Now is the best time to set your annual goals, organize and color-coordinate that pretty yearly planner template. Well, so you thought. But there are so many options out there. It can be confusing! Not sure where to start, what templates you need or even how to begin organizing information into them? I'll run you through my simple Get It Done printable yearly planner that I use for my goals, planning, schedules, habit tracking and more. The best thing? You can download it for free of course!
I will run through how to get the most out of your free printable yearly planner below. However, if you just want to grab the download now, scroll to the base of this post where you'll find a big green button with the download link.
I'll break down my process step by step on how I use my planner. These are the types of things you'll find in the 13-page printable download:
- Goal planning, yearly goals and habit tracker
- Newly revised 2024 calendar with Birthday list
- Daily planner, weekly schedule and monthly planner
- To-do list, grocery list and a section for notes
A Visual Merriment is reader-supported and this post may contain some product affiliate links. From these, I may receive a small commission if you choose to purchase. Read more about how affiliate links are handled in my Terms & Conditions.
Table of Contents
GETTING ORGANISED FOR YOUR YEARLY PLANNER TEMPLATE
I find it helpful to start big and work my way backward to the smaller day-to-day things. Thinking about what I would like to achieve over the course of the year is where I start by jotting down goals I will be working towards.
Here is the low down on how I use this simple printable yearly planner to set myself up for the year ahead. It helps with annual, monthly, weekly and daily tasks and goals.
- Start by identifying your goals and becoming clear on how to achieve them (don't worry, I'll help you target these!).
- Summarise your yearly goals.
- Keep track of Birthday and anniversary celebrations.
- Enter any additional important dates and information within the 2024 annual calendar.
- With a lot of the groundwork done, begin organising that info into a monthly planner.
- Narrow down your monthly plans into a weekly schedule to see your goals become more attainable.
- Break things down even further by creating a daily planner.
- Fight overwhelm and track non-time-sensitive tasks with a to-do list.
- Solidify your goals with a habit tracker.
- Bonus: Plan a trip to the supermarket with an organised grocery list and notepaper for additional thoughts and tasks.
You can print your planner digital download pdf at your local print store, online or from your home printer. If you are able to, print on heavier smooth paper. It looks and feels amazing plus it is so much nicer to write on and work with. And generally, we planner addicts love those small details!
HOW MANY ANNUAL GOALS DO I SET?
Begin by thinking of 3 to 5 large goals that you would like to work towards over the course of the year. This doesn't seem like much but when we break them down you will realise your greatest chance of success will come from keeping your goals to only a few. Whether it's 3 or whether it's 5 goals will depend, as some of them will require more work than others. This is not set in stone but it is a good amount to aim for.
Which types of goals should I set?
Below are a few examples to give you some ideas on your goal setting. If you're looking to delve into these topics a lot further, I have also included some links to some great resources to help you hone in on your goals with greater ease.
To help work out exactly what your goals may be, first categorise your life into areas such as the headlines below:
Health and Fitness Goals
- Walk for 30 minutes 5 days per week
- Monitor food and exercise habits
- Cook more meals at home
- Get more sleep
- Reduce certain types of food such as gluten or anything overly processed
- Meditate on a daily basis
For an added focus on this goal, track your exercise and diet with this fitness planner
Finance Goals
- Paying off debts such as a personal loan, educational debt and credit cards
- Increasing your superannuation contribution
- Buying a new home, car or boat
- Saving for a holiday
- Building a “rainy day” account
For an added focus on financial goals, this spreadsheet template download is simple and perfect for keeping track of your personal budget.
Career Orientated Goals
- Expand on your existing knowledge and training
- Change career paths, find something new or start a new qualification
- Work towards a promotion
- Increasing sales or customer base
- Starting a new business
- Advance your role or business technologically eg. improving your website or delving into social media marketing
For an added focus on business goals, try this small business planner bundle.
Relationships and Family Goals
- Ensure date night is routinely adhered to
- Make more time for friends and family by scheduling a coffee date with one of these people every week
- Find a quiet time to ask your spouse how they are each week or day for you to both then reflect
- Eat more meals with your family
- Begin a hobby or group activity with family or friends
- Become more physically active with your family. Start with a few ideas from my past post about activities for kids
- Set a regularly family fun night, include extended family if you wish
For an added focus on family goals, you can use children's responsibility and chore charts like I have in the shop. Or I really love this visual daily responsibility chart with moveable visual prompts. These are just like the visual aids that my son's therapists provide to help around the house and at school.
Personal Development, Spirituality and Religion Goals
- Read more books
- Make more time for learning, educate yourself on a topic with YouTube videos
- Work on your emotional intelligence, growth and wellbeing
- Spread kindness wherever you can
- Make prayer a daily habit
- Be clear on your actual beliefs
For an added focus on self-care check out this vibrantly designed personal growth workbook
Home Improvement Goals
- Declutter your home every change of season
- Finish *that* project you've been working on for the last 3 years (yes that's me… so many of them!)
- Plant fruit trees, a vegetable patch or herb garden
- Quick revamp of a bedroom
- Upgrade a particular appliance or piece of furniture
For an added focus on home improvement and decorating, I have a range of ebooks in the Freebies Library such as Secrets to Styling a Cosy Home Interior and Home Decorating Tips to Use in Every Room.
STEP 1: GOAL PLANNING
Now the fun begins with organizing the above goals into your yearly planner! For each goal that you identified, print out the Goal Planner sheet (page 2). On this sheet, you need to identify the goal and how you're going to achieve it. At the base of the page think of the Steps to Take list as micro-goals that will contribute to the success of your main goal. You can also list any additional notes on this page.
