Get ready! There is a LOT going on in this entry – we’re talking about planners, different kinds, how different folks use them, and we’re giving away some, too. Woo hoo!
I am constantly working on becoming better organized, and have tried many planners over the years.
When I worked in an office in Manhattan, I had a MomAgenda, which had space for me and for the rest of the family on each weekly page. I liked it a lot, but at the time I hadn’t made my calendars digital yet, so carrying a book to and from my workplace made sense. Now that most of my scheduling is managed on multiple Google calendars*, the book planners haven’t held much appeal.
Then I found the Passion Planner, and bought one as a holiday gift for a friend who is pursuing her MFA and wanted to focus more of her schedule on her creative time. She loved hers, and I bought myself one, too, based on her recommendation.
Oh, is the Passion Planner nice. It focuses your attention on your short term and long term goals, and gives you space to plan, celebrate, and create. You can see sample pages on their site and try them out if you wish.
But the sample pages had some things that worked, and some things that didn’t. I wasn’t really using the calendar part and thought maybe a different solution would work better.
When I went on Twitter to ask about planners, well, I hopped into a mighty, mighty community of planning fans. Did you know there’s a whole culture devoted to planners, identifying which is best for you, how to use them, how to decorate them – it’s pretty spiffy. Roni Loren did a whole post about her search for the perfect planner, and she’s not alone in that hunt.
I learned a lot about which planners different people use, and how they use them, and I thought you might like to check out some of the recommendations. PLUS, I have five planners to give away, courtesy of the lovely people who spoke with me about their planner love. Ready? Prepare to feel inspired, and a little in awe.
Tasha L. Harrison, whose latest book is Having It Both Ways, told me she loves her Passion Planner:
Before I bought the Passion Planner, I was dedicated to Bullet Journaling. Bujo is, what I like to call, a fancy form of listing WHICH I LOVE, but it didn’t really help me get anything done. I just had a journal full of lists.
The Passion Planner was that PLUS goal setting which is what I really needed. The goal-setting exercise in the first pages of the planner gave me the framework that let me write out those big goals I have for the future as well as focus on things I want to do 12 months, six months and three months out.
At the end of every month there are reflection questions designed to make you look back on your progress and measure it against your goals. I’m actually looking forward to answering those and reassessing the goals I set for myself.
In case you haven’t caught the hint, my Passion Planner is my favorite thing right now. It makes my life work.
Tasha and I are both giving away a Passion Planner in the comments here. Woo!
I have a Limited Edition Twilight Blue compact 2016 Passion Planner (which is now sold out and unavailable through their site). I can hear you saying, “But, it’s mid-February!” I know – there will be some extra pages in the beginning. But you can use them as testing areas for trying out the planner if you win it, and I’ll send some SBTB stickers so you can decorate.
Tasha is also giving away a Passion Planner, too. So we have two to offer!
But wait, there are OTHER PLANNERS.
SO MANY PLANNERS.
Courtney Milan told me on Twitter that she’s also been using a Passion Planner, and has been using Bullet Journal as well. As she put it, “I have been trying everything to…be, um, slightly organized.”
She’s giving away a Mochi Things 2016 Smiley Scheduler, which is holy cow adorable.
Also: please be careful with the Mochi Things website. It’s unholy addictive.
Seriously.
Be careful.
Really.
If your weakness for things to put other things in and organize them while also increasing the number of vivid and happy colors in your immediate vicinity by 33% or more is as powerful as mine, well, like I said. Be careful.
Amanda also did a search for a perfect planner at about the same time I did, and was similarly overwhelmed by all the options. But I have to say, her solution is pretty spiffy:
After Googling and looking at a million different Best Planner lists, I stumbled across Erin Condren’s LifePlanner. I wanted something colorful that made it fun to use and look at.
I loved the customization because having items (even if they’re just planners) that reflect my personality are important to me. I cannot speak highly enough how cool this planner is. It’s bulky, but surprisingly lightweight. And tabs!! God bless month tabs.
Upon checkout, you’re able to select how you want your daily pages organized – vertically vs horizontally, though I will say that the vertical option cuts your days off at around 7pm.
