Signature Planner Guide

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The Hemlock & Oak Signature Weekly Planner emphasizes your personal values by connecting and regularly reviewing them with you. You will discover, connect, and review values that are meaningful and important to you. This way, you can pursue goals while focusing on the journey and values that are intrinsic to you.

What are values?
Personal values are the behaviours and traits that are important to us. When we connect with our values, our stress decreases and contentment increases. This is because we become less work-centric as a result.

In a society where work is often the centerpiece of our identity, it's easy to lose sight of our values. We know that we value things like our health, loved ones, and wellbeing. That's why this planner has integrated your values into the design. You will be able to look after yourself in a mindful and self-compassionate way.

Self-reflection (p. 7-9) 

 

These questions help you reflect and look back on your life so you can discover your values later. The following examples are to only help prompt you and are not an exhaustive list. 
1. "What moments in your life have been the most meaningful and fulfilling to you?" - This is different from contentment. You are looking for moments that left you with a sense of wholeness or completion. Avoid limiting yourself to achievements. Examples might be:
  • spending time with loved ones
  • moments of peace or rest
  • going somewhere with someone or on your own
  • being home or somewhere that you're connected to
  • doing an activity you love
  • working on a mission
  • progressing towards a goal
  • engaging in a hobby
2. "What moments in your life made you feel proud?" - Think of moments that you are proud of, even if you didn't feel that way in the moment. Find something that you can acknowledge in the present. Give yourself credit where credit is due!
  • getting a job
  • doing your best in a difficult time
  • taking a risk that paid off
  • trying your best even when life was chaotic
  • sticking with something
  • getting out of your comfort zone

3. "What memories give you energy?" - Think of memories that left you wanting more. Things you feel like you can do forever. Maybe activities where you feel like you lose track of time. For example, getting lost in creative pursuits. 

4. "What memories drain your energy?" - Think of memories where you couldn't wait to go home. Maybe you crashed on the couch or went straight to bed after. 

5. "Identify four people that you respect and/or admire. What qualities do they have that you appreciate?"

6. "Imagine listening to a positive conversation about yourself in the future. What do you want to hear?" - Some examples of conversations might be: 

  • "They're always there for me, I can count on them for anything" (you value friendship, trustworthiness)
  • "They create amazing art." (you value creativity)
  • "They're kind to the planet and tries to make a difference." (you value justice and goodness) 

7. "You wake up to the best day ever tomorrow; what does it look like? Use your senses: smell, sound, taste, sight, touch."

8. "Identify five negative thoughts or beliefs you hold about yourself. Reframe them into neutral or positive statements." - Reframing negative thoughts is a skill that takes practice, but is valuable in building your confidence and shutting down negative self-talk. 

9. "Create five statements about yourself that are positive and uplifting. Don't hold back: this is your space to honour and acknowledge the beautiful things about you!" 

Identifying Values (p. 10-11)

 

These two questions help you observe your aspirations to help you identify your values on page 11. 
1. "Close your eyes. What does your ideal life look like to you?" 
  • Don't limit yourself with this question, and pay attention to the things that come up in your mind first. Any answers will still give you insight into your values later on.
  • The little things matter: try to focus on the sounds, smells, and tastes that bring you happiness as well. This will give you further insight into which moments you appreciate. 
2. Before highlighting your values, review the previous exercises. Then, take your time going through the list and highlight values that resonate with you. If you want to explore more, you can access them here.

Setting Goals (p. 13-17) 

