Watching this one, I realized I'd gotten roughly halfway up the pyramid through my observations over the last few weeks. It started when I realized that Hobonichi (my preferred planner brand) didn't put out any planner covers I was vibing with, which led me to accept that I end up falling out of them halfway through the year anyway. Coupled with the fact that I'm transitioning to using a Midori Traveler's Notebook and a more modular system, Sterling Ink's N1-sized Common Planner ticks all the boxes of having a planner layout that works for me and my system, in a size I'm familiar with and carry frequently, and fitting into a traveler's notebook with the other accessories I prefer to carry.
I was given an A5 Filofax-style binder back in the 80s and used it for a few years, then went to using just a simple pocket-diary for a decade or so. When I retired 5 years ago I decided to get back to planning for real again. I grabbed an A5 Leuchtturm - week on one page with notes opposite. It worked like a dream, but I watched loads and loads of planning videos and wrote copious notes on different styles, just to be sure. I still came back to the original format, but moved it into rings. Now I have collection of different covers, so if I feel the need to change things up I change my cover, or my ink/highlighter colour combo. Five years on it still works! 😊
You know, my problem is that every time I think I have made a decision, ANOTHER PLANNER comes and destroys what I thought I needed. I feel kinda crazy 😅
May be a good idea to try bullet journaling. Not because bullet journaling is the answer. It’s not. But it strips away bells and whistles and forces you to ask what do you actually need. And who knows maybe bullet journal method is what you need but you don’t need to start with that method. Just start with daily log and index. No monthly log no weekly just put thoughts to paper on a daily basis for a couple weeks to a month. Once your forced to have nothing, what you need will rise to the surface, giving clarity. then you go planner shopping knowing exactly what you need 😊
I think we’ve all been there buying a planner first then trying to shoehorn it into our lifestyle only for it to end up abandoned after a couple of weeks, so this is a very good way of stepping back and assessing our needs first. I recently picked up my first Hobonichi Techo on sale thinking it would be perfect to get a feel for it before going all in~ loving it so far and feel it will be my 2025 planner 😊
I’ve found myself using my happy planner less and less. I basically just use it for the monthly calendars. Recently, I’ve taken to making a huge to-do list on some Raccoon Society task organization paper every day. The problem is that those are tear off, so I just throw it away, which makes checking on large, ongoing tasks frustrating. My team and I lesson plan digitally, but I’m finding I want that information in my own parlance on paper. With all of this in mind, I am doing two hemlock and oak planners: the weekly for lesson plans and all school calendaring, the daily duo as a task management system, home calendar, and EDC (I know it’s large compared to what most people prefer for edc, but I have been in a classic happy planner for years, so its size is comparable). Excited to try this out. Was initially thinking Hobonichi cousin Avec, but decided being able to lay out my lesson plans and build my daily task management was easier. Also: think the ghosting might make my adhd brain explode.
All the truth here!! Over the years I've tried all the sizes, but always come back to B6. For 3 years the Weeks has worked as a planner and reference book and I've combined it with a stalogy or other B6 notebook for everything else. I've always wanted to combine them in one so I am trying a B6 planner with a horizontal weekly to see if the all in one actually works. I think a lot of us get caught up in wanting to try what's new or what everyone else is using, but we don't pay attention to the outcome. When the dopamine hit wears off, what do you go back to? I thought I knew everything I needed and liked until I tried all the things this year, but now I really know. I regret the money I wasted, but it was a huge learning experience for going forward.
Best adaptation of Maslow ever (although I should point out that some might seek self-actualization through their planner.) And since you asked, the Hobonichi Weeks Mega meets all my needs. For a couple of years I did also get an A6 but I can’t handle multiple planners so it just ended up as a notebook.
I used the cusin this years 2024 and i failed absolutely... So i Change in 2025 to a weekly and i am surprised how Thin and light weight It Is. Yesterday i added the dayfree in a6 that includes a Notebook Part to usw IT as a Mix of Planner and diary for all the stuff other people should Not See. The weekly IS often Open at Work on my desk and for all to See so i need two different planners for Work and private stuff. was the a6 too small for you maybe?
