What knows all your secrets, sometimes makes you feel like scarfing an entire box of Oreos due to shame but also gets you giddy with excitement thinking about your goals?
Give up? Got an answer? Kind of annoyed that this blog post starts with a silly riddle and are imagining smashing one of those whipped cream pies in my face? (That’s cool…just make sure it’s dairy free, please!)
It’s your planner.
When you find the right system, you feel like you’re in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory and you’ve found the golden ticket.
You spend an entire day planning and you can barely go to sleep that night, because you’re so wired from your brainstorming and drafting session (not to mention the seven cups of coffee you might have guzzled during the plan-a-thon).
And, this system does help you stay on track.
You post on Instagram regularly, blog more, and even send emails to your list. YAY!
You use it consistently for three months when the inevitable happens.
Your friend (aka, a random person in a really large Facebook group that you sporadically check in with) mentions that her life has been changed by such-and-such planner and you spend the next two hours reading everything you find about that planner.
Your stomach flips with guilt when you think about cheating on your current planner that’s been helping you get more done, but you can’t help but wonder if this new planner will help you not only get more done but also drink more water and exercise more like that woman from the previously mentioned FB group.
While you fold laundry and load the dishwasher, you think about it some more.
You try to write a blog post, but this other planner invades your thoughts. You try to paint, but once again, this other planner wiggles its way to forefront of your mind.
Finally, you give in and order this other planner, gulping when you realize that the shipping costs you an additional $8.95.
You don’t get a lot done until it arrives four days later, because you figure that you can’t do much until you have your new planner. I mean…how are you supposed to plan anything without it?
This time, you spend two full days working in your new planner and you’re even more sure this is the right system for you.
Do you feel like you fall into this ‘do I have the right planner’ trap? Do you waste time researching, moving into a new planner, and planning things you’ve already planned before?
Are you the person who gets stuck in planner mode–never really moving into action mode?
Maybe you plan a whole sales funnel but never set it up? Maybe you plan out a big launch and then go with something small? Maybe you’ve got products to sell but you never do the marketing?
I want to help you pick the right system for 2018, so that you’re satisfied going into January and you don’t have to play the ‘do I have the right planner’ game throughout the entire next year.
Let’s make it one and done, shall we?
That’s why I’ve bought most of the BIG planners out there–along with some that aren’t as well-known–and am putting together a huge blog post that will compare all of these planners and help YOU figure out which one you should pick for the next year.
I’m photographing all of the planners, to show you exactly what they look like. I’m also writing up a summary, including the pros and cons and what’s included and what’s excluded within each.
I’m also creating a quiz to help you figure out which planner will be the best fit for you.
But, I need YOUR help.
I haven’t used each of the planners day in and day out. While I can flip through them and get a pretty good sense of what it would be like to use them, I would love to hear from creatives and entrepreneurs who have used them on a regular basis.
If you have used any of the planners in the list below on a regular basis, all I need you to do is leave a comment below letting me know:
1. Which planner did you use?
2. What industry are you in? What’s your job title? (This will give me a sense of what industry a particular planner might work best for. For instance, if a bunch of photographers love the same planner, that says something.)
3. What did you love about the planner? What did you dislike about the planner?
4. If there was one thing you could change about the planner, what would it be?
That’ll be a HUGE help when I’m putting together the in-depth blog post on these planners. Thank you in advance! (As a heads up, I’ll be using these comments as quotes in that blog post.)
Here’s the list of planners:
- The Desire Map Planner
- Simplified Planner
- The Day Designer
- Passion Planner
- Get to Work Book
- Daily Greatness Business Planner
- The Happy Planner
- The Happiness Planner
- Productivity Planner
- Conquer Your Year
- Daily liveWELL Planner by InkWELL Press
- Lara Casey’s Powersheets
- Melbourne Planner
- Bullet Journal
If you don’t see the planner you absolutely LOVE on the list above, please add it the comments and I might include it in the post, especially if it’s mentioned a bunch. I can’t include every planner and I’m trying to focus on the ones that I think will help creative entrepreneurs reach their goals, but I’m open to including more. Thanks!
I switch between only BuJo and using that system together with the weekly planner I made (& sell) myself.
I love cheep systems that you can use however you like, and change up or let go as you need it when life changes.
But I can’t wait to read your post April, because I do love different systems & I’m totallt the person you describe doing research about different planners! 🙂
Thanks! I love my bullet journal and the freedom it gives me…but I definitely color outside of the lines with it. 🙂
I am testing the bullet journal right now. Looking forward to the post.
Bullet journaling can be sooooooo much fun and useful. I’ve been at it for almost a year now. But, I don’t do my daily planning in it, because I don’t want to have to set it up every day. I’m currently using a Day Designer for that…but who knows after this post? 🙂
Oh, this post is for me! I’m a planner designer (and a Hokie!) and would love to submit my She Plans planners as options. I have daily, weekly and monthly bound planners as well as monthly & quarterly weekly notebook planners. You can see them on my website and I can answer any questions you may have.
