How To Pick The Best Planner For YOU

photo by Whitney Ott

When it comes to shopping for any product we are faced with an overwhelming amount of options. Choosing a planner is no different. The world of stationery, planners, and organizational tools is a huge market and there is no shortage of experts out there telling you why their specific organizational techniques are the best. Everyone seems to have it figured out with their particular planner and if you simply follow their planner’s structure and prompts you too will achieve your biggest productivity dreams!

At least, until 3 months into your planner and you completely lose interest, can’t keep up with the rigid prompts, or to put it simply….you just don’t have the motivation to use the planner anymore.

We feel you.

One of the biggest motivations behind creating our best selling planners is the sense that maybe western society is putting too much emphasis on productivity over creativity and growth. We wanted a planner that functioned as a supportive tool to get things done, while also acting as a journal for one’s personal development. The creative process is human, which means it is nonlinear and includes all facets of one’s life. 

Our dated and open dated planners include check ins for one’s mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. While you write out your tasks for the week you can also be sure to pause and check in with what your ultimate intention is for that week. It’s easy to get lost in thinking that life is all about our endless todo list, but when we are asked to pause and contemplate our motivation it can alter the way we operate in the world. Setting an intention for your week, month, or year can shape your perspective in a way that affects your whole life, whether it’s in the way you accomplish daily tasks, the types of projects you choose to focus on, the people and missions you decide to work with, etc. 

Another important piece to our process of designing a planner is that it must be one of the following: sustainable, recyclable, and/or compostable. We have been working with the same family run printer based in the US for the last 7 years, and what makes this particular manufacturer unique is that often times they are using paper that would otherwise be discarded by the paper mills. While they are able to acquire this paper at a slight discount they are also salvaging what would otherwise be wasted. We also like to keep our covers plastic free which means they do not come with a glossy coating so that they can be recycled or composted after you're finished. We find that plastic covers are truly unnecessary waste (not to mention never biodegrades) and our planners can withstand a year of heavy use just fine without it. 

If you are someone that needs to have their year plotted out with dates and holidays listed throughout then our dated planners are for you. If you prefer to have more flexibility and hate to “waste” a planner after taking long breaks from using yours then the open dated planners are the best choice. With open dated planners you can write the dates in as you go so you’ll never skip a beat and know that you’re making the most use of your book. Open dated planners are available year round, while our dated planners are released twice a year on a limited run basis.

We also have our ‘Today Planner’ which simply allows you to focus on your tasks at hand for the day with a place to write in your top focus and an extra note page for when your todo list has become a little extra.

To find out when we'll be releasing our limited release dated planners be sure to sign up for our newsletter!

To learn more about our planner features check out the planner guide.