STEP 2: YEARLY GOALS
After putting considerable thought into how you're going to achieve this year's goals, you should have a fairly good idea of how long it may take you to complete each one. Enter your goals into your Yearly Goals sheet (page 3).
You'll notice this list is split into the 12 months of the year. Any one goal is likely to take more than a month to achieve and you are also likely to be working on more than one goal at a time. This summary is great for a quick glance to help keep you on track.
STEP 3: BIRTHDAY + ANNIVERSARY LIST
The Birthday List (page 4) helps to give you an overview of your yearly planner. I also include anniversaries on this page. Overall this page is not a necessity. However, I find it helps me to plan for the costs of birthday gifts and parties. I also have a terrible memory, which I intend to blame on my baby brain for the rest of my life. Being able to glance at important dates throughout the year helps me to keep on top of things.
STEP 4: YEARLY PLANNER CALENDAR
Enter any additional important dates onto your Calendar (pages 5-6). This could include vacations, children's schedules, appointments etc.
STEP 5: MONTHLY PLANNER
To recap, you will now have the following figured out:
- Identified several goals to work toward over the year.
- Created a strategy including micro-goals to achieve your annual goals.
- Allocated Birthdays and anniversaries.
- Entered any additional scheduling on your calendar.
Now that we are armed with all of this information, it will make it easier to organize your monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. As well as implementing the larger goals you have set for the year.
For each month print out the Monthly Planner sheet (page 7). Note the month at the top of the sheet. Now organize your tasks into days of each week. Some days you may not have any plans or tasks here.
STEP 6: WEEKLY SCHEDULE
For all of the tasks you set in the Monthly Planner, you will now schedule micro tasks under each day of the week within the Weekly Schedule (page 8). You can check them off as you complete them. There is a space at the top of the sheet to write the dates that you are working on.
I would suggest printing several pages and completing them now. However, now that we are really drilling down on your lists, it will become increasingly difficult to pinpoint many of these tasks months in advance.
I find completing my weekly schedules at the start of each month a much easier process. Or you can do as much as you can and keep a few spare copies at hand.
STEP 7: DAILY PLANNER
I complete the daily planner lists at the start of every week, for each day of the week. Your Daily Planner (page 9) has a space to enter the date at the top. You can list all of the things you need to do and check them off as you complete them.
Often we aren't able to complete all of our daily to-do tasks. This is where the priority list comes in handy. When you're completing your Daily Planner sheets for the week I would recommend not filling up all of your to-do list and leaving some space. You can then transfer the previous day's uncompleted tasks to the following day.
Lastly, take a moment to reflect on what you are grateful for and add it to your Daily Planner. In all of this planning and organizing it's good to slow down and take a moment to appreciate things you might normally be too busy to think about.
STEP 8: TO-DO LIST
I know what you're thinking… we just did this on the Daily Planner page! This is true my friends but some tasks are a little bigger than one day and take more time. I keep a long-running list of things to do within the To Do List (page 10) for this purpose.
I have included a space at the top of the page in case you want to enter a date range or month. However, I typically leave this blank. Go into more detail with this to-do list by identifying your task, adding a due date, and including a priority/status against each task. I created a numbered priority list for this, 1 being high priority and 5 being low. You could also colour code and highlight according to priority. Because who doesn't like looking at some pretty, organized colour?! Once your to-do tasks are complete you can then check them off.
STEP 9: HABIT TRACKER FOR YOUR GOALS
Habit-orientated goals are constant and never-ending. However, incorporating these habits into your life will contribute to the success of your overall goals. Don't forget that a new habit can often take several months to become second nature. Print off the Habit Tracker (page 11) to keep track of habits you would like to implement. Some examples of these could include:
- Reading
- Meditating
- Play instrument
- Workout
- Drink 8 glasses of water
- 10,000 steps/day
- Tidy
- Journal
- Project
- Running
- Write
- Research
- Study
- Family time
Although I've created plenty of space for you to track many habits, keep in mind that creating too many habit-orientated goals at the same time will often lead to failure. Given the amount of time it can take for a habit to stick, I suggest only 2-3 different habits at most, at any one time. Of course, you can break one habit into micro habits too hence having plenty of space for your habits!
There's no harm in entering the habits that you would like to work toward over the year, you can just stagger the start date.
STEP 10: GROCERY LIST PLANNING
Whilst a grocery list won't help you plan your year out, I've included it as it makes life so much easier! Print off as many as you need (page 12) or just a few when you're looking at your monthly planning.
I've divided the list into supermarket categories to make it easier to cross things off as you go through the shop adding things to your trolly. Creating an organized grocery list helps to reduce unnecessary spending and of course, saves you time.
STEP 11: NOTE PAPER FOR IDEAS
I've added in the Note Paper (page 13) for any additional thoughts, ideas, or planning that you would like to include. You can print as many as you need and write to your heart's content!
Our lives are so chaotic these days! It might be work, study, kids, pets, family commitments, or all of those things and more. No matter what it is, we all seem to be so much busier. With a little time initially, this yearly planner can make life much easier, help you with your goal setting and keep you on track.
I always love hearing organizing and planner tips. I'd love to know yours. Comment below or, if you're always searching for organization tips and hacks, you can follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
Free printable planner and goal guide below:
Other Resources You May Like:
FREE PRINTABLE: Affirmation Cards
FREE PRINTABLE: Party Action Plan + Shopping Lists
ARTICLE: 27 Clever Craft Storage Ideas
ARTICLE: Minimalist Free Printable Planner
FROM MY SHOP: Children's Chore/Reward Charts