Hey Ashley – Absolutely…your planners look gorgeous! If you want to submit one, just email belles@blacksburgbelle.com and we’ll give you all the information you need.
Go Hokies!
I am not into planning at all! I have tried and I do NOT feel cool about it. What works better for me is to have a big vision and then take action toward it in a way that suits my mood on any given day. I use a tracker to do it. It feels nice to update my tracker to keep a record of things I have done.
I think for types like INFP who find it tough to get into planning can benefit more from tracking their daily activities. We all have different dispositions and we should make the best use of it, not fight against it.
You know what…you have to do what’s right for YOU and if you’re not into planning, you’re not into it. And, that’s cool to. 🙂
I’m a planner whore. There. I said it.
My two all time favs have been the Erin Condren Life Planner which I used for years and Plum Paper Designs. I went with Plum Paper last year and have been very satisfied BUT as you covered perfectly above, I’m wondering if there’s something better out there!
Can’t wait to read your post!!
Hahahahahahahaha…I love it. We are what we are. I love planning and planners, too.
I almost included a Plum Paper Planner but it looked very similar to a couple others I bought, so I decided to wait to see if many people mentioned them. Nice to know we’ve got one vote! Thanks for sharing.
Can you tell me what you liked about it most?
This year I tried out the Desire Map Planner. I’m a mixed media artist. I did love that it has alot of room on each page. However, one MAJOR draw back is it’s sheer size and weight. I went with the DAILY planner (there is a weekly one, too). If you need a planner that will sit on your desk and you work on or in it – that’s perfect for you. I do have several freelance jobs and need to carry my planner with me ALOT. The daily planner is simply too big to do that. 🙁 Otherwise it’s a gorgeous planner with lots of room for journaling and drawing and lovely prompts. I especially loved the month-at-a-glance pages.
Thanks Ursula…this helps tremendously! It does seem big if you’re going to be lugging it around with you but it is really pretty. 🙂
Looking forward to the post April!
1. I use the bullet journal.
2. I’m a photographer
3. I love that the bullet journal is 100% customize-able. Since I have a day job and I feel like my business is not your typical business (which I think most people in this group of creative business owners can relate to), I felt like a lot of the planners out there didn’t quite fit what I needed. I don’t need something to plan out my hours from 9-5. I need something to plan out my hours AROUND the 9-5 day job. With the bj, I can keep track of things you can’t in a typical planner (ie. a place to put notes for my upcoming projects, etc). All of that can be in one place in my bullet journal, which means I only have to carry around ONE journal/planner for all of my planning and brainstorming.
4. I think some people might not like the bullet journal because, since it’s 100% customize-able, you have to actually do the customizing. It can take some time to write in all of your monthly/weekly/daily spreads, which some people might not enjoy or feel like they have the time for. Personally, I like this aspect. I can include EXACTLY what I need to stay organized (which changes from month to month) and it’s a stress free way for me to be creative, doodle, and have some fun, WHILE planning.
Hey April! I’ve tried MANY planners in the past, and this summer I finally decided on what REALLY works for me! I’m using a traveler’s notebook, an A5 wide with “several” inserts…I finally have a planner that not only keeps me on track but allows me to keep all the info I need in one place, satisfies my “need” to be creative with it…in short, it’s fully customizable (is that a word?)…I can add or remove inserts as I need them…decorate with die cuts, dashboards, stickers, etc., that I design and sell myself…as “they” say, I’ve finally found my “planner peace!”
Thanks Anita! I really appreciate your thoughts on a traveler’s notebook. They seem pretty popular…like bullet journals. And, a GREAT option for creatives!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sharing your thoughts on bullet journaling! I really appreciate it, Madeline. One of the reasons I love bullet journaling is the ability to keep track of things that you can’t in a typical planner. It’s probably my favorite reason. 🙂
Great Idea April
I’ve been using the Passion Planner for 3 years now (although I admit I’m always on the lookout for the “Perfect” planner.) Because as we all know it probably would look different for every person using a planner.
Anyway- the thing I enjoy the most about the Passion Planner is as follows:
1- there’s two different sizes. I us the smaller of the two (roughly 6″ X 9″) because I can slide it into my purse or bookbag with no problem.
2-there’s a generous 2-page calendar for each month. I use this for social media planning.
3- there’s a 2page spread for each week which leaves lots of room for comments and planning.
4- but my most favorite thing is at the bottom of the weekly 2-page spread is one column for a personal to-do list for the week and one column for a business to-do list. Like many here, I work from home and what i do for my family and what i do for the business are totally intertwined and equally important, and I cannot stand having to keep two separate journals. I like all my records in one place.
