Lead Your Life: Franklin Planner’s New Membership Program

Introducing the Lead Your Life Franklin Planner Membership 

George Wright III and John Harding discuss Franklin Planner’s 40-year legacy, its principles-based productivity system inspired by Steven R. Covey, and modern challenges like digital distraction and overwhelm. They announce a new “Lead Your Life” membership program designed to extend the planner into a community and resource hub that helps people align with mission and values, build momentum, and focus on important, non-urgent “Quadrant II” work. 

The membership includes monthly guidance and planning frameworks, exclusive training and podcast extras, member offers and early product access, private Facebook community, accountability, affiliate benefits, and monthly live events featuring guests such as Steven M.R. Covey, Olympic athletes, and bestselling authors. They also mention an upcoming 64-page Lead Your Life digital magazine, emphasize the program is for anyone (planner user or not), and invite feedback from founding members. 

---

Episode Timeline

00:35 Franklin Planner Legacy 

02:39 Why Membership Now 

03:14 Modern Challenges Today 

05:24 Vision and Community 

08:15 Membership Benefits Overview 

11:21 Events and Podcast Extras 

14:05 Principles Time Matrix 

17:50 Magazine and Resources 

19:47 Who Its For and Invite 

24:03 Feedback and Founding Members 

25:05 Wrap Up and Next Episodes 

---

Episode Transcript

George Wright III: Okay, welcome back to the Franklin Planner Podcast. My name is George Wright III. I’m your co-host here with John Harding, board member and owner at Franklin Planner. How are you doing?

John Harding: I’m doing great, George, good to be with you; this is a big day. [Laughter]

George: I know, this is. We have so many things going. We’re glad you’re listening, we’re glad that you’re, uh, with us today because we’re gonna be talking about some big stuff. In fact, we might even talk a little bit about the magazine which we…

John: We should. We should.

George: …weren’t necessarily planning to, but we will. So, let me set you up. If this is the first time you’re listening, the Franklin Planner Podcast was put together in order to help you to lead your life and really create the most intentionality out of your life and out of the planner system and everything that Franklin Planner has to offer. But we have listeners that are business owners, executives, individuals. We have a pretty long history with the company, huh? Maybe you could give a few of our listeners some—

A mindset founded on timeless principles

John: Yeah, forty years, which is amazing to think about, and over fifteen million people have been great partners and customers and experienced the power of the Franklin Planner system to do a number of things, but truly to create the best life they can. And they’re also—these are people who care deeply about their life, the people they’re with, and I think they get the concept that time moves by, and it’s what you do with it.

George: Yeah.

John: It’s the events and the people, so it’s powerful.

George: Yeah, and they’re busier than ever, right? In a totally distracted—digital, distracted world. And the Franklin Planner is an amazing tool, but it’s also founded on principles by Stephen R. Covey and some timeless principles of success, right?

John: Yeah, and think of it like this, a mindset. You know, kind of the paradigm would be—Stephen Covey doesn’t own that, but he would say, “Hey, I have discovered and put together timeless principles”— but think of a mindset, strategies, and a system or set of tools that help you really create and lead your best life. And that’s—yeah, it’s probably worth mentioning, it’s so important—the Franklin Planner mission. That is to inspire people to create their best life, but also to lead their life and to lead their families, their teams, their organizations. And what we believe, George—and I’ve seen this in in every aspect of people all over the world—there’s a leader in every one of us. There’s greatness in us, and actually brilliance.

George: Yeah. Well, that’s why I’m really excited about today, because we’ve been planning for this.

John: Yeah.

Creating a Community

George: We’re getting ready to launch a brand-new membership program, and it’s come out of necessity. And so there’s a long legacy of timeless principles and things that the company has put out there, and what we’re trying to do is help people to lead their life, but now we have additional resources that are going to be coming together because tools exist, and there are a lot of people—in fact, when I was interviewing Grant Cardone a month ago, he’s like, “I’m a big Franklin Planner user, I’ve used the planner”—but what we’re creating now is a community; it’s a movement and things that can really help you to take it to the next level.

So, let’s talk a minute about what some of the problems and challenges are that our listeners are facing in today’s world that drive them to needing more of a, um, you know, a system and some organization and clarity. You know, people are digitally distracted. They’re overwhelmed, right?

For workers and retirees alike

John: Right, there’s— I’d kind of put it in two groups. I would say people that are maybe employed and just, you know, driving initiatives; there’s kind of this productivity, effectiveness, what matters. You really have to balance your personal life and the role you have, you know, as you’re working. There’s a number of people that have also moved through a career. And, you know, they always tell me, “Hey, I’m busier than I’ve ever been.” Their life is even more meaningful. They are even busier. And so they also are faced with challenges that way: how to spend their time in a more meaningful way. But one of the key things we’ve heard from them, George, is, “Hey, what more can you do for us in the way we live our life?” And so they’ve shared with us a broader set of maybe the definition of “lead your life,” the things that matter to them.

