What Is Preplanning (and Why It Might Be the Missing Piece in Your Planning Practice)
You sit down with your planner. Maybe you've got a cup of your favorite beverage. The week is technically in front of you. And then... nothing. You stare at the blank page, you're not sure where to start, and twenty minutes later you've done everything but plan and called it good.
Sound familiar?
Here's what I've learned after years of planning: the problem usually isn't your planner. It isn’t your layout, your pens, or the fact that you haven't found "planner peace" yet. The problem is that most of us sit down to plan without doing the thing that makes planning actually work. And that thing is called *preplanning*.
So What Is Preplanning, Exactly?
Preplanning is the step that happens before you open your planner.
It's the messy, scattered, unorganized work of getting everything out of your head and into one place before you try to organize it. It's a brain dump. A quick glance at what's coming up. A check-in on your priorities. It's asking yourself "what actually needs to happen this week?" before you start filling in boxes.
Think of it like this: planning is the act of cooking the meal. Preplanning is checking what's in the fridge first.
When you skip preplanning and go straight to the planner, you end up either staring blankly at the page or filling it in with things that feel important but aren't actually the right things. You're organizing chaos instead of making sense of it first.
Why Preplanning Makes Such a Big Difference
A few things happen when you add a preplanning step:
You lower the resistance to starting. One of the biggest barriers to a consistent planning practice is that sitting down to plan feels hard. When you don't know what to write, the blank page wins. Preplanning gives you something concrete to work with before you ever touch your planner, so when you do open it, the hard part is out of the way.
You stop relying on your memory. Most of us carry around a mental to-do list. Preplanning is the act of grabbing those tasks and writing them down somewhere that isn't your subconscious. A proper brain dump clears mental space you didn't even know you were using.
You make better decisions about your time. When you can see everything in one place, you can actually prioritize. You stop reacting and start choosing where your time goes.
Your planner sessions get faster. Once you've done your preplanning, filling in your actual planner takes a fraction of the time. You're not thinking of everything in the moment, you’re just translating. All the heavy lifting is done.
What Preplanning Actually Looks Like (the Imperfect Way)
Preplanning doesn't need to be complicated or time-consuming. In fact, the more elaborate you make it, the less likely you are to actually do it. Here's a simple version:
Do a brain dump. Set a timer for 2 or 3 minutes and write down everything that's in your head; tasks, worries, things you need to remember, things you're avoiding, random ideas. Don't worry about organizing or categorizing. Just get everything down on the page.
Scan your calendar and commitments. What's happening this week? Appointments, deadlines, events? Get a realistic picture of your time before you start planning into it.
Identify your top priorities. Out of everything on that brain dump, what are the two or three things that have consequences if they don’t get done? Not everything is urgent. Not everything is important. Preplanning is where you can make that call.
Note anything that needs to move or carry over. Anything from last week that you didn’t get to? Any recurring tasks that need to go on the list? This is your chance to do a clean sweep before the new week hits.
That's it. That's preplanning. It's the “front end” of your planning practice, and it makes everything that comes after it easier.
Where the Imperfect Practice Kit Comes In
If you've been nodding along to this and thinking "okay but I need a place to actually do this," that's exactly what the Imperfect Practice Kit was designed for.
The Kit is a set of seven printable (or digital) planning pages built around the Imperfect Practice methodology and it functions beautifully as a preplanning tool. The Monthly Brain Dump page gives you a structured place to clear your head at the start of each month. The Monthly Focus page helps you identify what matters most before everything else sets in. The Quarterly Reset is there for the bigger-picture check-ins. And the Practice Sheet (which you can grab for free by the way!) is the weekly standard that keeps you coming back.
You don't have to use it inside a planner. It works as a standalone system on its own. Printed and tucked into a clipboard, digital, kept in a folder, or used loose. But it also pairs really well with the planner you already have - you can keep it in the back pocket or in a dedicated section for your preplanning pages!
I use the Laurel Denise Anne as the place where the week lives once it's been planned. The Kit is where I do the thinking that makes planning possible.
You Don't Have to Be Perfect at This
If the idea of adding a whole new step to your routine feels like too much, I hear you. Here's the good news: you can start with just the brain dump. Two minutes, a blank page, everything out of your head. That's preplanning. You can build from there.
The goal isn't some perfect system. You’re building consistency around a planning habit. That's the Imperfect Practice. And it starts before you ever open the planner.
Ready to Try It?
Grab the free Imperfect Practice Sheet — it's a one-page starting point for your weekly preplanning ritual. No pressure, no perfection required.
→ Get the free Practice Sheet here
And if you're ready for the full toolkit, the Imperfect Practice Kit ($17) has everything you need to build a preplanning habit that actually sticks. Use code PRACTICEKIT15 to save 15%!
→ Shop the Kit here
Using a Laurel Denise* planner? Code IMPERFECT10 gets you 10% off. It's the perfect place to land once your preplanning is done. 🌻
*affiliate link
