In a world that often glorifies the grind and praises productivity at the expense of peace, Bricen—a marketing executive, entrepreneur, father, husband, and community-builder—is on a mission to redefine what success looks like. For years, he found himself juggling multiple roles, striving to perform in every area of his life without sacrificing his well-being. Out of this personal challenge came a transformative idea: what if there was a planner that didn’t just help people stay busy, but helped them find balance? The result is The Hustle & Harmony Quarterly Planner—a thoughtfully designed tool that goes beyond task lists to support holistic growth. Built for creators, innovators, and everyday achievers, the planner is a roadmap for aligning purpose, productivity, and personal peace.
Hustle & Harmony Planner, Dated, Quarter 1: The Ultimate Tool for Focus, Growth, and Balance (Hustle & Harmony Action Planners) Part of: Hustle & Harmony Action Planners (7 books)
By Staff
What inspired you to create The Hustle & Harmony quarterly planner?
We created the Hustle and Harmony planner because we believe in being well-rounded people. Many planners are heavily task-focused and follow the quintessential “checking the boxes” exercise. It’s hard to find a planner that also helps you focus on productivity in multiple areas of life; one that reflects and strives to balance your physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and financial well-being, among others. That’s why we developed the Hustle & Harmony quarterly planner. It’s designed to help innovators, change-makers, creators, and others grow holistically.
As a marketing leader for one of the world’s largest companies, a dad, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, and an entrepreneur, I must wear many hats. It’s tough to juggle so many things and feel like I’m thriving in any one area of my life. I wanted to find a way to hustle but keep my harmony, balance, and inner peace. This led me to spend over two years researching techniques to bring that balance to help myself and others become more productive in our personal and professional endeavors.
Please share a bit about your journey with productivity andbalance?
During my sophomore year in college, a biology professor, Dr. Russell V. Kelley Jr., taught me the importance of productivity including being focused, determined, and continuously improving yourself. He would say, “The only thing Dr. Kelley counts is production.” For example, if you earned a “C” on your last test, your focus should be on the steps you will take to make sure that you make a “B” on your next test. It’s the act of taking small steps to get better each day.
Productivity is a gift for those who want to transform their mentality. It doesn’t matter what you look like, where you come from, or how old you are. If you find a way to get 1% better each day, after 100 days, you’ll be 100% better than you were when you first started. He constantly delivered this powerful message to all his students in and outside his classroom. I desired to turn that powerful message into a game plan and playbook for future generations to grow beyond their dreams, focus on the small steps, take pride in the journey, and be relentless in self-improvement.
What were some challenges you faced while bringing this planner to life?
My biggest challenge was finding the time to build a system that created a holistic yet simple product. After much research and a few prototypes, rather than focusing on “everything in the kitchen sink,” I refined my focus on the planner’s most critical elements and how to bring them to life most efficiently. I also wanted to ensure that we included the customer voice from extensive verbal feedback sessions and incorporated written critiques, comments, and suggestions.
What makes The Hustle & Harmony planner different from other productivity tools on the market?
The butterfly effect illustrates that something as small as the flaps of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado on the other side of the globe. This theory reminds us that small habits, decisions, or moments – things that seem insignificant – can shape the future in powerful, unexpected ways. With the butterfly effect in mind, we built this planner to empower our audience to focus on the small actions or events that can lead to significant impact over time.
Additionally, most productivity planners are task-oriented; they’re an exercise in checking the box. The Hustle and Harmony planner takes a unique holistic approach to balancing professional and personal endeavors and emphasizes the tremendous impact of taking small steps to achieve your goals.
Finally, finding inner peace in today’s social media-driven world has become increasingly challenging. We’re constantly exposed to curated snapshots of other people’s lives — their achievements, appearances, and experiences — and it’s easy to fall into the trap of comparison, whether we realize it or not. This often leads to frustration and, eventually, burnout. That’s where a physical planner can be incredibly grounding. It creates a space free from digital distractions, helping you focus on your goals and progress rather than being pulled into the noise of external validation.
Can you walk us through how the planner is structured and how users can maximize its benefits?
Right now, we have two versions – dated and undated. Both versions have the same layouts, including the Monthly Dashboard, Mind & Motion Sync, and daily action pages. The only difference between the dated and undated versions is that the dated includes pre-populated dates; this is absent in the undated planner, which allows for flexibility, adaptability, and customization, allowing users to start whenever they choose and skip periods without wasting pages.
The Monthly Dashboard is your Birds Eye view of your month. Here, you can set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) professional and personal goals and note important dates and reminders for the month.
The next part of the planner is your weekly Mind & Motion Sync. This is where you can create the balance that you deserve. It incorporates the Wheel of Production – an exercise to see the areas of your life where you are thriving and where you may currently face challenges. It is a space for reflection, to develop your strategy to improve incrementally, a habit tracker, and an inner peace check-in —like a journal where you can release your stresses and reflect.
