How to Use a Goal Planner to Plan for the Week Ahead

It’s the start of the week. You have bills to pay, shopping to buy, tasks to complete, goals to reach. But they’re all muddled in your mind, and you can’t remember what needs to be done when.

How can you plan for the week ahead when you don't know what to plan for?

That’s where a goal planner comes to the rescue. 

Read on to find out how to use a goal planner to plan for the week ahead. First, let’s get back to basics.

What is a Goal Planner?

A goal planner is your own personal life coach, and it fits right into your bag. Goal planners take journaling to a whole new level. They provide you with designated spaces to write down your weekly goals, and review your successes and challenges, enabling you to plan for the week ahead. 

You will also be able to consider how your weekly goals are fitting into your overall plans, with weekly and monthly reviews. With a goal planner, you can see on a micro and macro-level exactly what goals you need to plan for the week ahead, as well as what you need to do to achieve them, keeping you organised and productive the whole week through.

Weekly Micro-Managing 101: How to Use Your Goal Planner

When you plan for the week ahead, you need a clear picture of your goals. Why do goal planners work? The answer is, because they give you an incentive. Write down your goals, and suddenly, not only can you see what they are, but you feel empowered to make them a reality.

Add to your goal planner each day. The more you write, the more you get a picture of your goals and any challenges you need to overcome. If you form a habit of plotting in your daily goals, you’ll quickly build a picture of your weekly goals.

Plan on a micro-level with your goal planner, and you’ll soon work your way up to those mountain-sized tasks. 

Look at your daily goals and weekly review for the past week. What did you achieve? Were you happy with the outcomes, or did it leave you feeling gloomy? Are any patterns forming? Responding to the wealth of information in your weekly plans is useful for building your goals for subsequent weeks.

#RelationshipGoals: Goal Planner for Couples

When you’re in a long-term relationship, you’re going to have shared plans and commitments. Maybe it’s that first house. How about a new car? Or perhaps it’s even planning for the big day!

A goal planner for couples helps you to plan for those joint goals. It keeps you on the same page, so you can work towards your goals with synergy. 

In the weekly planner, fill in one page each for the same week. Look at each others’ entries. Are your tasks for the week similar? What about the challenges you face? Being aware of one anothers’ goals for the week helps you to plan with each other in mind.

How to Budget Using Your Planner - And Make Savings!

Another benefit of a goal planner is that it helps you plan for the week ahead through budgeting. You might wonder exactly how to budget using your planner. Here’s how it works:

For one thing, through planning your goals, you can easily see at a glance any added expenses you need to factor into your weekly budget.

You can even use your goal planner specifically to plan for your budget. How much do you aim to spend on food shopping for the week? Plot in dates when important bills go out of your account. Log your weekly and monthly income, and outgoing expenses.

Then, when you come to plan for the week ahead, you will have plotted any outgoing costs in advance - leaving no chance for unpleasant surprises!

Whether you use a goal planner as a couple or just for yourself, there will be plenty of ways to plan for the week ahead. Writing your goals down brings you a step closer to making them a reality.