Perhaps the most difficult part is understanding what will work for us. Last year I bought an awesome planner, 16 months spread. Mr. Wonderful brand (check them out, Jet Pens people). It was aesthetic and fun until the moment that I realised the format that I chose was too big to carry around (binder A5 style). I end up not working to the fullest. And I felt sorry for it. For 2025 I will keep a pocket planner and a common place book/complement for the Planner.
I sought out a 16 cm ruler for this exact reason--need to draw those 31 x 5 mm lines for my monthly trackers! 😂 (it was so worth it, I love my ruler lol)
thank you for reminding me to stop trying to copy other people's planners, LOL. i've been a hobonichi user for 2 years, but admittedly i haven't been fully utilizing them because i got caught up admiring the different ways people use them shared on the official site, and at the back of my mind i always end up thinking, "well, i'll never be able to have a planner/journal as pretty as theirs," and it leaves me in a slump, when ultimately what should really matter is what i like and what works for me 😅
This may go against the video in one way, but it works for me! -all appointments/events with a time go in my phone calendar -I have a notebook to do basic bullet journaling -as in original Ryder Carroll method. No fanciness, apart from the fact I use multicoloured pens depending on my mood only. -my Hobonichi Weeks is decorative!!! I take the time to decorate it with sticker kits because it brings me joy, but the sticker layout is pretty set in stone - date covers, washi top and bottom. Left side is top 3 things to do that day, and it’s so satisfying ticking them off. Right side is a quick daily journal. Monthly spread is ONE highlight/good thing/gratitude per day.
This is .... the best video you've ever done, certainly the one in that I feel seen and understood and spoken to. this is why I went to the Techo Weeks. I don't write every day. Some days have a sentence. Some days have a novel. but I need something that will prompt me to write something, because it's how I process my day and all the mayhem of my last five years. The A6 Techo was too much space, and I spend too much time with layouts at work to have anything left (nice fountain pen ink and Iconic stamps notwithstanding). Journaling is how I got from 11 to 30 in one piece, and at 65 it's how I'm getting through the rest of it. My gratitude is deep.
I’ve been using the Beverly Marumi mini sticky notes to put meetings that are in the future weeks in my planner so I can see what is ahead with flexibility to move them. They do not leave any residue when I remove them which is EXCELLENT!
Thank you! I went back to my regular Travelers Notebook this August. It’s simple (weekly w/memo) and I can personalize to my liking. Your best advice is to NOT watch all the RU-vid videos. It only serves to confuse and take me away from my need for simplicity. I’m retired and help out with my granddaughters ages 16 mos and 7 years. I mainly need to keep track of the 7 yr olds schedule and her mom’s. Highlighters are a crucial stationery item in my notebook - pink for the 7 yr old and yellow for the mom. More colors track other things make for an interesting planner. Thanks again! One of the best videos I’ve seen.
Use planner as a journal! Am I the only one who uses a Travelers weekly w/memo as a journal? Perfect for writing what happened since the dates are already populated, and enough space for some weekly thoughts/tracking on the blank side. That is how I use my "planner" more for detailing what happened, where did I go, what did I eat, purchase etc. For actual planning, I use the digital Apple calendar with family share is so much more efficient for daily life, whole family got the whole plan down, and notifications help with location and time reminders. Just way more efficient overall instead of flipping thru pages to figure out what I need to do.
Seeing my notebook/journal/planner and writing utensils as tools and not aesthetic items helped me so much! I purchased limited markers (pastels-1 pack of tombows, 1 pack of highlighters, 1 pack of clickart) and a notebook with a red cover. Why red? Because I don't like red. It's easier to view my entries as an asset to the book instead of 'messing it up.'
I bought an amazing lovingly cute daily planner, ready to get my habits in track and be productive!! ... and I quickly realized I'm a weekly planner kind of person 😅 My tip for people who wanna plan and make it cute, buy a black pen, and a same color highlighter/pen combo, so you don't have to bring sooo many stationary items with you. Some will say 3 is already too much, but it's what works the best for me ❤
What often doesn't get mentioned is that the original bullet journal method doesn't have ANYTHING about habit trackers, washi tape, stickers, stamps, brush pens, or even the somehow ubiquitous two-page weekly spreads! All it is comprised of is a quarterly todo list, a monthly todo list and a daily log of tasks and ideas. All with a single pen or pencil and no other embellishments.
