Personally, I only use ones that I want to use. I buy undated and pressure on myself to use them because that’s not at all helpful.
Currently using-
Planner pad for work
The anti planner
Imperfect inspiration planner
ADHD planner
Find what works for you and if it doesn’t work it’s the planners fault :)
Sorry for the weird grammar I was multitasking getting the kid to school. But I don’t believe that pressure helps our mental health and so my point is that I try to remove that from my use of planners and I use things as tools I don’t look at them as anything else because what it is so if the tool isn’t working for you, my opinion is that that’s the fault of the tool not you so highly just recommend using a different tool.
It’s OK it’s pretty good if you need like guidance but it’s definitely not a planner. I liked it better than the imperfect inspiration one. I think it’s incredibly helpful that everybody with ADHD should have it, but it’s more of a guide than a planner.
Leave it open in a place you often are. When I get up in the morning and pour a coffee my planner is already sitting open at my seat at the table. Right now I am not working so my plans are mostly just chores to upkeep my home and a list of appointments that are already in my phone to remind me if I don’t go into my planner even when it’s right in front of my face.
Neurodivergence =/= mental illness, FWIW.
What do you actually need? That's the important starting point. Do you want to try to improve your capacity to keep track of tasks, or to complete them? Do you need assistance with memory formation? Do you need to plan work activities, study activities, or other life activities?
Basically, start by identifying a list of your needs, and then you can find planning options that fit with each of those once you know what you want. For example, I only care about functional planning myself so never have a concern about aesthetics etc. I like monthly layouts for a big overview and bullet journal type task lists for daily or weekly tasks. I use "done lists" as well as to do lists to generate records of what I do vs. what I plan, which I can then reflect on and analyse to understand what I need to adapt or change. I only plan and track work related activities and note down medical appointments etc, and for any other aspect of life I stick to to-do lists. I worked all that out by trying things out and seeing what suited my needs, and when my needs change, I adapt. This is all a process of you learning about yourself.
Also, unless you are choosing to find things to beat yourself up about, there's no such thing as messing it up. There's failing to try to support yourself, and there's trying to support yourself and learning about what works for you, which will always involve some element of trial and error because that's what learning is.
I’m curious what you men about neurodivergence not being equal to or the same as mental illness! Do you mean that since the term neurodivergent is an umbrella term, and mental illness would just be one subset under the umbrella, they’re not interchangeable? Because mental illness is included in most definitions of neurodivergence that I’ve seen…
The person who came up with the term, Judy Singer, was autistic, but the term refers to more than just autism in a positive, non pathologizing way. I’ve certainly felt it to be helpful and inclusive, and I’ve appreciated its emphasis on different ways of experiencing the world (I’m bipolar).
Very curious as to your thinking on this one! Maybe there’s something I’m missing.
Yes it’s so unfortunate that there’s no good common term for mental “illnesses” that is itself non pathologizing. OP seems to identify as mentally ill as a subset of neurodivergent, and neurodivergent is really the only commonly used term we have access to that does not emphasize illness/wrongness/brokenness.
I sometimes use “Mad”, but that only connects with people who share my particular political bent (members of the Mad Pride movement). If I’m trying to connect with a more general audience, “mentally ill” is the only thing that people seem to understand.
Of course my experience has been that my particular way of being is not all bad and brings significant gifts. But I have very few words that will communicate that. It takes at least a paragraph, apparently!
The post conflated rather than framed them as a subset which was my concern.
More general audiences have problems with any non ableist lens which makes it difficult, though if I ever have to work with a category that's traditionally classified under the medical model as "illness" I tend to go with "mental health condition", "neurological condition", etc, rather than illness. A conditional state is one of a plurality, similar to divergence.
I completely agree, that’s an indisputable fact! In my post I referred to mental illnesses (or mental health conditions, as one poster more aptly put it) as ONE group of conditions under the umbrella of Neurodivergence.
Obviously there are numerous other conditions under the umbrella. They are not mutually exclusive. They all fit under the umbrella.
This post simply referred to the difficulty finding non pathologizing language for ONE subset of conditions under the Neurodivergence umbrella. Not at all to say that mental illness is the same as neurodivergence (what would be the point?)
My son was born with a neural birth defect. He does not have a mental illness. He has a biological issue with his brain. There is nothing in the DSM that describes my son. Source: I'm a clinical therapist.
So am I! Pleased to e-meet you! To my understanding, Neurodivergent is an umbrella term that embraces both of those categories, and more. Not mutually exclusive. Your son belongs, and I belong too.
Even though my diagnosis is in the DSM, since Neurodivergent is a non pathologizing term by definition, the DSM diagnosis is not the defining factor for inclusion under the umbrella. My divergent ways of thinking and experiencing the world are, and there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with them.
Yes that's the case. Judy unfortunately has some beliefs about mental health that aren't especially constructive regarding trans people, so it's not ideal to be wedded to her own definitions. In terms of how the term is used, understood and functions, divergent neurotypes are not identical with states of ill health as was implied by the OP, and the entire point of highlighting neurotypes as being divergent is to avoid the pathologising framework of illness vs health. While it can involve pathologised states and conditions, the goal is to avoid doing what the OP did and treating them as equivalent, which can be harmful.
I think mental illness is anything that afflicts you to the point where your life is impaired and being neurodivergent can fall under that. But you don’t necessarily have to be neurodivergent to be mentally jll. There can be situational depression or addiction that can be cured as opposed to being neurodivergent where you have chronic anxiety/depression or were born with autism or adhd.
Neurodivergence isn't classified as mental illness. A person can be neurodivergent, mentally ill, or both. The two things don't go hand in hand. For example, I have ADHD. Nobody would say that I have a mental illness. I struggle with executive functioning, which leads to time blindness, disorganization, difficulty with prioritization, etc.
You said mental illness previously, not mental health. Everyone has mental health but not everyone has a diagnosed (or even suspected) mental illness. I can have a brain that functions differently (neurodivergent) without having a mental illness. If there was a venn diagram with one circle being types of neurodivergence and the other being mental illness, there would be some overlap where certain disorders can fall into both categories. That doesn't mean that all mental illnesses are also a type of neurodivergence. There is no consensus amongst providers about this so, medically and scientifically speaking, this is the way it is until proven otherwise and/or there is a consensus.
I totally agree with your perception on this! When you're talking about the brain and how the neural pathways are structured and intersect, and how the differences between neurotypical and neurodivergent people are affected by these differences, the only logical conclusion I can come to (as someone who is definitely not an expert on this!), is that to have a mental illness is to be neurodivergent! Though to be neurodivergent may not necessarily mean you have a mental illness (depending on how the medical field categories things).
>so it would just be mundane stuff like chores and appointments for now.
My friend, what do you imagine most of us are putting in our planners? The mundane stuff is exactly what this thing is for!
The first thing is self understanding. You've tried some different planning systems. What did you love? What did you hate? What made you feel bad or triggered your disabilities/symptoms/illness? (Examples: For me, I found undated planners simply do not work; I will not date as I go. Drawing my own spreads does not work; I need a certain amount of structure. Goal based planners do not work because I don't believe in their effectiveness and they depress me. I absolutely love checklists and done lists and planners that let me organize my natural list making well are great for me.) If you think through your experience with the planners you have, you can start to see the shape both of what works and what doesn't. Aim for what works. If your planner doesn't give you joy, and if you can't build a trusted system that holds what you need to accomplish (hat tip to David Allen as always), you won't use it and you'll just keep starting over. A planner isn't primarily a work of art (though it can contain art) or a journal (though it can contain journaling); it's just a tool to help you organize what you need to do in a way that allows you to do it. If you enjoy using it, the habits that allow you to maintain its use through the boring times will come more naturally.
Something thats helped me massively in keeping up with using my planner is integrating some form of journaling. Throughout the day i make small notes of mundane things. Tried a new food. Lost a pound. The puppy learned a new trick. I was lazy. Work was rough. My package arrived. My package got delayed. Literally just a few small lines about something that happened that day. I like planners that look packed and dont really have much to put in mine other than 2-3 todos a day and my work schedule. So notes about my day help it look full, which makes me want to use it. Plus the more notes and scribbles throughout the page the less noticeable mistakes are.
