eight or 16 hours nonstop. So being able to plan where we recuperate means that we’ll be able to be more effective when we do work. And there’s something about being able to identify your goals and being able to parse them out in a scheduled sense of time that is empowering. And in our urgency culture, it’s one of the most effective ways of regaining a sense of power and agency."

Other Calendars

Dr. Lyons echoes this sentiment, saying, "Simply having a planner be an action plan that lays out your goals is best, and thinking about it as an action plan for achieving your goals actually reduces stress because it lays our achievable action steps. It plots a way of achieving your goal in achievable, bite-sized steps." The fiscal, academic and calendar year planners and wall charts are in Word format so it's easy to change the colours You should also consider size and durability when buying a planner. If you carry around a big bag and/or if you need as much space as possible in your planner (for note-taking, mind-mapping, etc.), then a large planner may be best for you. On the other hand, if you need your planner to live and plan on taking it just about everywhere you go, go for a small planner. And if, like me, you tend to be rough on your items, look for a sturdy, hardcover planner so that you don't accidentally rip it to shreds within the first few weeks of use. Getting the Most Out of Your Planner