January has a way of making people rush.
New goals. New habits. Big plans. Fresh starts. And within days, the year already feels heavy.
Not because you are doing anything wrong, but because January pressure convinces people that everything needs fixing at once.
The result is usually the same. An overloaded plan, unrealistic expectations, and by March, a quiet sense of falling behind.
But here’s the truth most people miss.
You do not need to rush at the beginning of the year. You need to be strategic and intentional.
Most people don’t fail at goals.
They fail at designing the days those goals have to live inside.
That’s why January plans often collapse by February.
Not because you are lazy.
Not because you lack willpower.
But because the plan doesn’t match the life.
And life always wins.
Planning a new year can feel heavy, especially when you are running a business and juggling everything else life brings with it. Most people do not struggle because they are lazy or unmotivated. They struggle because they are carrying too many decisions in their head with no clear system to hold them.
That is exactly why planning on paper still works so well. A printed planner gives you space to think, a clear overview of your time, and a simple structure you can return to every day. It helps you make decisions once, write them down, and stop rethinking everything all week.
In this guide and video, I will walk you through a realistic step-by-step way to plan your entire 2026 using a printed planner, so you can move into the year with direction, structure, and a plan you can actually stick to.
If you want to plan on paper with a clear system, you can use a [printed business planner] that is designed to take you from yearly direction to monthly planning, weekly priorities, and daily focus.
Running a business means juggling ideas, tasks, clients, finances, and plans, often all in your head. Notion can be a powerful tool for organising your business, but only if it’s set up in a way that actually supports how you work.
This guide explains how to use Notion for business in a simple, practical way, without overcomplicating things or turning it into another system you never check.
Notion works well for business because it brings everything into one place. Instead of using separate tools for planning, notes, projects, and tracking, Notion lets you connect everything together.
Used properly, Notion can help you:
reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Pro are designed for people who think better when they write things down. They remove distractions and give you space to plan, think, and focus.
But once you move beyond basic note-taking, many people run into the same issue. They have lots of notes, ideas scattered across notebooks, and no clear structure for their days or weeks.
Planning on reMarkable works best when you use a clear, repeatable planning system, rather than starting from blank pages every time.
Some people choose to use a structured digital planner PDF, such as the MY PA planner, which is designed to work well on paper-like tablets including reMarkable 2 and reMarkable Paper Pro.
And when everything lives in your head, the year disappears into firefighting, constant context switching and always “catching up”. The businesses that grow consistently have one thing most others don’t…
a real system.
If you want to plan your best 2026, you need more than a pretty dashboard or a list of resolutions. You need a workspace that holds your vision, your business plan, your projects, your finances, your regular actions and your weekly rhythm all in one place.
That’s exactly what the MY PA Business Hub was built for.
In this walkthrough we’ll look at how to set up your full 2026 planning system inside Notion, using the exact structure real founders use to bring order to their year.
On the outside it looked like “planner season as usual.” Orders going out. Emails coming in. Social posts. Real life.
On the inside, every spare hour was being poured into one question:
How do I take what MY PA does on paper and turn it into a proper business system that lives in Notion.
I thought it would be simple. A few databases. Some views. A nice dashboard.
It wasn't simple.
At several points I seriously considered walking away from it and pretending I never started.
For years, I have watched customers use the MY PA Planner as their weekly control centre. They plan their goals, block their time, review their weeks and actually move things forward.
But there was always this gap.
They were still running the business in their head. Leads. Client work. Invoices. Content. Ideas. To-dos. All in mental tabs.
Most small business owners do one of two things for the new year:
They write a big plan, then never look at it again.
Or they wing it week to week and hope it somehow adds up.
Neither really works.
The truth is, you need both:
A clear big plan for 2026.
A simple way to bring that plan into your months, weeks and days.
Most entrepreneurs believe they need motivation, perfect routines or complicated systems to stay productive. The truth is much simpler. A productive year comes from a few core habits done consistently, not endless lists or rigid plans.
If you want 2026 to feel clear, organised and manageable, you only need three things. These three things create the structure and consistency that make your business easier to run.
A monthly reset is one of the most powerful habits you can build. It gives you clarity at the start of every month, helps you stay focused on what matters and protects you from drifting or getting overwhelmed.
Here is your simple 2026 monthly reset that takes less than an hour and keeps your business moving forward all year.
Running a business can feel intense, overwhelming and chaotic, especially when you carry everything in your head. If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel clear, organised and in control, you need a simple survival system.
This checklist gives you the essentials every entrepreneur needs to stay steady and focused all year. Think of it as your foundation for a successful 2026.
Time blocking is one of the simplest and most effective ways to stay focused and organised. It helps you protect your priorities, reduce overwhelm and make sure you are working on the things that actually move your business forward.
In 2026, more entrepreneurs are choosing time blocking over traditional to-do lists because it removes the chaos and gives you a clear rhythm for your days.
Here is a simple guide to help you start using time blocking in 2026.
Choosing the right planner for 2026 can feel overwhelming. There are so many options, each promising organisation, productivity and a better year. But most planners are designed for general life, not for entrepreneurs running a real business.
If you want 2026 to feel more focused, more structured and less chaotic, you need a planner that actually supports the way you work. This guide compares the most common types of planners and helps you choose the one that will genuinely carry you through the year.
Productivity is changing. Entrepreneurs are no longer chasing hustle culture, colour-coded schedules or unrealistic morning routines. In 2026, the most successful small business owners are choosing simplicity, clarity and systems that protect their energy instead of draining it.
If you want to feel more organised and focused next year, here are the productivity trends real entrepreneurs are leaning into for 2026.
A successful year does not come from big goals or perfect motivation. It comes from the small weekly decisions you make, week after week. The truth is simple: when your week is organised, your business feels lighter, clearer and more manageable.
A weekly planning ritual gives you structure without pressure. It creates a rhythm that keeps you focused and removes the feeling of constantly catching up.
Here is how to build a simple weekly planning ritual that will support you throughout 2026.
The end of the year can feel heavy for many small business owners. You look back at everything you wanted to do, everything you pushed aside and the goals that are still waiting for you. It is easy to feel frustrated or behind, especially if the year felt messy or chaotic.
A proper year end reset gives you clarity, confidence and a clean slate. You can close 2025 in a calm, intentional way and step into 2026 with focus instead of pressure.
Here is a simple reset guide to help you finish strong and build a better year ahead.
Goal setting is one of the most powerful things you can do for your business, yet most entrepreneurs approach it in a way that guarantees frustration. They set too many goals, choose vague targets or rely on motivation to carry them through the year. By February, everything feels overwhelming again.
If you want 2026 to be the year you actually move forward, your goals need to be simple, focused and supported by a planning structure that makes follow through easy.
Here is how to set goals that work for real business owners.
Most entrepreneurs do not struggle because they are lazy or unmotivated. They struggle because they are overwhelmed, carrying everything in their head and reacting to whatever comes in. When planning your year, the smallest mistakes create the biggest stress later.
If you want 2026 to feel more organised, calm and consistent, here are the 10 common planning mistakes and how to avoid them.
Most planners look beautiful, but they do very little to actually support a real business. They are full of empty boxes, aesthetic quotes and clean layouts, but when you sit down to plan your week, they feel useless. Nothing connects. Nothing lines up. You end up writing the same to-do lists every day and still feeling behind.
This is why most people stop using their planner by February.
If you want 2026 to feel more structured, more productive and more stable, the problem is not you. The problem is the planner.