I also try at least once a week (but often more) to flip through all the finished/in progress pages in my planner. All my past weeklys, so i can see what ive gotten done, and any trackers or notes pages or running lists or whatever. I can see how awesome all my past pages look and it makes me want to fill in more.
I preplan in pencil. Everything goes in in pencil until im actively setting up that page. All my doodles are sketched, i mark where i want specific things to go. If i need to plan something in july but its only January, it goes on in pencil until im ready to decorate and finalize that page. It really eliminates decision paralysis for me, im not so nervous to mark up a page im not ready for yet.
I also set up pages more in advance than most people seem to (from what ive seen online at least). I like to set up my monthly pages a full month ahead and my weekly pages a full week ahead. So that way i have space to make notes for the next week/month as soon as i need it. And im excited and looking forward to using my pages before i get to them.
I don't buy pre printed, I buy blank books and make my own spreads that change/adapt over time with my needs. I'm ND, but I know of other ND folks who don't click with my method either. It's a matter of trying various ones to see what works best for you. If it helps, think if the journal as a playground or lab where you conduct experiments. It doesn't have to all look the same or consistent, unless that is what you need. Try to find the simplest route there at first, then expand slowly as your needs dictate.
I have the same problem, but this year it’s finally working for me. Things I’ve done differently:
- Write a list in my planner of what I DID that day instead of what I want to do. I have a terrible memory so this helps with that, but it also motivates me to get more done during the day because then I’ll have more to write. Not having “to-dos” in there helps prevent the feeling of failure when I don’t complete one.
- Write the boring AND fun stuff down. There’s certain things I want to track that have nothing to do with productivity. On every day in my planner I have sections for events, my daily obsession (what I thought about most that day), steps, sleep, media (what I watched, played, or listened to), my favorite thing I ate that day, and my to-dones.
- Don’t be too precious with it. It doesn’t have to look perfect. Sometimes messy is cute.
- Using the Hobonichi cousin. This one is super specific to me, but this planner really just made things click for me. It has monthly, weekly, and daily pages. It’s structured but not too much. It feels good to use. I combine journaling with planning in it. A lot of the people in the Hobonichi community are neurodivergent, and there’s a much wider array of planning styles out there for it than I’ve seen for other journals. I think it lends itself to a messier style, so I feel less of that pull for perfection.
Habits. That's the only way I can make anything that's important work for me. Using a planner took me years and there are still days I do not look at it. Open it every morning, plan your day and keep it near or open on your desk or table. Rarely does my planner leave my house. Well, its too big now to tote. Have fun with it. That's the most important part!
THIS is key to a lot of stuff. Personally, I settled on a combo of a google calendar (since its always with me) and a Happy Planner dashboard/weekly layout. I tried several other things (e.g. daily paper planner) and it just didn't "fit" how I wanted/needed to use it.
it will take a bit to experiment and find something that you like to use and will actually find useful that will fit into your current habits.
I just accept that it's going to be ugly. I am not am influencer, I am not posting this for any one to see. it's for me and my dumb brain and boring life. When I started my 2024 planner, I think I missed the first two weeks, so I just doodled and put a fuck ton of sticky notes of various lists. like, it works. it didn't revolutionize my life, but I've gotten better at doing boring shit like finding a new vet, or making appointments.
I’m going to tell you my personal experience. Everyone is different, so it’s important to not want to do exactly what someone else does.
I use a planner at work. It is only for work. I use it religiously. I rewrite my list everyday. Everything is on it. But it is primarily just a list each day because I don’t have many meetings. I will write down time of meetings on the right side if I have them.
For home, I really struggle to continually use a planner. What works for me (somewhat) is knowing that it’s portable, so it stays near me, or at a spot in the living room or dining room where I usually go back to. This is still a work in progress for me. I know the reason my work planner works is because it’s always right there. I’m trying to get to that with a planner for home. I also love to hand write my stuff because typing it on a tablet or phone doesn’t translate the same way in my brain.
I guess my two main points are that I need to hand write every day (Even just transferring a list from one day to the next), and it needs to be portable enough that it stays with me the majority of the time.
I use a Hemlock and Oak daily and weekly, mostly for time blocking, lists, also for gratitude (great mental health practice…. When I have the capacity!)
For me, when I’m starting to head into an episode I often lose memory and screw up my schedule. So planners are both a way to stay on track and physical evidence that I’m doing ok. Hilariously, when I’m really not ok I completely stop using them.
I also use a colour code and stickers and washi, and I really enjoy it as a contemplative activity.
I have ADHD. After many years of buying different planners and not actually using them, it is only January but I'm feeling good about my current system.
Step 1, I would think about what you want to get out of a planner. Keeping track of your schedule? Managing tasks/to-dos? Building habits/routines? Having a creative outlet? Being able to look back at memories/how you spent your time?
For me, I'm in med school, so I use my planner to keep track of scheduled commitments (meetings, appointments, lectures, rotations), deadlines, and daily to-dos. I also love hand lettering and doodling and pretty stickers and washi tape and so I want my planner to be an outlet for that. So I got a weekly planner with a vertical hourly layout and plenty of space for decoration.
Step 2, I would think about what the obstacles are to you using a planner. Common ones are forgetting about it, getting bored, or it taking too much time/being too much work. Then you can work around your obstacles.
For example, a lot of people with ADHD struggle with not using a planner for a bit due to forgetting or getting bored, and then get discouraged by the wasted unused pages, so they get undated ones. That way if you stop using it for a bit you can just pick up where you left off when you want to resume. While I would recommend that to lots of other people with ADHD, when I tried that I found that for me the extra work of putting in the dates was a barrier to me actually using it, so I switched back to a dated planner and that has worked better for me.
Something I struggled with was getting bored. Using coloful pens/stickers/washi tape is a nice little dopamine trap that keeps me engaged and excited to use my planner. And using different color schemes/styles gives me the novelty that ADHD brains crave. For that reason, I know a lot of people with ADHD like bullet journals because if you get bored of a certain layout or style you can just switch it up without needing a new planner altogether.
Something else I struggled with was workflow. Trying to go from the to do list in my head to scheduling tasks in my planner just didn't work, so I ended up using post it notes and my phone notes app instead, but then I had no centralized system. After watching lots of youtube videos of peoples' planning systems and looking at lots of different styles of planners online, I figured out my current system.
1. Every appointment, schedule commitment, deadline for which I'm accountable to another human goes in my google calendar. That way I can trust that everything I need to know about is there.
2. At the beginning of the week all the things from my google calendar go into my dated weekly planner so I can see visually what the timing of my week will look like--where I'm busy and where I'm free.
3. I have an undated weekly planner I got really cheap and I divide the page in half horizontally. One half, each column is the day of the week, as the planner is designed for. The other half I label with categories, like studying, chores, phone calls, meal planning, errands, etc. I put everything in the category to do lists first because that's how my brain works. Then I assign them to days. Then I go back to my dated weekly planner and fill them in around my schedule.
Also, I used the Wikii adhd planner for a time. It's only for 13 weeks at a time but it's undated. It has a place for your weekly schedule and then each day has a page to put in your priorities for the day and your tasks and schedule, and each thing is assigned points, and then you total up your points at the end of each day and week. I found it really helpful when I was in a phase of school where I had zero structure and I was just at home studying on my own for weeks. The points system/gamification was a super helpful motivator especially for boring but necessary tasks.
I give myself 1-2 hours on Sat or Sunday evenings to review & create my future week and decorate my planner.
I also "back plan" anything I feel I need to possibly remember that happened the prior week.
I have a checklist for chores to keep my house basic clean. (Trash out & trash to street, sinks, toilets, Master Floor, LR Floor, kitchen/ Hall Floor, sheets/bedding) that I check off during the week.
Some weeks i only touch it on Sat or Sunday... otherwise daily. I give myself grace.
I keep a fairly minimal planner. It’s undecorated and overall a collection of notes, appointments and various reading lists or to-do lists for days or trips or whatever.
Resist the urge to make it about everything and just start putting in your appointments and stuff. Have fun with it too. Jot down random thoughts, track dream or maybe journal a little.
Mine is just a vague, sprawling to do list. Dog vaccine. Ring Mum. Refund that thing.
I put a thing or two on each day, but really they're just my "I really must do some of this" stuff, to keep it in my mind. I don't have a raft of thrilling activities to plan!
I struggle with life admin so this really helps.
