Planner Review: 2021 PowerSheets Goal Planner and Tips to Help You Breeze Through the Prep Work

It’s November, which means we have a couple of months left to the year. I am still working in my 2020 PowerSheets Planner and enjoying seeing the progress I’ve made this year while looking forward to ending the year strong.

The main way that I keep up with my goals is through daily check ins with my PowerSheets Planner. I have been using PowerSheets for three years and just purchased my fourth planner from Cultivate what Matters.

Cultivate What Matters is a great company.** I have not only purchased their PowerSheets Goal Planners, I also use their Write the Word Journals (which I reviewed here) and bought my daughter the Girls Goal Planner (which I reviewed in this article).

The 2021 Goal Planners launched a few weeks ago and can be found for purchase here. I love this planner and wrote about the 2020 version in a post last year, which gives an overview of the planning system.

This year, I will not only be giving the specs of the 2021 planner, but I will share some tips on how to get through the prep work more easily.

PowerSheets Goal-Setting Planners

But, first, a little about PowerSheets. Unlink most planners, which include monthly and weekly or daily spreads, the PowerSheets Goal Setting Planner has only monthly layouts and focuses the rest of its pages on worksheets that help you figure out your goals.

To help you follow through on those goals, you have a monthly “Tending List,” which is a one-page habit tracker that helps you break down your goal-oriented action items into monthly, weekly, and daily habits.  As you go through the month, you keep up with the various tasks by filling in the habit trackers, which is a great way to visually see your progress.

Because it doesn’t have as much planning space, most folks use this planner alongside their main scheduling planners. I use several planners for my planning (a weekly, a daily, a weekend planner, a home life planner, etc.), so I find it particularly helpful to have one planner devoted just to working on my goals.

I also love that each year, the Cultivate What Matters team listens to its customers and improves the planner. Every PowerSheets Planner I have used has been a unique goal-planning experience and has helped me achieve my goals.

The beauty of the system is that the planners can be used for any type of goal. So, you do not have to be an aspiring entrepreneur to use this planner.

I have used my PowerSheets to overcome my plantar fasciitis, develop a daily journaling habit, and work on my relationship with my kids. Whatever is important to me in whatever season I’m in becomes attainable if I create the right habits and track them using this planner.

The planners are also just a joy to own. The covers are beautiful and the pages are both aesthetically pleasing and effective, when you use them.

That said, as I read about how others approach their planners, I noticed that some folks are nervous about getting started. Not only are they intimidated by the prep work (and, there is a good bit of it), they don’t want to “mess up” their beautiful new planners.

PowerSheets don’t have to be intimidating. Below are some tips for breezing through the prep work as well as how to keep up with the planner month-to-month.

Tips for Setting Up and Using Your PowerSheets Goal Planner

I totally understand how someone who is new to PowerSheets (or wasn’t able to keep up with them previously) might be intimidated by the system. This year’s planner has about 44 prep pages, give or take a few pretty divider pages.

And, then there’s the monthly commitment of doing the prep sheets for the tending list as well as the quarterly refresh pages. It is definitely a system that requires you to do some work.

If you plan to do this work using any of the Cultivate What Matters member tools (podcasts or their annual seminar), you may not need these tips. But, if you could use an extra boost or think you’ll be tackling these on your own, below are some tips I have compiled after 3 years of working in this planner.

The Initial Prep Work

As I noted before, there are over 40 pages of prep work in this year’s planner. The PowerSheets Prep Work is made up of several questionnaires and work sheets that are meant to get you thinking about the kinds of goals you want to set and the steps you’ll need to take to achieve them.

The Best Time to Start. Folks are always trying to figure out when is the right time to start on their prep work. Is it right after getting my PowerSheets planner? How about during the Cultivate Your Year Live broadcast? Or, should I wait until right before the end of the year to not distract myself from finishing my last year’s planner?  The truth is, there is no best time, so look at your schedule between now and the end of the year, and see when it’s best for you to get started. If you bought your PowerSheets this year, there will be a Goal School starting November 10th, and I’m pretty sure you’ll have access to the support they provide, if you feel you need it. Or, you can do it on your own. Just be sure to start when you have space in your schedule to work on them. Since I received my first PowerSheets planner as a Christmas gift, I tend to work on it between December 26^th and January 1^st. The last few planners have been a gift to myself and I tend to take off time from work between Christmas day and New Year’s, so that is when I get my prep work done.

