4 Planner Pages That Help Lighten Your Mental Load
Have you ever had one of those moments when you know there are approximately 47 things you need to remember…but you can’t actually remember what any of them are?
Yep. Me too.
Using planner pages for mental load can help you stop carrying every appointment, idea, household task, project, and “don’t forget to…” in your head. Because even when each individual thing seems small, trying to remember all the things is exhausting.
And let’s be real: sometimes my brain simply isn’t cooperating.
Between a full-time job, family responsibilities, my business, appointments, household stuff, and all the normal pieces of life, there’s already plenty competing for my attention. Add in the occasional brain fog that comes with this season of life, and expecting myself to simply remember everything isn’t exactly a winning strategy.
That’s one reason I rely so heavily on paper. My planner doesn’t need to hold my entire life.
It just needs to hold enough of it that my brain doesn’t have to.
The Little Things Aren’t Really That Little
When we talk about mental load, it’s easy to think we’re talking about the big responsibilities. But often, it’s the accumulation of little things that gets us.
We need groceries. One of the kids has an appointment. There’s something around the house we need to take care of. We need to schedule that thing we’ve been putting off.
There’s an email we need to send. We have a great idea for a project. We’re almost out of cat food.
And then there’s that running list of things we’d really like our husband to do around the house. You know—the honey-do list we haven’t actually given him because apparently we’ve decided he should just be able to read our mind and KNOW. 😂
Each one of those things seems manageable on its own. But when you’re trying to keep all of them floating around in your head at the same time?
That’s a lot.
Your planner gives those thoughts somewhere else to live. And no, that doesn’t mean everything you write down suddenly becomes something you have to do.
Writing it down is not the same as committing to do it.
That’s important enough to say again. You can capture something without adding it to today’s—or even this week’s—to-do list.
In fact, that’s exactly what these four planner pages help me do.
1. Brain Dump Page: Get It Out of Your Head
When I’m feeling overwhelmed and don’t know what I need to do next, I usually need to stop trying to figure it out in my head.
I need paper.
A brain dump gives me a place to write down everything competing for my attention without worrying about order, importance, or whether I even intend to do it.
Business task? Write it down. Need to pick something up at the store? Write it down. Appointment I need to schedule? Write it down.
Random idea I don’t want to forget? Yep. Write that down, too.
Sometimes just starting the process helps jog my memory when I have that nagging I know I’m forgetting something feeling. Once everything is visible, I can stop trying to remember it and start deciding what to do with it.
First, I’ll usually look for anything I can handle quickly. If something truly takes just a few minutes and I have the capacity to do it, I’ll knock it out and enjoy the satisfaction of crossing it off.
Then I start sorting:
- What matters most?
- What connects to my goals?
- What needs my attention soon?
- What can wait?
That’s when the giant jumble in my head starts becoming a plan.
2. Weekly Planner Layout: Decide What Actually Fits
This is where a brain dump can go very wrong. You dump 27 things onto a page…and then decide you’re going to do all 27 this week.
Nope. That’s not how we’re lightening the mental load. 😂
My weekly planner layout helps me see what my week actually looks like before I start assigning tasks to it. I look at the appointments and commitments already on my calendar, along with my priorities for the week.
But there’s another question I’ve learned to pay much more attention to:
What will my energy realistically look like?
Not every open hour is equal. There are business tasks I can do while sitting on the couch watching television, while others require focused attention and quite a bit of mental energy.
If I know I’m going to have a particularly demanding day, putting three high-focus projects into the evening isn’t realistic just because the time technically exists.
My weekly layout helps me match my priorities with both my available time and my available energy. And sometimes it shows me very clearly that something simply isn’t happening this week.
That’s not failure. That’s good planning.
RELATED READING: What Your Calendar Says About Your Boundaries
3. Active Projects Page: Stop Putting Entire Projects on Your To-Do List
There’s a big difference between a task and a project.
“Schedule appointment” is a task.
“Plan trip to Sweden” is definitely a project.
Before my recent trip to Sweden, I knew I had to fit everything I needed into a carry-on. That meant I couldn’t wait until the night before my flight, throw random things into a suitcase, and hope for the best.
I needed to think through clothing, toiletries, travel documents, electronics—and yes, power adapters. Discovering that little omission after arriving in another country would have been less than ideal.
Having a packing list meant I didn’t have to repeatedly ask myself:
What am I forgetting?
The page remembered for me.
That’s what an Active Projects page can do for any multi-step project. Instead of cluttering your weekly to-do list with every step of a project, give the project its own home.