These goal setting pages help create goals in context with your values. For a goal to be fulfilling to us, we need to create them in accordance to our values. Here is an example of values that might work with this person's goals:
(please note, they could be completely different for you)
  • Goal: Painting landscapes for a living
  • Values: Creativity, independence, financial stability, challenge, self-improvement
1. "Why do you want this goal?" - Think of your deeper motivations behind wanting a certain result. Continuing with our example: 
  • I want to paint landscapes to sell for a living because:
  • Painting has a deep childhood connection for me
  • Selling work brings me fulfillment. I'm always excited when a piece sells.
  • Oil painting is meditative and peaceful
  • Painting landscapes allows me to be in nature, where I feel at peace
These "whys" will connect with your values, and you'll have a better understanding of why you want this goal. 
2. "Break your goal into four milestones." - Milestones are important because they prove the small, viable steps you can take. Create four milestones that are attainable and specific, and set check-in reminders in your calendar. Continuing our example:
  • Milestone 1: Create a concept for an outdoor landscape collection
  • Steps: Draft places I can paint, determine palette colours, and write-up a general motivation behind the collection
  • Milestone 2: Paint first piece in the collection
  • Steps: Determine location, save up for extra paints, make sure you have all necessary supplies for outdoor painting
  • Milestone 3: Paint one piece per month
  • Steps: Determine location, save up for extra paints, make sure you have all the necessary supplies for outdoor painting
  • Milestone 4: Start selling
  • Steps: Research local galleries, look into e-commerce platforms, research marketing practices

Habit Cultivation (p. 19-21)

Habits are necessary to achieve goals. Find habits that will support your milestones. Your timeline and review dates are important, even for the smallest of goals. Set viable deadlines for your milestones and check-in points. Make sure you set aside time to review your milestones and goals in your schedule.

  • Track habits visually — seeing progress makes you want to keep going!

  • Be kind to yourself if you miss a day; just get right back on track. Perfection isn’t the goal, consistency is.

  • Celebrate small wins to stay encouraged. Every step forward counts. Give yourself credit for the progress you make!

 

Daily Framework (p. 22)

This page gives you room to pencil in possible routines and habits that connect with your values. If health is important, find little ways to incorporate it into your day.
You can also see how your work-life balance is doing on this page, and set times when work should end.
This is a page you can come back to regularly when planning the days or weeks ahead, to remind yourself of the things you want to try to include in each day. 

Important (p. 19)

Keep track of addresses, passwords, and other important information. These sections can alter with some labels or stickers as you desire.

Yearly Planning (p. 24-27)

These pages are your yearly overviews for the current year and next year. Use these pages to write events, keep track of birthdays, and set review dates for milestones. 

 

Quarterly Overviews (p. 28-31)

Sometimes it's easier to track medium to long term projects by quarter instead of by month. Projects that take several months may be suited for these pages. We've also seen people use these pages to track ongoing habits or goals, like books they've read, workouts, etc.

Holidays (p. 32)

Use this page to keep track of holidays in Canada and the United States. 

Monthly Overviews 

Your monthly overviews are designed to review your goals, values, and habits. It also has a section that helps you come up with self-care routines. The right-hand page is yours to use for planning and note-taking. 

 

Calendars

Your calendar is spacious and mostly meant for your own use. Track holidays, vacations, appointments here. Then you can refer to these pages when planning ahead for the week. 

 

Weekly Spreads

Weekly spreads leave room to determine your goals and values for that week. As well as to keep track of your schedule and appointments. Remember, less is more! Focusing on one specific goal is always easier to handle.
Each day has space at the top dedicated to the one thing you need to get done that day.
There's a space to write your Focus for the week. This could be your most important task for the week, or maybe an appointment that you need to make sure you prepare ahead for.
Your Intention for the week is similar to your Focus but, it's less task focused. It could be a theme, keyword, or mantra for the week that you want to keep in mind. Or, it could be a goal to achieve rather than a task. For example reminding yourself to stay hydrated. 
The mini-calendar shows you the current month, with the current week highlighted.


Your to-do list is where you keep track of things that must get done. Lengthen or append if necessary. 
At the end of each day, there is a small self-care icon. This keeps you in check with your values that you want to focus on that week.
For example: if your focus is on health, each day could connect with that value. You might write things like: "ate healthy", "exercised for 15 minutes", "slept early", etc.
At the end of the day, it serves as a reminder that there are more important things than work and goals. Some examples might be:
  • meditation or a healthy habit
  • calling a loved one
  • fulfilling a certain value (i.e creativity)
  • putting work away earlier than usual
  • spending time with friends
  • eating healthy