The Ink and Intention Method

I created Ink and Agenda because I was tired of watching creative women try to force themselves into planning systems that were never designed for them.

You know the ones I mean.

The complicated productivity apps that look good on YouTube, but take three hours to set up.

The calendars that work fine for a corporate schedule , but not for a life that blends client work, a home, a partner, a dog, travel, and creative projects.

The endless digital pings, dings, notifications, and subscriptions that promise freedom but steal your focus.

I wanted a planning method that could hold all of it.

Client work.

Personal dreams.

Family life.

Soul work.

Rest.

(and maybe, not exactly in that order)

I wanted a method that honored the fact that some of us are multi-passionate, that some of us want to launch a product line and plant tomatoes in the same week, that some of us get our best ideas at 5 a.m., and some of us finally exhale at 10 p.m.

So I built one.

The Ink and Intention Method is the heart behind Ink and Agenda. It is the way I plan my own business and life, it is the way I help photographers, creatives, and solopreneurs reclaim their time, and it is the way I am building this brand.

This is not a productivity hack.
This is not a trend.
This is a rhythm.

You can use it for a week, a month, or the whole year. You can turn it into a planner, a binder, a digital course, or a quarterly reset. However you use it, the method stays the same.

Structure creates freedom.
Ink creates clarity.
Intention creates alignment.

Let’s walk through it together.

The Ink and Intention Method is a structured yet flexible framework that helps you plan with purpose, execute with clarity, and live with intention.

At its core, it is about putting your life on paper first, and then building systems that match the way you actually live. Not the way the internet says you should live.

This method blends three things:

• Paper planning because writing things down connects your mind to your priorities in a way that tapping on a phone never will.
  
  

• Mindset work because no planner in the world will fix a belief that you have to be busy to be valuable.
  
  

• Strategic action because goals do not come to life without movement.
  
  

The method is made up of five pillars.

You can move through them in order or cycle through them every quarter.

• Clarity
  
  

• Structure
  
  

• Intention
  
  

• Execution
  
  

• Reflection
  
  
  

Each pillar feeds the next.

Each pillar can stand on its own.

Each pillar can become content, a workshop, a planner insert, or a coaching call.

This is your framework.

You cannot organize what you cannot see.

Most women who feel overwhelmed are not actually doing too much. They are just holding too much in their minds. Ideas. Open loops.

Client work. Home tasks. Content to post. Goals for the future. All of it is sitting in mental tabs, and none of it is making its way out.

Clarity is the process of getting it out of your head and onto paper so you can see it, sort it, and choose it.

Here is how to do it.

Write everything that is asking for your attention right now.

Look at your list and circle what belongs to this current season.

Not someday. Not next year. Now.

Ask yourself:

• What is a current commitment
  
  

• What is revenue-generating
  
  What is a personal non-negotiable
  
  

• What is a desire I can start now in a small way
  
  

This step matters because most overwhelm comes from pretending we can do all seasons at once.

We cannot. Inside Ink and Agenda, we honor seasons.

Fun fact: It wasn’t until this year that I truly leaned into the idea of honoring seasons. For me, that usually means thinking in 90-day windows, and when I started planning this way, everything shifted.

My capacity for work changes with the seasons. As the holidays approach, my bandwidth naturally shrinks, while the long, quiet days of winter and early spring become my most productive months.

Once spring turns to summer and we start traveling, my focus shifts again, home renovation projects take a back seat, and my creative output looks completely different.

Recognizing this rhythm helped me stop fighting my own energy and start planning with it.

Clarity without a horizon still feels foggy.

Once you have everything on paper, choose what belongs in the next 90 days.

Ask yourself:

• What result do I want to see in 3 months
  
  

• What would make life feel lighter
  
  

• What would move the needle in my business
  
  

• What do I need to finish before I can start something new
  
  
  

Now you have clarity.
Not a thousand things.
A focused list.

Clarity Outcome: I know what I am working toward, why it matters, and what can wait.

Structure is not about being strict. Structure is about giving your brain somewhere to put things.

Creative women need a structure that breathes. We do not want to be told to do the same thing at the same time every day for the rest of our lives. We want a container that lets us flow inside it.

That is what this pillar does.

Instead of planning day by day, plan rhythm by rhythm.

For example:

• Mornings: deep work, content, creative projects

• Afternoons: clients, meetings, errands

• Evenings: home, dog, rest, journaling
  
  

Or:

• Monday: CEO and planning

• Tuesday and Wednesday: client and production

• Thursday: content and marketing

• Friday: admin and wrap up
  
  

Your rhythm can change every quarter.

The point is to have one.

When you have a rhythm, you can see where new commitments fit before you say yes. You can see where your dog training fits. You can see where product development goes. You can see where business and home overlap.

Structure is not complicated.

It is consistent touchpoints.

Daily planning can look like:

• Morning quick plan

• Midday check-in

• End of day close out
  
  

Each one can be five minutes.
What am I doing
What did I finish
What needs to move

This keeps your day contained.

This is where Ink and Agenda is different.

You do not have to choose between a digital calendar and a paper planner. You can use both on purpose.

• Digital is for appointments, client calls, due dates, and reminders
  
  

• Paper is for thinking, creating, mapping, reflecting
  
  

Your paper planner is not just a place to write tasks.

It is your creative operating system.

It is the place where you see your life at a glance. It is the place where you reconnect with your goals.

It is the place where you remember why you are doing all of this.

