One of the questions I get most often on Instagram is: how do I actually set up my planner each week? What's the process, what stickers do I use, and how long does it take?
So here's a proper walkthrough — my real weekly planner setup, from blank spread to finished pages, using Curvy Noodle stickers throughout. No artistic skill required to recreate this. That's kind of the whole point.
When I Set Up My Week
Sunday evenings, almost always. Somewhere between 8 and 9pm, after the weekend has wound down and before the week begins. I make tea, put something ambient on, and spend about 20 minutes going from blank pages to a set-up week. It's become one of my favourite parts of the week.
If Sunday doesn't work for you, Monday morning before the day starts is equally good. The key is doing it before the week begins, not catching up mid-week.
Step 1: Set Up the Weekly Spread (5 minutes)
I open my Neorah a6 daily planner to the current week and decide what I want to do.
- Do I want the spread to be colorful?
- Do I want it to be playful?
- Are there any specific stickers that I want to use?
I think about all of these questions before I start planning my week.
Step 2: Add the Activity Stickers (5 minutes)
This is where the weekly spread goes from blank to purposeful. I go through each day and think about what's happening — fixed commitments, planned activities, things I want to make time for — and place the relevant activity stickers.
A work-from-home day gets the laptop character. A day I've planned to cook properly gets the cooking sticker. A rest day gets the napping character. Gym days get the exercise sticker. Within five minutes, the week is visually mapped and I haven't written a single word yet.
This is the part that used to take me the longest when I was drawing icons by hand. Stickers have cut my weekly setup time roughly in half.
Step 3: Fill in Tasks and Appointments (5–10 minutes)
Now I write. Under each day's activity stickers, I add the actual tasks, appointments, and to-dos for that day. I keep this list short — no more than five things per day. Anything beyond five is usually optimism rather than planning.
Appointments get written in the time slot they belong to. Tasks get a small bullet point. Notes or things to remember get a dash. This is the core Bullet Journal symbol system and it takes about ten minutes to learn.
Step 4: Set Up the Habit Tracker (3 minutes)
I use the Roda Notes habit tracker to track my important habits, which can vary month-on-month. I've used habit tracker post-its before and while they work great, having a dedicated card of sorts to only track habits is fantastic.
Step 5: Add Emotion Stickers Daily
This step isn't part of the Sunday setup — it happens at the end of each day. I open my planner to that day's section and place one emotion sticker in the small box I left for it during setup. Happy, tired, motivated, anxious — whatever best captures how the day actually went.
By Friday, the weekly spread has its full character. Five emotion stickers in a row tell a story of the week in a way that words alone don't.
The Finished Spread in my Neorah A6 Daily Planner
From start to finish, the setup takes about 20 minutes. The result is a weekly spread that's functional, visually intentional, and entirely personal — built around my actual week, not a generic template.
The stickers do the heavy lifting aesthetically, which frees me up to focus on the actual planning. That's the balance I've always wanted from a planner: beautiful enough to want to use, quick enough to actually maintain.
All the stickers used in my weekly setup are available at curvynoodle.com — browse the full collection and build a weekly system that works for you.
------
plan with me India, weekly planner setup stickers, plan with me bullet journal India, weekly spread stickers India
0 comments