There’s also a big monthly calendar at the start of each month with plenty of room to write. The LifePlanner integrates some of the Passion Planner features, like a place to write your goals at the start of the planner. There’s also room to make lists in the margins on the daily sheets. I was impressed with the amount of room and once again, the customization. The planner even comes with a pocket for holding documents and a zippered plastic pouch to hold sheets of stickers or post its or whatever else you want.
For me, fifty bucks was a little steep in price, but I think it was worth it. Plus, Erin Condren offers a ton of accessories.
Lorelie Brown also shared her planning with me, and wow, is it colorful and creative and tempting.
I have a Carpe Diem planner from Simple Stories. I liked the flexibility of it coming unnumbered. This way if I skip a day or a week, I just start up again with the next appropriate date. There’s no crushing disappointment of staring at empty dates.
Beyond that, I liked the horizontal design, because hour by hour blocks leave me feeling too rigid. I also just like the aesthetics.
Mine’s the “platinum,” which means it’s super shiny and pretty!
I use an assortment of washi & stickers, sourced from different places. Some from the dollar bin at Target! But my absolute favorite thing is ordering “sample cards” from Etsy. I get 20 or so inches of three different designs for only about a buck!
Other than that, I think I may use planners in a reverse way of most people. I use washi tape to decorate and to mark important days on the month in two-page calendar.
On the week-in-two-page section, I use an edge of washi tape to mark out my big goal for the day. But the rest of it I fill in after the fact. I primarily use it to track health goals and writing. How many pages I wrote, how many steps I took, whether I tracked my food 100%. I already know what I *want* out of myself every day. The planner helps me figure out if I’m achieving it.
I was confused about the “sample cards” until Lorelie sent me pictures. Prepare ye for colorful envy.
I had no idea what Washi tape was, but now that I know, well, there’s no going back.
Lorelie says, “[This is] how I do my weekly set up. (I know, it’s not super coordinated but I like bright stuff.)”
Lorelie: “And [this is] how my monthly pages end up looking.”
That’s seriously cool.
Lorelie, whose latest book is Ahead of the Heat, is also giving away a planner – a Carpe Diem A5 planner, color to be decided based on in-stock inventory. Very cool!
As for me and my planner search, it continues. My for-now solution was not so glamorous, as I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do. I repurposed an old spiral bound notebook using Redi Tab sticky notes to create tabbed sections.
I really, really liked the emphasis of the Passion Planner on celebrating and writing down good stuff that happened, and immediate and long term focus goals. But like I said, my calendars are all digital, and I felt badly that a large expanse of the PDF page meant for daily scheduling wasn’t being used.
So I created four sections: Good, Healthy, Creative, and Work.
“Good” is where I write down good things that happen each day, because the small box on my sample Passion Planner pages where I was invited to record “Good Things that Happened” really made me happy each week.
“Healthy” is where I track my workouts, my training program, and how I’m physically feeling. “Creative” is where I sketch or write down any activity or idea that isn’t associated with the website (this one), and “Work” is, well, work ideas that are associated with the site (this one right here). I’ve only been using it for a week, but so far, so good.
*NB: I’m focusing on print planners for this entry, but if you’d be interested in how I manage work, home, food/menu, health, etc, on my Google calendars, I can do a separate entry about that, too. Just say the word using the mini survey below.
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That said, the beautiful planners above, plus all the COOL TAPE OH MY GOSH HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS, are seriously tempting.
So I’m really excited that we’re giving some away!
Prizes:
ETA: We have winners!
- Limited Edition Twilight Blue 2016 Compact Passion Planner – Won by Linda!
- A Passion Planner, style TBA, courtesy of Tasha L. Harrison – Won by DL White!
- A Mochi Things 2016 Smiley Scheduler, courtesy of Courtney Milan – Won by Kate!
- An Erin Condren’s LifePlanner – Won by Amy!
- A Carpe Diem planner from Simple Stories, courtesy of Lorelie Brown – Won by Toni!
Thank you for offering planners, ladies!