5- I dont really use the brainstorming tools at all. Its not my way of planning or getting inspiration, although I know it is for many. Instead, I use these pages for things I use every month.
a- a list of monthly tasks that need to absolutely be scheduled and done that month.
b- a list of everything that must be done (in order) along the way to publishing a brand new handbag pattern. This list is taped temporarily in lace on this page and moved (forwarded ) to the next month until the pattern is actually published.
c- If necessary- a list of items that must be scheduled and accomplished prior to our next trade show (or vacation). Again, this list is taped in place and forwarded if necessary to the next month.
d- and if necessary- a list of things to do (in order of priority) when I return home from a trade show or vacation.
I keep a prototype these lists on my computer and then amend it as appropriate and print it so it can be sized down and placed on these planning pages that i dont use.
In summary (i hope this isnt too long), I use my planner to plan ahead and stay organized, BUT—- its also important for me to be able to look back and see if and when I accomplished a task. If I wake up today and say to myself…. “Oh my gosh, did I send in that booth deposit?” …. I want to be able to look back and see that yes, I did in fact do so on Spet 23rd. Does that make sense and am I the only one>
SO—- with that in mind, I wish the Passion Planner also included a box in the week;ly 2-page spread where I can log important tasks like this to make is easier to look back and verify. Right now I write it in colored ink and star it, but its still can be more difficult than you’d think to find things sometimes.
Sorry for the length of this post. Looking forward to your summary! 🙂
This is soooooooo helpful, Kat! You’re the best for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment. Now I feel like I really understand the Passion Planner so much better. And, it says something that you’ve used it for three years!
Hi, April! Can’t wait to read the huge post about planners! Well, I am not the typical planner person, I mean I’m the kind of “rebel” who doesn’t always feel the urge to plan everything, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t… I usually do write down my professional plans on a regular basis and sometimes I want to track myself in terms of expenses or healthy eating or mood changes… for all the above reasons PLUS the fact that I can dedicate whole pages on my doodling or sketching my designs, I use a Bullet Journal. I like it because I am the one who defines the limits of time and space and because I can put it away for half a month without using it (when I’m on vacation mode)and I know I won’t be staring at blank pages between dates. Being a knitter and a knitwear designer, I particularly appreciate the fact that I can turn my Bullet Journal into graph paper and use it as such tomake a lace chart for me to remember if I am not at home. It’s very practical and it can look as artistic as I want it to be. So, this is my feedback, I really don’t have any answer for question #4, as I really like using my BuJo.
Yep…I love bullet journaling for many of the same reasons…except the knitting ones but I could see how that could come in handy. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts!
Honestly, I am shocked at the length of the list of organizing journals available. These daily diary methods offer nothing new or improved in the world of planners since their advent into the mainstream in the 1980s. But I think it will be really helpful if April can sift through how each is applied and presented to allow for maximum organizational support for the user making choosing a system easier. I always have to laugh at the Bullet Journal though. I can’t believe someone managed to monetize and market basic list-making. It’s brilliant. My grandmother would have a good laugh at that. I still have a few of her old books of lists from the 60s and they look exactly like Bullet Journals – my personal favorite.
I have to disagree. They offer a lot of different things and improvements. The ones from the 80s were black and white…often small with little room except to write what you’re doing at a particular time. They also included pages and pages for you to list contacts with their addresses and telephone numbers. No creativity, no place to write your top three for the day, no focus on meal prep or gratitude. And, a lot more.
I think you’ll see from the blog post that I’m putting together that these planners differ in a lot of ways. Some of them are similar–that’s definitely true. But, there are ones like the Happiness Planner that has a small space for daily to-dos and timely events and focuses much more on happiness. The Productivity Planner doesn’t offer any daily space for timely events and only focuses on prioritizing your tasks. They are quite different than anything else out there.
And, as far as bullet journaling. It’s not just marketing list making. It’s marketing an organization system that a group of people who love organization and planning can connect over. While list making has always been around and I don’t agree that he should get away with suing anyone who creates something in the list-making genre, he did something pretty genius. He took an organization system that hundreds of thousands of people connected with–not because it was this completely new thing but because it now had a name and it created a new industry within planning that people could play off of and make their own.
You see? That’s why we need your insight! I had not experienced anything about bullet journals that inspires connection. I’d love to know more about how that happens. I did used to use planners in the 80s and 90s, being a busy working mom, and they always seemed to have room for menu plans, shopping lists, even the top 3. I was able to use them for all the things you mentioned so I’m not sure why they did not function like that for some. What I did not ever find was something I developed for myself which was a journal with fold out pages with a circle representing an entire 24 hours, like pie and its sections, so I could visualize a whole day as an entity, and several pages between for the menus, the to-dos, the dreams and thoughts, etc. Journals are indeed very personal. I am very interested in seeing the differences of which I was not aware. Thank you!
