All the things I’m using to be as fruitful as possible in 2026

I am praying that 2026 is a year that I can focus on being fruitful. A focus on fruitfulness feels different than focusing on being productive. Fruitfulness helps get the focus off of me and what I accomplished (or didn’t) and focus more on God and what He had for me that day. So I’m trying to go into 2026 with a mindset of fruitfulness and holding on to my to-do lists loosely. However, that doesn’t mean just throwing everything to the wind and having a “let go and let God” mindset. I am called to redeem the time, to be diligent, faithful, and fruitful, and called “to doing what is good in order that they may provide for daily necessitits and not live unproductive lives.” -Titus 3:14 So in order to accomplish that, I’ve set up some tools that I know help me. Here’s what I’ve got going so far:

Bible reading and Prayer

The perpetual Bible reading plan is still going very well. I will keep that up all year. After I fill each notebook I’ll check in with you guys here and share what stood out.

Prayer is another focus for this year. I want to continue to grow in faithfulness in this area. I want to stop just thinking about things in my head, or processing, but really truly praying about them. I’m going to be alternating between using my free prayer booklets, my Prayer Binder, and the Psalm of the day+30, depending on my focus and time each day. I don’t have a system, I just have three things to choose from so I don’t have an excuse not to pray. If I’m overwhelmed, sad, stressed, can’t think of what to pray, I can go to the Psalms. The prayer booklets are great too because they become a record of who and what I’m praying for each month, and then I add them to the back of my Prayer Binder at the end of the month. I do pray throughout the day, but I need pray in a more “formal” way at the beginning of my day.

Planner

For years I used the bullet journal, but a couple years ago I needed something that required way less set up than a bullet journal. After trying a few options, I’ve comfortably settled on the Hobonichi Cousin. It is a more expensive planner, but it has monthly calendars (that I use for appointments and plans, and I try to add a doodle for the day in each square at the end of the day)

It also has a two page weekly spread (that I use to plan my tasks for the week, plan my menu, portion out the weekly tasks to the specific day I will do them, and record what I’m thankful for and my zone cleaning.)

And it has a daily page that I use for a timeline of the day, my top three things to focus on, habits I want to track, meal plan for the day (and if I followed it) and I try to use the space at the bottom for journaling or working through self-examination questions at the end of the day.

Speaking of journaling, these are the self-examination questions I try to do as much as possible. I don’t get to them every evening, but they are really good. (This is where I get the verse and question for the top of each prayer booklet each month.) I journal through these questions on my daily page.

Daily habit/task checklist

This is a free checklist from my favorite website for free planner printables, Scattered Squirrel. I’ve been using the weekly reminders list and it has been really helpful! I don’t use it for health reminders but just my normal daily habits I try to get through in a day.

and my newest addition:

My 2026 Notebook!

I’m most excited about this one! It’s nothing to look at from the outside, but the inside will hopefully become incredible. Instead of having 18 different notebooks that I lose track of, or scraps of paper all over, I’m consolidating the main things I’m focusing on into one notebook for the year. It’s a basic 8.5 x 11″ sketchbook with blank pages, like this one.

I divided it up into 5 main sections: Books, School, Creative, Farmstand, and Spiritual/Journal. I’ll be using it for my 5×5 reading challenge to keep track of the books I’m going to read and to take notes behind this page. (I’ll post more on this challenge later!)

My School section will hold the assignments and notes from the classes I take this year. Right now I’m working through “Introduction to the Constitution” a free online class from Hillsdale College.

My Creative section will hold anything that I want to do, or come across, or want to remember. I might print some things off, sketch something, or use it for sketching and drawing and watercolor. I’m hoping it will hold information and beauty and just be fun to flip through at the end of the year. Right now I just have notes for what size to make pillowcases for my granddaughters.

The Farmstand section will have notes, recipes, ideas for things to do and sell at the farmstand. (Nothing really in it yet.)

Right now my Spiritual section has a random collection of post it notes of things I want to think about, study, and meditate on. I’m excited to see how each section develops and SUPER happy about it all being kept in one place!

Whew! That was a long post! But that’s it for now. I’ll be back next week with more thoughts on my 5×5 reading challenge and hopefully a weekly plan post! Let me know if you’d like more information on anything I’m using this year!