Reserve Time. Plenty of people apparently sit down and blow through the prep work all at once. I am not one of those people. I work a full-time job and have a family and household that I manage, so if I tried to do 40+ pages of prep work in one sitting, I would get tired and cranky. Instead, I set aside a few days at the end of the year for my prep work and devote no more than one hour a day to work on them. They’re usually done in about 3-4 days. I also make sure that this time is devoted entirely to my prep work. I don’t think you’ll be as thoughtful and effective in your goal-planning if you’re trying to multi-task while working on these. The time you set aside for them should be focused entirely on getting the work done.

Read First and Set Aside. I don’t recommend saving the prep pages as a surprise before you start to work in them. You need to be thoughtful to do this work, and the more time your brain has had to bounce around ideas, the better. I start by looking at the prep pages days before- I just skim through them, pausing now and then to look at some of the pages that are giving me more to think about. The important thing is that you are getting a feel for what is involved in doing these pages. Then, put them away until the days you’ve reserved for working on them. This little preview makes it easier to open the book and get started since you know what to expect.

Create a Calm Space. Once you are ready to get started you need to set the mood. Just purchasing a planner like this is a way to honor yourself, so create a space that will inspire you to think outside the box about your goals. Make sure the place where you are working on these pages is comfortable, so you can sit for a while with the pages without getting physically tired. If you work better with music or candlelight, set yourself up with those items. Basically, you don’t want to be in a place this uncomfortable or chaotic- you won’t have a productive session if you’re in bad mood. Arrange your space to leave you in a calm and positive mindset.

Collect Your Supplies. Whatever you feel you will need to work in your new planner should be ready and nearby. Do you want to use a lot of Cultivate What Matters stickers? Keep the sticker book on hand. Plan to use certain pens? Set them out ahead of time. Will you be using magazine clippings in your vision board? Have the magazines, scissors, and glue at the ready. The reason you want to do this before you get started is so you don’t have interruptions while you are trying to work in the planner. That way, once you’re “in the zone,” you’ll be able to keep working rather than getting derailed by looking for some planning supply that’s in another room.

Keep it Simple. While I mentioned supplies in the last section, I will say that the prep work will go by more quickly if you keep your supplies simple. You don’t have to color code your prep pages or use every sticker in your collection, particularly if it creates unnecessary stress or becomes a distraction from the task at hand: goal planning. Whatever you use, be sure that it’s useful in your prep work and adds to your experience rather than detracting from it.

Don’t Compare. They say comparison is the thief of joy, and it holds true in this situation as well. Before and during your prep work, you may be tempted to see how others are doing there. My best advice is to hold off on looking at other people’s prep pages on social media until you are done with your own. There are several reasons for this: First, you might start borrowing ideas from other people that don’t really reflect your own goals or intentions. Second, it could cause you some anxiety to see others getting their prep work done while yours is not finished. You don’t want to rush the process, which could very well happen if you feel like you’re the last to complete your prep work. Finally, a lot of folks post their pages to display their beautiful penmanship or color-coding. If you have perfectionist tendencies, your purpose in completing these pages may go from goal-planning to creating aesthetically-pleasing pages that you can show off online, which is not the point.

Make a Mess. I’m taking this directly from Lara Casey, the woman who created PowerSheets. She always advises getting messy in PowerSheets and shooting for “progress, not perfection.” These worksheets and planner pages were not meant to be pretty pages we could show off. They are meant to help us dig deep. So, forget the fancy handwriting and perfect sticker placement. Work in the book and make use of every last bit of space you might need to get your thoughts out. My violin teacher used to say this about my bow- you paid for the whole thing, so use all of it.