Clarification: Actually, my personal favorite is a pile of individual papers with lists, , calendars, drawings, and diagrams on them, but I tend to wrap them up and it functions as a bullet journal. I don’t actually like a bound book at all. I start with the brain dump and then work it down to to-dos and then put them on the monthly calendar as deadlines and then parcel that out to one week. Then that’s the piece of paper I carry around: the distilled week’s calendar, with deadlines, and the supply and grocery shopping list on the back.
It’s like you’ve been spying on me and my flip flopping planner ways! I use an 8×11 planner that I found at Staples. It works when I work with it, but I’m always looking for better (so I can’t wait for these results).
I think I am going with the Get To Work Book for 2018, because I love the layout (after checking it out via a recommendation from a Facebook group, lol); but I am holding off the purchase because my birthday and Christmas are both very soon!
I’m definitely including the Get to Work Book…it’s already here in my house waiting for me. 🙂
This. is. awesome!!!! when I started using a planner I made my own, just a basic comp notebook that I marked my own sections in. Loved it…then I felt the push to try a created system, why? i have no clue, mine was working perfectly. EPIC FAIL! they felt too much like work! I lost my free-flow, creative planner. Since then I have gone back to my personally created planner/thinking book. I think, I plan, then I do art over the done pages! Eureka! Still looking forward to the post!
So much fun!!!!!! When you find something that works and you love, go with it.
Oh, I’m definitely a planner junkie. I’m also a knitter with an Etsy shop, a blogger, a wife & mom (I used to be a homeschool mom but the kids have both graduated & moved on,) and I work a 70 – 80 hour “part time” job during the summers. Oh, & my husband is self employed (he’s a home builder/remodler) and I help him out in the office occasionally.
It’s not on your list, but my All Time favorite calendar is the Day Timer (or that style, brand name isn’t that important.) I love the flexibility of having my calendar in a 3-ring notebook. I can add and delete & reinsert to my heart’s content. The calendars themselves come in different styles (plain to pretty) and designs. You can get (& combine) monthly, weekly, one page a day or two pages a day calendars. I used this system for about 20 years and there is Nothing I don’t like about it, except that I tend to put my entire life into it and it gets bulky then people tease me about it. 🙂
I used the Passion Planner for a while and liked it but needed more room for daily notes and it was too big to put in my purse (I had the big one.) I was also afraid I’d run out of blank note taking pages so I kept taping my own pages into it and never actually using the provided ones. Crazy!
I’ve been using the Happy Planner and really like it for the most part. I like how the days are sectioned off & I can use each section for a different part of my life. But, some parts of my life are Much busier than others, it’s a weird size so no other papers fit into it plus, it’s too big for even my over sized purse. Also, I tend to spend Way more time having fun decorating it than I do actually working my to-do list. The calendar & all it’s insertable, decorative things are fairly expensive.
In an effort to get more done & stop spending all my time & money on cute calendar stickers, I’m currently trying to use a Bullet Journal. I have a love/hate relationship with it and am fairly certain I’ll go back to the Day Timer. I do a lot of advance planning which is just too difficult with a BJ. I also don’t like the thought of having to copy all my lists into the next book when the first one fills up. Oh, & I really don’t like that the first part of a list may be on pages 32 – 33 then the next part of the list is on page 46. That drives me nuts!
I’ve also used a travelers notebook style thing which is basically a bunch of bullet journals held together. It quickly became as bulky as my Day Timer yet still had the BJ problems with advanced planning.
Oh, and I just ordered and am waiting on a Strickmich planner which is geared for knitters. I’m Super excited about it but have the feeling it’s not going to really help me much with my real to-do list, only my knitting list. We’ll see.
Wow! Typing this out has made me realize how much I miss my Day Timer and possibly why I have accomplished nothing in the last 4 or 5 years. Yikes!
Thanks so much for this! I might have to consider including something in a three-ring notebook…for the reasons you state. I’m so glad you took the time to comment and leave your thoughts. Thanks, Jeannie!
Hands down for me is my bullet journal. Other planners I’ve used I’d want to change a thing here or there and eventually stopped using it. With a bullet journal I put in there what I most use which I’ve whittled down into THE most basic setup….a brain dump and a weekly page where I pull from my Sunday even planning brain dump list session (say that 3x fast!).
For future Log I have my phone and for Collections I write on watercolored plopped pages (Ali Brown style) in my journal. Blam! There you have it. I still have a shelf full of the other planners, half filled of course, but also on the shelf are filled bujos. Planner peace. Ahhhh.
Thanks Grace! I love the end…planner peace. Isn’t that what we all want? YES!