All you have to do is leave a comment below, and share a wish or a tip you have for getting and staying organized. Sometimes it seems impossible, so maybe you have an area you wish were more structured. Sometimes there’s one thing you do really well that really works for you. Either way, I would love to hear your wishes and/or tips for organization!
Standard disclaimers apply: I’m not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and ready to plan, plot, and possibly prance through your organization. It’s possible that I can’t believe the stuff that is not I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is not I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. And I can’t believe that both I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and the stuff that I can’t believe is not I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter are both, in fact, not butter. They both might be butter in a cunning disguise. And, in fact, there may be a lot more butter around than we all thought there was. Comments will close at or close to noon eastern on Friday 19 February 2016. Winners will be selected by random drawing and will be announced shortly thereafter.
Good luck and happy planning!
I need to improve at keeping track of the little household tasks that need to be done. It’s easy to plan and keep track of the big stuff, but remembering to clean the kids’ bathroom before it gets disgusting is a challenge.
I love making lists–the first thing I usually write is “make a list” so I get some instant gratification. 🙂 The thing I like is that crossing things off gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and a way to see how much I have done. There’s just something about having everything nicely written out (I love the washi tape samples!) that makes me feel calmer and that I have a handle on things. So far I’ve been using Paperblanks planners because they’re pretty, and I like the idea of decorating the inside. I also use aNote on my phone, so I’m sort of straddling the two worlds. I like having the paper one because I can go back to whatever year and find out when something happened. Thanks for this cool post and giveaway!!
My wish is to make progress on my goals. My really good at setting them, but lack in the tracking (and sometimes the follow through) area. What I’ve found helpful is color coding, though not in washi tape. I tend to just use highlighters, which seems boring now…
I spend time at end of the year entering all the “givens” at once so those are in. I also keep a page at the back to “collect” entries throughout the year to be ready for next year.
List, lists and lists again usually on google keep with regular reminders.
If I own a printed calendar (not recently), then I use it for personal, diary-like entries rather than planning… And I let my friends scribble in occasionally too 🙂
I would love to be able to plan out my day better to stay motivated! When I have lists and a timed schedule I actually manage to get things done!
Oooh PLANNERS! SO important. My planners are essentially horcruxes. I think I started when I was about eleven and the planners from my high school years are really more like scrapbooks. So my advice is to fill your planner with lovely things, not just stickers but also quotes from the books you’re reading and the music you’re listening to and even just what your friends are saying. The lovelier it gets the more you really WILL use it – for all the boring stuff, as well. Awesome post! I’ve been eyeing those Passion Planners…
I’ve learned to have redundancy built in. My husband and I are both disabled, both writers, and I’m working on my PhD. So there’s a lot of stuff to keep track of. I use a big paper planner I got from Target (I love it, it has a page each week for goals, ppl to call/email, and a spot for like a weekly affirmation, perject), which goes everywhere with me. All entries then get put in Google calendars, which synch with my husband’s computer and phone. So everything is always in multiple spots, and that helps us to keep track of not only appointments, but weeks where there are big deadlines, so we can anticipate what we’ll need to do to accommodate the work required, etc. Some people hate redundancy, they want a single command centre, but this has worked well for us, using tech as the paper backup, and it lets my husband’s phone be his reminder, not me!
I am a complete failure at switching to a digital planner because I never remember to look at it. I am really a pen and paper person. I really love the sound of one of the Passion Planners, one that would fit in my purse, please. Gosh, I would really love to win this one. I would really love to plan, rather than drift.
I loved this post! For the past ten years, I have been using paper planners but I’m always in search of the perfect one. I have used At-A-Glance, Exacompta, and others, but I haven’t found one with space for hour-by-hour appointments, To-Do lists, and notes. I like to see my whole week in one glance because I plan in weeks. I prefer this over a day on a page where I have to constantly flip back and forth. You’ve given me many more options to go and try. I have had the Passion Planner recommended to me by many people and I downloaded the sample pages and I’m in love. Thank you for this great post.
