Simple Weekly Planner for a focused faith journey

The State a Busy Week Leaves You In

There have been too many weeks when I’ve woken up on Monday already overwhelmed. Meals unplanned, laundry overflowing, a calendar full of things I forgot I said yes to. No doubt there is always a lot going on in any given week, but I have set myself up for failure often. That’s why this post needed to happen. You’ve been there. You know that you need to get it together and plan out your week. Don’t be like I was, often wishing you had taken the time to write it all out so the overwhelm doesn’t consume you.

Before I got married, I was only balancing my schedule. A easy-going lifestyle made more sense. I mean, there is so much freedom in only deciding things for yourself. In fact, I often didn’t plan things at all because it seemed too intense. I was one person living alone, what was there to think about? Get up, work, eat, see my (then)future-husband, and sleep. Repeat again tomorrow. Whether I agreed to see friends or go to an event wasn’t enough trouble to keep a detailed itinerary.

Now that I’m married, I’ve accepted the responsibility of being a wife and what that entails. We firmly believe that women and men have roles in marriage that contribute to the success of that marriage, but that is a take for another time. I’m leading the planning side of both my husband and I’s lives, and an easy-going lifestyle doesn’t work. There is just way too much going on! Even with just the two of us, there is always something that needs to be planned and accounted for before we go about our days.

I knew I needed to figure something out, and fast. I researched simple weekly planners heavily. When it came down to figuring out a system that worked, I was bombarded. Too many Pinterest pins viewed to count. I got lost in the rabbit-hole of influencers having a decorated hour-by-hour outline of what was happening. That wasn’t going to work for a type B girlie like me. You’ll hear more about it soon, but I’m not of the belief that you need to plan so intently. In fact, it’s a bad idea. Truth of the matter: it’s not about controlling every hour—it’s about creating a system that serves you.

Since I’ve implemented this simple weekly planning routine, I’ve realized how much better I move throughout the week. The meals are planned, laundry put away, and all events accounted for. And most importantly? It’s become a time of worship—where I invite God into the little things, trusting that He’s already gone before me into each day I’m planning for.

Don’t skip church: the prep you didn’t know you needed

Maybe it’s cliche, but Sunday is the day that life is the most centered. Before I devoted my life to God, I thought it was because it’s the first day of the week. A chance to wipe away the week before and try again. It allowed for curation and a fresh start. Believe me when I tell you, your prep is as important as the plan. I even got a little extra about it and set the right tone. I’d clean up a small area, get cozy with a coffee and my planner, light a nice candle. I thought that this would make me have the best mindset for curating a great week. But I was missing something vital: the ultimate refresh doesn’t come from making a nice place to plan, it comes from Church.

Think about it, what could be better for a planning mindset? Nothing but being in the house of the Lord. We’re refreshed each time we sit with God. He brings us in to focus on Him, and that focus is so key for having your priorities in the right place. God will energize you, and being on fire for God is what will allow the Holy Spirit to make miracles happen in your life.

The heart of man plans his way,
but the LORD establishes his steps

Proverbs 16:9

I encourage you to start your planning with Sunday before or after church, and don’t forget to pencil in mid-week services too!

Here’s What Goes into a simple Weekly Plan: Your Plans!

No really- I mean it! Here I want to go in depth about all the details that go into the perfect plan. This is how I think about it each week, and I hope you find something useful that will work for you. Remember that this should be a jumping off point. With time you will figure out what works best for you!

What to Plan

We have to start off with what the skeleton of your day/week/month looks like. Right now the priority is what is going on and what that looks like practically. I encourage you to get a post-it or a scrap piece of paper and brain dump everything. Think work schedules, events you want to go to, events you said yes to going to. Meals you bought ingredients for (I have a great post about meal planning here!). Planned time with God. Anything that needs to be accounted for.

When first starting out, it’s better to plan the big things then the small things. More often then not, too many small things are going to weigh you down and seem to overwhelming. When you plan the big things and get the priorities done, then you can work in some smaller things that you would like to do. It can also give you the freedom to do things at different days that might end up working differently than you planned.

All this to say that when you start, come with a list of everything you have going on that you need to write down. Next, we’re going to decide how to organize it all.

How to Organize Plans

Here’s why people don’t stick to planning: you think you have to plan daily. It’s a myth!

I tried to figure out for years why I could never stay consistent with planning. I thought I was a failure because everyone I saw online had a daily planner that was always beautiful. There are people who have a daily planner and love the ritual of filling out the planner each day, marking things off, and adding to it. I thought I had to do that, too.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t work it into my everyday. A daily planner was too much of a task for me. When I realized I could plan weekly, I was organized again. I could see the whole week at a glance without getting lost if I don’t do it every day. There’s an even greater realm of possibility. Don’t get stuck in the notion that you have to follow what others do. My husband’s Mamaw only uses a monthly planner for appointments and that works best for her.

Other than the time aspect, how you visualize information is also important. Keeping a long list with many indentations and sub-tasks freak me out. If I’m having a power hour at work I can manage it, but in my every day life? No thank you. I find lists in order of first to last to work best for me. It helps you ask, “What does the outline of today look like? What can I expect? Where do I have room to fit other priorities in?” I also tend to organize by what time things are happening. For example, I always write my work times in as my first task since that’s where the biggest block of my time is. I list everything else for that day after that. I know that nothing else for my day will get done until work is over.

No matter what kind of layout that you choose, don’t feel obligated to include every detail unless it’s necessary. If you do that you’ll loose perspective and motivation seeing 20 listed out things per a day for 7 days a week. Don’t do that to yourself!

How to write it all down

There are two routes for this: physical or online. I have a simple test to see where to start. Ask yourself this: “What will you be more likely to use when it’s inconvenient to plan?” There will be moments where you need to add things you didn’t expect. Pick something that will work for you in those moments. I know the instinct is to pick something pretty that you’ll like to grab, but that’s not important at this stage. Choose a method that you’ll get into a habit of, then when you’re used to it, get the pretty planner. We’re trying to build a practical habit instead of wasting money for a look.

That being said, if you decide to use a physical planner, I’m a huge planner fan! Using a planner is my preferred method to keep all my tasks organized. If you’re caught up on the blog, I try my best to be an offline person. Physical planners works best because it encourages time away from technology and allows for clearer thought. I’ll go in depth about my planner of choice, but honestly, some people just like a notebook or a wall calendar.

A planner is generally the popular choice, but there are other options if you don’t feel like that works for you. I don’t discredit the ease of online, though. If you’re starting out it’s nice to always have it there and updatable. You’re spoiled for choice. There are dozens of planning apps that have the right functions for you.

One suggestion I have is Notion. I use Notion to work on posts and plan content. It is such an adaptable program that you could make a web based planner that you can use on any device. I love Notion, so if you want any posts around that I’ll happily talk about it.

Your next step starts with surrender

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.

Pslam 143:8

Organizing is the most we can do. It is worthwhile to plan with what God has given you, but ultimately we’re going to need to follow our divine appointments.

I urge you to follow where the Spirit guides you. Let go and take time to pray each day about where He is leading you. A trait that is very admirable of Jesus was that He always adapted to where the Father told Him to go. Follow His lead! Don’t be afraid to cross things out. Change a goal. Start over.

God has infinite grace and mercy for those who carry their cross. Allow yourself some grace as well. Let this way of planning allow you to hold yourself accountable, but don’t let it control you. You may find that it doesn’t work for you. Experiment and see where you’re lead.

To help you get started, I’ve created a simple, faith-inspired Weekly Planning Printable to guide you through this process.