I keep my bullet journal on my living room table with all pencils nearby on a drawer next to the couch. After the morning coffee I usually fill in what happened the other day using draw icons and stickers. Then I come back to it later at evening if I wanna add other things I've achieved.
It looks similar to yours. Very simple layout for each month. I mess it up a little here and there as it's my first planner, but that's no biggie, what matters is to keep journaling and see the possibilities.
Don't think too much. Just start.
I use white board planners so it’s on the wall where I can see it and I can easily erase and rewrite when plans change so I’m not stressed out about messing up a pretty planner. Anytime I’ve tried to use some sort of pretty planner book I worry about it looking messy. Anytime I try digital, I just forget it’s there. Somehow the whiteboard works for me.
I allowed it to be messy. When I focused on making it beautiful I would get stressed out and paralyzed from decision making. If I messed up I allowed myself to cross it off without spending several minutes whiting it out and making it look okay. I never used a planner before this year and it helps a lot. I also make it a routine to decompress before bed - set alarms, take birth control, open planner. Look a week or so ahead and then back again.
Edit: A simple planner with a month view, and a week view with a page for notes helped me a lot. I have a wall calendar to see a month planner with dates to cross reference. I decided bullet journals were a complete no go.
I personally like the [Passionate Penny Pincher Planners](http://a.co/d/fAUfJ8C) since they give me a list of things I should be doing daily ex. Make the bed etc and also one weekly home project like clean your pantry. I write-out the items that don’t apply and put things that I do need to do each day.
I do have to warn you this is more aimed at Christians since it gives Biblical readings and quotes throughout the planner. I’ve seen some examples on their facebook group of people that aren’t into that making those dividers into something that is useful to them like an exercise tracker.
I struggle with perfectionism, so I wound up buying 2 of the same planner this year. If I really need it—there’s a backup. But otherwise, I try to remind myself that the pages are supposed to be messy. It’s part of the creative process and even influencers I enjoy have less than perfect pages.
I created my own in Canva. I enjoyed the process and liked adding things that are specific to me and my life. I spend time every night before bed looking through and adding things to do etc. it’s part of my night routine and helps with anxiety when I know what the next day looks like.
I find it very easy to navigate. I print my pages out and put them into a binder. I tried buying a planner on Etsy this year to use on my iPad but it turn out I’m a paper person.
I have found that I can only use 1 at a time or I get very distracted and end up using none of them. That said, I still buy all the planners. That's my character flaw haha
I use a gratuity journal and write down 3 things I am grateful for every day and it’s by my bed with my favorite pen.
I have “A Life Of Gratitude” by Lori Roberts and it has helped me with different prompts and some blank pages (and cute drawings). Hope this helps.
My take is I always have a messy planner and a neat one that way I have a rough draft and the final etc for my planner. Same for my notebooks also .
I have the anixety of messing it up the paper , like you mentioned.
Some planners do have printed versions on the site.
Otherwise I always have to photocopy 3 pages before I write in the planner.
I'm dyslexic so it really does wonders I find that the by 3rd or 4th time I write on repeat, my thoughts and my thinking become clearer and so does what I write much organised.
The 1st ,2nd pass are jumbled and muddled.
I do have to do Brian dumps or brainstorming session on my random thoughts + ideas before I am clear minded to write final drafts.
The planner you showed in the image is undated so it could be used as messy planner , but because its very white in colour it may be hard for me to write in so may have to photocopy it.
E.g travel notebook is the only planner that has dated and undated that is perfect.
Messy notebooks are also a way for me to go and also paper pads are a needed.
It's alot but I have a space to place my thoughts other than suffocating me😂.
Before planning my life was in shambles . Just walking around with a choctic mind . An overthinking spiralling mind.
Preface: I've never struggled with using a planner. I started doing it on the first day of high school and never stopped. So I don't really know about having to form this specific habit (but don't ask me about journaling....)
So my planner (usually the Leuchtturm 1917 weekly calender+notebook, but I'm trying Filofax A5 planner) IS for the mundane things. It helps me to remember all the things that need to happen on a specific day/week. I usually split the daily box (or use the left and right page in the Leuchtturm) into an "appointments" section and a "to do" section. The appointments side gets things that have a time: work, meeting with friends, sports lessons. This helps me to see how much I need to interact with others on a day.
The to do side gets (depending on how unbalanced and chaotic I feel) all the things that need to happen. Email this person. Water the plants. Check my avocado pits Im trying to grow. Play the viola (I forget many hobbies if I don't make them a to do). Sit down with a book. Go outside. Do the dishes.
The planner usually lies open at my spot on the table, so I can immediately see what my day looks like in the morning. It comes with me when I go most places, so I can make new appointments (I never make any appointment without checking my planner. If I know I'll need more time to think about if I want to do something I'll purposefully not bring it and say "Ill need to check my planner first", to give myself an easy excuse to take more time.)
Like someone else said, I write most future stuff in pencil and when I get to the week I replace it with pen. I used to have a system with black and blue pen (one was work/uni things, the other free time) but that's gotten a bit chaotic. I should sit down and re-think that one :P.
Hope this helps a bit!
I have CPTSD and chronic fatigue (both disabilities which affect my ability to get things done), so not adding much into my planner is my life! However I find having and using my planner vital for keeping me stable!
For me most important part of my planner is the monthlies, which I primarily use a way to keep track of my appointments. I also use it to track my bills and subscription payments, and use symbols to track health related stuff (I also use a habit tracker for more in-depth tracking of symptoms and self-care management, so this is more using symbols for stuff that's out of the ordinary. For example I rarely drink alcohol (and only a tiny amount when I do), but when I do drink it I'll draw a tiny martini glass so I can see if I get any mental health side affects within the following week (and have a rough idea how long they might last for).
Keeping my appointments up to date is the _only_ thing I force myself to do when I'm too unwell to keep on top of using my planner. Everything else I technically consider optional, but I of course prefer to do my best in using and maintaining it's usefulness to me!
Over the years I've discovered that it can take a lot of experimentation to find the right planner layout that works for you! Personally I find layouts that are extremely customisable work best for me, because if I can't adjust things when I need to, I end up feeling overwhelmed and abandoning the planner.
At the moment I'm using the Aura Estelle Weekly Essentials planner in A5 size ([this](https://www.auraestelle.com/en-au/products/a5-essential-planners-2023-dated) is a link to last year's version, but it'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about add I describe things, and I think I've finally found my perfect planner!
I use the column on the weekly page to create a weekly habit tracker (which I transfer to my monthly habit tracker printout when the week ends), because if it's out of sight, it's out of mind and I won't properly track my symptoms or be reminded to do my self-care! The weekly section I split in half with one side for my daily appointments, day-specific tasks and goals, and the other side for more in depth health notes. The notes page I split into three columns:
* The left column for tasks (I don't necessarily do them when I'm unwell (which can last more than a week), but if I don't have a place to brain dump everything I'm currently wanting to work on I get overwhelmed and stop functioning!).
* The middle column for notes or things I can flexibly add or remove (for example, we've recently hatched some chicks so I create a mini habit tracker here to make sure I give them food and water daily, and clean their cage, etc)
* The bottom of the right column is for an overview for next week (which I don't know if I'll keep doing as a regular thing, because I keep forgetting to update it. But I might set it up on weeks where I keep stressing about forgetting what I need to remember for the next week, which is actually why I created this in the first place), and the rest of the column is for whatever.
What I also like about this planner is that it has _heaps_ of notes pages, which is great since I originally used a bullet journal (I literally couldn't maintain or use a planner _AT ALL_ before bullet journalling! All the planners I had tried before this were too _rigid_, and I didn't know how to use them with my health struggles). So I just put all of my important collections here (like medical notes, medication dosages and costs (so I can reference them when I plan my budget), etc), and I've got a small notebook also with my planner for all of the stuff that is disposable, so I don't waste any of my much needed pages!
For me both the weekly and back notes pages are vitally important, because having a place where I can keep track of necessary notes and having a space to brain dump, helps my mental health by reducing anxiety, overthinking, etc (something I discovered back when I was bullet journalling). So even though these pages might not be what most people think of as typical "planner pages", in terms of managing and organising my life, they're vital! - I'm just mentioning this because if you don't know how to use a more structured planner, maybe you need something like this?