I love planners and would love to win one – but at the moment, what ‘s helping me most with my organization is Habitica (www.habitica.com), a site that basically turns your to-do list into an online game, where you win gold coins to outfit your avatar, etc, by getting important real-life stuff done. It REALLY helps!
I wish that I could remember to use the planner I already have, instead of making lists on random pieces of paper that I lose.
I think setting the time aside to set goals and track them is key. Everyone at work thinks it’s hilarious that I’m our web & social media guru and I keep a paper planner but it is the only way I can keep on task.
This is a great topic and one I’ve been known to *ahem* obsess about. Last year, I was an Erin Condren girl, and while I loved it aesthetically, I found that it wasn’t working for me productively. This year, I’ve made the switch to a traveler’s notebook thanks to the suggestion of a friend. It allows me to customize 100% of what goes in it, so I can have a book for wellness, budgeting, plot bunnies, planning, goals, etc. And the fact that I can either buy these pre-made or design my own was what really sealed the deal.
I love reading about and shopping for planners. A few weeks ago I bought a cloth notebook cover for Midori traveler-size inserts. The pages are undated with a week on one side of the page and room for notes opposite. I have yet to use the planner however! I looked into the undated Passion planner but decided against it for some reason…
I plan things out, but I’ve never used a planner on a systematic basis.
Ohh that reminds me! I need to write down my doc’s appointment!
I am not a fan of my calendear, it is tiny. Tiny is not good. SO my tip is not to have a tiny one
I would not recommend anyone emulate me…I am not by nature good at this. But asa middle aged working mom, with multiple offices (Ia m an itinerant school psychologist) I use cheap planners from the university bookstore…and add lot of long lined post its to give me more room.
I push stuff off my phone and keep them in a TBR folder that I go through at certain times during the week. It really helps me save time whether I’m formatting photos or reading saved articles of interest. Then I’ll move them to a respective folder if I choose to keep them. It also clears the clutter from my phone.
I miss the days where I used what we’d call a chron book at work. Really am looking to get back into using planners, so this is a great post. Thank you. Good luck everyone!
I used to keep more of a planner/lists and a journal (somewhat more like Lorelie does, tracking certain things, rather than writing down what I was shooting for). In the last couple years, we’ve moved to electronic calendars for the keeping track of events, but I haven’t really replaced the planning/journaling function–love seeing all these different options, and it’s making me more excited to get back on track!
I tend to write a LOT of “To Do” lists to keep myself organised. I have the “Out of Milk” app on my phone, that I can use as both a digital shopping list and a “To Do” list and I love crossing things off the list once they’re done.
I also make reading lists for each upcoming month, to give myself an idea of what I can look forward to on the book front.
It’s been nice to get back to paper and pen planning. I love making lists and checking things off, so I looked into bullet journaling. It was almost what I needed. I really need to future plan, which isn’t the goal of BuJo per se. I have found peace in doing my BuJo in my Erin Condren planner. I use the monthly for all my appointments. The weekly is my daily to do lists. I have it divided into general, Girl Scouts, and cleaning. I use the open list on the left page for to dos without a due date. This has been a sanity saver since I upped my volunteering for kid things this year. I’m totally in love and I gush about it all the time. It might be getting a tad tiresome for those around me.
I’m long on ambition but, where organising myself is concerned, tend to fall apart about midway through because I overestimate my capacity to remember things. It sounds terrible, but pretty much I need to doubt myself more and write things down RIGHT AWAY, or else I will forget them. I know this, and yet I still…forget.
But the last couple of years I’ve had a Legami planner, which has the week on one leaf and space for notes on the facing leaf. This gives me space to make notes–and tells me when all the local holidays are, which is extremely helpful since the stores here (including grocery, gaaah) all close on public holidays. (Luckily there are restauarants that don’t, otherwise I’d have had a few very hungry days.)
I use several different Google calendars mostly for events that are planned ahead, are shared with someone or are recurring. I use a bullet journal for daily planning, task management, notes and doodles. But I am always on the lookout for different systems.