I’ve tried many planners – and the only one I fell in love with is the Ink + Volt Planner by Ink + Volt.com. I love that the have limited edition volumes in different colors – so each year can be different, they leave plenty of space for you to do your daily and weekly schedule the way you want to. They even have bullet pages. They look fabulous on your bookshelf, because these are planners that are like journals – you’ll want to go back and see what your year was like at some point in your entrepreneurial journey. And they are the perfect size to shove in your bag so you can grab it on the go when you think of something. I could go on and on 🙂
I’ve looked into this planner. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on it! If I can get my hands on it before the post is published, I will be including it. 🙂
I’ve been a Power Sheets user for 3 years now (my 2018 sheets are coming in the mail today – so excited!), and the most important thing to know about them is that they’re actually *not* a planner in the daily/weekly calendar sense – they’re a system for goal setting and tracking, and a lot of people use them in conjunction with one of the other planners you listed (to keep track of their actual schedules).
That said, Power Sheets have literally changed my life. I went from being totally overwhelmed by all the things I wanted/needed to do, to being able to really evaluate what my priorities were and why, and having a good way to keep track of the progress I was making on my goals. At this point, I’m a little bit lost without them! And there’s really nothing about them that I’d change – Lara and the Cultivate team do a great job of reworking them a bit every year, and they just keep getting better!
Oh, and I’m a stay at home mom, and I run the administrative end of my husband’s consulting business part-time while also running my own letterpress Etsy shop – so I have a lot of different goals to keep track of!
Thanks for explaining the Powersheets! I didn’t think they were your average planner but I haven’t gone through them yet. I can feel the excitement from your comment which makes me more excited about them. Thanks again for taking the time to comment Sarah!
I’ve used both the Passion Planner and the Get to Work Book and liked them both a LOT. The issue for me with both planners was that I needed more room! I write really large letters and I also maybe, perhaps try to put too many things in one day.
I used the Get to Work Book more recently than the Passion Planner, so I’ll talk about what I’d like to change and whatnot only about the Get to Work Book. First of all, the design is stunning and I really love the way it’s bound. I like that you can lay it flat and that the cover is a hard, protective cover rather than a flimsy one that would get ruined easily. I also loved the project planning pages, which I felt helped me to start learning how to break down tasks into more actionable chunks. I think I carried the project planning aspect over to my new planner, so I am really grateful that I used the Get to Work Book while I did. The main thing that I would change about the Get to Work Book is that I would add daily pages. I did like the monthly and weekly views but without the daily pages to plan each day and write daily thoughts/notes, I felt a bit limited.
I also tried the Bullet Journal last year and loved it a lot, but when I found out about the Hobonichi planner (which is just a tad more structured than a plain Bullet Journal) I decided to make the switch. My Hobonichi is honestly my favorite planner ever. I mean, I hope I’m not swayed by your post because of new pretty planners, but I really have enjoyed using my Hobo this year and I feel like it’s the right fit for me. It’s basically a Bullet Journal, so I’d fall into the Bullet Journal user category.
The reason I really love the Bullet Journal structure more than any other planner is that it allows me to write more than just what I need to do each day. I like to write notes but when I have too many notebooks I get overwhelmed and forget where I wrote something. The fact that I can put everything in one place makes me extremely happy.
My second reason for choosing the Bullet Journal structure is that I’m able to be creative. I can add paint, stickers, washi, and use colorful pens to fill the pages. I’m not one to really enjoy planning if it feels to structured and rigid, so a Bullet Journal approach makes me feel like planning is fun.
Thanks Amanda! I hope the post doesn’t sway you either! Don’t look at it…maybe…can you even do that?!?!
Love the feedback on the Get to Work Book. I know a lot of people are interested in that one, so I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know your thoughts. You rock!
No. I can’t avoid reading your posts. On Wednesdays, I’m lingering in my inbox too long, just waiting for your lovely email to arrive each week. I can’t avoid it. 🙂
But maybe your post will reaffirm that I’ve made the right choice for me!
Honestly, I wish the Get to Work Book had worked for me. I really, really loved it but needed that extra space. If they added in the daily spreads, then I’m pretty sure that I’d switch back.
Vertical columns are my jam.
SHP Planners on Etsy are my current fav*. They are like Erin Condren, but much more affordable (and in soft watercolor colors.)
I’ve also used Plum Paper, which are okay but cost more.
I swoon for Inkwell Press, but have yet to justify the cost simply for their gorgeous color palette.
I also picked up a Happy Planner once, but just couldn’t get into the disc bound style.
*https://www.etsy.com/shop/SHPplanners
Hi April,
My faves are Kikki.k – do you have that brand in the States?
I currently use a large Ban.do planner/agenda.
There’s a lovely stationery brand on Etsy called Mossery Stationery too.
Katie x
Hi, April.
I’m a nonprofit manager by day, and run my own business as a CPA as well as trying to get my jewelry components business going on the side. Organization is critical for me. I am currently using a bullet-journal style method. For home and my two businesses, I use a Leuchtturm A5 dot journal, and I use a Staples 6×10 notebook at work. I use them both the same way, except that in my home journal, I draw in monthly calendars and habit trackers. At work I keep a month-at-a-glance calendar on my desk instead.