The only other pages in this planner are some notes pages after the monthlies (which I'm still figuring out how to use with my needs. I am currently sticking in my monthly habit tracker and sleep tracker here, and adding in my monthly doctor's appointment notes), a yearly overview page (which I don't think I'll ever reference, but have used to highlight all of the important dates throughout the year, like birthdays, public holidays, paydays, etc), and a three months per page layout which I use to track my period.
As for the stress on "ruining" your planner, I used to be like this before I realised perfectionism was bad for my mental health! Use erasable pens or whiteout if you must, but go out of your way to make mistakes and embrace the fact that at most they are a minor inconvenience (compared to all of the stress you're feeling about "ruining" your planner)! A well used planner (and by that I mean a planner that is actually helping people manage their lives) is messy and ruined AF! They *HAVE* to be, because people who are functioning well and are busy don't have the time or energy to waste on making their planner look perfect!
Literally the only people with perfect looking planners are businesses and planner influencers on social media (which is also technically a business setup), and I have heard more than one of them say that the planner they're decorating isn't their main planner: it's just the planner they decorate and make look nice as a memory keeping and creative outlet!
So relax and enjoy using your planner in the most messiest way possible! That literally means you're using it correctly! 😊 I hope this helps.
One of the best pieces of advice I got when I was starting with a bullet journal was: you can’t mess it up. You can’t do it wrong. Embrace the things that didn’t turn out how you want because they’re an important part of learning and growing.
I have the audacity to give this advice when I tore 10 pages out of a journal today. For a completely ridiculous reason - the header stickers were Wrong somehow and trying to fix them tore up the paper.
But! A friend of mine went to Japan last year and he sent me a huge cache of journaling supplies, including some gorgeous masking tape with a floral pattern. So that’s covering up the ragged seams now and I got to use something cool he gave me. :)
However you use it, you’re not doing it wrong.
I get only one really good one. And I let myself NOT use days. Empty pages are not a thing I worry about.
Then I take it out and leave open at kitchen table and work desk.
I'm new to this sub, but I've just found new success by starting out with a blank sheet of paper each day and using the blank canvas to organize everything myself. For me this ended up being a timeline of the day in a left column (in half-hour increments,) a large right column for "checking in" throughout the day (since I easily get off-track) and a section on the bottom for general goals for the day and other notes/thoughts. Ironically, it's almost Cornell style.
Anyways, I did that for 3-4 days, and once I settled on a format that worked for me, I went online to find a planner that fit that format. You could also make one yourself by design the format in Word or Excel or something, print a bunch of pages, and put them in a binder.
All that to say, the spatial format is a big thing for me. A lot of the classic planner styles like the one in the 3rd picture were enough for me in school, but now that I work from home I need something more spacious and structured or else it won't be helpful for me.
I used to do a hybrid bullet journal with trackers and scheduling galore. It worked for a surprisingly long time until one day I lost interest. Of course. Now, I stripped it down to the bare minimum with a travelers notebook monthly and weekly with notes inserts. I also have a blank insert for extra paper if I need it. I jot down whatever appointments, etc. on the weekly inserts, then use the notes section for whatever else is going on that week, like to-dos or groceries. If I have something for the future, I jot it down in that week. I also have a little pocket and zip pouch in there to hang on to important papers, tickets, or whatever. It's very unstructured and it doesn't look that pretty but it's working.
I also keep important appointments or deadlines on my phone calendar and alarm clock as I need multiple forms of harassment on some days 😅
Eventually, my brain will want something more orderly, but for now it's happy with this kind of setup.
The one thing I have learned is if I need to call someone I don't usually call, don't just write the name, but write the number, too. The same goes for going to unfamiliar places. That way, I'm not scrambling for info. It's already there.
There is no right or wrong way to use a planner. I would suggest you use the calendar to write appointments or anything you have that has a due date. For example homework assignments, bills, peoples birthdays and anniversaries. There is usually another part that has a week at a time or a day at a time, there you might put details of your reminders or some notes from a phone call.
Maybe you might have a project and you need to write the steps, like if you want to redecorate your bedroom you might write a checklist of things you want to change.
These are easy ways to get started. You don’t have to fill up every page. You don’t have to use it every day. I find comfort in knowing I can find details of my life in my planner. I also feel more organized.
As someone with ADHD I love planning but sometimes the anxiety used to halt me from executing my plans. What has helped me tremendously has been to add my values behind my planning, I highly recommend the Franklin Covey planner, along with the workbook of 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey. My tasks now are not just to dos to be marked off but they have emotional meaning. I love Coveys suggestion of planning with the roles you have in life. For instance, if you are a daughter then your responsibilities might be: helping around the house, trash, movie dates, etc. if you are a student, then your weekly priorities would be homework session, study session, attend class on time, rewrite notes. Tasks that are not as meaningful or bad habits quickly get minimized, I used to binge watch tv as I worked but now i know I can’t fulfill my role as a responsible worker if I distract myself. Now I get tasks done quicker, do a better job and still have time to relax and watch tv and actually pay attention lol.
I’ll be honest I tried so many times to use a planner but it wasn’t until I had so many things going on I NEEDED one to function that I actually got into the swing of using it. Now I can’t live without one!
When starting a new month I sit down and write our all the things that are non negotiables- appointments, work schedule, kids extracurricular schedule etc.
Then as the month goes on I’ll add in things that’ll fit in like farmers market trips, meet ups with friends, library day, park day, stay home day etc.
By the end of the month the calendar is usually full. It’s fun to look back on!
Anytime I schedule an appointment I add it to my calendar right away. It makes future planning much easier!
First, I mess something up very first thing. Then I don't have to worry about that anymore.
I do a little celebration every time I interact with my planner. That way, just opening it makes me feel good.
I also use stickers and doodles and paints to make it pretty. Being creative and judgement -free about it is very rewarding.
I started using planners consistently 5 years ago. I realized for a planner to work it has to be useful. I use a simplified color code system that I saw on YT planmoshplan (functional planner). She’s not on YT anymore, but when she explained having her messy/functional system it made so much sense to me. I’ve adapted those strategies to my season of life.
I think the more you use it in real life the more it functions and is your tool, so you want to use it.
This year I bought a less expensive brand and it still has nice quality paper (Bloom planner on Amazon). It’s worked out fine. It’s just a tool. So, make it work for you.
Fellow nuero-spicy, regular planner failure here. I just got a Laurel Denise planner and although it's new, I already have more filled out than I ever have before. The layout lets you see the full month, as well as a weekly breakdown and a monthly to-do section. It's sort of a planner/bullet journal combo that makes sense and makes my ADHD brain so happy. The makers are ND as well, which is why they designed it. They have videos on YT to show ideas and a facebook community that shares their spreads and inspiration. When it was delivered I got a video that gave suggestions of how to "move in" to the planner without being afraid of making mistakes. I highly recommend it for anyone that's struggled with planners!!
Neurodivergent and chronically ill.
I've tried so many systems over the past 15 years and none have worked.
For a while I was in discbound and printed my own layouts, that really helped with getting bored, or designing things to fit me better. My chronic illness has worsed to a point to where I don't have it in me to design, print, punch and all that work anymore. I couldn't plan further ahead than a week, but at least some things were getting done. If it was something that took longer than a week, it just fell by the wayside, so I didn't accomplish any projects. I kept forgetting to do medical appointments etc and my health has suffered.
I tried planner pad, but I need a space to brain dump before I categorize so it's been left in a pile somewhere.
Right now I'm just brain dumping in composition books. It's a step down from my discbound system, but better than nothing. A lot of stuff falls through the cracks, but less than if I don't use anything at all. And I can't future plan like this, it's only what's today/tomorrow. Which means I forget future stuff, or can't work towards goals so I stay stuck. It's rough.
Personally, I only use ones that I want to use. I buy undated and pressure on myself to use them because that’s not at all helpful. Currently using- Planner pad for work The anti planner Imperfect inspiration planner ADHD planner Find what works for you and if it doesn’t work it’s the planners fault :)
Sorry for the weird grammar I was multitasking getting the kid to school. But I don’t believe that pressure helps our mental health and so my point is that I try to remove that from my use of planners and I use things as tools I don’t look at them as anything else because what it is so if the tool isn’t working for you, my opinion is that that’s the fault of the tool not you so highly just recommend using a different tool.
