Streamline Your Productivity with Digital Planner Templates

You know that to reach any goal, you need a detailed plan to get there—and sometimes, planning takes a little extra help. Digital planner templates give you a map of your day, week, or month so that you can get where you’re going. Read ahead for a guide to digital planner templates and some tips on how to choose the best one for you. 

What is a digital planner and why should you use one?

Digital planners are a one-stop shop to organize your life—think of them as amped-up digital calendars. In addition to schedule management, digital planners offer features you can use to reach your goals and manage your time. These are features you just can’t get with paper planners.

Digital planners can boost your productivity in the following ways: 

• Track progress on short and long-term goals
• Customize layout and task priorities to your needs
• Visualize your workload and get a more accurate grasp of what’s on your plate
• Sync with your other software and apps
• Collaborate with teammates 

Types of digital planner templates

There are three tiers of digital planners to help you get on track. Read ahead for the advantages of daily, weekly, and monthly planners, as well as some of the top-rated platforms in each category. 

1Daily planner templates

On a purely practical level, daily planner templates can help you set expectations and guide you through each hour of your day. But daily planners can help you beyond merely functioning as a daily itinerary. With daily planners, you can manage meetings, prioritize tasks, and manage deadlines. They’re an important tool for reaching your larger goals because they help you break down project milestones into easily digestible steps. 

Additionally, as you track your daily habits over time, you’re likely to see your time management skills improve quite a bit. In fact, a detailed daily to-do list can help you create a sort of time management muscle memory. David Kadavy, author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers, explains, 

“Write the steps of simple things you do every day. You’ll see steps you can remove or make more efficient. When you follow the steps, you program them into your mind.”

Some of the best daily planner templates include:

• Fellow’s Private Streams (If you feel overwhelmed by your to-do list, use Fellow’s Streams to create daily planners to organize your daily workload and get clarity on what needs to be done next.)
• Focus Course Digital Planner  
• MyDailyPlanners
• Todoist Digital Planner

2Weekly planner templates

Weekly planning templates help you zoom out and view your full Monday through Friday. This way, you can compare your daily tasks and weekly goals and build a schedule that feels right. As with daily planners, weekly planner templates usually include time-tracking features so that you learn how to maximize every minute. Objectives and key results (OKRs) and action item features also keep you accountable and offer organizing methods that set you up for success. 

Some of the best weekly planner templates include:

• Fellow’s Weekly Planner Template (Use this template to gain visibility of your weekly priorities, effectively manage your time throughout the week and knock important items off your to-do list!)
• Week Plan
• The Manifest Weekly Planner Template
• Notion Life OS

3Monthly planner templates

Monthly planner templates are essential for long-term goal setting. If you know your full monthly schedule, it’s easier to prioritize tasks week to week. Reviewing your biggest goals at the start of the month can help you plan ahead to meet all your deadlines. For example, you might have a recurring report due at the end of each month. You can block off time closer to the due date so that no one throws meetings on your calendar when you need to focus. 

Some of the best monthly planner templates include:

• Fellow’s Private Streams (With Fellow’s Private Streams, you can easily organize your month and prioritize your tasks so you start every day of the month feeling calm and motivated.)
• Planner Pro
• Notion Personal Planning Dashboard
• Cyberry Digital Planner

How to use digital planner templates

Here are some tips on using a digital planner template the right way: 

1Choose the right digital planner app

The best digital planner app is the one that meets your unique needs. The main goal of a digital planner template is to keep you organized, so select a format that feels easy. You may want a planner with additional space for adding notes or highlighting your goals, or maybe you prefer a clean schedule view. 

It’s also a good idea to consider which device you’ll use your planner on the most. There are some impressive platforms out there that are great for tablets, especially if you like to handwrite with a digital stylus. But if you’re going to be using your planner mostly on your phone, then you don’t need all those extras. When doing your research, check whether your planner app connects to any of your existing tools to further streamline your task management. 

Fellow is compatible with macOS and Windows, as well as has an iOS and Android app, so that you can reap the benefits of Fellow on multiple devices!

2Customize your digital planner templates

Most digital planning templates have common characteristics that you can tailor to your liking. Many planner templates feature options for daily, weekly, and monthly calendar views right in the app, so you don’t have to choose just one. 

If you want to get even more organized, many templates allow you to add your own task categories or labels. You may also be able to save time and duplicate recurring tasks. And, of course, integrating your digital planner with your current calendar and other apps to sync all your deadlines and appointments is a must. 

Fellow integrates with many of the tools you love, including Google Meet. With Fellow’s browser extensions, you can access your meeting notes right inside of Google Meet calls and your Google Calendar to supercharge team meetings and 1-on-1s, without leaving the tools that you are already using.

3Change your work habits

After you get the hang of your app’s basics, you can make the most of its time-tracking features and analyze your time management habits. You can then act on any trends you see. Do you complete a certain task more quickly when you do it in the afternoon instead of the morning? Which tasks regularly take the least time? Adjust how you schedule yourself based on that.

How to make the most of your digital planner templates

Digital planner templates can streamline your work quite a bit, but they can’t do all the work for you. Once you get into a routine with your planner, though, you’ll totally get the maximum possible benefits.

Set aside some time to review and adjust your digital planner. It’s important to take an honest account of what’s working and what’s not. For example, if you’re only setting aside 45 minutes for a task when you need two hours, don’t repeat the same mistake next week. Use your planner app as a way to set goals you’re capable of meeting. 

Where to find digital planner templates

There are digital planner templates out there for just about every situation and price point. Plus, with a quick internet search, you can easily find free digital planner templates for any timeframe. If you want a more advanced productivity app, there are paid options with additional features. And if you want to take a digital planner out for a test drive before committing, some apps offer a free trial.

Fellow offers 500+ free meeting agenda templates including digital planners. Check out our full gallery for free!

Plan your way to success

Digital planner templates are a great way to streamline your work and life. Whether you need help with daily task management or you want a better view of your monthly goals, there’s a template out there for you. Fellow has many of the tools you need to plan your days, from prioritizing action items to duplicating recurring meetings and agendas. Fellow can help with tasks big and small, so get started with Fellow today for better planning tomorrow—and long after. 

Key takeaways: 

• Digital planner templates can boost your productivity as you learn to manage your time and responsibilities more effectively. 
• You can find templates that fit your needs in daily, weekly, or monthly formats. 
• Once you’ve selected your template, you can customize its features as needed to get the most out of it.