George: Yeah.

John: What we’re going to talk about today responds directly to, straight on, “organize, lead, manage,” you know, in a hard-charging role, or with goals.

George: Yes.

John: But also other meaningful areas of your life, you know: travel, leisure, health, mental wellness, and a number of things that we really have heard from and will respond to that.

Tools to enhance your productivity

George: Big things that they need help with. And, you know, I think that whether you’re an individual that’s trying to focus on what matters most, or you’re an individual that’s focused on productivity and time, or whether you’re an individual that—you consume a lot of content but you struggle maybe sometimes to apply it in your life, like we all make those goals, resolutions, mission, vision, values, but we don’t necessarily execute because we don’t have the support.

And so the vision of why we are releasing a “Lead Your Life” Franklin Planner membership program was designed to help you bridge the gaps you might have in your life, take a tool and enhance it, but also create much more. So tell me what you feel, John, was the vision of why we’re doing this membership program. What were some of the things that we really felt it was gonna help them to do in addition, whether you have a planner or not, to be able to grow their life individually? Or as a team, right?

John: Thanks for that question. Let me mention, I’ve got here a couple of things we heard from people and then a little more on that purpose, but let me just refer to this. So: “Busy but unfulfilled.”

George: Mm, yeah.

“People want momentum”

John: So people that are not sitting around—organized, but not aligned, meaning with values. Now the Franklin Planner system, you know, really anchors on that. And then this is really a companion to that and extension. People want momentum, and they want to move, you know, just really move forward. There’s also an identity, something that we hadn’t solved that is a problem, or now, we think, an answer. They want to identify and connect with people like them, people that are intentional, people that want to succeed.

I was thinking back—I just want to mention this because you had mentioned Paul Harvey and his birthday and stuff—I remember, like as a teenager, listening on the radio to Paul Harvey. You were talking about Zig Ziglar.

George: Mm-hmm, right.

John: But I was driving along with my dad. I’m a teenager. Just a simple story he told, I started to identify with that. It came on at noon or whatever, you know, we’re driving the car. I also heard some Earl Nightingale. Just simple things, and then I also saw these executive summaries my dad had. I started to identify with that. Well, our customers are highly successful, highly motivated people—or, people who want to be.

George: Yeah.

John: So, we— There was a gap. I mean, we had this amazing group of people, and we’re gonna bring them together. There’s one other thing I’d mention, and that is to kind of build on the value of the Franklin Planner system, if you have a planner. Now, this is for, you know, a problem whether you have a planner or not, but to kind of compound the value, this membership we’re going to introduce solves a problem of just that momentum of increasing value, increasing opportunity and resources.

George: Yeah, it really does round it out because at the end of the day, you may have your planner as a productiv— you may have whatever productivity system, but in order to add community, mastermind, content, and you look at it as framework, structure, growth—people are really trying to get transformation. They want transformation. And tools will help you with your productivity, and of course these timeless principles of the Time Matrix and Productivity Pyramid and things that you can apply in your life, but we’re now helping to really round that out.

Introducing the Franklin Planner “Lead Your Life” Membership

So let’s talk about what the membership is and what’s included in it. I want to really quickly just give an outline of what’s included in the membership so people understand what’s gonna be included, but also how they can apply it. And then we’ll dig down deep into it, okay?

John: Right. Right.

George: And then we can talk a little bit about who can use this and who can use it best. So the new Franklin Planner membership, the “Lead Your Life” membership, is gonna include monthly guidance and planning frameworks. It’s gonna have exclusive content and training. It’s gonna have member-only offers and discounts. It’s also gonna have early access to products and exclusive products. Community, support, and ongoing accountability and structure. Private Facebook group, and all kinds of things we can’t really announce now. We’re gonna have some initial affiliate partnerships [00:09:00] that offer some exclusive things to our members.

But all of this is designed to, as you can tell from these benefits, bridge into areas that augment, support, fill in the gaps, and expand your ability to transform your life, right? So, let’s talk about that—and we’ve even got some live events that are coming up, right?

John: Right.

George: So there’s a lot of content that, if you have a Franklin Planner system and you’re wanting that additional— That’s one of the biggest things people are asking for, right? More, behind the scenes, extras? —what are some of the things you’re hearing from people that they really want in addition to their productivity and their system planners?

