How to Use Your Passion Planner to Get Fit

When your goal is to get fit and healthy, it helps to have powerful tools in your toolbox to support you. Enter: the Passion Planner. I’ll walk you step-by-step through how I use my Passion Planner to support my fitness goals and stay on track.

What’s something in your life that you absolutely adore, but maybe take for granted? Something that you use every single day and is so much a part of your life that you forget that now everyone knows about it/has one?

For me, that’s my Passion Planner. Not a day goes by that I don’t use this planner and it always blows my mind when people don’t know about it!

If you’re thinking that planners are old school, that the world has moved on to Google calendar and the likes, you’re right. But for me, for my goals and for my sanity, I need a pen and paper. I need some reality to my reality…know what I mean?

What Makes a Passion Planner Different From Any Other Planner?

No matter what your goal is – be it fitness related, career related, school related or otherwise – you have to have a system to stay organized, to plan and prioritize, and to stay on track. Want to get things done? That takes planning.

And despite the rise in popularity of online calendars, there’s some real, science backed data that supports the benefits of paper planners over the digital variety. For one, paper planners are distraction-free. Sure, your phone might send you reminders but it’s too easy too swipe up and go back to Insta scrolling. Plus, the physical act of writing stuff down actually forces your brain to engage. You’ll be more focused, better able to plan and arrange, and most importantly: remember.

So what makes a Passion Planner different (and in my opinion, better) than any other planner or calendar?

Passion Planners are more than just a space to write down appointments. It’s a tool for inspiration, motivation, organization and fulfillment.

• Mind maps: there is space to plan not just your day, but your future. Twice a year, the Planner gives you room to set up your goals. There’s a guide to help you create a mind map – so you’re not just writing down your hopes and dream, you’re creating a plan to achieve them.
  
• Weekly inspiration: every week, flip a page to words of wisdom (and sometimes humor), from the greatest minds in history.
  
• Monthly progress prompts: do you ever look back over your day/week/month/year and think “damn, I wasted a lot of time” or “I could have done that better”? Your Passion Planner prompts you on a monthly basis to reflect on what went well, what you could have done better, where you could have spent your time more appropriately. I actually use this same technique with my fitness and nutrition clients!
  
• Get creative and express yourself: one thing about digital planners and calendars is that they’re all business. They don’t leave much room for self-expression and creativity. That’s one thing about Passion Planner that I love. There is so much space for creativity and exploration.

How to Use Your Passion Planner to Get Fit

So how do you use all of these aspects and spaces to get fit and healthier, and reach your goals? I’ll tell you what works for me, step-by-step, and how I keep track of my focuses, successes and deadlines.

Step 1: Fill Out Your Mind Map

Goal setting makes sense. Have desire. Turn desire into words. Put words on paper.

Simple, but all too often dismissed as frivolous in the fitness world. Why? Well, because it’s not glamorous and has no obvious, sudden side effects: raised heart rate, healthy glow, etc. But laying out your goals is important because the process helps your cement the finish line at a distinct point in your future, and solidify the path to get there.

The mind maps in Passion Planners are designed to help you envision what you want. You’ll have to think about the answers to questions like: where/who/what do you want to be in 3 years? What can you do in 1 year that will get you closer? How about 6 months? How about 3?

Obviously you have more goals outside of the realm of health and fitness but zoom in for a second and start probing. Your mind map will help you take that picture of your Goals You that only you have a sense of, and put her down on paper. It’ll then help you figure out…what could my path to success look like?

Your prompted at the start of January and halfway through the year to fill out your mind map. But I encourage you to go back and reflect on it every month as you move on to Step 2!

Step 2: Set Up Your Monthly Focuses/Phases

January-December you’ll find a monthly calendar to start you off. This is a good, open space to figure out just what you can accomplish in the next 30 or so days.

• Cycle tracking. If you don’t already, this is a great space to start tracking your period. Why is this important to your fitness goals? Because your body thrives on different nutrients/workouts/wellness routines at different times. For example if you know when to expect your period, you also know that maybe that week is a good time for a massage, but not for a Spartan race.
• Workout phases. If you are following a specific exercise program that is phased for progressive overload, this is a good place to block out those phases.
• Monthly focuses. If you want to lose 30 pounds, that’s possible but you know it’s not possible in a day, or a week or really even a month if you are being healthy about it. Break your big goal into manageable parts. How much of that 30 pounds can you lose this month?

Step 3: Solidify Your Weekly “Vibe”

I call my Weekly Focus my “vibe” because it’s rarely a physical thing…rarely an objective goal. Most of the time, it’s a single word summary of the kind of energy I want to emanate and embody throughout the week.

How do you want to show up this week? When you walk into the room, what kind of vibe do you want to give off? Some weeks that’s strength or health. Other weeks it’s grace or kindness. It’s really a mood thing but I like to write it down because then I see it, every single day. The more you surround yourself with something, the more likely you are to absorb it and reflect it back on the world.

Step 4: Schedule Your Workouts

Next – and this is one of the obvious steps in regards to directly influencing your fitness goals and health – schedule your workouts and block off time every day to move.

I like to flip back to my monthly calendar to get a general outlook on where I’m at with my training. From there, I’ll schedule out my workouts: legs on Monday, HIIT on Tuesday….that sort of thing. Take it one step further and actually block off or highlight the stretch of time when you’d like to fit your workout in. This is especially important if your week fills up fast and you have busy days ahead of you.

*p.s. it’s okay if you don’t actually workout at the pre-planned time. What’s important is that movement is there, obviously on your schedule as a priority and it’s not optional.