I like the flexibility of this method, because both at work and at home, sometimes I am so busy I barely have time to open the journal at all. Since I write in all the dates, I don’t waste any of the journal if I don’t use it on a particular day. Of course, the downside is that I have to draw in the calendars, but I’ve found that I can easily do it while watching a half-hour TV show with hubby.
I don’t like copying tasks over and over, so I’ve learned to list my tasks down the right-hand side of the page, and then I list the date on the left side of the page with any date-specific tasks. I continue to use that list until it is mostly accomplished (even if the dates spill over to the next page), and then I’ll transfer the remainder to a fresh page if I need to.
The Leuchtturm journal has two bookmarks sewn in, which is very handy if I’m tracking both daily tasks and a project at the same time. I also like the pre-printed index pages at the front of the journal, and the fact that it has a hard cover.
Best of all, the A5 size fits into most of my bags and purses, so I can carry it around with me all the time. Last week, I was able to write a 90-day action plan for both businesses while riding Metro one afternoon.
I can’t think of anything I don’t like about the Leuchtturm. The Staples notebook I use is a bit too large for my bags. On the upside, it is spiral-bound, so it is great for note-taking.
I’ll just put in a plug for the Day-Timer. I used that for years while working in public accounting and like Joanne, I loved it. It is quite flexible in that there are a number of formats available. The one that worked best for me had 3-4 lines for each hour from around 8 to 5, and then a couple lines for each the of other hours of the day. The only reason I gave it up was that if I chose a format with large enough calendar squares in the monthly calendar, it was too large to fit in my handbags, and I really need to have my planner with me pretty well all of the time.
1. Which planner did you use?
I know this isn’t exactly what you’re after, but I use Asana, and online project management system, to manage my work and my household!
2. What industry are you in? What’s your job title? (This will give me a sense of what industry a particular planner might work best for. For instance, if a bunch of photographers love the same planner, that says something.)
I’m a workshop facilitator and blogger. I teach grown-ups how to be assertive in the workplace, and how to organise their days/weeks for productivity and enjoyment.
3. What did you love about the planner? What did you dislike about the planner?
There are so many things I LOVE about Asana. I love that I can colour-code my tasks by area of respsonsibility. I love that I can have time-bound appointments, daily to-do lists, and to-do lists for each project in the same system. For me, there are two BIG advantages in using a digital system: 1) the ability to set-and-forget recurring tasks (I don’t have to notice that the toothbrushes need changing, because Asana reminds me to do it every three months), and 2) the ability to quickly re-prioritise and re-organise tasks using drag-and-drop. No more to-do list guilt when I don’t get through my entire to-do list because something unexpected came up. I can just re-prioritise! Easy.
4. If there was one thing you could change about the planner, what would it be?
Nothing really!
For the last year and a half I’ve used PowerSheets for Goal planning and Tracking. I don’t use it as a daily planner/scheduler but it does help me be intentional in making progress on my goals. The most progress I’ve made in going after my goals has been with the PowerSheets.
I’ve struggled with making goals and more importantly track my progress, evaluate, and make adjustments, the PowerSheets are hleping. Yep I’m a fan! 🙂
What I struggle with most often is scheduling my to-do’s and tasks. I’ve tried simple bullet journaling but would love to find a great calendar style planner too.
I’m a blogger and web developer.
I LOVE all things planners & productivity so I had to hop over from Instagram to share my thoughts! Can’t wait for your post.
1. I’ve been using Inkwell Press weekly planner (in the “flex” layout) for 3 years! The Daily planner from Inkwell just launched last month.
2. I’m a photographer. I’m also a homeowner, wife, and have 2 fur babies. (I think these types of things play into planner selection as well.)
3. What do I love about Inkwell Press?
What don’t I love? Although I’ve never met her, I feel like I know Tonya, the owner personally – from watching the planner set up videos, following her Instagram, listening to her podcast, and just in general using her products and her vibe of encouragement that comes with them! Inkwell’s mission is to encourage women to find their own productivity, which shows in so many things this company does. The planners are created with high quality materials and are designed beautifully yet minimally. There are colors but not over the top or feel like you’re using something made for a 4th grader. The design of the weekly planner includes the important elements (dates, monthly spread, weekly view etc) but really just leave space for you to add all the goings on of your life! I think planner peace comes from less is more. A big part of these planners is also goal setting, which I love! The daily planner is unlike any daily I’ve ever seen..most are set up with a long running list of to dos without any hierarchy or ranking of importance. Inkwell’s daily planner page is broken down into Priorities, important tasks, and other tasks, along with an hourly schedule of the day. The daily planner is undated so that you can use it when necessary, without making you feel like you didn’t accomplish anything certain days that you may not need a broken down task list for. Although I live and breathe by my weekly planner, I have been thinking about getting a daily planner to have at my desk to use on my office and task-orientated days.