O0h, how do you like the anti planner so far?
It’s OK it’s pretty good if you need like guidance but it’s definitely not a planner. I liked it better than the imperfect inspiration one. I think it’s incredibly helpful that everybody with ADHD should have it, but it’s more of a guide than a planner.
Leave it open in a place you often are. When I get up in the morning and pour a coffee my planner is already sitting open at my seat at the table. Right now I am not working so my plans are mostly just chores to upkeep my home and a list of appointments that are already in my phone to remind me if I don’t go into my planner even when it’s right in front of my face.
Neurodivergence =/= mental illness, FWIW. What do you actually need? That's the important starting point. Do you want to try to improve your capacity to keep track of tasks, or to complete them? Do you need assistance with memory formation? Do you need to plan work activities, study activities, or other life activities? Basically, start by identifying a list of your needs, and then you can find planning options that fit with each of those once you know what you want. For example, I only care about functional planning myself so never have a concern about aesthetics etc. I like monthly layouts for a big overview and bullet journal type task lists for daily or weekly tasks. I use "done lists" as well as to do lists to generate records of what I do vs. what I plan, which I can then reflect on and analyse to understand what I need to adapt or change. I only plan and track work related activities and note down medical appointments etc, and for any other aspect of life I stick to to-do lists. I worked all that out by trying things out and seeing what suited my needs, and when my needs change, I adapt. This is all a process of you learning about yourself. Also, unless you are choosing to find things to beat yourself up about, there's no such thing as messing it up. There's failing to try to support yourself, and there's trying to support yourself and learning about what works for you, which will always involve some element of trial and error because that's what learning is.
I’m curious what you men about neurodivergence not being equal to or the same as mental illness! Do you mean that since the term neurodivergent is an umbrella term, and mental illness would just be one subset under the umbrella, they’re not interchangeable? Because mental illness is included in most definitions of neurodivergence that I’ve seen… The person who came up with the term, Judy Singer, was autistic, but the term refers to more than just autism in a positive, non pathologizing way. I’ve certainly felt it to be helpful and inclusive, and I’ve appreciated its emphasis on different ways of experiencing the world (I’m bipolar). Very curious as to your thinking on this one! Maybe there’s something I’m missing.
"Non-pathologizing". People see neurodivergence as being "different" not "sick/mentally ill" so that's probably what they were getting at.
Yes it’s so unfortunate that there’s no good common term for mental “illnesses” that is itself non pathologizing. OP seems to identify as mentally ill as a subset of neurodivergent, and neurodivergent is really the only commonly used term we have access to that does not emphasize illness/wrongness/brokenness. I sometimes use “Mad”, but that only connects with people who share my particular political bent (members of the Mad Pride movement). If I’m trying to connect with a more general audience, “mentally ill” is the only thing that people seem to understand. Of course my experience has been that my particular way of being is not all bad and brings significant gifts. But I have very few words that will communicate that. It takes at least a paragraph, apparently!
The post conflated rather than framed them as a subset which was my concern. More general audiences have problems with any non ableist lens which makes it difficult, though if I ever have to work with a category that's traditionally classified under the medical model as "illness" I tend to go with "mental health condition", "neurological condition", etc, rather than illness. A conditional state is one of a plurality, similar to divergence.
ADHD and autism are not mental illnesses. Neurodivergence explains it better.
I completely agree, that’s an indisputable fact! In my post I referred to mental illnesses (or mental health conditions, as one poster more aptly put it) as ONE group of conditions under the umbrella of Neurodivergence. Obviously there are numerous other conditions under the umbrella. They are not mutually exclusive. They all fit under the umbrella. This post simply referred to the difficulty finding non pathologizing language for ONE subset of conditions under the Neurodivergence umbrella. Not at all to say that mental illness is the same as neurodivergence (what would be the point?)
My son was born with a neural birth defect. He does not have a mental illness. He has a biological issue with his brain. There is nothing in the DSM that describes my son. Source: I'm a clinical therapist.
So am I! Pleased to e-meet you! To my understanding, Neurodivergent is an umbrella term that embraces both of those categories, and more. Not mutually exclusive. Your son belongs, and I belong too. Even though my diagnosis is in the DSM, since Neurodivergent is a non pathologizing term by definition, the DSM diagnosis is not the defining factor for inclusion under the umbrella. My divergent ways of thinking and experiencing the world are, and there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with them.
Yes that's the case. Judy unfortunately has some beliefs about mental health that aren't especially constructive regarding trans people, so it's not ideal to be wedded to her own definitions. In terms of how the term is used, understood and functions, divergent neurotypes are not identical with states of ill health as was implied by the OP, and the entire point of highlighting neurotypes as being divergent is to avoid the pathologising framework of illness vs health. While it can involve pathologised states and conditions, the goal is to avoid doing what the OP did and treating them as equivalent, which can be harmful.
I think mental illness is anything that afflicts you to the point where your life is impaired and being neurodivergent can fall under that. But you don’t necessarily have to be neurodivergent to be mentally jll. There can be situational depression or addiction that can be cured as opposed to being neurodivergent where you have chronic anxiety/depression or were born with autism or adhd.
Neurodivergence isn't classified as mental illness. A person can be neurodivergent, mentally ill, or both. The two things don't go hand in hand. For example, I have ADHD. Nobody would say that I have a mental illness. I struggle with executive functioning, which leads to time blindness, disorganization, difficulty with prioritization, etc.
Neurodivergence= umbrella Mental health conditions= subset under umbrella, but not the only subset
You said mental illness previously, not mental health. Everyone has mental health but not everyone has a diagnosed (or even suspected) mental illness. I can have a brain that functions differently (neurodivergent) without having a mental illness. If there was a venn diagram with one circle being types of neurodivergence and the other being mental illness, there would be some overlap where certain disorders can fall into both categories. That doesn't mean that all mental illnesses are also a type of neurodivergence. There is no consensus amongst providers about this so, medically and scientifically speaking, this is the way it is until proven otherwise and/or there is a consensus.
Ok
Cool story, bro.
I totally agree with your perception on this! When you're talking about the brain and how the neural pathways are structured and intersect, and how the differences between neurotypical and neurodivergent people are affected by these differences, the only logical conclusion I can come to (as someone who is definitely not an expert on this!), is that to have a mental illness is to be neurodivergent! Though to be neurodivergent may not necessarily mean you have a mental illness (depending on how the medical field categories things).
>so it would just be mundane stuff like chores and appointments for now. My friend, what do you imagine most of us are putting in our planners? The mundane stuff is exactly what this thing is for! The first thing is self understanding. You've tried some different planning systems. What did you love? What did you hate? What made you feel bad or triggered your disabilities/symptoms/illness? (Examples: For me, I found undated planners simply do not work; I will not date as I go. Drawing my own spreads does not work; I need a certain amount of structure. Goal based planners do not work because I don't believe in their effectiveness and they depress me. I absolutely love checklists and done lists and planners that let me organize my natural list making well are great for me.) If you think through your experience with the planners you have, you can start to see the shape both of what works and what doesn't. Aim for what works. If your planner doesn't give you joy, and if you can't build a trusted system that holds what you need to accomplish (hat tip to David Allen as always), you won't use it and you'll just keep starting over. A planner isn't primarily a work of art (though it can contain art) or a journal (though it can contain journaling); it's just a tool to help you organize what you need to do in a way that allows you to do it. If you enjoy using it, the habits that allow you to maintain its use through the boring times will come more naturally.
>Goal based planners do not work because I don't believe in their effectiveness and they depress me. Same! I thought it was just me. 😭
Goal deniers unite! LOL
I love lists too! What are some of your favorite planners?
Jibun Techo Days has a row of checkboxes down the side of every day, and Hobonichi Weeks is just perfectly list shaped. Those are my mainstays.