I'm not actually planning to buy a planner for 2025, but i still loved this video and it helped me stop thinking all the notebooks i could buy.... I just use a standard composition book for everything in my life and it works so well.
I have gone back and forth between dailies and weeklies for the past 5 years and have been frustrated. One of your recent videos made me realize that a weekly has to be non negotiable. And then I found out that if I give up could and thick paper I can have dailies AND weeklies in the same book. So I’ve ordered an A5 Common Planner to try. It’s not as fun and colorful as I tend to like but I think it will function well. I’m capturing on the month, time blocking on the week and then the daily pages are going to be bujo style using the yearly page like an index. My goal is to try to get everything into one book so my bag will be lighter. We shall see…
I have finally achieved planner peace. My system is not perfect, but it sure works for me. I’m using a “happy planner” classic with a dashboard format for my everyday planner, another dashboard planner for my gardening and a vertical for health and wellness. I can keep a month of each in my disc system.
Oh I loved this! So I put my planner choice to the test and I think it passes! I’m using the passion planner weekly- undated. I think the only thing it’s lacking in is personality since I bought the plain black one but I bought a bunch of stickers so hopefully that helps 😂
Love this video. The pyramid really puts everything into perspective. I’m pretty much sticking with my ride or die Hobonichi A5 for my desk planner/journal and a TN Passport size system for my EDC. I get the SI monthly booklet and order grid notebooks from GoodInkPressions for my weekly/daily planning on the go. I have a weeks planner for work because I need to keep a healthy work/home life balance. :)
Love this! I went with Just Scribble’s A5 in horizontal as my EDC and a discbound classic as my catch all. I usually carry a big purse so if I NEED to bring my catch all, it fits.
I only started planning last month! I've been using a simple calendar for appointments until then. I'm using a Sterling Ink undated vertical weeks N1 planner for the remainder of this year, and a Sterling Ink B6 Common Planner for next year. I wanted Tomoe River paper for my fountain pens! I watched your last year's planner video before I started this year. I really like the organization of questions you did here.
After many fails, I have finally figured out my planning type, system and physical book. Even if the physical book changes over the years, I’ve at least figured out my planning type, purpose and system 🎉
I feel really lucky because now that Sterling Ink has a horizontal A5, that is my perfect planner peace. It checks off every single one of my boxes. I can't wait to start using it next year!
I like this video about choosing or making a planner. Your video from last year took more time, but it is more detailed about the layouts than about the planner in general. My problem has to do with medical/health issues. I planfor a week, then I have a health setback. Or, I plan for a surgery and it gets cancelled. I attempt to solve a problem and the medical industry sits on their hands (as my late hubby would say). Do you or anyone else have solutions to my problem?
This is good! But I was hoping you would do this with a hiearchy of needs next to a planner on how to prioritize goals, tasks and also habits and non-negotiables.
Have you ever tried Personal Planner? I haven't seen you mention them in any of your videos yet and I'm curious what your thoughts were if you did. I used them for 9 years and it was the closest I've come to planner peace (although I did switch up my size and layout many times) but now I'm going to try an Aura Estelle B6 Daily for 2025 as I think the week followed by daily pages will really help me.
I'm going for an A5 rings. I tried to make personal rings work for me this year due to all the cute YT videos on them. I always had a feeling a5 would be better for me, but I told myself smaller is cuter and easier to carry. I do not like the small monthlies and weeklies I'm forced to deal with in a personal, I need BIG and I need interchangeable inserts. Any ideas for what to do with a personal rings planner? Haha.
I wrote diary for years now and i thought for 2024 IT could be good plan to have everything in one book. Appointments, diet and workout tracker, time blocking and diary so i bought the hobonichi cusin and... I failed. 2024 IS nearly over and i used Just the monthly section regulary. Waisted Money 😢 So for 25 i bought the weekly for appointments and the dayfree that includes a Notebook Part as a Kind of Mix between a Planer and a diary. Maybe It works better than the huge cusin i bought way too expensive Covers for although i left IT Home Most of the time. 😭
So much waste. It gave me stress just watching and thinking of my own 2024 burn outs. In my case two common planners. This year I swore to only buy one and went with the eco friendly Hemlock and Oak minimal planner.