A big thank-you to our customers

John: We— And again, we thank— I mean, of our amazing customers and partners that are tuning in, we thank them for all their support over these years, suggestions, ideas. I mean, they’ve enabled us through the different cycles of business, not only to survive, right?

George: Yeah.

John: But to thrive—and think about this, I just want to mention this: We have, uh, 85 percent return customers every year.

George: That’s huge.

A hub for your priorities

John: So it’s a huge, just an impressive group of people. Think this way as I answer this question, George. Think of the Franklin Planner system and this membership, “Lead Your Life,” as kind of a hub, I don’t know, of your priorities.

George: Yep. Mm-hmm.

John: Or a life operating system. And these are the kinds of words we hear, you know. “Hey, as I’ve used this, I experienced great success. I feel joy. I feel peace. I feel mental health. I’m able to look forward. Things I thought weren’t doable, I can do. And these are the kind of things I like to do.” So as we’ve been listening to that, people have simply said, “Can you give us more? Can you give us more learning? Can you give us more,” you know, “tools? Can you give us connection?” And I just reemphasize that connection—um, and you’ll talk a little bit about how we do that—

George: Yeah.

John: It’s almost like, “Oh my gosh. We’re sorry we haven’t done that sooner.” [Laughter]

George: Yeah.

John: Because these are people that have an identity, and they seriously want to kind of seize the day and the week and spend that time with people that matter, doing what matters.

A look behind the scenes of the podcast

George: Yeah. You know, you said it when you said you listened to some audios, like we all do that, right? We have our systems and we have our productivity, but in addition to that, getting that perspective, those extra audios where we have events coming up where we’re going to bring in, um, you know, individuals that have been on the podcast—some have been on the podcast and some haven’t—where they’re gonna come in and do behind-the-scenes, you know, you know… uh, fireside chats, you might call it, maybe round tables. We’ve got Olympic athletes. We’ve got bestselling authors. We’ve got speakers. We’ve got Stephen M. R. Covey. We’ve got Bill Danko, who wrote The Millionaire Next Door, eight million copies. Ben Kjar, who released a movie. We’ve got Noel Pikus Pace, Olympic silver medalist.

I mean, these are people that, of course we like to share these [00:12:00] topics on our podcast, and we want to share that with you so that you can continue to think the right way, but we want to give you some behind-the-scenes. What do they think? What was it like? Do a little Q&A. So we’ll have a live event every single month. We have podcast extras. And it’s interesting because you’ve had this opportunity with a couple of our guests. When I say podcast extras, what do I mean by that? You know, someone comes on the podcast, we talk to them, but what are they gonna provide us with in addition to that generally?

John: Well, some great examples, you know, are things that they might not normally share that are, like, super important to them and would be super helpful for us. As you go in, you’ll see Misty Howard. She kind of combines her love for history with people like Ben Franklin and George Washington… you know, just extra research, and then resources. And these are things, in a way, we want to pay back, and these are things that are not available to everyone. But hopefully it’s easy to become a member.

George: Yeah.

A system for consistency and intentionality

John: You don’t need to have a planner. You don’t need to have been a customer. But these are all things to help you build your character, your competence, your skills, and achieve, you know, what matters most to you.

George: Yeah, ’cause that’s the reason we’re doing it, right? This isn’t about the product as much as what we’re trying to accomplish for helping people to fill in and support their life of really becoming consistent, intentional, ’cause we all have the best intentions, right? Like we set our goals, we set our resolutions. Many people, our customers, like you said, have been around—we have an 85 percent, you know, rate of return customers—but they struggle too. Like, they struggle being consistent, and they want that support and that network. But then these extra ideas, the current stuff that’s happened in the marketplace… You do a lot of, you know, interaction with big, high-level businesses. Stuff’s changed, right? And so how do you apply these timeless principles when it’s changed? You need that extra help, which is what we’re trying to do with the podcast as well, right?

Combatting the Productivity Avalanche

John: Right. Exactly. So this is “lead your life, lead your family, and lead your team.” The amazing thing—and we’ve referred to it in this magazine edition that’s coming out—is the productivity avalanche. Um, you know, Microsoft, HubSpot, others have researched that people can only go, like, five minutes before they’re interrupted. And when they’re interrupted—this isn’t a work setting, but they’re at home, they’re anywhere, because of digital technology, which has brought some awesome things, but also huge disadvantages.

George: Yeah.

John: George, this productivity [avalanche] means that people are unable to get deeper and to do really important work. The planner has been proven—writing—to activate broader neural networks.

George: Mm-hmm.