Step 5: Rough Sketch a Menu

Go back to your monthly calendar. Use the space provided to sketch out a rough draft menu. Here’s how…

First, open up your Pinterest account, your NYT cooking subscription and grab all of the magazines you’ve dog eared recipes in. Next, put a check on all of the days that you’ll have time to cook and an x on all of the days that you won’t. On the days that you will have time to cook (and maybe even meal prep), pencil in a new recipe you want to try out. On the days that you won’t have time to cook, grab a tried-and-true recipe that you know you can whip up quickly or make ahead of time.

This kind of plan helps reduce stress and plan out healthier meals. You’ll know when it’s time to go grocery shopping. You’ll try out brand new recipes and you can make sure that you and your family never get bored!

Step 6: Track Your Water

I draw a box each day to track my water intake. Why? Because you are mostly water and staying hydrated keeps you on your A-game. I know that I’ll drink water if I don’t track. But I also know that I probably won’t drink enough water to hit my target…that’s especially true at the end of the week.

I can’t tell you how many times I have asked my clients about their water intake and get the “Oh, I drink a ton of water” response. I still ask them to track. And you know what we usually find out? We find out that they’re actually not even drinking 8 cups, which is the generally accepted RDI for water but is actually still well below what the WHO recommends (11.5 cups of water for women, 15.5 cups for men).

Do you know what happens when you drink enough water? Your skin looks healthier, your hair looks better, your body flushes out toxins naturally, your digestion improves, you stay fuller longer.

Just by drinking more water.

Step 7: Block Off “Me Time”

For me, this means time in the morning and time in the evening that are specifically dedicated to tuning the world out and focusing inwards on my mental wellness, my family and my home.

First thing in the morning, me time is about my gratitude journal, a big glass of lemon water, my dogs and if there is time, some meditation (thank you Calm app!). Me time looks a bit different in the evening. It’s less structured – which is relaxing in and of itself. I try to be done with “work stuff” by 6 pm at the latest. And at 9 pm every night, I do my best to shut down my phone so that I can be present. In between 6 and 9 is really just time to relax, cook dinner, have a glass of wine and spend time with my husband.

Make a list of actions/non-actions that relax you. Close your eyes and think about what makes you smile. Things like:

• taking a bath
• playing with your animals
• painting
• reading
• cooking
• going for a walk

You’re not going to find any of these things listed in a workout program…”3 sets of 10 puppy snuggles with 90 seconds of rest in between”. And yet they are just as important to your health and fitness goals as the squats and the push ups.

Step 8: Set Up Daily Focus Checklist

This is one of my favorite ways to use my Passion Planner to support my goals. By this point, you’ve made real headway in determining your path to success. You wrote down your long term goals. You broke those goals down into shorter time spans: 3 years, 1 year, 6 months. You’ve gone even further and figured out what you want to accomplish in this month alone. Now it’s time to figure out what action you can take every single day to guarantee success.

I use the “Good Things That Happened” space for this because I figured each and every one of my daily actions towards my goals IS a good thing. I’m just applying a little extra pressure in assuming it’s going to happen!

Make a chart with 6-7 columns and 8 rows. The top row is reserved to list that daily actions/goals you want to accomplish. The rows are reserved for each day of the week. As you achieve each goal mark it off. Aim for a chart that is 80% full of achievement by the end of the week.

Keep in mind that not all of these actions need to be food or exercise related, but they DO need to something that can be accomplished in 24 hours. Examples of some of my favorites:

• Drink 1 gallon of water
• Track your meals
• Reach out to a friend
• Write in your gratitude journal
• Walk the dogs
• Clean one room in the house
• Stretch for 5 minutes
• Do 5 minutes of meditation
• Do 1 pull up

These focuses are pulled from all dimensions of wellness and health.

*I often repeat these actions until I feel like I don’t need a reminder any more. Then that action comes off (and is assumed to be a habit), and is replaced by another.

Step 9: Use Open Spaces to Destress

There’s a space in the Passion Planner called “Space of Infinite Possibility” and I use this area for random scribbles and ideas that I don’t want to forget about.

We all know that person (or are that person), who has 5 notebooks and a hundred post it notes floating around with things they don’t want to forget: deadlines, passwords, birthdays, etc. Putting pen to paper is a great way to stay accountable and not forget that note, but you have to remember where that note is. Which is stressful in and of itself.

Keep it all in one space.

Use this space to write down recipe ideas or fitness strategies you want to know more about. Keep a list of fitness challenges you want to try or random notes that you just don’t want to forget about. Even if you forget which week you wrote it down, it’s all right there in your planner.

Step 10: Celebrate Your Successes

Finally – and this is a major part of sticking to your plan and maintaining motivation – celebrate your successes, big and small, along the way.

This is a two part step for me.

1. I decide on a small reward that I allow myself if I hit 80% of my daily focuses. Some weeks that’s a pedicure, some weeks that’s a new beauty product, some week’s that’s new socks. Whatever…a win is a win.
   
2. I take pleasure in visualizing success and productivity left in my wake. As I check things of my to do list, I highlight everything that I got done. And yes, I use a different color for different types of wins. For example anything exercise related is in one color, anything business related is in another, and so on. I’m Type A, what can I say.

Don’t leave your success up to chance. Set a goal. Make a plan. And go after it with all of the tools and strategies you can collect to help you get there!

p.s. if you are interested in a Passion Planner – and I obviously highly recommend them – use this link to get a discount off of your order!!