The Full Focus Planner ~ Why I Love It
A short review of Michael Hyatt’s planner that helps you plan your year, design your days and achieve your biggest goals in life.
January is always met with an excitement of new vision and opportunity. If you’re like me, you start each year afresh with pen and paper and a head full of dreams. You begin scribbling down ideas and piecing together what could be your best year ever….
But then the year rolls in and fast! By February, you’re inundated with tasks, alerts and commitments taking up every square inch of your time and attention. But your New years resolu — wait, what were they again??
I’ve gone through this cycle long enough to wonder — is there a better way set clear goals and move towards them? What tools can I leverage to help me realise the opportunities and potential found in each day?
Over the past few years, I’ve tried digital calendars, note-taking and productivity apps (from Todoist, to Evernote and everything between)… All good in their own way, but nothing gave me the high-performance return I was looking for over the long-haul.
Then one day I got an email from NY Times best-selling author Michael Hyatt, asking if I would be the first to try his first analogue product: The Full Focus Planner.
Two years later, I’m still using this planner and it’s been a game changer. Along with my wife and a few friends, 100,000 other people around the world also use and love the Full Focus Planner — here’s why…
What I love about the Full Focus Planner…
We’ve all got hopes and dreams, but we won’t get there by drifting through life. If you want this year to be your best year ever, you need some intentionality, planning and design.
In short… progress begins when you choose to do act today.
This means taking the steps needed to…
- Gain clarity of your next year
- Create clear goals with effective design
- Design your days for success
- Track your progress on a daily, weekly and quarterly basis
- Reflect and record the wins/lessons along the way
Michael’s planner helps with all of that, and more.
The differentiator: Connect your big goals to small daily tasks
If you’re like me, it’s easy to write down a list of annual goals. But to organise your days in such a way that your micro actions line up with your macro goals is a difficult task that requires a system.
The Full Focus Planner is built off the Michal Hyatt’s own proven productivity framework and aligns with his Free To Focus book and Business Accelerator program.
The standout between this planner and others is that it uses a proven system to help you distill your big dreams into small daily wins, and keep track along the way = ‘Full Focus’’ everyday.
Each planner features:
- Annual Goal Sheet
- Goal Detail Planner
- Monthly Calendars
- Rolling Quarters
- Daily Rituals Planner
- Ideal Week Template
- Weekly Preview
- Quarterly Preview
and of course, the Daily Pages to run your day-to-day.
And the cons?
Honestly, the only real downside for me is the physical storage factor. You churn through four planners per year, one for each quarter… I worry that in five years time I will need a seperate closet just to store my planners! My wife is now also using the planner too. A future problem to solve another day.
Why an analogue system?
If you can plan your life on your phone or tablet without getting distracted, then a digital planner may work for you. I use this Planner in alignment with a digital calendar. But I love the clarity that comes from working with paper. There’s a tun of research that suggests pen and paper is better for you that a digital screen.
Who’s it for?
The Planner works for anyone, but I would suggest that entrepreneurs and leaders will appreciate this tool the most. When you’re leading in the face of uncertainty — you need great systems and tools to keep you focused, encouraged and fearless.
Tips to get started
- Set aside time at the start of the year and every quarter for planning. There’s one journal for each quarter, so you’ll need to write in your rituals and goals again a few times. I find this a great exercise to revise my goals and habits throughout the year.
- Get a copy of the ‘Free To Focus’ book. It will help you be your best self and reclaim the old/bad habits and mindsets that work against real productivity and goal achievement.
- Be prepared to change your old ways of thinking. Change is enviable, but growth is optional — John C Maxwell. What got you this far won’t get you where you need to go. Recognise that to move forward with this new system, it will require some reprogramming of how you operate.
How to buy the planner
Check out the store at www.fullfocusstore.com to purchase a single planner or annual subscription (I recommend annual to save time and shipping cost).
Ps — If you use Instagram, follow @michaelhyatt and @fullfocusplanner for the full product showcase and daily inspiration.
NOTE: I am not an affiliate of the Full Focus Planner, however, they do offer customers their own referral link … so if you click here you’ll get $10 off your first order (and I get $10 credit as well!) Ta.
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Regards,
Lachy