I tried this, and it was an unusable mess for me. I need the layouts to keep things visually organized. 😅 Jibun Techo is great for me. 2025 is my third year. I miss the custom layouts I used to make, but I'm too busy to do it right now
Lot of good points. I do like to see how other people divide their pages in a Hobonichi weeks. So many creative ways to maximize space however yes, I do agree it's not healthy to compare or try to copy. As a person that can fall victim to perfectionism, it's helpful for me to draw me out a few layouts in the back pages and then I can refer to them when I need a change vs death scrolling Instagram.
I love this video. I see so many people in planner groups asking what they need to do. Like, just write your tasks down?? Then, there are people who ask for planner recommendations with no information about what they need
I loved the hobonichi techo and everything but honestly I was so overwhelmed with trying to fill in the monthly, weekly, daily when I am not much of a journaler or artist or anything. I realized that the jibun techo was perfect for me and gave me that level of satisfaction of seeing a completely full week with multiple colors and notes and stickies. Fortunately I can fit a jibun techo in a hobonichi case so I can at least enjoy the cute covers that come out every year!!
I have seen many people make similar statements. It is so sad the social media has made us afraid of blank spaces. There is nothing wrong with entire blank weeks or entire blank pages. Our minds need time to rest and reflect.
No planner system I have tried helps me like the bullet journal - the OG Ryder Carroll system, which doesn’t need washi tape or multiple highlighters, just a pen, a notebook, and a system of indexing, check-ins, and reflections. That said I bought an A6 Hobonichi cover and plain notebook for my bullet journal! You can never leave stationery, especially JetPens 😂
One of the habits that I track very single week is if I use/open my planner. It incentives me to take the time to open up this book that I NEED to keep my life straight.
i have to accept that my spreads would change with time. it's ok to use digital for some aspects of planning instead of trying to shoving everything into a notebook. currently, i journal in a different notebook and use weeks-size notebook for planning, using Alastair method.
I think it's important to me to decide what I want to get out of my planner: is it a tactical productivity tool or is it an exercise in aesthetic/artistic practice? The answer can be both, but it doesn't have to be. In my life it's usually bare bones, ugly, tactical scribbles, but there are times where it gets more aesthetic, like a musical which is mostly talking but sometimes just has to burst out into song.
I bought my first ever Hobonichi this year (a Weeks), and I'm really looking forward to getting to know it. Thanks for the idea to use the optional sectioning for item urgency rather than time of day!
The memo pages in the back are numbered, in case you want additional notes for a day. I love that the lines are faint enough that they can be written over; if it doesn't work for you, you can ignore the dates and lines and just fill it up with whatever suits you. There are no rules.
I use my journal as a planner. I put a pre-dated sticky calendar on the first page of each month, and mark the page with an index tab. Then I can highlight every day of that month with specific appointments, events, etc. Underneath that, I create a checklist explaining what those engagements are, and I can check them off as they come. Bonus: as those events get checked off, they act as journaling prompts.
I've fallen for the trap more times than I can count 😭 Can definitely agree that the day I finally started making my journal/planner for me, everything fell into place. It's not as pretty as the people who make full on spreads but boy is it clean and effective.
this video was so well timed LOL I considered buying two sizes of hobonichi this year... but I'm so glad I didn't cave and just bought the one I knew I was going to use and a separate notebook as a common place book. I don't track habits or anything! I've tried and as Stephanie said 'I know who I am!' LOL
I really like your advice. Especially, what came off as “Put the planner down. Back away from the planner.” lol. My planning is quite minimal. I use a sticker here and there and different color pen inks. That is my only claim to planner fame. Love your videos, Stephanie.
It's a learning curve, but not just for using the planner. You're learning how you think and trying to organize your planner in a way that works for you. Take time every quarter to flip back through the planner and note what worked well and what didn't. Adjust from there. It's okay to take a year in one planner to find it. Then, if your needs change in the future, adapt to meet those. It's just a planner, but it's only *your* planner, no one else's.