Structure Outcome: I have a rhythm for my week, a touchpoint for my day, and a place to put everything I am responsible for.

This is the heart of the method.

Planning without intention becomes performance.

Planning with intention becomes alignment.

Intention is asking why before you say yes. It is connecting tasks to values.

It is remembering that you did not start your business to be busy all day.

You started it to have time freedom, creative freedom, and financial freedom.

Write down your top five values right now.
Not the ones you think you should have. The real ones.

Freedom
Creativity
Family
Service
Simplicity
Excellence
Faith
Community

Then ask, how is my current schedule honoring these values.
If it is not, this is where you adjust.

When you write your task list, add a small note beside each one.

• Revenue

• Nurture

• Long term

• Joy

• Home

• Admin
  
  

This helps you see what kind of day you are building.

• If your list is all admin, no wonder you feel drained.

• If your list is all revenue, no wonder you feel behind on content.

• If your list is all nurture, no wonder you feel like nothing is moving.

Intention gives your plan a why.

This is important.

Creatives need white space.
Moms need white space.
Entrepreneurs need white space.

White space is not laziness. It is where the ideas arrive.

At Ink and Agenda, we do not fill every hour.

We plan capacity.

We leave room to breathe, to pivot, to take the dog to training, to go for a walk, to create a new insert that people have been asking for, to rest because we have had a full client day.

Intention Outcome: I know why this is on my list, and I am no longer planning out of guilt or pressure.

Planning is cute.

Execution is how we pay our bills and bring our ideas to life.

This pillar is about taking aligned action without burning out. You already did the hard work of deciding what matters. Now your only job is to do it in a way you can repeat.

You do not need three uninterrupted hours to make progress.

You need a plan for the pockets of time you actually have.

• 15-minute task list
  
  

• 30-minute focus block
  
  

• 60-minute project block
  
  

When you plan in windows, you actually follow through because it fits your real life.

This is one of my favorite parts of the method.

Every day, pick three priorities.
Not seventeen.
Three.

That is it.

Can you do more? Of course.
Will you feel successful if you get those three done? Yes.
Does this protect your nervous system from always feeling behind? Yes.

Execution gets easier when you reduce transitions.

Batching does that.

• Write three blog outlines at once
  
  

• Design five printable inserts at once
  
  

• Record voiceovers for all your reels at once
  
  

• Do all client communication in one window
  
  

• Do all home admin in one window

• Batch cook once or twice a week
  
  

You already know this. The method simply gives it a place.

Execution Outcome: I am doing the right work at the right time, and I am not exhausting myself to get there.

Most planners and those who plan stop at execution.

Ink and Agenda does not.

Reflection is the part nobody talks about because it is not flashy.

It is not something people take photos of. It is not viral. It is not trendy. It is where the growth actually happens.

Reflection is how you learn.
Reflection is how you adjust.
Reflection is how you stop repeating the same month over and over and start making real progress.

Once a week, look at your planner and ask:

• What did I actually finish
  
  

• What felt good
  
  

• What felt heavy
  
  

• What kept getting moved to the next day
  
  

• What did I say yes to that I did not need to
  
  

Write it down. This is data. Your life gives you feedback. You do not have to guess.

At the end of the month, take 20 minutes and check in.

• What goals moved forward
  
  

• What projects stalled
  
  

• Where did I waste time
  
  

• Where did I make money
  
  

• What routines did I fall out of
  
  

• What support do I need next month
  
  

This is where you can do mini life audits like we talked about.

What fits?

What does not?

What are you carrying out of obligation?

What keeps catching you off guard?

Where are you running out of time?

Creative women forget to celebrate.

• We move the goal.

• We launch the product and then act like it was not a big deal.

• We help a client hit a milestone and then tell ourselves we could have done more.

In this method, celebration is a practice.

• Write three wins every week.

• Write one thing you are proud of every month.

• Write one thing you released.

• Write one way you honored your energy.

Reflection Outcome: I know what is working, I know what to stop doing, and I am not repeating the same patterns.

Before the Ink and Intention Method

• You were reacting to life and business

• You were living inside digital chaos

• You were trying to use systems that did not match your brain

• You were saying yes because there was white space

• You were exhausted from being busy without feeling accomplished
  
  

After the Ink and Intention Method

• You have a clear rhythm for your week

• You know what belongs in this season

• You have a method for planning that supports your energy

• You leave white space on purpose

• You feel calm, focused, and creative again
  
  

This is the point.
Not to have a perfect planner.
To have a life that feels aligned.

• Print or pull up your planner pages.
  
  

• Work through Pillar One and get everything on paper.
  
  

• Choose a weekly rhythm that fits your current season.
  
  

• Pick three priorities per day for the next seven days.
  
  

• Do a weekly reflection at the end of the week.
  
  

Repeat.

That is it.
Simple.
Intentional.
Repeatable.

You can take this method and shape it into something that fits your life.

Use it to bring calm to your mornings, flow to your workdays, and clarity to your goals. Let it be the foundation that keeps you grounded when life speeds up.

The Ink and Intention Method is more than a system. It’s your permission to slow down, realign, and start building a life that feels like your own.

This method was created to serve as your anchor — a framework that meets you where you are and grows with you.

Let it guide you as you plan, build, and create.

Every page you fill, every reflection you write, every small win you celebrate brings you closer to the life you’re meant to live.

That’s the power of planning with intention.