Awesome video!!! I always love your content. Common Planner B6 full year for me - UNDATED❣️ • Goldilocks size - not too big, not too small; • enough space and pages to use at home, but portable and lightweight enough to take my emotional support planner in my bag • structure (goals, year, months, vertical weeks) • enough flexibility for all my brain neurodivergence for my million lists, scribbles, etc. • paper quality - can keep pen only (Pilot Juice Up blue/black 0.3 needle tip - archival ink/no smudge) or sticker/color it up. • If my brain short circuits and I need to take a break, there are no dates screaming at me until i can get my head in the game again; • easy to find, relatively inexpensive cover options (Amazon) when I want my entire planner and supplies to be contained all in one system. This is the first year I’m not planner hunting, so maybe after all of my decades of planning/failures (lessons)🤞🏼I’ve reached self-plannerization. ?? 📓☺️✌️
Nab your 14-day free trial of Setapp here! ➡ stpp.co/3TwCfBd
“we don’t want planning to take over our lives. We want to plan in order to LIVE our lives.” love that!
Watching this one, I realized I'd gotten roughly halfway up the pyramid through my observations over the last few weeks. It started when I realized that Hobonichi (my preferred planner brand) didn't put out any planner covers I was vibing with, which led me to accept that I end up falling out of them halfway through the year anyway. Coupled with the fact that I'm transitioning to using a Midori Traveler's Notebook and a more modular system, Sterling Ink's N1-sized Common Planner ticks all the boxes of having a planner layout that works for me and my system, in a size I'm familiar with and carry frequently, and fitting into a traveler's notebook with the other accessories I prefer to carry.
I was given an A5 Filofax-style binder back in the 80s and used it for a few years, then went to using just a simple pocket-diary for a decade or so. When I retired 5 years ago I decided to get back to planning for real again. I grabbed an A5 Leuchtturm - week on one page with notes opposite. It worked like a dream, but I watched loads and loads of planning videos and wrote copious notes on different styles, just to be sure. I still came back to the original format, but moved it into rings. Now I have collection of different covers, so if I feel the need to change things up I change my cover, or my ink/highlighter colour combo. Five years on it still works! 😊
12:34 Wait a minute. My planner isn't going to lead to self actualization? 🤣 Great video as usual.
Rachelle is spitting facts in this video.
You know, my problem is that every time I think I have made a decision, ANOTHER PLANNER comes and destroys what I thought I needed. I feel kinda crazy 😅
I feel you.
May be a good idea to try bullet journaling. Not because bullet journaling is the answer. It’s not. But it strips away bells and whistles and forces you to ask what do you actually need. And who knows maybe bullet journal method is what you need but you don’t need to start with that method. Just start with daily log and index. No monthly log no weekly just put thoughts to paper on a daily basis for a couple weeks to a month. Once your forced to have nothing, what you need will rise to the surface, giving clarity. then you go planner shopping knowing exactly what you need 😊
I think we’ve all been there buying a planner first then trying to shoehorn it into our lifestyle only for it to end up abandoned after a couple of weeks, so this is a very good way of stepping back and assessing our needs first.
I recently picked up my first Hobonichi Techo on sale thinking it would be perfect to get a feel for it before going all in~ loving it so far and feel it will be my 2025 planner 😊
I’ve found myself using my happy planner less and less. I basically just use it for the monthly calendars. Recently, I’ve taken to making a huge to-do list on some Raccoon Society task organization paper every day. The problem is that those are tear off, so I just throw it away, which makes checking on large, ongoing tasks frustrating. My team and I lesson plan digitally, but I’m finding I want that information in my own parlance on paper. With all of this in mind, I am doing two hemlock and oak planners: the weekly for lesson plans and all school calendaring, the daily duo as a task management system, home calendar, and EDC (I know it’s large compared to what most people prefer for edc, but I have been in a classic happy planner for years, so its size is comparable). Excited to try this out.