The Time Matrix

John: Enables your memory to be better, and your thinking goes deeper. It’s almost like—You know everything’s about fast, fast, fast? It’s almost like the planner slows you down enough to do what matters, to do deeper work. So I just want to mention, uh, the Time Management Matrix. People that have done the Franklin Planner system know, but if you don’t know what this means, think of this. Urgent is built into everything that’s going on with us. We’re kind of, you know, “Digital technology is this way,” but life is this way. So we’re faced with urgent, and it doesn’t care, right? It wants your attention, your phone, whatever.

George: Right. Yeah.

Important, but not urgent

John: But inside of us, when we think of our mission, our vision, our values, the people that matter, that’s important. That isn’t necessarily urgent. There are urgent situations.

George: Right. Right.

John: So this Quadrant II we write an article about— And here’s what Quadrant II is. This is where it’s important—in this upper right—and non-urgent.

George: Yeah.

John: And this membership is just a powerful, powerful set of resources to help you focus on what’s important and non-urgent so that you can achieve what matters.

George: Yes. Yes.

John: I just want to throw in a Stephen R. Covey reference.

George: Okay.

Principles, mission, and production capability

John: In The 7 Habits, you know, these timeless principles—the membership’s built on that too, just like the planner is—but what Stephen Covey taught is that the objective, kind of this Quadrant II—it’s the objective also of the membership—is to lead your life from a center of sound principles guided by clear personal mission while balancing production (the outcome of results you’re working toward) and production capability (your ability to achieve that). And it says when people focus this way— And these resources, the learning, you know, the connection we have in the membership, is seriously to further that.

George: Yeah.

John: To further that so that you’re not burned out, so that you don’t have broken relationships, so that you’re not declining in your health, and that your creativity isn’t diminished. Your memory and your health improves. So as you kind of draw a circle—

George: And all of those are the things people want.

John: Yeah.

“Develop a mindset”

George: They all want to go to that level, right? You know, you said something earlier I really liked, because the tool and the system of helping you to accomplish those things, including the teachings of the Time Matrix and Productivity Pyramid, are all critical, but you said something early on. You said it is a mindset. And how do you develop a mindset? Well, you have to— you have to immerse yourself in the community, the extras and things like that. And that’s what we’re trying to accomplish by releasing the podcast. by releasing all the resources we have, the membership program, all of these things for the planner.

The Franklin Planner: Lead Your Life Magazine

And then I guess, because I know we’re gonna be just about out of town, we should actually mention the magazine, because we have a big—timed at the same time—[00:18:00] a big release of this Franklin Planner: Lead Your Life magazine, which is a sixty-four-page, high-quality digital magazine that we’re going to be pushing out to our members, who we featured some pretty big names in there.

John: No, absolutely, and that is a great mention. That’s one of the resources in here, right?

George: Yeah. Right.

John: So think of that magazine, those interviews all around leading your life, leading your team. And this is something: we’ve had a few different experts that we’ve interviewed where performance and momentum becomes more sustainable, and where you’re resilient— you know, where the greatness that is in you comes out. But the magazine, I think, is a great resource. There’s also digital downloads. You mentioned some of those.

George: Yeah. Yeah.

John: There’s the newsletter. There are, you know, articles and research there that should enable you. I want to also mention that the greatest resource, arguably, has to be connection with one another in this—

George: Yes.

John: —where you would be able to share through the Facebook community, through surveys and questions. We’ll ask you what you’ve learned, and we hope you’ll offer it, but also hopefully each of us will be able to learn from others. I think that’s a huge— That connection, you know—

George: That’s a big one, that’s what a lot of people have been asking for.

John: Right, so it’s a unifier as well.

George: Yeah. Well, and it will allow us to interact at a level that, most times, we haven’t been able to do to support this massive global community we already have, um, and to be able to do it. So, you know, as we kind of finish our thoughts here— I know this has been a little out of our typical context of episode topics, but I believe it’s been so requested and needed that I just really wanted us to spend some time on this episode to talk through it.

How The “Lead Your Life” Membership Augments the Franklin Planner System

But before we take off, I want you to maybe speak to this idea of, you know, if people are like, “Look, I get it, but I’m struggling. Maybe I don’t have the time. Maybe,” you know, “I already [00:20:00] use a planner, I’m kind of organized, but I see all those extra benefits.” What type of, you know, challenge could we give these individuals in order to really get them to understand the powerful benefit of what we’re doing for them? Like, what would you say to individuals that are maybe thinking about this right now?

John: Oh, that’s a great question. I think to revisit your mission, and if you’ve never done that—many of our partners and customers have done it, but—think of what matters to you. Think of your mission. That’s your purpose. Or sometimes we use the word vision. They’re slightly different, but they’re in the same direction. What do you hope to have happen in your life and the roles you have?

