How to use Elevate’s Personal Organization Planners

If you have one of our personal organization planners, like the Crew Leader Personal Organization Planner or the Superintendent Personal Organization System, this post walks you through how to use it. It applies to any planner you get from Elevate. Each one is designed for 90 days, is a little over 100 pages, and is geared specifically to field professionals. We will update them constantly, and we keep the page numbers the same as we update them, so you can follow along page by page.

Short answer: Use the personal organization planner as a 90-day system. Start by clarifying your role, your career plan, and your success formula scores. Then each month, set your values, mission, and five SMART goals, and build them into a weekly leader standard work template, family first. Each day, time block about 60% from your leader standard work and to-do list, track your PPC, and reflect so you keep improving.

Start With Your Role and Your Career Plan (Pages 2–4)

When you start, go to page two, the welcome page, and read through it. I have listed some books there that will help you in your role.

On page three, write down at the top what you will do that only you can do in your current role, and what you will not do that others should do. At the bottom left, identify your role: what others count on you to do. Get really specific.

Page four is career planning: find the win-win. Throughout the planner, I am asking you to keep a to-do list, which means you capture all items, clarify them, and act on them. I am also asking you to have leader standard work, shown in the middle of the page. Write down:

• At least one thing you know you should be doing for your family but haven’t been.
• One thing you should have been doing for yourself but haven’t been, and that you can commit to right now.
• Your professional development: your next training, book, podcast, or coaching.
• Who you will become if you do this.

Fill in at least one professional development line. You deserve at least $1,000 a year of training, growing every year after that. The world will pay you according to your training.

Score Your Success Formula (Pages 5–9)

Page nine is the success formula: nine key components you need to be successful at work and at home. Score each from 1 to 10. If three or four are at six or below, take massive action and fix them.

Work Through Mindset, Health, Relationships, and Finances (Pages 10–19)

Pages 10 through 19 walk through mindset, identity (your daily affirmation), physical and mental health, spiritual life, relationships, career, your personal organization system, and finances. For each one: what do you want, what tools do you have, and what massive action will you take?

How Do You Set Goals in the Planner? (Pages 20–21)

On page 20, always write your goals as SMART goals: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. They should also be stretch goals that take you beyond your current limits.

Page 21 is where the actual system starts, and it is how each month should go. At the beginning of the month, fill in:

• Values: three to five things you currently value, not aspirational.
• Strengths: three to five key strengths. Don’t be humble.
• Mission and purpose: your 100-year goal.
• BHAG: your next big five-to-10-year milestone.
• Next milestone: your four-to-18-month goal.
• Five defining goals: the SMART goals that get you to that milestone, such as learning the Last Planner® System in the next eight months.

Build Your Leader Standard Work Week (Page 22)

On page 22, plug your goals into a weekly calendar in a specific order.

1. Family first. Say it is coaching Johnny’s baseball game on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. Draw that box, plus drive time.
2. Then yourself. Maybe date night every Friday at 5:00 p.m.
3. Then your five goals. Pick a day and time for each one every week.
4. Then your standard work. Studying the drawings, updating your to-do list, the schedule, a reflection walk, and standard meetings.

Describe Your Three Beautiful States (Page 23)

Page 23 is the triad. In the three boxes, describe three beautiful states. For me, one was being with my family, one was creating something, and one was serving. The point is to be able to get back into a beautiful state so you can be successful.

At the bottom, write down your physiology in that state, what you focus on, and the words you say to yourself. Mine is, “You were born to help people. You are a great husband and father, you are going to change the lives of thousands, and today is going to be a great day.”

How Do You Plan Each Day? (Pages 24–35)

Page 26 is where we get into the meat of it. Each day has an AM routine, a day plan, and a PM routine.

• AM routine: pick from making your bed, hygiene, breakfast, physical activity, coffee, prayer, and box breathing.
• PM routine: close out assignments, plan the next day, and when you park, do box breathing and walk through the door ready to serve your family.

Then live in day-tight compartments. Build each day plan in this order:

1. Time block your leader standard work items for that day first, from your weekly template on page 22.
2. Add your calendar items from pages 24 and 25.
3. Pull in to-do list items that are important and urgent.

Only plan about 60% of your day, 80% at the most. All the rest is buffers. If you don’t have buffers, you won’t win with this system. No back-to-back meetings, no back-to-back tasks, no back-to-back anything. Buffers are for going to the bathroom, getting a drink, and taking a break, and for finishing your tasks.

Track Your PPC and Hours (Page 36)

On page 36, score each day’s percent plan complete (PPC). Ten time-blocked tasks with eight finished is 80%. Average the week and target above 80%.

Below that is the hours tracker, which older versions called the daily tracker. Get your basic work down to 45 hours a week. Use 45 to 50 hours for your career and 50 to 55 for the project side, and anything above 55 is for your family. If you don’t reflect, you won’t improve.

How Do You Use the To-Do List at the Back?

The to-do list is at the back, starting around page 74 to 76, with unnumbered pages so it stays flexible. I put it last on purpose. People who start with their to-do list and never include leader standard work will always be victims of the company.

Triage every item with the checkboxes, using the Eisenhower matrix: