4 Reasons to Use a Daily Planner

InApril of 2019, I started using a daily planner called the Lion Planner.

After making lots of comparison with other journals on Amazon, I decided to go with the Lion Planner because it was the only daily journal that I could find with a structure for keeping track of daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, 1-year-goals, and even 5-year goals.

And even though I was already a very intentional person, using the Lion planner daily has changed my life over the past 3 months, in more ways than one!

It was important for me to adopt a system to clear my intentions, goals, and desires—not just for the month and the year—but also on a day-to-day basis.

And the journal I was using previously just didn’t have the space or structure to schedule out my life this thoroughly.

Now every single day, every week, and every month I am writing down what I want.

I’m using the journal to hold myself accountable for following my goals.

And I’m practicing gratitude for the small and big wins.

Now, I can really see that there is so much more to be grateful for than I previously realized—so many blessings to appreciate every single day all around me.

Becoming Intentional with your life is a POWERFUL shift, possibly the most important shift that will ever take place in your life.

Goal setting is the foundation of motivation, productivity, growth, discipline, dedication, and success.

And the gratitude you feel as you appreciate your daily wins can also do wonders for your happiness.

That’s why I believe it isn’t enough just to write down your goals once.

You need to get intentional every single day.

Get clear on what you want for your day, week, month, and year.

Then at the end of each day, keep yourself accountable for what you did and didn’t do.

And show gratitude for the many accomplishments and blessings that you experienced that day.

A daily planner like the Lion Planner is an excellent way to start.

Here are 4 Reasons to Use a Daily Planner

1. It Gives You Structure for Getting Clear on Your Goals, Intentions, and Desires.

Thestructure that the Lion Planner provides for goal setting is a lifesaver.

Before I started using this journal, I was not consistent with keeping a daily to-do list.

And I wasn’t consistently intentional about my weekly and monthly goals.

I wasn’t disciplined with getting clear about my goals, desires, and intentions simply because I didn’t have the structure.

It seemed like a lot of work to write all of these goals down every day, every week, and every month on paper.

Writing them out digitally on a smartphone or a computer didn’t seem any easier.

But with the Lion Planner, every month, every week, and every day is laid out for you.  

You can write down your goals, tasks, highest priorities, plans, and progress.

It provides a structure for you to write down your intentions everyday for 6 months.

It is simple and easy.

And that simplicity is motivation for me to write my goals down every day and to review my progress every night.

BecauseI don’t have any excuses anymore!

When you make your goal-setting as easy as possible, it becomes difficult for you to make excuses or avoid doing the work.

2. It Holds You Accountable For Following Through with Your Goals

Motivational speakers often encourage us to find positive, like-minded, and motivated friends to surround ourselves with who can hold us accountable for our plans and goals.

Whether you have a tight knit circle of positive people around you or not, your daily planner can serve that same purpose!

It will hold you accountable for every goal that you write down.

In some ways, making a commitment to yourself in your daily planner is even more powerful than sharing your commitment with others.

Because you can exaggerate your results to others.

But it’s a lot more difficult to lie to yourself.

When you write something down as a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly goal, you are making a promise to the universe that you will try your absolute best to follow through with it.

That accountability—knowing that you will face your results at the end of each day—is a powerful source of motivation.

Your desire to avoid disappointing yourself can become the spark that gets you to take action!

Research shows that people who write down their goals are 33% more successful in achieving them than those who don’t.

And accountability plays a huge role in that.

3. Setting & Accomplishing Goals Feels Good!

In The Molecule Of More, by Daniel Z. Lieberman and Michael E.

Long explain the ins and outs of a brain chemical called Dopamine.

Dopamine influences us to go after what we want and rewards us with a positive feeling when we attain our desires.

Dopamine is the reason we write down our goals in the first place.

And it’s why it feels so great to check items off our to-do list.

Thatpleasure that you feel when you accomplish something is a dopamine high.

So using a daily planner isn’t just about getting more done, being more productive, and becoming more successful, it’s also about happiness—the joy of the journey.

And there is so much joy in identifying the positive habits, ideas, and plans that we want to pursue in our lives, and then giving ourselves a pat on the back when we make some progress.

It isn’t all about dopamine though.

Goal setting also instills you with more self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth—a feeling that your life matters and that you do make a difference.

Setting goals also instills you with a sense of autonomy, a feeling that you are in control of your life as opposed to being at effect to outside forces.

With more autonomy—with that understanding that you are truly the only person in control of your life—you will take more ownership of your current situation.

You will take more responsibility for making the changes in your life necessary to create the experiences you want to have.

That combination of self-confidence, self-esteem, and autonomy will put you on the fast-track to not only succeeding, but also enjoying every single step of your journey.  

4. It Gives You A Place to Practice Gratitude

One of the best aspects of the Lion Planner is the structure for showing gratitude for all the many blessings in your life.

Gratitude is one of the most powerful all-natural happiness boosters.

It’s one of the healthiest and best forms of fulfillment.

In The Happiness Advantage, positive psychologist Shawn Achor explains that writing a list of things that you are grateful for regularly can improve happiness significantly.

A daily planner provides a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly structure for practicing gratitude.

At the end of every day, there is a space called Day Review.

You will use this space to write down all of the positive, productive, and amazing things that took place that day.

Did you connect with any new friends, collaborators, or opportunities today?

What blessings, accomplishments, milestones, and results did you step into today?

Did you eat any healthy foods, hit the gym, run a swim, do some push-ups, or read some pages of a great book today?

Did you spend some quality time with your significant other, kids, friends, family, or other loved ones?

DayReview is a place where you can keep track of all of the amazing things thatare taking place in your life on a day-to-day basis—things that you may haveotherwise overlooked or took for granted.

Practicing gratitude daily will make you a much happier, more peaceful, and more grounded person over the long run.

AFramework for Your Growth, Progress, Happiness, & Success

Goals are the first step for turning invisible ideas into tangible real-life results.

And the best way to consistently accomplish your goals is through the structure. 

Everybody needs structure.

Without structure, no human would ever accomplish anything.

Keepinga daily planner is a powerful way to structure your growth, happiness, success,and your journey on this earth.

To purchase a daily planner and get started on your journey, make sure to check out the Lion Planner on Amazon.

And be sure to leave a comment to let us know what you plan to accomplish with your daily planner.

Willyou use it to get more fit, eat more healthy foods, read more books, learn anew language, spend more time with the ones you love, earn more money, helpmore people, or leave your day-job behind to follow your dreams?

Letus know in the comments!