The Importance of Time-Management - Using Planners

What is Time-Management?

Time management includes organizing how you separate your time between tasks. This may include organizing, planning, prioritizing, and other skills that will ultimately create a more well-rounded schedule. 

This article describes how to use planners as one particular tool to manage your time. I will discuss why you need these time-management skills, why planners are helpful, digital planner options, and physical planner options to help you succeed. 

Note that this article includes affiliate links, where I receive a very small portion of a purchase back for providing you with this helpful information. 

Why do you need Time-Management Skills?

Time-management skills can help you avoid burnout and add a new life skill that is not taught in schools. Time-management is an essential skill we can use as we transition into different stages of life. By learning how to prioritize, make goals, and use different tools to help us succeed and avoid burnout, we manage stress, keep a work/life balance, and are able to be more productive in less time.

Why Use Planners?

Planners are organizational tools that allow you to take all of the information that is in your brain and transfer it to a digital or physical platform. There are lots of different variations, so be selective in which you choose. A planner can become a paperweight very quickly if it is not used appropriately. There are so many options out there for different styles and planner uses, look around and try different things because you may be surprised at what works best for your efficiency.

You may want to look into planners that include prioritization or gratitude or ones that are specific to those who have ADHD or those that have a certain layout or something in a digital view that you can see everyday.

Each planner has its merits, but it is only useful if you actually use it. So take the time to create a habit around a planner you actually like to use because it works best for your life.

Digital Planner Options

For digital planners, you have various options. You can have a google calendar on your phone, or a calendar in Google Sheets, or an app that holds all of your To Do lists. Just like how there are many different physical planners in a store, there are tons of digital options as well. Here are a few that I like to use.

• Google Slides Digital Planner Template: 
• I created this planner for myself since I could not find a planner that met all of my needs. 
• The planner can be held in Google Slides to continuously edit with all of the information you need on a yearly, monthly, weekly, or daily version. 
• It also includes notes and a brain dump area to get all of your ideas out. 
• Phone Calendar: I use Android (don’t hold it against me), so the Google Calendar is the best feature to always have my tasks with me. I add them to my calendar to block off time and add alarms to make sure that I am following through with those tasks. 

Physical Planner Option:

• .Panda Planner: 
• Great for productivity, prioritization, and gratitude practice
• It helps me prioritize what I need to get done in a day, but also forces me to take a moment to reflect on the gratitude of the day. I like that it allows me to chunk the projects that are most important in that day/week/month, so that I am not overwhelmed. 
• Now I understand that this is more of a bonus organizational hack, just for you. This is more to help you organize your life and keep things in order both in and outside of school. I do this when I wake up to set myself up for the day. 
• Note: I also have a digital planner for my classroom curriculum since that one needs to be a bit descriptive of what I am doing each day. 

Wrap Up

Time-management can be a difficult skill to learn. These planner options can be used by teachers to keep things organized between classroom and at home or by students that are trying to balance all of their academics and extracurricular activities. Either way, planners can be an easy way to develop time-management skills. 

However, using planners is only one part of the formula. Click here to learn more about my Time-Management course within the Life Skills Academy. The course includes various strategies for time-management, extension activities to practice, and printable guides to help build better habits. Use this course for yourself, the young adult in your life, or as an extra activity in your classroom!