Everything You Need to Know to Celebrate Planner Season
Planning to plan
Happy planner season!
This is the exciting time when our favorite brands start to release next year’s books.
From productivity to memory keeping, the uses of a physical planner are endless.
Let’s take a quick look at what makes planners fun — and which kind might serve you best. Then, I’ll share some of my favorite brands.
Productivity
This is a catch-all planner for getting things done. People get a lot of use out of these.
I have a functional, weekly planner that contains my schedule. Writing in it helps me to remember what my plans are for the week. Social events, medical appointments, and deadlines for personal projects all go in here.
In addition to my weekly planner, I keep a planner for work-only notes. This is where I list anything that’s connected to annual goals. To make it an even easier reference, I color code each item. Then, when my yearly self-evaluation comes up, I can flip through this planner to see what I accomplished.
Students and parents who are home schooling their kids can keep track of lessons and important test dates in a monthly planner.
Habit tracking
If you’re trying to establish healthier, smarter, or more productive routines, a habit tracker is an excellent tool.
Many people find that a monthly tracker works well. List a few things you’d like to do on a regular or daily basis, and then check them off each day you do them.
It’s important to not let your habit tracker become a self-shaming device. Many people write a habit like “Get 10,000 steps” and then feel defeated when they can’t check off the habit for a few days.
That’s not the point of a habit tracker.
Let your tracker be a way to see how your routines look. It can help you see where you’re struggling the most. Within a few weeks, it will be clear where you need to focus your efforts for next month.
Creative journaling
Creative journaling is an excellent form of self care. When you need a break, schedule an hour or so (in your productivity planner) to do a little creative journaling.
Your style should be your own.
Some people don’t write anything at all in their creative journals. They draw, or they color abstract areas of a page. Others use washi tapes, stickers, and more to create something that makes them smile.
If you’re not feeling artistic, you can play a game. Solo role-playing games are fun ways to let your mind wander through imaginary worlds for a little while. They often encourage journaling with specific prompts.
Speaking of prompts, you don’t need to play a game to write in your creative journal. Search for journal prompts to get started on a quick entry that will help settle your mind and renew your spirit.
Diary
Many planners and journals come with a daily section you can use to document your day.
People who use these often like to include a variety of things:
the weather
a few notes about what they did
quotes
gratitude lists
other interesting details about the day
A physical diary can be a great way to keep track of your life. It’s often fun to look back on a book years later to see what you were up to.
Mine from 2020 is particularly interesting because it contains all the things I was thinking and feeling each day as the pandemic progressed.
Remember is that a blank page is still an entry. If you can’t write in your journal every single day, that’s fine. You should never feel guilty about leaving a page empty.
A blank page is a reflection of you on that day. Maybe you were too busy or too stressed to write. The lack of an entry says all of that for you.
Memory keeping
Similar to a daily diary, journals and planners can be amazing memory keepers.
What’s the difference?
Think about all the ticket stubs and photos and cards you have. Including these in your diary or your planner can add real-life examples to your entries.
There’s something beautiful about a dried flower or a theatre ticket taped in your journal. Much later, that object will serve as your connection to a special day.
My favorite brands
I’m a Hobonichi Techo stan. This is a Japanese brand that uses high-quality paper and binding to create the perfect journaling experience.
Their books come in a variety of sizes and styles, and they have cute covers each year that you can use to personalize your planner.
Other great planners and journals include Stalogy, Jibun Techo, Midori, and more. I’ve also had fun with some of the Happy Planner releases.
As you get into the planner community, you’ll likely notice there’s a difference between what I think of as “Eastern planners” and “Western planners.”
Japanese brands and other brands from the same region tend to focus on using high-quality paper. This makes them perfect for using different styles of pens, highlighters, and pencils. I love to write with fountain pens, so this works best for me.
American brands tend to focus on cost-effective paper with eye-catching colors and uplifting quotes. Happy Planner is a great example of this. It’s my favorite of the American planners because their books aren’t bound. They use a disc format, similar to a ring binder, so they’re easy to reconfigure any way I like.
Okay, but why not digital?
Good question. The longer answer will likely be another blog post.
The short answer is that digital is fine! It’s your planner; it should be whatever makes you happy to use it.
You can use apps or websites that offer all the things I described above — just in a digital format. The only thing you won’t be able to do is paste a dried flower or ticket stub in. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a picture of your ephemera and put it in your digital journal.
In fact, many people use a combination of both electronic and physical planners. I do!
How do you “celebrate” planner season?
Planner season is all about the hype. Yep, those of us who love our stationery get pretty excited this time of the year.
It’s easy to get caught up in the fun, if you’re interested.
First, pick your favorite brand or brands.
Then see what they’re announcing right about now.
Check YouTube to see what other planner fans are using.
Join Facebook groups or other planner communities so you can share in the excitement with others.
We may still have several months until New Year’s Day, but that doesn’t mean we can’t plan for next year’s planners.
Which planner(s) do you swear by?
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