Everyone Says I Use Too Many Planners. They're Wrong.

The Three-Brain Planning System

The presenter argues that using three planners isn’t unnecessary complexity: each gives a different kind of thinking its own place. The goal is to connect everyday actions to the life you want, rather than staying busy without a clear direction.

Structure Brain: Design Your Life

Use a strategic planner to think about your long-term direction. Start with a 10-, 5-, and 3-year vision, then plan backward into yearly and quarterly goals. Break goals into actionable projects, distinguish them from the ongoing responsibilities in your life roles, and use the resulting priorities to guide monthly and weekly planning.

Execution Brain: Follow the Plan

Use a daily planner to turn decisions into action. Weekly planning should establish what matters, so you don’t have to rebuild your day from scratch each morning or let the loudest, most urgent task take over.

Creative Brain: Capture Thoughts

Keep a pocket notebook nearby to record ideas, worries, reminders, and questions as they arise. Capturing them can reduce distraction and preserve thoughts that may lead to useful insights later.

How to Use the System

• Capture first, sort later. Write a thought down without stopping to decide whether it’s a goal, project, or task.
• Process notes later. Move potential goals and projects into the strategic planner, and schedule deadline-driven tasks in the daily planner.
• Keep the thinking structure, not necessarily the same tools. The presenter’s planners changed over time, but the three functions—design, execute, and capture—remained consistent.
• Review whether your tasks are moving you toward what matters. A completed to-do list can feel productive without supporting a longer-term direction.
• Separate goals from responsibilities. Goals are things you’re striving for; roles reflect responsibilities you have to meet.

The presenter says this approach helped her balance a full-time job, a side business, and family responsibilities. Her main takeaway is that feeling disorganized may come from trying to combine three different kinds of thinking in one place—not from lacking ambition or discipline.

Presenter and source: The video’s presenter, whose name is not stated in the subtitles; published by Hitchand Hitched.