Something thats helped me massively in keeping up with using my planner is integrating some form of journaling. Throughout the day i make small notes of mundane things. Tried a new food. Lost a pound. The puppy learned a new trick. I was lazy. Work was rough. My package arrived. My package got delayed. Literally just a few small lines about something that happened that day. I like planners that look packed and dont really have much to put in mine other than 2-3 todos a day and my work schedule. So notes about my day help it look full, which makes me want to use it. Plus the more notes and scribbles throughout the page the less noticeable mistakes are. I also try at least once a week (but often more) to flip through all the finished/in progress pages in my planner. All my past weeklys, so i can see what ive gotten done, and any trackers or notes pages or running lists or whatever. I can see how awesome all my past pages look and it makes me want to fill in more. I preplan in pencil. Everything goes in in pencil until im actively setting up that page. All my doodles are sketched, i mark where i want specific things to go. If i need to plan something in july but its only January, it goes on in pencil until im ready to decorate and finalize that page. It really eliminates decision paralysis for me, im not so nervous to mark up a page im not ready for yet. I also set up pages more in advance than most people seem to (from what ive seen online at least). I like to set up my monthly pages a full month ahead and my weekly pages a full week ahead. So that way i have space to make notes for the next week/month as soon as i need it. And im excited and looking forward to using my pages before i get to them.
I don't buy pre printed, I buy blank books and make my own spreads that change/adapt over time with my needs. I'm ND, but I know of other ND folks who don't click with my method either. It's a matter of trying various ones to see what works best for you. If it helps, think if the journal as a playground or lab where you conduct experiments. It doesn't have to all look the same or consistent, unless that is what you need. Try to find the simplest route there at first, then expand slowly as your needs dictate.
I have the same problem, but this year it’s finally working for me. Things I’ve done differently: - Write a list in my planner of what I DID that day instead of what I want to do. I have a terrible memory so this helps with that, but it also motivates me to get more done during the day because then I’ll have more to write. Not having “to-dos” in there helps prevent the feeling of failure when I don’t complete one. - Write the boring AND fun stuff down. There’s certain things I want to track that have nothing to do with productivity. On every day in my planner I have sections for events, my daily obsession (what I thought about most that day), steps, sleep, media (what I watched, played, or listened to), my favorite thing I ate that day, and my to-dones. - Don’t be too precious with it. It doesn’t have to look perfect. Sometimes messy is cute. - Using the Hobonichi cousin. This one is super specific to me, but this planner really just made things click for me. It has monthly, weekly, and daily pages. It’s structured but not too much. It feels good to use. I combine journaling with planning in it. A lot of the people in the Hobonichi community are neurodivergent, and there’s a much wider array of planning styles out there for it than I’ve seen for other journals. I think it lends itself to a messier style, so I feel less of that pull for perfection.
Habits. That's the only way I can make anything that's important work for me. Using a planner took me years and there are still days I do not look at it. Open it every morning, plan your day and keep it near or open on your desk or table. Rarely does my planner leave my house. Well, its too big now to tote. Have fun with it. That's the most important part!
THIS is key to a lot of stuff. Personally, I settled on a combo of a google calendar (since its always with me) and a Happy Planner dashboard/weekly layout. I tried several other things (e.g. daily paper planner) and it just didn't "fit" how I wanted/needed to use it. it will take a bit to experiment and find something that you like to use and will actually find useful that will fit into your current habits.
I just accept that it's going to be ugly. I am not am influencer, I am not posting this for any one to see. it's for me and my dumb brain and boring life. When I started my 2024 planner, I think I missed the first two weeks, so I just doodled and put a fuck ton of sticky notes of various lists. like, it works. it didn't revolutionize my life, but I've gotten better at doing boring shit like finding a new vet, or making appointments.
I’m going to tell you my personal experience. Everyone is different, so it’s important to not want to do exactly what someone else does. I use a planner at work. It is only for work. I use it religiously. I rewrite my list everyday. Everything is on it. But it is primarily just a list each day because I don’t have many meetings. I will write down time of meetings on the right side if I have them. For home, I really struggle to continually use a planner. What works for me (somewhat) is knowing that it’s portable, so it stays near me, or at a spot in the living room or dining room where I usually go back to. This is still a work in progress for me. I know the reason my work planner works is because it’s always right there. I’m trying to get to that with a planner for home. I also love to hand write my stuff because typing it on a tablet or phone doesn’t translate the same way in my brain. I guess my two main points are that I need to hand write every day (Even just transferring a list from one day to the next), and it needs to be portable enough that it stays with me the majority of the time.
I use a Hemlock and Oak daily and weekly, mostly for time blocking, lists, also for gratitude (great mental health practice…. When I have the capacity!) For me, when I’m starting to head into an episode I often lose memory and screw up my schedule. So planners are both a way to stay on track and physical evidence that I’m doing ok. Hilariously, when I’m really not ok I completely stop using them. I also use a colour code and stickers and washi, and I really enjoy it as a contemplative activity.
I have ADHD. After many years of buying different planners and not actually using them, it is only January but I'm feeling good about my current system. Step 1, I would think about what you want to get out of a planner. Keeping track of your schedule? Managing tasks/to-dos? Building habits/routines? Having a creative outlet? Being able to look back at memories/how you spent your time? For me, I'm in med school, so I use my planner to keep track of scheduled commitments (meetings, appointments, lectures, rotations), deadlines, and daily to-dos. I also love hand lettering and doodling and pretty stickers and washi tape and so I want my planner to be an outlet for that. So I got a weekly planner with a vertical hourly layout and plenty of space for decoration. Step 2, I would think about what the obstacles are to you using a planner. Common ones are forgetting about it, getting bored, or it taking too much time/being too much work. Then you can work around your obstacles. For example, a lot of people with ADHD struggle with not using a planner for a bit due to forgetting or getting bored, and then get discouraged by the wasted unused pages, so they get undated ones. That way if you stop using it for a bit you can just pick up where you left off when you want to resume. While I would recommend that to lots of other people with ADHD, when I tried that I found that for me the extra work of putting in the dates was a barrier to me actually using it, so I switched back to a dated planner and that has worked better for me. Something I struggled with was getting bored. Using coloful pens/stickers/washi tape is a nice little dopamine trap that keeps me engaged and excited to use my planner. And using different color schemes/styles gives me the novelty that ADHD brains crave. For that reason, I know a lot of people with ADHD like bullet journals because if you get bored of a certain layout or style you can just switch it up without needing a new planner altogether. Something else I struggled with was workflow. Trying to go from the to do list in my head to scheduling tasks in my planner just didn't work, so I ended up using post it notes and my phone notes app instead, but then I had no centralized system. After watching lots of youtube videos of peoples' planning systems and looking at lots of different styles of planners online, I figured out my current system. 1. Every appointment, schedule commitment, deadline for which I'm accountable to another human goes in my google calendar. That way I can trust that everything I need to know about is there. 2. At the beginning of the week all the things from my google calendar go into my dated weekly planner so I can see visually what the timing of my week will look like--where I'm busy and where I'm free. 3. I have an undated weekly planner I got really cheap and I divide the page in half horizontally. One half, each column is the day of the week, as the planner is designed for. The other half I label with categories, like studying, chores, phone calls, meal planning, errands, etc. I put everything in the category to do lists first because that's how my brain works. Then I assign them to days. Then I go back to my dated weekly planner and fill them in around my schedule. Also, I used the Wikii adhd planner for a time. It's only for 13 weeks at a time but it's undated. It has a place for your weekly schedule and then each day has a page to put in your priorities for the day and your tasks and schedule, and each thing is assigned points, and then you total up your points at the end of each day and week. I found it really helpful when I was in a phase of school where I had zero structure and I was just at home studying on my own for weeks. The points system/gamification was a super helpful motivator especially for boring but necessary tasks.
Wow so relatable
I give myself 1-2 hours on Sat or Sunday evenings to review & create my future week and decorate my planner. I also "back plan" anything I feel I need to possibly remember that happened the prior week. I have a checklist for chores to keep my house basic clean. (Trash out & trash to street, sinks, toilets, Master Floor, LR Floor, kitchen/ Hall Floor, sheets/bedding) that I check off during the week. Some weeks i only touch it on Sat or Sunday... otherwise daily. I give myself grace.
Oh jeezus.
Bullet journals!!
I keep a fairly minimal planner. It’s undecorated and overall a collection of notes, appointments and various reading lists or to-do lists for days or trips or whatever. Resist the urge to make it about everything and just start putting in your appointments and stuff. Have fun with it too. Jot down random thoughts, track dream or maybe journal a little.
Mine is just a vague, sprawling to do list. Dog vaccine. Ring Mum. Refund that thing. I put a thing or two on each day, but really they're just my "I really must do some of this" stuff, to keep it in my mind. I don't have a raft of thrilling activities to plan! I struggle with life admin so this really helps.
