DIY planner concept for organization and productivity

How to be more productive, potentially. This may or may not work for you, and you may not care to go to the effort of DIY-ing a planner.

In an effort to be more productive, awhile back I decided to start DIY-ing a planner, since the store-bought ones weren't really cutting it for me.

The typical store-bought planner layout has a full monthly calendar split over two pages at the beginning of each month, which I generally never used. If I were going to use a full monthly calendar, I'd use a wall version.

Then, it has each week split over two pages, divided by day with a section for each, where you have a couple inches of space to write. This is the layout distilled to its most basic elements. There might be other layouts out there, but I haven't used those.

The aforementioned layout doesn't organize me in a way that's most effective. I found that it's more useful to me to have a detailed day by day schedule written out, with more general notes/tasks/items written in a weekly section that is on a single page. A couple inches is not enough to write out and schedule a full day's tasks.

There are Cambridge brand planners/appointment books that have sections to schedule out each day, but I'm only aware of these coming in a full notebook size, and I'm used to my planners being more compact. Plus, for something you have to carry around, smaller and more portable is better. I still have enough space to write what I need.

Supplies:
A small notebook (approximately 6"x8" is good for me)
Straightedge (technically optional, but it helps to make things look neater)
Writing utensils

The specific notebook selection will depend on your personal preferences. I prefer only sturdy spiral-bound notebooks with sturdy hard or plastic covers and lined pages. The writing utensils you use to layout the planner also depend on your personal preferences. You can make it as colorful or boring as you want. I find it helpful to use at least one separate color/writing utensil for the general layout markings and another for the actual notes and plans.

Weekly section

Divide one page in half vertically and draw a line. Then draw lines to divide it into thirds horizontally, resulting in 6 boxes. This is the weekly section. The weekend days are combined into one box. Label each box with the date. I use the "Monday [day #] [month, abbreviated]" format. At the top of the page, I write which week it is as "Week of [date] to [date]"

Write general information for each day in the corresponding box. Like if you have a meeting or appointment or task that needs to be done or something that was assigned in class.

Daily scheduling section
Use a separate page for each day. At the top, write the date.
Down the side, draw a vertical line slightly indented from the left side. Along the left side, write times by the hour. I use every other line and write the hours. Depending on when you start/end your days, you can tailor the time range you use. I write only down to 5 p.m. and everything past that is consolidated.

Schedule out your days here. I write when I plan to wake up and when I need to leave to go somewhere, when applicable (usually if it's a change from my normal routine). Write in when your classes are if you're in college. Write in meetings, appointments, social plans, things you want to remember, other things you want/plan to get done at a given time that day, etc. Since there is a full page for each day, you can be specific and go into relative detail here.

Optional: Monthly section. 
Use one page, turn the notebook around so the spiral is at the top. Divide into 4 or 5 sections for the weeks, then 7 sections for the days. Label. 

The DIY planner is flexible, so you can also use it for general notes if necessary by simply using the next blank page. I usually only layout the daily pages a day or so in advance to allow for flexibility.