I think pretty planning is not the problem, the problem is trying to make pretty a priority and not the productivity! When I started planning I would focus entirely on making it pretty and adding a lot of things that I thought I could use but always ended up never using them. When it started working out was because I started planning only using what would really help me, and then I started trying to make it more pretty, with highlighters, pens, pencils when necessary even my new acquisition my first *fountain pen* yay!!! Navy blue ink for the winnn!!!
I ended up utilizing and remaking an old planner I made a year ago and just modified it to fit Monday through Fridays. This planner is kept at my school job and for notes, I have a huge wide space for notes and a general to-do list to do for the week. However, I have the days of the week similar to the weekly planner spread of the Hobonichi Techo Weeks planner. This honestly has been working for me as I keep it at school and no where else. I do use the weeks planner for my personal one that I do carry around more frequently.
I adore the look of a Jibun Techo and used one before, but as my jobs have all been 'go to work, work, go home' and not included much in the way of meetings or separate tasks, I don't have that much to plan. So now I just have a TN with a monthly booklet for any appointments I do have as well as mood and weather tracking, and then a blank booklet for any to do lists I need to make or anything I feel like writing down. I toss a few stickers or bits of washi tape down, do the occasional doodle if I feel inclined, or use a different coloured pen and that's about it.
Not Stephanie just telling us to leave a minute in 😂😂😂😂 Real talk tho, I did but a bunch of different stuff to try in the early days, and I still don’t regret it since it allowed me to discover more layouts and explore what would work for me. But definitely start from the functional point and work from there. The aesthetics can be decided after that
im glad you made this video and that you remind people Both that they dont have to decorate their planners a bunch or fill out/track everything. a planners what you make of it :7 i'll be getting my first blank planner soon for this coming year and while ill still be keeping it easy and minimally decorated, i think sorting out tasks into how relevant/important they are day by day might still be helpful...!
I still using 'bullet journal' and only use a couple of sections : monthly, weekly, bill tracker, game calendar - recently i used monthly layout that you write day's letter and the date on the side goes up to down (i forgot the term for it). Made it for 6 or 12 month so it also works for future plan. If I wanna use the 'blocky' monthly one, i just paste any free printable that i found on the internet. - my weekly layout change a lot depending on my mood. Sometimes a week on 2 pages, sometimes a week in 1 page with the other page for note. Sometimes it goes througg the pageswithout seperating the weeklies. - i played a couple of gacha games which have a lot of events. As an f2p player I want to track them so I will not missed any if them. I need those freemogems! - for any decorative i just paste washi tapes, stickers, or sticky notes. It's easier than drawing.
I think I'm going to get a hobonichi next year! though I'll actually be drawing in it too because I'm taking part in the daily doodle diary challenge 🥰
Planners make my life less chaotic because they contain the chaos of my thoughts and plans (if someone flips through it looks like I'm the busiest person in the world when I'm really just chilling most of the time)
My best advice is to look carefully at the spreads of the guts of the planner…not the cute cover, or the cover color you hate so you pass it by…that can be easily fixed in a whole variety of very cheap to very expensive ways. Mostly cheap. Also, you (like me) may not be aware of the vast variety of different planners because you see videos on just one or two companies, so you think that is what is available, order it because the structure is great, then hate it because there’s too much going on on the page visually, it’s too big for what you needed (but the right size for the other part you needed…so yes, I have a little one I carry in my purse, just organization, lists, to-do’s, appointments…it’s job isn’t to be pretty. The one on the desk at home does more overall planning including longer term, and it’s my space to just be creative and enjoy myself (I got one with undated dailies so I didn’t feel guilt and stress that I had wasted a page.) If you wind up not liking a planner you chose, and can afford to, get a different one that suits you better. Use the previous planner for swatches, pen testing, scrap paper, paper for your kid to color on when they’re bored, etc, etc. It can be hit or miss…and your life can change too, meaning that planner you used for years that was perfect no longer works for your life change…and so be patient. “Planner season” still gives you a lot of time to decide.
*cackles in farmer* I use the most basic of Bullet Journal styles for my planner, stripping out even some of the elements there because I can't keep up with them (the monthly spread, the yearly spread - just use the dailies, indexing, linked pages...). I just use a very pretty notebook and fancy pens...but whichever of them I grab at a given moment. Chaos! I do use a magnetic bookmark for the current day to quickly flip there and little book darts on the collections, so I can flip to them fast as I log sales figures and such or the well log or other things I want to flip to quickly.
i've never been good at using planners even when i was in school--once i close the notebook, it goes out of mind--so i moved on to using a big desk calendar :] it's right in front of me so i can write things down immediately and not forget, and some calendars have little hooks to hang on the wall for more desk space. and they can be colorful too!
