Planner Planning (+ Setup) For 2026!

Tools, trackers, and probably more detail than you ever wanted about my planner plans for the new year!

Jan 07, 2026

** Note: This article may be too long for your email but can be read in its entirety via your web browser or the Substack app. **

The holidays are behind us, the new year has begun, and organizations have returned to ‘business as usual’ mode. I hope your 2026 is starting off in meaningful and purposeful ways!

In my typical fashion, I spent a bit - ok, quite a fair bit - of time during the liminal week between Christmas and New Year’s getting my planners, notebooks, and trackers all finalized and ready for 2026. Does anyone else get abundantly - some might even say, irrationally - excited at fresh notebooks along with their fresh starts? Anyone?

Last fall, I shared an in depth look at my journaling / notebooking / planning system, and I have absolutely loved reading your comments and learning what works for you, too. My system hasn’t changed too much since then, so I won’t duplicate all those details here, but you are welcome to revisit that article if you’d like more info on how I use those various tools.

Today, I’d like to share the tweaks, changes, and additions with you, as well as a look inside some of the actual pages of my setup. I’ve also begun tracking some new growth-oriented actions that I’ll point out here as well.

I hope you find this beneficial as you plan for your year! And if you’d like further support, I am a certified coach who has helped clients achieve meaningful goals and make their positive, purposeful difference for over 20 years, so feel free to visit my website (or, if the site is being difficult, send an email to the Reading And Purpose gmail account below) for more info about coaching. I’d love to partner with you to bring your purposeful plans to life!

Alright friends, let’s put on our nerd-hats and dig into my planner planning plans!

*My 2026 journal/notebook/planner lineup! Some used daily, others periodically.*

Core System Refresher + Updates

1. Daily Journal

I’ve been journaling since I was eight years old, and I don’t see this changing any time soon; my journal itself does change regularly, however. I am currently in a really pretty one (you can see a photo of its cover in this recent article if you’re curious) that also lays flat and has lovely paper quality, two key criteria for me when selecting a journal. Thoughts, ideas, dreams, plans, brainstorms, breakthrough maps, to-do’s, article outlines, doodles…anything and everything is fair game for my journal, which I primarily write in first thing while sipping my morning coffee.

2. Planner

For the second year in a row, I am using the Sterling Ink Common Planner for my everyday planner. I loved pretty much everything about this planner last year and it held up beautifully, so I am happy to be in the exact same version (A5 horizontal full year, for anyone curious!) in 2026.

In addition to using the monthly and weekly tools provided in the planner, I use the blank pages in the back for my daily maps. Here’s how I’ve been setting those up for the past year or more:

During my morning practice, I write a one-sentence summary of my daily devotional, as well as a one-sentence affirmation for the day. My Daily Top 3 comes next.

The right column is where I’ll typically map out what I plan to do throughout the day and when, to help me be as purposeful with my time as possible. At the top, where I’ve written ‘This ______ Day,’ I put the theme/mindset I want to carry throughout the day, which often stems from my devotional and/or affirmation at the left. ‘This Productive Day,’ ‘This Intentional Day,’ or ‘This Easeful Day,’ for instance.

At the end of the day (or the next morning), I list my Daily Delight in the bottom left corner. Although I’ve been recording a Daily Delight since January 1, 2020, listing them right on my daily planner page is a more recent development, and I’m really liking it!

By the way, while I love an expansive morning routine when possible, my nuts-and-bolts daily planning takes about 15-20 minutes total. Since it’s analog, I’m not distracted by email or scrolling while I’m engaged, and since much of my workday requires my computer, I really value and appreciate this internal check-in at the start of the day.

My plans do sometimes (often) change once I log into email or start the workday, but knowing that I’ve identified priorities and plans myself first gives me a strong foundation and allows me to adapt more flexibly. When my children were little and our mornings were filled with ready-for-school activity, or even now on days when I might be on-site all day facilitating a coaching workshop or training session, I still did/do a version of this to start my day. The chance to ask myself who and how I want to be in the world each day - even if I only have a few minutes to answer - helps me live that out more intentionally.

3. Mini-Planners

I touched on this in my previous planner article, but throughout 2025 I refined this aspect so well that I’ve expanded on it for the new year. In addition to the overall planner just described above, I also obtained two small month-at-a-glance planners this year.

*I am not sponsored by Sterling Ink, by the way - just a huge fan and happy customer!*

One is my Best Self planner, where I track workouts, hobbies, healthcare updates, haircuts, and anything else that falls under my Best Self umbrella. I find that having a small, separate notebook for this helps me more intentionally prioritize these actions; I can easily see at a glance if too much time has passed between strength training sessions, for instance. It also keeps my various planners feeling clean and purposeful rather than cluttered or jumbled.

The other is my Editorial Calendar. I’ll be honest, I’ve attempted various versions of an editorial calendar (for my newsletters, blogs, books, articles, external publications, etc) countless times over the past 20+ years and have never stuck to one for more than a couple of months - until 2025, when I set up a paper notebook with small removable sticky notes and specific sections that match my brain perfectly. It has worked wonders! So this year I am excited to recreate the same system in a sleek matching planner.

