Do you use a planner or journal?
Planners and journals are so much more than just a diary. They often include pages and layouts for goals, checklists, daily planning. Enabling you to organise your day, your work and your life.
Even though I’m technically minded, I love the organic nature of using pen and paper for my appointments, task lists, goals and notes.
You engaged your brain more when you write things down. You’re more committed and inspired. You gain satisfaction from filling in and ticking things off as you complete tasks.
When you use it every day, you’re reminded of your goals, actions and achievements.
Planners and Journals include pages for:
- Daily/Weekly/Monthly Plans – for your to-do lists, tasks, goals and objectives.
- Monthly Planner – month at a view and planning ahead.
- Year Planner – year at a view.
- Goals and Objectives for 90 days/12 months.
- Gratitude/Achievement – track your progress, focus on the positive.
- Habit tracker – to build new habits on a daily basis.
- Activity checklists – for both personal and business goals.
- Inspiring and motivating quotes.
They’re a great way to help you develop good habits. Now’s the perfect time to start thinking of planning out the next year or start using one now.
They vary in style and layout, so find one that works for you. Here are a few I’ve found that I’d recommend:
The Bullet Journal
I love this format. Use a plain notebook or buy their recommendation. Adapt and personalise it to your daily needs. Include whatever you want without the restriction of a pre-printed format that might not suit the way you work. Although it takes a little longer to create each page – keep it simple.
The BulletJournal site gives you a template and basic structure to get you started – then get creative! Take a look at the many YouTube videos on how to set up your bullet journal. Get inspired by the variety of uses and styles from enthusiastic bullet-journallers.
- Index
- Future Log
- Monthly Log
- Daily Log
Add checklists, tracking, review, planning pages to suit your style, the way you work and what you want to journal.
Daily Greatness Journal
A pre-printed page-a-day diary, for appointments, reminders, intentions and learnings. Includes colourful pages for goal setting, regular weekly and quarterly check-ins with extra pages for inspiration, life lessons and self-awareness. Undated so you can start using it at any time of the year. A bulky 464 pages – £39.95
Comes in six different variations: Daily Greatness; Wellness; Parents; Business; Training (12 weeks); Yoga. Each with a different selection of pages related to the topic but including daily, weekly and quarterly planners.
Inside:
- Day To A View Planner
- Comprehensive Goal Planning System
- Gratitude Journal
- Weekly, Quarterly and Yearly Check-Ins
- Weekly & Quarterly Goal Planners
- Inspirational Quotes
- Appointment Planner
- Soul Clarity Worksheets
- Prompts and Reminders for Staying on Track
- Undated, so you can start anytime
Minerva M Planning Notebook
Designed for women business owners. Weekly, monthly and yearly layouts with inspiration and motivational quotes on every page. Goal planning vision pages, checklists, detailed goal and mini goal pages.
This isn’t a page-a-day dairy, which can be too much if you don’t have that much you need or want to note down on a daily basis. It provides plenty of space for daily planning to keep you focused and ontrack. A mix of blank, lined and grid pages for notes, ideas and brainstorming. 192 pages – £19.97
Inside:
- Year planning spreads (4)
- Month planning spreads (12)
- Week planning spreads (4)
- Detailed SMART Goal Setting spreads (3)
- Mini SMART goal setting pages (4)
- Brainstorm spreads (6)
- Strategy map spreads (4)
- Sales Funnel Spreads (4)
- Goal setting / vision board pages (4)
- Full width to do/check list pages (6)
- Half Width to do/check list pages (2)
- Half width todo + half width notes pages (4)
- Blank note pages (42)
- Lined note pages (28)
- Blank/lined spreads (4)
- Grid note pages (8)
Best Self Journal
Pre-printed pages with daily appointments and space for notes on one side, with goals, planning and daily review on the other. Sections and pages for goal setting, weekly review and habit tracking. Blank pages for notes and ideas.
A ‘light’ layout that’s not too restrictive. This format covers 12 weeks/3 months rather than a whole year at a time, so you’ll need four for a year. £26.00 as a one-off purchase or 10% off for an annual subscription.
Inside:
- 13 Week Roadmap
- Daily Planner Pages
- Gratitude Journal
- Daily Quotes
- Weekly Reflection and Habit Tracking
- Month to a View
- Freedom Pages – blank
- Undated, so you can start anytime
Trigg Life Mapper
I like the layout of this one. It appeals to my love of the outdoors and in particular walking and map-reading. A pre-printed page-a-day diary and productivity planner.
Pages for habit tracking, weekly planning and review, mindfulness and reflection with a useful priority quad to avoid wasting time on unimportant activity. Annual goal-setting and six month review. Approx 200 pages – £18.00
- ‘Annual Forecast’ section to outline your key targets
- ‘Personal Manifesto’ to visualise and amplify your core desires and behaviour
- Weekly planner page to verbalise the most important aims before your week starts
- Daily productivity quad to compartmentalise the urgent, long term vital from the irrelevant
- Weekly gratitude section to ensure you value and revel in the week’s highlights
- Weekly reflection section to ensure you learn and evolve from all successes AND failures
- Daily inspirational quote themed around productivity, mindfulness, habit or gratitude
- Weekly ‘call to action’ that ensures you check in with your dreams and progress
- Six month review section to check in with your goals
- Final annual review section to holistically assess your year on highs, lows and lessons
Let me know if you already use a journal. What format or layout do you use and love? How has it worked for you?
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Thank you for this post of recommendations of these planners. I am currently looking for a new planner and this page is really useful. I currently use a desk planner; which, although it works well for the family’s activities, I would like to use a personal planner for my own goals and targets. I currently use a notebook for this not too dissimilar to the bullet Journal. This is convenient way of writing, but can lack prompts and structure.