Use Stress-Free Supplies. If you’re worried about ruining your planner, use erasable pens and highlighters that allow you to make changes without crossing things out. I am obsessed with the Pilot Frixion line of pens, markers, and highlighters, and I use them in my PowerSheets Planner (which has paper that makes it easy to erase):

I use a three-color Frixion pen, like this one, specifically with my PowerSheets. (#Ad)

For color-coding I use this set of Frixion pens, which match the various colors I use for my goals. (#Ad)

I use these erasable highlighters to shade in my monthly goals as I achieve them. They also help me to color-code (#Ad)

I keep all of my pens and highlighters in a pouch with my PowerSheets Planner. Of course, it’s no longer sold, but it’s really similar to this one. (#Ad)

Don’t Obsess. Once you get started on the prep work pages, relax and just keep going. There’s no need to overthink each question or section. The best thing to do is to read each question and, as with our test-taking techniques in grade school, go with your first answer. Then, move on to the next section. You’ll have an opportunity to look back, but going with your first response will help you glide through the prep work at a more manageable pace while making sure you are going with your gut.

Word of the Year. You may already have your word of the year before getting started with the prep work. But, I suggest holding off on committing to the word until you have finished the prep word that leads up to the “Word of the Year” page in this planner, and even then, you might want to write it in pencil. As you go through the prep work, have a piece of paper nearby so you can write down words that pop in your head and could possibly work as your word of the year.

Keeping Up PowerSheets Throughout the Year

This year, the planner comes with a two-page guide to setting up a tending list. I found that creating the tending list was not as big of a problem as keeping up the momentum of filling it out all month. After several years of using these, here’s my best advice for maintaining your tending list:

Schedule Monthly PowerSheets Prep Time. While we approach our PowerSheets Planners at the beginning of the year with the same excitement as we do for most resolutions, we run the same risk of not keeping up with PowerSheets as we do those long-forgotten New Year’s promises. Keeping up with the Tending List, means doing the monthly and quarterly refresh prep work. And, the best way to do that is to make time in your month to get the prep work done. Fortunately, there are only a few pages of monthly prep work, which take me less than 30 minutes to complete. The quarterly refresh pages can add more to that time frame, so it’s important to set aside time (like we do for the initial prep work), to get that done. When you plan out your month, be sure to schedule time for this work and write it in your planner. If you make it an appointment, you’re more likely to devote that time to getting it done.

Keep it Handy. The new Tending List guide states this as well, and I could not agree more. When I left the Tending List in my closed planner (it’s so pretty, so I wanted to see the cover), I didn’t fill it out and found myself with an unfilled sheet in my planner. The Tending List is on perforated paper, so you can feel free to pull it out of the planner and carry it around with you. This never worked for me, so now mine lives on a book stand on my nightstand where I see it every night. I have my pens and markers in a pouch that I leave on the planner, which means I have no excuse to not work in it every night. Just a couple of minutes is all it takes to check off the habits I’m doing for my goals each day.

Find Reasons to Access Your PowerSheets Daily. Even though my PowerSheets were in a place that I saw each morning and night, there were some days I just didn’t make the effort to work in them. That all changed when I started using the monthly layout to track my daily “wins.” Every night I write down one or two things I did that day to get me closer to a goal. I also started using the notes on the left-hand sidebar of the calendar to write out my prayer list. So, now I’m in that planner for a few minutes each night filling in the habit trackers, writing down small victories, and thinking about the people and issues on my prayer list.

Sync it with Your Main Planner. Since they added the monthly layouts, some people are now using this as their main planner. But, if you’re like me who uses another planner and won’t tear out the Tending List to carry it during the day, you’ll run the risk of not planning your goal-related tasks into your day. I find it best to plan my week with my Tending List to the side so I make sure to incorporate certain tasks into my day. I use the color-coding dots from the Cultivate What Matters sticker book to flag which tasks in my weekly layout is related to a particular goal. This has been so helpful in making sure that I incorporate my goals into my daily plans.

Use the Resources. In the past, I have set up my next month’s tending list by listening to recordings by Cultivate What Matters. This company is really committed to supporting its customers and providing resources. This year, if you purchased a 2021 planner, you will be able to all of their resources in one place through a free membership to “Goal School.” This year’s Goal School will start on November 10th.

I find that the prep work is a really helpful way to dig deep into my intentions and desires, which is what goal planning is all about. If you want to read a post on how to mentally prepare yourself for goal planning, check out this post I wrote last November, or this one that I wrote in the spring.

