When you have a new project or goal, the first thing you want to do is jump in and start! However, it is extremely important to plan the project out. Having a well thought out plan can save you time, problems and potentially money further down the line. And if you’re anything like me, making a dedicated spread in your journal is the best part of the project anyway! So read on to see some examples, and get help on how to pick the best type of spread for your project!

Recommended Supplies:

• Journal – As always, it will be no surprise to you that my pick is the Archer and Olive Journal. The lovely and thick pages have no bleeding or ghosting, so you get a clean start for every project spread!
• Pencil – This one is super important! You will most likely be using this spread a lot. Therefore, you want to plan out the spread carefully and make sure it has everything you need.
• Fineliners –My favourites are the Unipin fineliners as they’re waterproof, affordable and have a strong nib.
• Highlighters/Markers – To tick off completed tasks etc. I personally love Midliners as they have a pointed nib an chiselled nib, and a great variety of colours.
• Decorative Touch (optional) – This could be anything from washi to watercolour, or of course, nothing! I usually like to add a personal touch to my spreads so they’re more fun to use and look at.

Step One: Identify The Goal

The first thing you need to do is identify exactly what your ‘project’ is. You could be doing anything from moving house, expanding your business, studying for an exam or even just planning Christmas preparations! So you need to identify what you want the outcome to be. For expanding your business, your goal could be to create 10 new products. The more specific your goals are, the easier it is to plan for and achieve.

Step Two: Break The Goal Down Into Smaller Tasks

The most important part of project planning is breaking the project down into achievable steps. I find the smaller you make each individual task, the more likely you are to complete them and ultimately achieve your goal. For example, using the example of creating 10 new products for your business again, I could make sections for each product. I could then break it down even further and have a checklist on how to create each specific product. So say I want to make mugs, one of my tasks could be to ‘create 10 design ideas’, and then another to ‘select a final design’. It is much easier to jump back into a project if you have small tasks like this, rather than just ‘create one product’.

Step Three: Other Important Factors

By this I mean, does this need to be completed by a certain time limit? Or are there other factors that may affect your ability to achieve your goal? It is important to identify these, be aware of their impact on your project, and make plans to deal with them.

Step Four: Pick A Layout

You now have your goals identified, your project split into small tasks, and if you’re like me you’re now staring at a blank page in your journal with no idea where to start… I have picked out some spread examples from my journal to maybe give you some inspiration. I tried to pick a wide variety of projects/goals to show you that you can plan almost any project/goal in this way!

Time-Sensitive Projects

Calendar Style 

This layout is brilliant for projects that you have deadlines. As you can see, I have highlighted important deadlines, then made bullets for each week with tasks to help be achieve the deadlines.

Timeline Style 

This idea is perfect for long-term time-sensitive projects such as moving house. With this method, you can start completing tasks early on, ensuring you’re not overwhelmed when it comes closer to the deadline.

Schedule Style

If you have a project/goal that requires a daily schedule, this alternate calendar layout could work for you. It is good for tasks you have to repeat regularly. In this example I have used it for a workout schedule, but it could adapt to other projects, for example: studying for an exam.

Fun Style

For this project I was applying to university, and as the tasks were small, but also time sensitive, I came up with this fun layout that had everything I needed on one page.

List Layouts

Checklist

This is one of the simplest project plans: a checklist. This can be used for more simple projects/goals such as 100-day challenges.

Sectioned

If your project has several individual goals, this is a brilliant way to split them up and make a specific list for each one! I would say this is probably my go-to layout for projects!

Fun

As you can see, this project had a few tasks, but mainly consisted of planning Christmas presents. This was a fun layout to manage this task!

Hopefully I’ve given you some help and inspiration to plan your next project/goal in your journal. If I have, I would love to see your spreads, so tag me on Instagram (@hayleyremdeart) and use #hayleyremdeinspired to get the chance to get your creations featured in my stories!