Franklin Planner’s Dirty Little Secrets, by Carl Pullein on YouTube. 15 min 41 s.
- Video length
- 15 min 41 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes a day
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Open to today's page and write in your appointments first. Fixed meeting times set the frame for everything else you plan to do that day.
Keep the whole daily review to about five minutes. Read your appointments, then list the few tasks you can realistically finish.
Use the Daily Notes page for anything that does not fit a task line: reminders, numbers, questions and follow-ups.
Jot down ideas the moment they appear, on paper rather than in an app. This stops you reaching for a screen and losing focus.
Record finished and published work on the day you complete it. Over time this gives you a record you can look back on.
Move anything with a date or deadline into your digital calendar at the end of the day. Keep paper for thinking and digital for reminders.
File date-specific information, such as renewals or travel details, on the page for the month or day it matters.
Fill in a Weekly Compass card with your roles, themes and ideas for the week. It keeps the week tied to what matters beyond tasks.
Keep a monthly master task list for jobs that do not belong to a single day. Pull items onto the daily page when you are ready to do them.
Repeat the same layout in a plain A5 notebook if you do not own a Franklin Planner. Use one page per day and a card or index for the weekly view.
Tips and common mistakes
Entering appointments before tasks stops you planning work into time you do not have.
Leave the planner open on your desk so capturing an idea takes seconds, not a screen.
Do the transfer to your digital system once a day, not repeatedly, or the switching costs you focus.
Review the monthly master list once a week so older tasks do not quietly disappear.
Questions
Do I need a Franklin Planner to use this system?
No. The same daily, weekly and monthly pages work in a plain A5 notebook with one page per day and a simple weekly spread.
How long does the daily routine take?
About five minutes each morning, plus a few seconds whenever you capture an idea or record finished work.
What goes in the digital system and what stays on paper?
Date-specific items and reminders go digital. Planning, notes, ideas and records of completed work stay on paper.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