Was initially thinking Hobonichi cousin Avec, but decided being able to lay out my lesson plans and build my daily task management was easier. Also: think the ghosting might make my adhd brain explode.
All the truth here!! Over the years I've tried all the sizes, but always come back to B6. For 3 years the Weeks has worked as a planner and reference book and I've combined it with a stalogy or other B6 notebook for everything else. I've always wanted to combine them in one so I am trying a B6 planner with a horizontal weekly to see if the all in one actually works. I think a lot of us get caught up in wanting to try what's new or what everyone else is using, but we don't pay attention to the outcome. When the dopamine hit wears off, what do you go back to? I thought I knew everything I needed and liked until I tried all the things this year, but now I really know. I regret the money I wasted, but it was a huge learning experience for going forward.
Best adaptation of Maslow ever (although I should point out that some might seek self-actualization through their planner.) And since you asked, the Hobonichi Weeks Mega meets all my needs. For a couple of years I did also get an A6 but I can’t handle multiple planners so it just ended up as a notebook.
I used the cusin this years 2024 and i failed absolutely... So i Change in 2025 to a weekly and i am surprised how Thin and light weight It Is. Yesterday i added the dayfree in a6 that includes a Notebook Part to usw IT as a Mix of Planner and diary for all the stuff other people should Not See. The weekly IS often Open at Work on my desk and for all to See so i need two different planners for Work and private stuff. was the a6 too small for you maybe?
I'm not actually planning to buy a planner for 2025, but i still loved this video and it helped me stop thinking all the notebooks i could buy.... I just use a standard composition book for everything in my life and it works so well.
Now Im focused! Thank you Rachelle!
I I have bought a B5 Common planner for the first time and I am looking forward to getting started with it in January. 💖💖
Rachelle, this was a great video! Great approach to picking a planner. ☺️
I have gone back and forth between dailies and weeklies for the past 5 years and have been frustrated. One of your recent videos made me realize that a weekly has to be non negotiable. And then I found out that if I give up could and thick paper I can have dailies AND weeklies in the same book. So I’ve ordered an A5 Common Planner to try. It’s not as fun and colorful as I tend to like but I think it will function well. I’m capturing on the month, time blocking on the week and then the daily pages are going to be bujo style using the yearly page like an index. My goal is to try to get everything into one book so my bag will be lighter. We shall see…
I have finally achieved planner peace. My system is not perfect, but it sure works for me. I’m using a “happy planner” classic with a dashboard format for my everyday planner, another dashboard planner for my gardening and a vertical for health and wellness. I can keep a month of each in my disc system.
This was great! Thanks for this perspective!
Oh I loved this! So I put my planner choice to the test and I think it passes! I’m using the passion planner weekly- undated. I think the only thing it’s lacking in is personality since I bought the plain black one but I bought a bunch of stickers so hopefully that helps 😂
Love the use of Maslow! But it’s exactly the steps I take 🥰
Love this video. The pyramid really puts everything into perspective. I’m pretty much sticking with my ride or die Hobonichi A5 for my desk planner/journal and a TN Passport size system for my EDC. I get the SI monthly booklet and order grid notebooks from GoodInkPressions for my weekly/daily planning on the go. I have a weeks planner for work because I need to keep a healthy work/home life balance. :)
Love this! I went with Just Scribble’s A5 in horizontal as my EDC and a discbound classic as my catch all. I usually carry a big purse so if I NEED to bring my catch all, it fits.
12:30 "No planner is going to bring you self-actualization." 👍
I only started planning last month! I've been using a simple calendar for appointments until then. I'm using a Sterling Ink undated vertical weeks N1 planner for the remainder of this year, and a Sterling Ink B6 Common Planner for next year. I wanted Tomoe River paper for my fountain pens! I watched your last year's planner video before I started this year. I really like the organization of questions you did here.