Sometimes your planner needs change because your focus has changed. The planner that works for someone in sales has too much space for notes compared to someone who is scheduling multiple meetings for multiple people. Also, the size of your handwriting impacts your page needs, too. **Edited to add missing words.
I bullet journal in my Hobonichi cousin. I don’t have to do any layouts cause they are all ready there. My planner is not pretty and I love it. It works for me. Find the thing that works for you x
Great video! I like to use my Hobonichi for journaling, and as a diary, and I'm trying to find new ways to use washi tapes in them (Stephanie, I feel your pain!) I want to be more creative with my planners
you are so cute and funny and I get you, I got caught up with having too many pens write for specific task and I get fed up and I ended up using one color :) which I realized all along, I prefer just one color which is blue. I agree we need a productive planner not a pretty planner. ;)
I started buying rainbow dot stickers to colour code, and I don’t have to carry multiple pens. I also refuse to make my planner pretty, I need it to work 😂
Bwahahaha this made me laugh more than it should. After about six, seven years playing about with planners, I realise what works for *me* is an undated planner, because I don't have tasks every day and what I really want is something to capture what I need to do *later*. Plus dated planners make me feel like I'm wasting space if I don't write in it every day. For 2025, I've decided to continue using the Midori 2024 1Day 1Page because it's both small enough that I can carry it around easily in my bags yet large enough to capture all my tasks/thoughts. Like Stephanie mentioned, it's better to ignore *some* parts of your planner if it means you'll actually use the planner, rather than to ignore the planner completely because using it is such an unpleasant experience, which is why I am ignoring the calendar in my 2024 planner. :p
for REAL my hobonichi weeks is so ugly and boring inside for the most part but it works. i put effort into making my journal pretty, my planner is my henchman
OK, I need a Stardew Valley planner video... I've thought about this myself, and I want to see how someone else is doing it (I know, I know, it might not work for me, but I want inspiration).
Dated planners are absolutely necessary if you have appointments that might be several weeks or months ahead of time. You don't want to have to draw six months out in a blank journal. It's not a waste of pages if it keeps track of your appointments!
Learn how your brain views time and get a planner that matches that. I used to try to create monthly habit trackers but would stop using them after a few weeks because my brain does not plan ahead in months, it works much better when I think about a single week at a time. This is also why as gorgeous as they are, I’d never get a Cousin, because daily planning is too granular for me and also doesn’t get used.
OK I'll say it. I love stationery (give me ALL the Rhodia dot paper and fineliners for my garden planning!), but just don't get the whole planner thing. It all goes in my phone and that's what works for me. 🤷♀
After using Hobonichi Cousins and Jibun Techos for years I am trying the Roterfaden (sp?) system for the rest of this year. We’ll see??? I may be back to my usual Jibun because of its smaller size. I love A5 stuff. But my new purse is smaller and my planner won’t fit in it???? I bought a bigger purse to put my small purse in with my planner outside of it in the bigger purse…I’m losing my mind, someone help me!!! 😂😂😂❤
I actually love planner videos, but I don't even use a planner. I just love to understand the systems that people use. I mean I clicked this video and don't plan (no pun intended) to buy an actual planner.
My tips: - If you’re feeling frustrated with your current planner, figure out the reason(s) for your frustration. This will help you realize what you actually need. - Learn to recognize what won’t work for you when seeing other people’s planner spreads. I enjoy looking at planner spreads once in a while, but most of the time I know it won’t work for me. - Forgive yourself if you mess up or leave pages blank. Your planner is for you and no one else. No one is gonna care if you misspelled that word, crossed it out, and rewrote it. 😉
i always buy so many cute ones but never finish them... i've definitely been a victim of making them so pretty that i get scared to use it and then it ends up collecting dust in a corner
Ok. but. Do you know where I put my current bullet journal? IT WAS JUST HERE A MINUTE A GO. And yes, I bullet journal, but I gave up making it perfect in the first week. But then I added stickers, because, STICKERS. But Seriously. Where'd it go?