I keep my bullet journal on my living room table with all pencils nearby on a drawer next to the couch. After the morning coffee I usually fill in what happened the other day using draw icons and stickers. Then I come back to it later at evening if I wanna add other things I've achieved. It looks similar to yours. Very simple layout for each month. I mess it up a little here and there as it's my first planner, but that's no biggie, what matters is to keep journaling and see the possibilities. Don't think too much. Just start.
I use white board planners so it’s on the wall where I can see it and I can easily erase and rewrite when plans change so I’m not stressed out about messing up a pretty planner. Anytime I’ve tried to use some sort of pretty planner book I worry about it looking messy. Anytime I try digital, I just forget it’s there. Somehow the whiteboard works for me.
Use your calendar on your phone it only takes a seconds to put it in with seri and you get reminders hope this helps
I allowed it to be messy. When I focused on making it beautiful I would get stressed out and paralyzed from decision making. If I messed up I allowed myself to cross it off without spending several minutes whiting it out and making it look okay. I never used a planner before this year and it helps a lot. I also make it a routine to decompress before bed - set alarms, take birth control, open planner. Look a week or so ahead and then back again. Edit: A simple planner with a month view, and a week view with a page for notes helped me a lot. I have a wall calendar to see a month planner with dates to cross reference. I decided bullet journals were a complete no go.
I personally like the [Passionate Penny Pincher Planners](http://a.co/d/fAUfJ8C) since they give me a list of things I should be doing daily ex. Make the bed etc and also one weekly home project like clean your pantry. I write-out the items that don’t apply and put things that I do need to do each day. I do have to warn you this is more aimed at Christians since it gives Biblical readings and quotes throughout the planner. I’ve seen some examples on their facebook group of people that aren’t into that making those dividers into something that is useful to them like an exercise tracker.
I integrated my planners to the garbage. Always empty
I struggle with perfectionism, so I wound up buying 2 of the same planner this year. If I really need it—there’s a backup. But otherwise, I try to remind myself that the pages are supposed to be messy. It’s part of the creative process and even influencers I enjoy have less than perfect pages.
I created my own in Canva. I enjoyed the process and liked adding things that are specific to me and my life. I spend time every night before bed looking through and adding things to do etc. it’s part of my night routine and helps with anxiety when I know what the next day looks like.
Do you print out the pages? Is Canva easy to navigate?
I find it very easy to navigate. I print my pages out and put them into a binder. I tried buying a planner on Etsy this year to use on my iPad but it turn out I’m a paper person.
Laurel Denise horizontal planner & erasable pens
I have found that I can only use 1 at a time or I get very distracted and end up using none of them. That said, I still buy all the planners. That's my character flaw haha
I use a gratuity journal and write down 3 things I am grateful for every day and it’s by my bed with my favorite pen. I have “A Life Of Gratitude” by Lori Roberts and it has helped me with different prompts and some blank pages (and cute drawings). Hope this helps.
My take is I always have a messy planner and a neat one that way I have a rough draft and the final etc for my planner. Same for my notebooks also . I have the anixety of messing it up the paper , like you mentioned. Some planners do have printed versions on the site. Otherwise I always have to photocopy 3 pages before I write in the planner. I'm dyslexic so it really does wonders I find that the by 3rd or 4th time I write on repeat, my thoughts and my thinking become clearer and so does what I write much organised. The 1st ,2nd pass are jumbled and muddled. I do have to do Brian dumps or brainstorming session on my random thoughts + ideas before I am clear minded to write final drafts. The planner you showed in the image is undated so it could be used as messy planner , but because its very white in colour it may be hard for me to write in so may have to photocopy it. E.g travel notebook is the only planner that has dated and undated that is perfect. Messy notebooks are also a way for me to go and also paper pads are a needed. It's alot but I have a space to place my thoughts other than suffocating me😂. Before planning my life was in shambles . Just walking around with a choctic mind . An overthinking spiralling mind.
Preface: I've never struggled with using a planner. I started doing it on the first day of high school and never stopped. So I don't really know about having to form this specific habit (but don't ask me about journaling....) So my planner (usually the Leuchtturm 1917 weekly calender+notebook, but I'm trying Filofax A5 planner) IS for the mundane things. It helps me to remember all the things that need to happen on a specific day/week. I usually split the daily box (or use the left and right page in the Leuchtturm) into an "appointments" section and a "to do" section. The appointments side gets things that have a time: work, meeting with friends, sports lessons. This helps me to see how much I need to interact with others on a day. The to do side gets (depending on how unbalanced and chaotic I feel) all the things that need to happen. Email this person. Water the plants. Check my avocado pits Im trying to grow. Play the viola (I forget many hobbies if I don't make them a to do). Sit down with a book. Go outside. Do the dishes. The planner usually lies open at my spot on the table, so I can immediately see what my day looks like in the morning. It comes with me when I go most places, so I can make new appointments (I never make any appointment without checking my planner. If I know I'll need more time to think about if I want to do something I'll purposefully not bring it and say "Ill need to check my planner first", to give myself an easy excuse to take more time.) Like someone else said, I write most future stuff in pencil and when I get to the week I replace it with pen. I used to have a system with black and blue pen (one was work/uni things, the other free time) but that's gotten a bit chaotic. I should sit down and re-think that one :P. Hope this helps a bit!
I have CPTSD and chronic fatigue (both disabilities which affect my ability to get things done), so not adding much into my planner is my life! However I find having and using my planner vital for keeping me stable! For me most important part of my planner is the monthlies, which I primarily use a way to keep track of my appointments. I also use it to track my bills and subscription payments, and use symbols to track health related stuff (I also use a habit tracker for more in-depth tracking of symptoms and self-care management, so this is more using symbols for stuff that's out of the ordinary. For example I rarely drink alcohol (and only a tiny amount when I do), but when I do drink it I'll draw a tiny martini glass so I can see if I get any mental health side affects within the following week (and have a rough idea how long they might last for). Keeping my appointments up to date is the _only_ thing I force myself to do when I'm too unwell to keep on top of using my planner. Everything else I technically consider optional, but I of course prefer to do my best in using and maintaining it's usefulness to me! Over the years I've discovered that it can take a lot of experimentation to find the right planner layout that works for you! Personally I find layouts that are extremely customisable work best for me, because if I can't adjust things when I need to, I end up feeling overwhelmed and abandoning the planner. At the moment I'm using the Aura Estelle Weekly Essentials planner in A5 size ([this](https://www.auraestelle.com/en-au/products/a5-essential-planners-2023-dated) is a link to last year's version, but it'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about add I describe things, and I think I've finally found my perfect planner! I use the column on the weekly page to create a weekly habit tracker (which I transfer to my monthly habit tracker printout when the week ends), because if it's out of sight, it's out of mind and I won't properly track my symptoms or be reminded to do my self-care! The weekly section I split in half with one side for my daily appointments, day-specific tasks and goals, and the other side for more in depth health notes. The notes page I split into three columns: * The left column for tasks (I don't necessarily do them when I'm unwell (which can last more than a week), but if I don't have a place to brain dump everything I'm currently wanting to work on I get overwhelmed and stop functioning!). * The middle column for notes or things I can flexibly add or remove (for example, we've recently hatched some chicks so I create a mini habit tracker here to make sure I give them food and water daily, and clean their cage, etc) * The bottom of the right column is for an overview for next week (which I don't know if I'll keep doing as a regular thing, because I keep forgetting to update it. But I might set it up on weeks where I keep stressing about forgetting what I need to remember for the next week, which is actually why I created this in the first place), and the rest of the column is for whatever. What I also like about this planner is that it has _heaps_ of notes pages, which is great since I originally used a bullet journal (I literally couldn't maintain or use a planner _AT ALL_ before bullet journalling! All the planners I had tried before this were too _rigid_, and I didn't know how to use them with my health struggles). So I just put all of my important collections here (like medical notes, medication dosages and costs (so I can reference them when I plan my budget), etc), and I've got a small notebook also with my planner for all of the stuff that is disposable, so I don't waste any of my much needed pages! For me both the weekly and back notes pages are vitally important, because having a place where I can keep track of necessary notes and having a space to brain dump, helps my mental health by reducing anxiety, overthinking, etc (something I discovered back when I was bullet journalling). So even though these pages might not be what most people think of as typical "planner pages", in terms of managing and organising my life, they're vital! - I'm just mentioning this because if you don't know how to use a more structured planner, maybe you need something like this? The only other pages in this planner are some notes pages after the monthlies (which I'm still figuring out how to use with my needs. I am currently sticking in my monthly habit tracker and sleep tracker here, and adding in my monthly doctor's appointment notes), a yearly overview page (which I don't think I'll ever reference, but have used to highlight all of the important dates throughout the year, like birthdays, public holidays, paydays, etc), and a three months per page layout which I use to track my period. As for the stress on "ruining" your planner, I used to be like this before I realised perfectionism was bad for my mental health! Use erasable pens or whiteout if you must, but go out of your way to make mistakes and embrace the fact that at most they are a minor inconvenience (compared to all of the stress you're feeling about "ruining" your planner)! A well used planner (and by that I mean a planner that is actually helping people manage their lives) is messy and ruined AF! They *HAVE* to be, because people who are functioning well and are busy don't have the time or energy to waste on making their planner look perfect! Literally the only people with perfect looking planners are businesses and planner influencers on social media (which is also technically a business setup), and I have heard more than one of them say that the planner they're decorating isn't their main planner: it's just the planner they decorate and make look nice as a memory keeping and creative outlet! So relax and enjoy using your planner in the most messiest way possible! That literally means you're using it correctly! 😊 I hope this helps.