I’m on a continued quest to find the perfect way to be better organized (which I strongly suspect is tied to a slight addiction to office supplies …)
I like the *idea* of digital organization (and am fond of OmniFocus as a great means of keeping track of my todos), but when push comes to shove a **written** todo list always works better for me. I find an electronic one easy to ignore :).
A written todo list, and identifying 3 things each day that MUST get done, works pretty well.
These planners are SO cute!
My current organizational system involves Google calendars, wall calendars, Excel spreadsheets, sparkly-pen-and-paper to-do lists, post-it notes, and long lists on my whiteboard. My organization is so much more effective when I color-code and decorate! One of these planners would be a dream come true 🙂
I tend to make lists and use paper for tracking everything so I’m always looking for a better planner
So have just gone back to a Franklin Planner after years of relying on electronic calendars and task management systems because everyone is using a different system. I needed one spot to put everything that would also allow me to easily manage various competing tasks on one calendar for me. This also came about after info I needed on a shared calendar was deleted by somone else. So 1 master calendar for me, a task list for all of my many hats that I control.
Paper for the win!! Love planners, from the old Franklin Covey days (dating myself here) to a pretty Kate Spade. I use them, some days/months more successfully than others, and give them as gifts. And thanks for the Washi tape sample card tip!!
I turn my planner into a daily to-do list. It’s not the best strategy in the world, but it makes all the various tasks that I have to complete seem a little more manageable…
I can barely manage very basic planner-skills. For example. My great new organizational tactic this year is a sheet of notebook paper taped over my desk with the rest of the year marked down week by week where I write down all the big deadlines/travel events. This is just so that I stare at them every day and don’t get sidelined.
I used to use the Franklin Planning system (pre-internet) and have successfully transitioned my work deadlines to Outlook. BUT, I still have trouble tracking my non-work deadlines and goals (and books to read/have read!). These look like some great options!
I write everything down, because my brain isn’t as lively as it used to be. I use the back of my page-a-day calendar pages for big notes, sticky notes for book titles and where I spent cash. So Yes, I need a better system!
I love paper planners. I keep appointments digitally, but track goal progress and ideas on paper. I’ve been interested in the Passion planner for a long time, but currently use a Plum Paper planner. (I even teach a planning for authors class at Savvy authors…that’s how obsessive I am!)
This is a great post! I’m glad to see I’m not the only one that has spent crazy amounts of time researching the perfect planner. My tip for getting organized may be a simple one, but it has helped me a lot: use colorful pens! I have a colored pen for each type of thing I could have in my planner. I have assignments (I’m a student), appointments and interviews, and fun plans all in different colors so I can see it quickly! Also, using the fun pens makes me happy as well, I’m also a pen aficionado. Happy planning!
I tend to have a LOT going on, so I need the Daily/Weekly Planners, instead of the Weekly/Monthly ones. They help me get everything in for each day with enough detail to know what I’m talking about.
I always want to be more organized. I can usually maintain it for a little while and then eventually it just doesn’t happen and several months later I’m left going ‘I swear there was something that day, but it’s not on my google calendar. Uh oh.’ So, I suppose my wish is that if the planner is fun or pretty or enjoyable enough, I’ll actually use it and keep doing so.
If nothing else, it would certainly be a good place to keep track of what I’ve read and what I thought about it.
Thank you! I’ve been extending my planner search online as WA (Aust), is slim on options, but the online option doesn’t allow you to page through and “feel” the way it works. Opinions like those above are great.
Currently I have all my appointments (personal and family) entered on my phone with a reminder alert. Then I create my own calendar print out so everyone else can remember when they are. I miss having an actual planner but haven’t found “the one”.
(Am off online to check out all the planners mentioned.)
I’ve used Erin Condren, and iBloom. I’m going to try Passion Planner soon. #plannergeekchic
When I was writing my dissertation I organized my to do lists on post it notes. Each task, one note. that way when I was done I could litters crimple it and throw it away! I also found it helped to be able to rearrange my post it notes since my priorities and deadlines changed in the whim of my adviser. It looked crazy, but was a lifesaver.
I use the Get to Work Book and I like it a lot! It has pages for big projects, so that is wonderful