My Life Binder is a map of my life and when I open it, I'm able to "point" and say, "I am here."
I created this out of the need to have something that gives me a tangible way to measure my progress from Point A (where I am now) to Point B (where I want to be) in all the different aread of my life and all in one organised place.
I didn't want a million notebooks, sticky notes, pieces of paper, apps, google docs, etc. I wanted something simple, creative, and pretty that I would enjoy using.
Et voila! The Life Binder was born.
Don't wait to make your own and don't stop working on it. As long as you're improving and changing, your Life Binder should be improving and changing along with you. It's really a reflection of my life. I feel like when I am spending time working on my Life Binder, I am really working on my life.
You improve what you measure.
You expand what you focus on.
FEATURES
- 26 insanely useful printables
- black and white, ink friendly design
- digital download
- prints out on 8.5 by 11" // A4
Every time you complete a project, you up-level your life.
- Name your project.
- Write out the summary.
- Identify the 4 main steps.
- Break it down into small steps.
- Connect with your motivation: write out how the completion
of your project will improve your life/career.
- Write out the summary.
- Identify the 4 main steps.
- Break it down into small steps.
- Connect with your motivation: write out how the completion
of your project will improve your life/career.
Mind-mapping helps you work with the way your brain likes to think. Get to clarity faster through mind-mapping.
- Mind map your project, day, goal, idea, life, etc.
The achievement of any goal - huge or small - comes down to the practice of a few key habits.
If you can master those habits, you can master your life.
- Write in your 5 most important goals
- Identify the habits that further the achievement of each goal
for example:
Goal: Lose 10 pounds
Habits: Drink 8 cups of water, exercise for 30 minutes, drink a smoothie for breakfast
- Out of all the habits you came up with, identify your "Daily Dozen" - the 12 habits that are most important for you to work on every day.
Your success requires that you keep track of your progress. Use this weekly printable to track your progress, review it, and improve it.
- List your "Daily Dozen" habits and track your progress for one week.
- At the end of the week, you'll be able to see what habits need more attention.
- Write out what worked, what didn't work, and how you're going to improve.
If you can take the lack of clarity out of planning your next trip, you can go on more adventures sooner.
- Identify all your expenses and know how much your trip will cost.
- Calculate how much money you will have to save every month to pay for your trip.
- Brainstorm on what you're going to see, do, taste, and where you want to go.
- Fill in the "Make It Happen Manifesto" to put some emotional commitment behind your plan.
With a budget, you tell your money what to do, where to go, and how to serve you - instead of the other way around.
- Record multiple streams of income.
- List out your monthly expenses: rent, groceries, utilities, etc.
- Know whether or not you stuck to your budget and be able to see at a glance how you can do better next month.
What you focus on, expands. The first step to expanding your income is setting your intention for how much money you want to make and keeping track of every penny that comes into your life.
- Set your goal/intention for how much money you want to make for the month.
- Keep track of every penny and watch your income grow.
Know where your money is going and practice the millionaire habit of living within your means.
- Write in your budget amount for the month.
- Whenever you spend money, write it in and check off whether it was a "need" or a "want" in order to build more awareness around your spending habits.
- At the end of the month, examine if your "needs" and "wants" - do you need to manage yourself better?
- At the end of the month, examine if your "needs" and "wants" - do you need to manage yourself better?
Never waste money or energy on a late payment again.
- List out all your monthly bills: rent, utilities, car payment, etc.
- Write in their amounts and due dates.
- Check them off as you pay them.
Your mind is for coming up with ideas, not for storing them. - David Allen
- List out every money-making idea or opportunity that comes to mind.
- Pick the ones that you want to work on now and start generating some income!
- Whenever you feel stressed out over lack of money, return to this list and do something about it!
- Keep financial stress out of your life and do something to expand your income every month.
- Whenever you feel stressed out over lack of money, return to this list and do something about it!
- Keep financial stress out of your life and do something to expand your income every month.
Start and finish every month strong with this one page overview of your goals, your progress, and your plan to improve as you move into the next month.
- Identify your top 3 goals.
- Write in your To-Do items.
Write in your income goal and your savings goal.
- List out any important appointments and events.
- List out the bills you need to pay and when they are due.
- At the end of the month, complete a review of what worked, what didn't work, and what you need to do more of and less of.
Before you can plan a productive day, you need to set your goals, tasks, and schedule for the week.
- Identify your top 3 goals for the week. Make sure they help further your top 3 goals for the month.
- List out your To-Do list for the week. Make sure your To-Do's are helping you achieve your weekly goals.
- Schedule in your events and appointments, and be sure to schedule in all of your To-Do's as well. What gets scheduled gets done.
Discover the key to insane focus and productivity by setting goals and reviewing your progress on a weekly basis. This will improve your momentum and performance so much!
