Inside My Notebook: How I Plan My Week

Since blogging about embracing a more analogue life, a few lovely Cavletter readers have asked for a closer look at how I lay out my notebooks. So without further ado, here's a little tour of my weekly planner.

I start each week by drawing out the pages. Yes, that takes time, but as I mentioned before, that's kinda the point! The ritual forces me to slow down and actually think about the week rather than just rushing ahead.

A basic week takes up four pages in the notebook, beginning with an overview page before we get into the daily breakdowns.

Let's take a look.

THE OVERVIEW PAGE

A chance to get all my ducks in a row before the week begins.

1. THE DATE
   Nice and easy. Just the week these pages are covering.
   
2. THE FOCUS AREA
   The three main projects I'll be focusing on in a week. In short: the most important stuff. The things that have to get done.
   
   Sometimes it's just titles. Other times, I break them down into steps before they make it to my daily task lists.
   
3. INBOX
   Where I catch anything that pops up unexpectedly during the week. Tasks, ideas, notes... if I don’t know where they go yet, they go here.
   
4. WAITING
   A place to jot down anything I’m waiting on but don’t want to forget — notes for a project, a meeting time, an address. Usually written in red to draw the eye.
   
   If I haven't heard back by the following week, I either create a task to follow up or copy it into next week's waiting area.
   
5. WINS
   A way to keep my positivity up. I try to list one win each day. Some personal. Some professional. All worth celebrating.

DAILY ENTRIES

The nitty-gritty of the week – my daily to-do lists, with tasks seperated into categories for ease of use. Each work day gets half a page.

1. DATE
   Pretty self-explanatory. Usually highlighted, although this week the combination of highlighter and pen was... not ideal, as you can see!
   
2. BLANK SPACE
   A space to jot down any big event for the day, like:
   • A birthday to remember
   • An on-sale date (GWENPOOL #1 OUT TODAY!)
   • A hard stop (LEAVE OFFICE AT 4pm SHARP!)
   
3. MAIN TASKS
   The first of four sections each day... and the most important. These are the core jobs I need to get done, usually tied to a big project or one of my weekly focus areas.
   
   For example:
   • Do lettering pass for Gwenpool 2.
   • Write ten pages of THR.
   
   Done tasks get a red line through them.
   
   Not done? They get shifted forward with a red arrow to show they’ve been rescheduled.

4. APPOINTMENTS
   Big appointments or meetings for the day. Copied from my calendar so I can see everything in one place.
   
5. ADMIN
   Low-energy tasks that aren’t project-specific and can be batch-processed when my creative tank’s running low, such as:
   • File receipts
   • Box up books for store

As with the main list, they’re either crossed off or moved. If I keep copying something day after day, it’s an indication to do it or ditch

6. EMAIL
   I try not to let my inbox become a to-do list. If an email needs action but not right away, I file it and jot a note down here. Same goes for emails I need to send on a specific day.

I follow this structure for every workday. The weekend gets a quarter page each, with no sections, just space to capture anything that pops up.

So, that’s a quick tour of my week planner.

What started as an experiment in slowing down has become an essential part of my working week. I’m not sure I could manage without it now, athough I'm sure it’ll keep evolving over time.