Planner Picks from a Recovering Perfectionist
February 1, 2023 | By Monica Montoya
Ah. The perfect planner. There is a luxurious and, dare I say, orgasmic experience in the simple act of writing shit down and planning ahead in a beautiful little bound book that contains your only form of stability in a world filled with chaos and credit card offers. It’s a neat little ritual that takes many forms depending on who and where you are on this planet, and it usually starts with a hot beverage and your favorite pen. (IMO, the only pens that exist are the Muji ballpoint pens. No, I am not wrong.) You sit there and you make plans for the day, the week, the month, and the year. The crisp pages contain so much promise and excitement, and as you gaze upon your work, as God did on the seventh day, you feel at peace. You have planned. You are an organized queen. You are better than everyone. Do the plans always pan out? No. Do you fuck up and spell words wrong and ruin the aesthetic? Yes. Are you always good about keeping up with adding the little stickers for appointments and birthdays and keeping track of your budget? No. Hell no. Never in a million years.
So...as someone who recently had a sweet little menty b (mental breakdown) over prioritizing and planning for the year, let me let you in on a secret no one wants you to know.
The perfect planner does not exist.
Yes, you heard me.
The perfect planner does not exist.
I know, I know. It seems so fucking stupid to keep reading at this point because you’re probably thinking, “well fuck! I guess that answers my question about the never ending social paradigm of #newyearnewme.” There will, in fact, be no new me. I will be the same me with no planner so why even try??!!”
I’ll tell you why you should try. Because somewhere buried deep in the free market is the planner that is just right. Because while the perfect planner doesn’t exist, the perfect system does. The perfect system is the thing that keeps you feeling like your life is on track. The system is the ritual. The system is holding yourself accountable. The system is life. This can look like a piece of printer paper with a to do list. This can look like the fancy PDF planner on your iPad Pro. This can look like your notion template that you brain dump on. As long as you keep up a practice that works well and is sustainable for you, then it is the perfect system. The perfect system also changes with you, it follows you and is the silent partner that you rely on to keep you sane (More on building the perfect system in another issue…). Now that you know you need to perfect your system and not your planner to truly be on top of your shit, here are some tools that are not perfect but can help you get the job done:
Sophia Lee Planner - Daily Planner
Rated: 3.5/5 Muji Pens
Features:
Time Blocking areas to really carve out your day
Space for to dos
Weekly meal planning pages - a girl’s gotta eat! A
Travel, holiday, and password tracker pages (because why not)
#ShesGotIssues:
Soooo heavy. Put this thing in a backpack and you will also have to book a chiropractor appointment. Brings the cost per use way up, am I right?
Some of the boxes aren’t big enough for us large-handwriting girlies. This makes you try to write really small, then you fuck up, feel bad, you stop using the planner, then it’s a waste of money. It sits on your shelf mocking you for the rest of the year and you repeat the cycle. It’s a no from me. (Alternatively, if you have neat tiny handwriting, this will be perfect for you! Ignore everything I just said.)
Color choices are slim. Tan and light blue? Mmm. I don’t want to only have baby shower aesthetic color options. GIMME ALL THE COLORS.
Passion Planner - Weekly 2023 Planner
Rated: 2/5 Muji Pens
Features:
Today’s focus - helps you keep attention on the most important tasks
Space of infinite possibility - AKA place to jot down your doodles and notes
“Good things that happened” box to jot down shit you are grateful for
#ShesGotIssues:
Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Wow, this thing looks like a finance bro’s planner. Proceed with caution or dare to feel like you need to buy a mahogany desk and cigars to go with it. (The color options have unfortunate and complicated designs. You want to feel at peace when you plan, not assaulted by whales and constellations.)
There are random motivational quotes on every spread. I don’t need Mark Twain to tell me that the secret to getting ahead is getting started. I bought the planner. I know. This could have been valuable space for a habit tracker.
Personal and Work to do lists are very small. Again, god help us with large handwriting and more than 5 errands to run.
Words, Paper, & Warmth by Studio Luna
Rated: 4.5/5 Muji Pens
Features:
Yearly planning spread (yes, I need to see what every month has in store ahead of time!!! Don’t @ me!!!)
Storyboard pages - for you to use in any aspect of your creative, personal, or work life!! Give me all of the visual organizers!!!
Secret dreams planning pages - to fill with all of your masterminds, your brainstorms, your rants, your secret dreams that are too delicate to even whisper out loud to yourself in a room alone. Use them to create timelines and deadlines, use them to ponder, use them to take over the world - and your own self-sabotage.
Hello…she’s not just a planner?? She’s a journal, a prompt book, AND a planner all in one?? Talk about getting the best bang for your buck…
And finally…she is a digital version. Save the trees, my friends. The world is burning.
#ShesGotIssues:
There’s no physical version. Yet. 👀