PowerSheets Goal Planner Review

Binding. For the second year in a row, this year’s planner has a hard cover with gold corners and gold twin O-ring coil binding. However, because there are fewer prep pages and cardstock dividers, the coil is smaller and the book is narrower. Also, the gold corners, which came to a point last year, are rounded.

Stickers. As they had last year, there is a single page of stickers that are meant to help you color-code your goals (something I find very helpful) and motivate you. The stickers are limited, so I recommend getting their Goal Setting Sticker Book (also fewer pages this year).

Initial Prep Work. After a few introductory pages and the sticker sheet, the prep work begins on page 5. As with prior years’ PowerSheets, these pages get you to brainstorm and identify your goals using questionnaires and worksheets that go through page 49. The prep work has been streamlined, and some of the sections which used to span more pages are now sharing pages. For example, the “Big Picture” and “Legacy” sections are now on one page. This means that, compared to last year’s 60 pages of prep work, this year’s is contained on about 49. There are also more colorful elements in the prep pages. You can plan out up to 8 goals.

Dividers. There is no longer a “Goals divider, breaking up the prep work, so all of the Prep Work pages are together before the January divider. They also changed the “Seasonal Refresh” to simple “Refresh” worksheets that are found quarterly after the April, June, and October dividers. As this product is now shipped worldwide, including to countries in the southern hemisphere, these refresh sections can be used in any season.  

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Quarterly Refresh. The Refresh pages have reduced the goals check-in to one page and have a “Try This At Home” section that changes each quarter. It encourages you to “Keep Moving Forward” with four journaling prompts. You list out your refreshed goals on one page and then have 4 pages to write out your “Yearly Goals” and the “Mini Goals” that will be the focus for that quarter of the year (for up to 8 goals).

Tending List. The tending list, which has had the same layout for as long as I have used these planners has changed this year. While it has the same space for 10 monthly habits as in prior years, this year it has room for 6 weekly habits (instead of 8) and 7 daily habits (instead of 5). So, the big changes are more room for daily habits and less for weekly habits, which I imagine is in response to feedback from customers.

Monthly Prep Work. The beginning of each month’s section includes some prep work to identify the specific habits you will be tending to reach your goals. This has changed as well. Last year, there was a general brainstorming section where you focus on goals you want to tend and the habits you plan to do to cultivate those goals. This year, the brainstorming section reflects the categories in the tending list- monthly, weekly, and daily habit ideas. I thought this was a brilliant change!

Monthly Calendar Layout. As in last year’s planner, there is still a monthly calendar spread included for each month, which you can use in any way you like. It is dated with a Sunday start and has empty daily slots with no holidays listed. There is a lined notes section on the right-hand side. As I’ve noted previously, I use the daily calendar blocks to track my victories for the day, and the notes section as a prayer list. It has a simple, streamlined design, so it can be used for pretty much anything you would use a calendar.

Month In Review. Another big change is in the Month In Review page, found at the end of each month’s section. There is now a large box devoted to the people we’re grateful for and another large box for favorite memories from that month. Smaller boxes are devoted to good things, what we’re reading or listening to, goals that are growing well, grace over guilt, and what we’re saying yes and no to. The color scheme is now in blue and green.

Year End Review. After the December Month In Review, there is a “Celebrating the Year” section, which now spans 2 pages. In addition to the page where you write down a highlight from each month, there is now a page that encourages you to explore what you want to remember from the year. It is unlined, blank space, so you can journal in it or add photos, stickers, or other media. The favorite memories page now has colorful boxes to write in.

Of course, for anyone not ready to commit to a 12-month planner or who discover PowerSheets part-way through the year, their 6-month, undated PowerSheets Planner can be purchased here with new covers launching in the spring.

I love the changes Cultivate What Matters has made to this year’s PowerSheets and am excited to use the new 2021 planner. Do you use a goal-setting planner? How do you keep from getting overwhelmed? Leave a comment below!

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you click a link and make any purchase on Amazon, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you which will help me maintain this website. 😊

** Note that I am not a Cultivate What Matters affiliate and received no compensation for this review. My opinions in this review are entirely my own, and my recommendation comes from personally using the system.

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