You might use one for:
- Planning a trip
- Organizing a graduation party
- Tackling a home project
- Launching something in your business
- Preparing for the holidays
- Working toward one of your goals
Keep all the details there. Then, during weekly planning, ask yourself:
What’s the next action I need to take on this project?
That action can move onto your weekly page.
You don’t need to carry the entire project every single day.
4. Parking Lot Page: Give “Not Now” a Home
This might be one of my favorite planning concepts because I have ideas.
Lots of ideas.
And when I’m excited about something, my natural inclination is to think:
WE SHOULD DO THIS RIGHT NOW.
Except…we shouldn’t always do it right now. 😂
That’s where a parking lot page comes in.
The parking lot is a place to capture:
- Ideas
- Future projects
- Things you want to research
- Something you might want to try
- Tasks that don’t have any urgency
- “Someday” possibilities
Putting something in the parking lot doesn’t mean you’re giving up on it. It simply means you’re acknowledging:
This might be a good idea, but it isn’t a priority right now.
Then you can come back later and evaluate it. Do I still want to do this? Does it fit my goals? Does it fit this season? Is it worth the time and energy it will require?
Sometimes the answer will be yes. Sometimes you’ll look at something you wrote three months ago and wonder what on earth you were thinking.
Both outcomes are perfectly acceptable.
The important thing is that your brain didn’t have to keep reminding you about it for three months.
What About the Things You’ve Already Done?
There’s one more paper habit that has helped me tremendously: daily journaling and logging.
I don’t necessarily think of my journal as a place to manage my mental load in the same way I use these four planner pages. Instead, it gives me a record.
What happened today? What did I accomplish? What took more time than expected? What came up that wasn’t planned? What do I want to remember?
That record helps me notice patterns and gives me information I can use when I plan the next day, week, or season. And perhaps most importantly, it reminds me that I probably did a whole lot more than I gave myself credit for.
RELATED READING: Self-Awareness Starts on Paper
RELATED READING: Every Planner Needs a Wins Page
Try This: The 10-Minute Mental Load Reset
If your brain feels a little too full right now, don’t start by reorganizing your entire planner.
Grab a blank piece of paper (or your Notes insert) and set a timer for 10 minutes.
Then write.
Don’t organize. Don’t prioritize. Don’t decide whether something is silly.
Just get it out of your head.
When the timer goes off, look at your list and start sorting:
DO
Is there anything I can knock out quickly?
PRIORITIZE
What matters most right now?
PLAN
What realistically belongs in this week based on my time, priorities, and energy?
PROJECT
What is actually part of a larger project and belongs on an Active Projects page?
PARK
What do I want to remember but don’t need to act on right now?
Suddenly, that giant list isn’t one giant list of things you need to do.
It’s information.
And you get to decide what happens to it.
You Don’t Have to Carry Everything
Your planner can’t eliminate your responsibilities. I wish it could. That would be one heck of a planner. 😂
But it can give your responsibilities somewhere to live besides your brain.
It can hold the grocery list, remember the appointment, capture the idea, keep track of the project, and save something for later. Most importantly, it can help you decide what actually deserves your attention right now.
So this week, give yourself 10 minutes.
Empty your head onto paper. Then choose what deserves your attention, what belongs somewhere else, and what can wait.
Because you weren’t meant to remember everything.
Write it down. Let the paper carry some of it.
And give yourself a little more room to breathe. 💜
Keep Planning With Purpose 💜
If you’re ready to give your brain a little more breathing room, here are a few tools and articles that can help you keep going.
Planning Tools That Can Help
Active Projects Inserts
A project doesn’t belong on your weekly to-do list—the next action does. An Active Projects insert gives all those other details a place to live until you need them.
Weekly Planner Inserts
Use your weekly layout to see your appointments, priorities, available time, and energy before deciding what realistically belongs on this week’s list.
Dot Grid Journal
A dot grid journal gives you plenty of flexibility for brain dumps, parking lot pages, lists, daily logging, and whatever else your brain needs to put somewhere besides…well, your brain. 😉
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Keep Reading
What Your Calendar Says About Your Boundaries
A full calendar isn’t necessarily a meaningful calendar. Take a closer look at what’s taking up your time and learn how to make more intentional choices about what deserves your yes.
READ: WHAT YOUR CALENDAR SAYS ABOUT YOUR BOUNDARIES
Self-Awareness Starts on Paper
Your planner can show you much more than what’s coming next. Learn how to use it to notice patterns in your time, energy, habits, and priorities.
READ: SELF-AWARENESS STARTS ON PAPER
Every Planner Needs a Wins Page
Your to-do list tells you what still needs attention. Your wins page reminds you how far you’ve already come.