George, I think if you sit down, you know, you get some time where you can write down and think about who matters to you, what matters to you, the kind of values—as you think about that, and then you look forward and say, “What are maybe some goals I would like to accomplish?” And we have so many stories about mission—and we have podcasts that will do more behind-the-scenes on that—that can just enable you, you know, to achieve what matters most.

“It’s indispensable”

So my invitation would be to kind of connect this additional powerful membership with the planner to what matters to you. Now, this is what I think. It’s indispensable, you know, the planner system and the power. And so I would just invite you to test it out. Test it out and experience the resources and then join the community. And you can listen or you can get involved. So that invitation is to really revisit what matters to you.

There’s nothing more motivating—and if somebody knows, I’d love to know—than people who determine what they want to do in their life, what they value, and then they succeed at that. There’s nothing like that. You know, others can help you and so on, but if you map that and then you align to that every day… You don’t get everything done, but what you do get done and where you’re heading is a place that is an incredible life, and you’re leading.

George: Yeah. It’s so amazing and, you know, even though this episode seemed to be a lot about a product, we really want to leave our listeners with the idea— I mean, at the end of the day, it’s less than the price of a movie ticket, so it’s not like we’re going out with a program that’s not something you can easily add to your life. And I’ll put some links in the show notes; you’ll have plenty of access to information. The goal of this episode was to help people to realize that we want to help you to expand your life, expand your community, much like a mastermind. We want you to feel that you have additional resources to help you get the transformation and grow and build and apply what matters most.

For anyone and everyone

John: I should also throw in, you know, if someone asks, “Well, who is this for?” This is literally for anyone—

George: Yeah.

John: —and everyone that wants to create the best life and lead their life. And you’ll see as you go to the website and the member area, there’s training in there that will walk you through the planner at a greater level, all kinds of resources. So sometimes we say, “Oh my gosh, it’s essential for leaders. It’s essential for professionals. It’s essential for people that are retired.” And that work we did on brain science is so validating. So it really is an open invitation to add this—

George: To anyone.

John: —and just leverage it for your life.

Be a part of the community

George: Yeah. And I can’t emphasize enough, one of the reasons I’m so excited about working with the company and the invitation to even be part of the podcast is we’re building one of the largest communities in the world. We have millions of planners that have been sold. One of the largest communities in the world of people that are living their life, leading their life, living with intention. And you imagine the impact and the purpose that that can drive as well.

So be part of this. Be part of that, be part of what we’re trying to accomplish. And here’s the thing, we’re at an early stage—the last thing I’ll say, and if you want to comment on this—we’re at an early stage where we want your feedback. We are going to be adding an amazing amount of, you know, benefits and features and things; we want to support at whatever level we can. We have the ability to do that.

Share feedback

So we want your feedback, and so the founding members will have some additional extras that they can be part of, but this is the best time to really help us to help you and others lead your life. I don’t know if there’s anything else you want to mention—

John: I’ll just throw in, this was designed in part—I mean, I’ll look at the camera when I say “for you,” for those that really have helped us. And this will be guided. It’s for our customers. It is their membership. And so we’ll respond, we’ll shape it, and it will increase in value and momentum. It’ll have a compounding benefit.

George: Yeah.

John: And we need your help, and we appreciate it, to shape it that way.

Stay Tuned for More

George: I love it. I love that. Well, listen, I’m gonna put some links in the show notes because things are changing at a rapid pace and real time. Obviously, you can go to FranklinPlanner.com, but we’re gonna put some resources in here ’cause we’ve got some extras. We’ve got, you know, some pen sets. We’re giving away some things when you’re part of the membership.

So at this point, I want to just say this: I wanna thank you for being with us. If you’re listening to this for the first time, make sure that you subscribe to the show so you don’t miss any episodes. And we are really excited to be able to bring— I’m gonna get you back to talk about the Time Matrix, so we’re going to go deep on that.

Um, so we have some other cool episodes coming up, some great guests. We’re gonna be talking about everything from, you know, uh, finances and wealth planning to, you know, personal development and, um, productivity, so there’s so many things coming up, but we want you to know that we appreciate you. We’re glad that you are a part of the show, you’re the reason we do this, and we hope that you will share this show. So do what you can to kinda share this message [00:26:00] and, uh, from John and myself as co-hosts. We look forward to talking with you again soon. Have a great day.

---

Thank you for joining us on this Journey to create your best life and to lead your Life and Teams. Please share this show, and we look forward to the journey we will take together. 

Check out the New Membership Program Here: https://store.franklinplanner.com/lps/membership/