4. Study Book

I have made zero changes to this system since setting it up a year or so ago - it is working like a dream! I haven’t even moved into a different notebook yet, so it’s exactly the same as when I described it here and here.

It is getting quite full, however, so a switch to a new Leuchtturm A5 notebook will likely happen soon.

5. Reading Journal

Like my study book, this is essentially the same as when I wrote about it in those previous articles, as well as when I did a deep dive into it for you here and here. I did, however, move into a new notebook, the cover of which I decorated with a gorgeous sticker from - you guessed it - Sterling Ink.

One feature I did add this year is a section dedicated to my reading goals/intentions. I don’t set a number goal for the books I read, but I often set intentions for topics or genres I want to explore more or ways I want to challenge/expand my reading life. I’ll be sharing an article covering these in detail with Reading And Purpose Nonfiction Book Club members within the next few weeks, and I’m excited to hear what some of their bookish plans are for the year, too!

*Isn’t that the perfect sticker for the cover of a reading journal?!*

6. Project Notebook

The only ring-bound system in my lineup, this continues to serve a similar purpose as when I described it in my earlier planner article. I have one new, exciting, and particularly gigantic project on deck for which this sectioned system is already serving as an invaluable ‘home base.’

In addition, if you read my recent article, Purposeful Lessons Learned in 2025, you might have noticed me encouraging myself to bring back what I call ‘CEO Fridays.’ I am committed to this revival and have set up a special section of my project notebook dedicated solely to it. (If you’d like me to share more about what CEO Fridays include and how I conduct them, leave a comment below - I’d be happy to write a future article! You don’t have to be the CEO of a business to benefit from this process.)

Know someone who wants a more analog life this year? This article is available to the public - feel free to share it!

7. Excited/Proud Journal

This journal is a brand-new addition - in fact, so new I completely forgot to include the little guy in my lineup photo at the start of this article! Also mentioned in that Purposeful Lessons article, you might know how meaningful I have found making note of one thing I’m excited for each morning and one thing I’m proud of myself for each evening. So much so that I decided to dedicate a little notebook just for that!

This is a tiny ruled notebook (see it next to my pen in the photo below for scale), and I have a ‘line a day’ system going. Not in depth at all but still an uplifting overview of meaningful moments.

*I’ve had this sticker for about a year and it always, ALWAYS makes me chuckle! (Let me know if it does the same for you. It may take a moment!)*

Trackers

Since this article is already quite lengthy, I won’t go into too much detail with all my tracking systems - although leave a comment below if you’d like me to expand on this in a future article. The one I do want to share, though, was such a surprise delight / win / growth experience for me in 2025 that I’ve continued it this year, as well as added two more similar versions! And that is my word-of-the-day tracker.

*I cannot even express how happy this makes my little word-loving nerd heart.*

I wasn’t sure how I wanted to use this year-at-a-glance spread in the front of my 2025 planner, so in late December the previous year, I decided to try recording a word of the day. I love this activity! Throughout the year I learned new words, was reminded of others I hadn’t used in a while, and even discovered certain words that didn’t mean what I thought they meant! (Does anyone else instantly think of The Princess Bride movie with that statement?!)

Since I have three such spreads this year (one in my planner and one in each of my two mini-planners), I am using one to continue my word of the day, one for a Spanish word of the day, and one to record the title of a different poem I will read each day. I am almost as excited for these activities/trackers as I am for my three Bold Goals this year! (And I am very excited for my three Bold Goals!)

“That’s A Lot Of Planners!”

If you’ve gotten this far in the article, I suspect you might be a stationery / journaling / planner fan, too. (Oh hey, hello!) You might need no further explanation.

If, however, you look at all of these and think it’s a bit overboard, well, you may be right. A person certainly doesn’t need this many planners and notebooks to live a joyful, successful, purposeful life.

At the same time, I’ve used this system or some variation of it for most of my adult life, and it really, really works for me. Journaling and planning are huge hobbies and passions of mine, they keep me focused (and off my screens), they support the achievement of my most meaningful goals, they help me be intentional with and honor my time as well as possible, they supplement other systems to keep my business on track, they infuse my life with beauty and offer a space for creativity, and honestly, I just find it all so fun and fascinating! Most of these notebooks live on my shelf and are pulled out as needed, and the ones I use every day fit inside a compact and beautiful little case.

Yes, it’s a lot of planners. And yes, they each serve a distinct and positive purpose in my life, which is a good enough reason for me to keep them going.

Your Turn!

Alright friends, I have pretty much bared my planner/journal soul to you - now I’d love to hear how planners, notebooks, and/or journals play a role in your life! And let me know if you found this article helpful, if it sparked any new ideas for you, or if you would like future articles on analog planning and journaling. You can let me know by leaving a comment below, ‘liking’ or sharing this article, and/or subscribing.

I wish happy planner planning to all who plan their planners!

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Reading And Purpose

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