The paper is thick but not too thick. Ink doesn’t bleed thru. The tabs and cover are a sturdy construction and after almost a year of use (its in my purse or camera bag daily,) it still looks great! There are notes pages in between each month and the little folder at the back is great for stashing stickers, receipts, and other pieces of paper. The hard cover bound book is great to store a pen in the coil, or to fold the book on itself when you need to make your own surface to write.
What don’t I love? I love the color orange and I was disappointed to not have an orange-ish color cover option for the planner this year in the layout I wanted. But I did get mint green with a gold foil, so it’ll be okAy!
4. What would I change? An option for an orange cover for the weekly flex planner. Other than that, I don’t think there is anything I would change!
I think it’s important to think about the difference between types of planners -daily vs weekly. I think I will use a daily planner like Simplified Planner when I have kids someday. But right now, my days aren’t packed tight with events happening every 15 Mins so a planner like that would leave me feeling unaccomplished right now, which is the exact opposite of what a planner is supposed to do! I don’t think there is a one size fits all when it comes to planners. If you feel like the planner you are using feels like “work”or a chore, it’s probably not the right planner for you. When searching for a planner definitely read blog posts from others who can offer you experience and their thoughts, and if you find yourself nodding “yes that sounds like me!” Then you probably found the right planner for you.
Sorry if this is long but feel free to ask any follow up questions. 🙂
Hey April!
I’m loving The Happy Planner these days! I am an Imaging Specialist for a jewelry wholesaler by day and a budding Etsy shop owner by night. I’m trying to manage daily tasks and short-term goals and I find The Happy Planner to be quite useful! I love the amount of space I have to write things down and they’ve made it super easy to add and remove pages. I really like some of the ideas in bullet journaling YouTube videos I have seen and I find I can implement some of those modules in my Happy Planner too. It’s also nice to not have to draw out all of your modules for the month.
I look forward to your future advice about planning! ☺️
I get my Quilters Planner next week! I’ve used it for the last three years, and while it’s incredibly niche specific, it’s EXCELLENT at what it does from tracking your projects, to general measurement conversions, to a color swatch pallate to help decide on what solids to use in your quilt. This year, it’s curated by Alison Glass (who’s kind’ve a big deal), and I can’t wait to see what patterns are in store!
The reason I bring this one up knowing you’ll most likely not get it (which is totally understandable), is because I’m AMAZED at how niche it is while also being totally usable for other, everyday things. It fascinates me, and I wonder if there are other planners like that?
Anyway, I’ve been looking at the Best Self Planner to really zero in on what direction I want to take my business in, but I’m on the fence with Planner overload. Another reason I’m looking forward to your post!
I also REALLY enjoy the Planner I use to homeschool, A Well Planned Day, I just wish it were secular. But it’s got a place for meals, errands, and each month starts off with a positive excerpt for cleaning or living in the moment that I find inspiring.
This will be a really great post – I look forward to it!
I have an Ink & Volt planner that I started 2017 off with. I like the size and heft (I’m a watercolor artist and mostly work at home). The pages are smooth and fairly thick, two things I like.
There is room for weekly goals and monthly goals and challenges and I don’t know — something about all the different boxes made me feel overwhelmed so I just quit using it.
https://inkandvolt.com
Instead I create my own planner in my Moleskin (soft cover, extra large). I draw the monthly calendar and then have a double-page spread with categories (things to make; to do at the computer; to do online; emails to send/respond to; things to do at home; errands to run). I’ve been doing this since August and mostly it works pretty well although sometimes I miss using the Ink and Volt.
I also have a Kate Spade planner I bought at B&N last year that I like, mainly because the cover is so pretty (watercolor illustrations of book shelves). 🙂
I’m an obsessive planner and I tend to overdo it and forget the actual doing of things. Anxiety follows and then I’ll start planning the next thing as a form of therapy. It’s a vicious circle, I know. Two years ago I broke it with the help of Boho Berry and her videos. Bullet Journal to the rescue! It’s the best planner I’ve had so far, giving me all the freedom to write down everything, without prompting me to overplan.
Planners! I think I’m an addict. No, really.
I’m part time as the Communications Manager for an animal hospital, and part time running my art business Household Art, so I have to keep track of two entirely separate businesses as well as my personal life.
This is my second yearusing the Get to Work Book. I really, really like it. I like that it’s a weekly spread, that it has sturdy covers and a book band to keep it closed in my bag, and that it lays flat on my desk. I like the design of the pages and the way the weekly and daily priorities are laid out on each weekl spread. I really need that weekly view, because I tend to goal set and think in weekly increments. That being said, I can see the appeal of the daily spread as well.