- At the beginning of the week, identify your top 3 goals. Make sure your goals are big enough to stretch you and small enough to actually get done that week.
- Write in the steps you need to take in order to accomplish your goals.
- At the end of the week, review your progress: what worked, what didn't work, do more, do less, wins/gratitude, lesson moving forward.
- Use the answers in your review to make an even stronger game plan for the following week.
The first step to living the life of your dreams is knowing what exactly that looks like.
- Write out your goals in every area of your life: lifestyle, financial, career, relationships, self-care, adventure, spirituality, new skills, and health.
Allow yourself to dream more, want more, have more, do more by filling out the prompts on this printable.
- Answer the prompts: what do you want to become, create, organise, simplify, etc?
- This printable simplifies the goal setting process.
Don't let your goals fade away. Keep them all in front of you and measure your attention to them on a monthly basis with this printable.
- List out all your goals.
- Write in when you want to start and complete each goal.
- Every month, have a quick "check-in" with yourself and ask yourself if you are satisfied with your progress so far. If you are, add a check mark to the goal. If you're not satisfied, then now you know that something has to change.
Make sure that every blog post you write is working hard and well to serve you and your audience.
- Identify the title, publish date, and category.
- Brainstorm and outline your idea.
- Come up with the key points you want to highlight.
- Make note of any photographs, links and affiliates you need to add.
- Identify your "Call to Action" (very important)
- Identify your overall purpose for your post.
- Check off the "Workflow" as you progress through it.
- Write in any To Do items
- Write in any feedback and notes for your next post.
- Promote on social media.
There are tasks in your life and career that need to be completed on a weekly basis. For example, every week you know you need to do your laundry, write a blog post, update your accounting, spend time on marketing, etc. Instead of letting these tasks "attack" you as emergencies, identify when exactly in the week you are going to pay attention to each one. This will also help you plan your week and day more quickly and efficiently.
- Identify the different areas of your life. For example: Home, Blog, Family, etc.
- Write in the weekly tasks that according to the life area and day of the week that if falls under.
For example:
Family - Friday - Take kids to soccer
Blog - Wednesday - Write new post
Home - Saturday - Do laundry
Plan out your grocery list according to your meal plan and avoid impulse shopping and forgetting items.
- Use the prompts to write up a complete grocery list: bakery, fruit, vegetables, etc.
- Use the meal planner section to make sure that the food you buy will help you create the meals that you want to enjoy.
Watch your eating and exercise habits improve with this simple tracker. Tape this printable to your refrigerator and watch yourself make healthier choices more and more effortlessly.
- Every day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, record what foods you ate.
- Fill in the little circles to track how many cups of water you drank for the day.
- Record your exercise activity.
- Keep you diet exciting by coming up with a new recipe you want to try and the ingredients needed (Ooo, Pinterest!).
- There's even a space to jot in a quick shopping list.
- Take a moment at the end of the week to write in your "Progress Reflection" - bring more mindfulness to how you are taking care of your body.
Our brains serve us best when we have a regular "spring cleaning" of all the tasks, ideas, and random thoughts that bombard us and cloud our ability to focus. Use this printable to "get it all out" whenever you feel like your brain is becoming a storage unit when it should be a lean, mean, focus machine. :)
The first step to getting more control over your wardrobe and the image you want to present to the world is knowing what's in your wardrobe so that you can identify which pieces serve you best.
- Take inventory of your wardrobe and write in the items according to the areas that they fall under.
- List which items are your primary favourite items, secondary favourite items, and which pieces you want to donate/discard.
A balanced wardrobe is one that supports every activity of your life. Every time your lifestyle shifts, so should your wardrobe - otherwise you could find yourself more active in, say - business activities - and have nothing to wear but yoga pants! This is the reason why a person can be drowning in clothes and yet still have "nothing to wear."
- List out the major activities that make up your life.
- Take inventory of the clothing you have that goes under each activity.
- Now, assess everything and determine what additional pieces you need to purchase in order to round out your wardrobe so that it can support your lifestyle in a more balanced way.
Use this simple, streamlined day-planner when you have a day centered around appointments and getting things done on time.
- On this printable, the time slots start at 6am and end at 10pm.
Tell your day how you want it to go and live with more focus and intention. Your days make up your life and when you take the time to structure and organise your day, your life becomes more structured and organised as well.
- Map out your schedule.
- Identify your top 3 goals.
- Write out your To Do list.
- Record what your meals and exercise activity.
- Record your income and expenses.
- Write in any notes.
- List what you are grateful for.
- Identify your top 3 goals.
- Write out your To Do list.
- Record what your meals and exercise activity.
- Record your income and expenses.
- Write in any notes.