Finally, your daily action pages start with the 1-3-5 productivity method, where you choose 1 Game Changer, 3 Momentum Builders, and 5 Quick Wins for the day. Your Game Changer is your highest priority for the day. Usually, you’re going to spend most of your day trying to accomplish it. Your three Momentum Builders are medium-priority objectives, and your Quick Wins are objectives that can be accomplished relatively quickly. The daily action pages also include a quick wellness check-in section, a 30-minute breakdown of your day, and a notes section.
How does the Wheel of Production help users find balance in their lives?
The Wheel of Production, within the Mind & Motion Sync section of the planner, is a self-assessment designed to help you reflect and visualize how you’re currently doing across various areas of your life, such as in your finances, career, health, fitness, recreation, environment, community, family and friends, romance, learning, and spirituality. The aim is to select, on a scale from 1 (unsatisfactory) to 10 (extremely satisfied), how you feel you are doing in each area.
Why was it important to incorporate wellness check-ins alongside goal setting?
A few years ago, I was at a retirement party for a senior executive at my company who shared that they calculated the time they spent traveling for work, in hotels, and away from their family – more than nine years. I’ve never heard anyone on their deathbed wish they spent more time working, the opposite is typically the case – they wish they spent more time with family and friends and cared for their health. As humans, we must prioritize wellness to be healthy enough to continue refining our crafts, making a difference in the world, and enjoying time with those we love most.
How does the planner support people who struggle with consistency or burnout?
When we look at accomplishing a goal or transforming into the optimum version of ourselves, there are several barriers that we encounter that prevent us from achieving our journey, including 1) comparing ourselves to others instead of running our race and 2) focusing on the end in mind without devising a proper and realistic strategy to get us there. We often look at the big picture or our end goal and focus on the “what” instead of the “how.” In other words, we focus on the top of the stairs and say that we want to get up there while hardly considering the purposeful small steps needed to get to the top; we also don’t take the time to enjoy the journey. The Hustle & Harmony planner is strategically designed to help you focus on taking small, intentional steps forward each day that will have a significant impact and ultimately lead to your desired destination.
What kind of feedback have you received from early users? Any success stories?
Overall, we have received some fantastic feedback thus far. Individuals have said the planner has helped them to be more intentional in pursuit of their goals and objectives. It allows them to intentionally channel their focus as the planner is a great tool in guiding them to break down their overall big-picture goals into realistic and achievable actions. Many have also commended the planner’s well-rounded approach also considering a person’s well-being. Several executive leaders have bought the Hustle & Harmony planner for their teams.
With the recent, extensive layoffs of employees across the federal government and beyond, I have gifted several former employees with the planner. One individual shared that they never imagined being in the job market at this stage of their career after having a terminal degree and decades of experience. They said initially they felt very overwhelmed with the prospect of job-hunting in such a competitive market while also refining their skills by taking new training in data analytics, project management, and interviewing. The planner has helped them to reduce their anxiety by breaking down their goals into realistic, achievable steps in a reasonable timeframe while giving them the space to reflect on their mental and emotional well-being, highlighting when they should spend more time with loved ones, engaging in healthy activities, and seeking professional help.
How do you see this planner evolving in the future? Are there any expansions or digital versions in the works?
I see us building planners for various styles of production methods. Learning isn’t a one-size-fits-all activity, so we have to continuously evolve our layouts to meet the needs of our customers, listen to feedback, analyze data, and refine the product to continually and optimally empower our customers to achieve greatness in every aspect of their unique lives. We plan to develop a student planner, a basic annual planner, and a planner focusing on athletic performance. Additionally, we plan to create digital versions of these planners.
How do you personally use the planner in your daily routine?
I have been using a version of this planner for over two years. It has helped me achieve my objectives and goals in all areas of my life by providing clarity and purposeful actions. What I feel is the most important aspect is that I fill out the daily action pages the night before so that I have a clear roadmap for a successful day.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to be productive but often feels overwhelmed?
Fuel your hustle, find your flow, focus on taking small steps, and celebrate your wins! Often, we look at the top of the staircase and expect to get there without taking steps. We must undertake the journey to experience growth, new perspectives, and a deeper appreciation for the result.
What would you say to someone hesitating about investing in a planner?
What if I told you that you could transform your mindset for less than $0.20 cents a day? To achieve something you never have before, you have to do something that you’ve never done before. Suppose you’ve been using a regular planner but believe you can do better. In that case, if you have more left in the tank or are not satisfied with the results you’re seeing, make a small investment in the Hustle & Harmony planner to reignite your drive, boost your momentum, and see the difference it makes in helping you achieve your personal and professional goals.