I like that the design is simple and gets out of your way. I stamp and washi and sticker to organize and beautify. The look of a planner is super important to me. If I don’t like the look, I don’t find myself using it.
What would I change? I would actually make it a bit bigger. I do totally fill the columns when I’m writing. I’m also having my head a bit turned by something like the day designer, with a ton more room and daily layouts. But I’d still need the weekly one too.
Can’t wait to read your blog!
I’m glad you are doing a blog post on this. I’m an artist and Qigong healer and have been using an online calendar and Todoist on my desktop. But I need to make a change because my entire online calendar (from years and years) was deleted and I can’t recover it. I feel I need to go back to paper. One question I have, is when you use a planner, do you also have a calendar or lists on your computer or do you just use the planner? Thanks!
Wow, I feel like such a bad little planner girl!! I don’t even know half of these planners! Eeep! I teach planning classes but I guess I don’t necessarily need to know every planner for the things I teach. As of last weekend I can now add motivational speaker to my CV 😀
And the only ones on here that I have even used are the happy planner (and I just decided to swap that out for my brand spankin’ new Erin Condren Life Planner!! I just met her this past weekend at plannercon europe!!) and my bullet journal. It’s not a ‘real’ bullet journal though, I’ve been using a similar system for years. It’s my own system that I kind of fell into and it’s really similar to bullet journalling.
I use a bunch of planners for different things, my bullet journal is to track things (books read, seasonal or monthly goals etc), my Commit30 (very similar to the Get to Work book, I think) is amazing at keeping my day to day life organised, my new ECLP will replace my Happy planner as my social media planner and I’ve got a Kikki-K as my Christmas planner.
I love all these planners for different reasons, Commit30 is so versatile, and it not only keeps me organised but also keeps my goals and projects on track. The only thing I would change is the colour. The happy planner is nice, I like the room to write and fun designs, and the disk binding, but it’s far from my unicorn planner. Let’s see if the ECLP will be better. My bullet journal has been tweaked over the years and I use it in ways that I love/need and the way that I want it to work at the moment. I love that I can change it up when ever I need.
Hobonichi. Best planner ever. Can BuJo it, can keep it structured, has every feature for every style.
I used the Conquer your Year planner but didn’t like it. It had very little space for writing the to-do’s, and a lot of space for reflection and questions. I stopped using it and went back to Trello for things I want to get off my mind and notebooks for the rest. Next year, I’m going to try The Freedom Planner or cultivatewhatmatters.com
I’ve tried….
Happy Planner from Me & My Big Ideas
– This so far is my favorite. It’s colorful, has cute quotes, has pretty decent sized squares, and has a few options to choose from. Best of all it’s super reasonably priced.
Erin Condren’s planner
– This is super cute, and has a bunch of different options, but I didn’t feel like it was different enough from the Happy Planner to warrant the expense.
Bullet Journal
– I love this, but I don’t use it completely like a bullet journal. I love planning with it, just not my daily minutiae. Weekly overview, yes. Long range schemes, yes. But nothing like to-do lists. I kind of do my own thing hahahaha.
1. Which planner did you use?
Day Designer to keep on my desk & Bullet Journal in a Traveler’s Journal planner that I carry with me.
2. What industry are you in? What’s your job title?
I am an IC working as a transcriptionist.
3. What did you love about the planner? What did you dislike about the planner?
The Day Designer is great because it is daily and is large enough to handle my often messy handwriting or all the notes I want to jot down as I’m working. I like that it’s spiral because it stays open on my desk. But it is too big to carry around.
The smaller personal sized traveler’s type planner I use is great because I can carry it around. It is a mix of a resource and all of the schedules for my family so at any time I know where everyone has to be.
4. If there was one thing you could change about the planner, what would it be?
I wouldn’t. I don’t need to carry all my work info with me when I run my errands so I don’t mind keeping that on my desk.
I could keep all of my bullet journal info in a phone app but I prefer writing and referring to a paper planner.
hi, April 🙂 Thank you for bringing up this subject! here my answers:
1.Which planner did you use?
I was tempted to get the Desire Map but I finally didn’t. I’m using BuJo for half a year and I’m loving it. Works perfectly for me.
2. What industry are you in? What’s your job title?
I’m the owner and Managing Director of a Ceramic Hub in Barcelona (Spain). (eltornbarcelona.com) and I’m a ceramic jeweler designer.
3. What did you love about the planner? What did you dislike about the planner?
I love the flexibility and having all in the same notebook: planners; to-do lists; wish lists; agenda… I like to handle my 2 businesses with the same tool. Before it, I had one agenda for Elton and another for my jewelry business.. inefficient…
But I’m not a bujo purist – I don’t handwrite the calendars… I print and glue them on the folios… and I don’t use it as a private journal.
4. If there was one thing you could change about the planner, what would it be?
Basically, I love it. Nothing to add.
Un abrazo! Paula
This is a great post! these planners are awesome.