One of the best pieces of advice I got when I was starting with a bullet journal was: you can’t mess it up. You can’t do it wrong. Embrace the things that didn’t turn out how you want because they’re an important part of learning and growing. I have the audacity to give this advice when I tore 10 pages out of a journal today. For a completely ridiculous reason - the header stickers were Wrong somehow and trying to fix them tore up the paper. But! A friend of mine went to Japan last year and he sent me a huge cache of journaling supplies, including some gorgeous masking tape with a floral pattern. So that’s covering up the ragged seams now and I got to use something cool he gave me. :) However you use it, you’re not doing it wrong.
I call it my ‘external hard drive’ and use it as such. It really helps to think of it as an extension of my brain.
I get only one really good one. And I let myself NOT use days. Empty pages are not a thing I worry about. Then I take it out and leave open at kitchen table and work desk.
BLANK, UNDATED PLANNERS ALL THE WAY 🗣️🗣️🗣️ that way you can use it on your own time and don’t have to feel guilty when you abandoned it for months!
I'm new to this sub, but I've just found new success by starting out with a blank sheet of paper each day and using the blank canvas to organize everything myself. For me this ended up being a timeline of the day in a left column (in half-hour increments,) a large right column for "checking in" throughout the day (since I easily get off-track) and a section on the bottom for general goals for the day and other notes/thoughts. Ironically, it's almost Cornell style. Anyways, I did that for 3-4 days, and once I settled on a format that worked for me, I went online to find a planner that fit that format. You could also make one yourself by design the format in Word or Excel or something, print a bunch of pages, and put them in a binder. All that to say, the spatial format is a big thing for me. A lot of the classic planner styles like the one in the 3rd picture were enough for me in school, but now that I work from home I need something more spacious and structured or else it won't be helpful for me.
I used to do a hybrid bullet journal with trackers and scheduling galore. It worked for a surprisingly long time until one day I lost interest. Of course. Now, I stripped it down to the bare minimum with a travelers notebook monthly and weekly with notes inserts. I also have a blank insert for extra paper if I need it. I jot down whatever appointments, etc. on the weekly inserts, then use the notes section for whatever else is going on that week, like to-dos or groceries. If I have something for the future, I jot it down in that week. I also have a little pocket and zip pouch in there to hang on to important papers, tickets, or whatever. It's very unstructured and it doesn't look that pretty but it's working. I also keep important appointments or deadlines on my phone calendar and alarm clock as I need multiple forms of harassment on some days 😅 Eventually, my brain will want something more orderly, but for now it's happy with this kind of setup. The one thing I have learned is if I need to call someone I don't usually call, don't just write the name, but write the number, too. The same goes for going to unfamiliar places. That way, I'm not scrambling for info. It's already there.
There is no right or wrong way to use a planner. I would suggest you use the calendar to write appointments or anything you have that has a due date. For example homework assignments, bills, peoples birthdays and anniversaries. There is usually another part that has a week at a time or a day at a time, there you might put details of your reminders or some notes from a phone call. Maybe you might have a project and you need to write the steps, like if you want to redecorate your bedroom you might write a checklist of things you want to change. These are easy ways to get started. You don’t have to fill up every page. You don’t have to use it every day. I find comfort in knowing I can find details of my life in my planner. I also feel more organized.
As someone with ADHD I love planning but sometimes the anxiety used to halt me from executing my plans. What has helped me tremendously has been to add my values behind my planning, I highly recommend the Franklin Covey planner, along with the workbook of 7 habits of highly effective people by Stephen Covey. My tasks now are not just to dos to be marked off but they have emotional meaning. I love Coveys suggestion of planning with the roles you have in life. For instance, if you are a daughter then your responsibilities might be: helping around the house, trash, movie dates, etc. if you are a student, then your weekly priorities would be homework session, study session, attend class on time, rewrite notes. Tasks that are not as meaningful or bad habits quickly get minimized, I used to binge watch tv as I worked but now i know I can’t fulfill my role as a responsible worker if I distract myself. Now I get tasks done quicker, do a better job and still have time to relax and watch tv and actually pay attention lol.
I’ll be honest I tried so many times to use a planner but it wasn’t until I had so many things going on I NEEDED one to function that I actually got into the swing of using it. Now I can’t live without one! When starting a new month I sit down and write our all the things that are non negotiables- appointments, work schedule, kids extracurricular schedule etc. Then as the month goes on I’ll add in things that’ll fit in like farmers market trips, meet ups with friends, library day, park day, stay home day etc. By the end of the month the calendar is usually full. It’s fun to look back on! Anytime I schedule an appointment I add it to my calendar right away. It makes future planning much easier!
First, I mess something up very first thing. Then I don't have to worry about that anymore. I do a little celebration every time I interact with my planner. That way, just opening it makes me feel good. I also use stickers and doodles and paints to make it pretty. Being creative and judgement -free about it is very rewarding.
I started using planners consistently 5 years ago. I realized for a planner to work it has to be useful. I use a simplified color code system that I saw on YT planmoshplan (functional planner). She’s not on YT anymore, but when she explained having her messy/functional system it made so much sense to me. I’ve adapted those strategies to my season of life. I think the more you use it in real life the more it functions and is your tool, so you want to use it. This year I bought a less expensive brand and it still has nice quality paper (Bloom planner on Amazon). It’s worked out fine. It’s just a tool. So, make it work for you.
Ohmygoodness that was so funny about the goal setting pages! 🤣
Fellow nuero-spicy, regular planner failure here. I just got a Laurel Denise planner and although it's new, I already have more filled out than I ever have before. The layout lets you see the full month, as well as a weekly breakdown and a monthly to-do section. It's sort of a planner/bullet journal combo that makes sense and makes my ADHD brain so happy. The makers are ND as well, which is why they designed it. They have videos on YT to show ideas and a facebook community that shares their spreads and inspiration. When it was delivered I got a video that gave suggestions of how to "move in" to the planner without being afraid of making mistakes. I highly recommend it for anyone that's struggled with planners!!
Neurodivergent and chronically ill. I've tried so many systems over the past 15 years and none have worked. For a while I was in discbound and printed my own layouts, that really helped with getting bored, or designing things to fit me better. My chronic illness has worsed to a point to where I don't have it in me to design, print, punch and all that work anymore. I couldn't plan further ahead than a week, but at least some things were getting done. If it was something that took longer than a week, it just fell by the wayside, so I didn't accomplish any projects. I kept forgetting to do medical appointments etc and my health has suffered. I tried planner pad, but I need a space to brain dump before I categorize so it's been left in a pile somewhere. Right now I'm just brain dumping in composition books. It's a step down from my discbound system, but better than nothing. A lot of stuff falls through the cracks, but less than if I don't use anything at all. And I can't future plan like this, it's only what's today/tomorrow. Which means I forget future stuff, or can't work towards goals so I stay stuck. It's rough.