I ❤ you and this channel
”if you simply can't pay for something you should not buy it and if you don't have a really strong purpose for something you should not buy it" 💯💯💯💯💯
After many fails, I have finally figured out my planning type, system and physical book. Even if the physical book changes over the years, I’ve at least figured out my planning type, purpose and system 🎉
Omg you just saved me a ton of money. This was so helpful ❤
Great video! All great things to consider.
I feel really lucky because now that Sterling Ink has a horizontal A5, that is my perfect planner peace. It checks off every single one of my boxes. I can't wait to start using it next year!
This is a wonderful video. So helpful and so needed
Awesome video - really helpful! Thanks!
I like this video about choosing or making a planner. Your video from last year took more time, but it is more detailed about the layouts than about the planner in general. My problem has to do with medical/health issues. I planfor a week, then I have a health setback. Or, I plan for a surgery and it gets cancelled. I attempt to solve a problem and the medical industry sits on their hands (as my late hubby would say). Do you or anyone else have solutions to my problem?
This is good! But I was hoping you would do this with a hiearchy of needs next to a planner on how to prioritize goals, tasks and also habits and non-negotiables.
Have you ever tried Personal Planner? I haven't seen you mention them in any of your videos yet and I'm curious what your thoughts were if you did. I used them for 9 years and it was the closest I've come to planner peace (although I did switch up my size and layout many times) but now I'm going to try an Aura Estelle B6 Daily for 2025 as I think the week followed by daily pages will really help me.
Hobonichi a6 is perfect in almost every three bottom aspects for me as for now except for the price + shipping 😅
Sometimes we are so focused on other planners that we don't even realize we've found "planner peace”… 📚
I'm going for an A5 rings. I tried to make personal rings work for me this year due to all the cute YT videos on them. I always had a feeling a5 would be better for me, but I told myself smaller is cuter and easier to carry.
I do not like the small monthlies and weeklies I'm forced to deal with in a personal, I need BIG and I need interchangeable inserts.
Any ideas for what to do with a personal rings planner? Haha.
I found a nearly perfect planner only to realise it isn't sold in my country. So I'm making my own this year because f*** everything, lol.
I am stuck trying to figure out what size I like.!
What is the brown cover you show in the video?
You are missing Maslow’s last need: Societal Actualization; it was found in his papers after he passed
What planner is the little blue one at 4:06??
Looks like the Take-a-Note brand…
I wrote diary for years now and i thought for 2024 IT could be good plan to have everything in one book. Appointments, diet and workout tracker, time blocking and diary so i bought the hobonichi cusin and... I failed. 2024 IS nearly over and i used Just the monthly section regulary. Waisted Money 😢
So for 25 i bought the weekly for appointments and the dayfree that includes a Notebook Part as a Kind of Mix between a Planer and a diary. Maybe It works better than the huge cusin i bought way too expensive Covers for although i left IT Home Most of the time. 😭
Love u💗
If anyone knows of a 3 ring binder that fits the happy planner size page, please tag me! I've been looking forrrrevvvver! ❤
Think I failed at the base level…I went wayyyyyy over my budget and not 100% what I’m doing with one or two of the things I’ve ordered 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️💸💸
So much waste. It gave me stress just watching and thinking of my own 2024 burn outs. In my case two common planners. This year I swore to only buy one and went with the eco friendly Hemlock and Oak minimal planner.
Awesome video!!! I always love your content.
Common Planner B6 full year for me - UNDATED❣️
• Goldilocks size - not too big, not too small;
• enough space and pages to use at home, but portable and lightweight enough to take my emotional support planner in my bag
• structure (goals, year, months, vertical weeks)
• enough flexibility for all my brain neurodivergence for my million lists, scribbles, etc.
• paper quality - can keep pen only (Pilot Juice Up blue/black 0.3 needle tip - archival ink/no smudge) or sticker/color it up.
• If my brain short circuits and I need to take a break, there are no dates screaming at me until i can get my head in the game again;
• easy to find, relatively inexpensive cover options (Amazon) when I want my entire planner and supplies to be contained all in one system.
This is the first year I’m not planner hunting, so maybe after all of my decades of planning/failures (lessons)🤞🏼I’ve reached
self-plannerization. ??
📓☺️✌️