- List what you are grateful for.
Plan your day in a more fun and creative way with this printable.
- Schedule in your tasks and appointment under the "hour space" that they fall under.
- Use the box slots on the bottom to categorise your day into focus areas.
I hope you find value in this Life Binder kit. It's amazing how even just a little bit of planning and intention can completely change your life. This system has become a "home" for my world on paper and has helped me become the CEO of my life and take 100% responsibility in everything I do. I hope it does the same for you too. :)
Warmest,
Michelle Rohr
MORE REVIEWS:
EVERY Year I spend days/weeks/months searching for the right planner. Each year I'm disappointed because the one I found fails to meet my planning needs. Finally though, I found what suits me! Thank you spotted owl. I can't wait to print and tell my friends.
- Lameisha
The printables were exactly as I wanted, simple, elegant and will hopefully prove to be an effective tool in helping to organise my life in 2016 and work out what my priorities are. I feel that the item is competitively priced and my correspondence with the seller was very efficient and courteous. Would purchase again from SecretOwl. Thank you.
- Karen
Very happy with my purchase, a great investment for anyone wanting to keep track on all areas of their lives in a very useful and simplified way. Beautifully designed too! Thank you :)
- Circe
I love the simplicity of the design and look forward to staying organized
and on track in 2016 thanks to the Life Binder. Thank you!
- Katie
So great, I've been looking for something like this for years!
- Meridith
This is perfect for getting me organized in every aspect of my business and life.
Thanks so much for creating it!
- Sarah
I love everything that Michelle does! Without her, my business and well, life,
wouldn't be where it is today!
- Michelle
Aesthetically stunning & the most thoughtful planner printable layout
I've seen (and I've bought them all).
- Anna
I love this printable! Michelle makes wonderful products and it has definitely
put me many steps closer to taking control of my life :)
- Kaelie
I love your binder-so simple yet so praticle
ReplyDeleteLove your Blog! Lots of good ideas.
ReplyDeleteThank you ladies. :)
ReplyDeletePlease keep coming back! This blog is growing and evolving and becoming more and more useful.
Wow! beyond awesome! Thanks for posting about this, it's very inspiring. (I've had a similar thing in the past but what I love about yours is that you've combined the rational-logical plan stuff with creativity and heart and a passionate edge that is so much more motivating :)
ReplyDeleteI love these ideas. I'm going a more digital route with Evernote, but I will set it up similar to what you have here. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your ideas!
ReplyDeleteDo you have any free printables?
Have a blessed 2015?
Hi, yes! I have many free printables scattered through this blog, but I'll get things organized so that it's all in one place for you and everybody. I'll put it on my to do list for January and let you know when it's up!
DeleteWow love this
ReplyDeleteHi! Thank you for this. I'm currently working on one of my own. I'm adding a travel section with a map of places I've visited. I'm also including a wish list of places I want to visit and summary pages for the places I've been (excursions, landmarks visited, people I've met, etc.). Would you consider making some printables for that sort of thing? Love your work! Take care
ReplyDeleteHi Kat! Sorry for the late response, for some reason I didn't catch the notification that you left a comment here. Those are great ideas for a little kit of travel printables. I'll definitely work on it. Thank you for your lovely comment. :)
DeleteHow Fantastic! I am defintely going to do this.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing in the morning!
Woohoo! I'm glad to hear it. :)
DeleteHi Michelle! I had stumbled upon this awhile ago, but I know that I had found was your own sample pages that you made, and the visuals were stunning! I'm looking for the link to that page but I seem to not be able to navigate nack to it. I was wondering if you could please direct me there?
ReplyDeleteHi! Sorry, I thought I had replied to this already. Here's the link you're looking for. :) >> http://thesecretowl.blogspot.jp/2013/11/how-to-design-your-own-life-binder.html
Deletewow this is tremendous michelle! it must have taken forever to complete. thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Yes, it represents years of ironing out templates that work best through personal use, but when I finally decided to sit down and create it, each page probably took 1-2 hours.
DeleteI love this! I really wish there were a digitized version of this. One place for my to do list, goals meal planning and calendar. So far I haven't found one that works well but I love love love this paper version!
ReplyDeleteI've contemplated a digital version, but I find more and more people are returning to paper planners. I think it's because being able to see and organize everything on paper makes it easier somehow.
DeleteDo you have a version where you can make this into a packet and mail it?
ReplyDeleteHi Victoria! Funny you should say that. I am working on creating a physical life binder that people can buy! I'm in the very initial stages, but hope to have it up on my Etsy shop in 2-3 months.
DeleteHi Michelle, Please make an app. I am just not analog. I know you can type on the PDF, but if this were an app, I'd be all over it. (...and not just iPhone either).
ReplyDelete