7 Best Planners to Achieve Your Goals
As a career coach for creative generalists, I know that goal-setting looks different when you have multiple passions. The right planner helps you organize your many interests without forcing you to "pick one thing."
But here's something I've noticed: many people looking for the perfect planner are actually hoping it will help them figure out what to do with their life - not just organize it. I see this with my coaching clients all the time. They buy planner after planner, hoping the right system will finally make everything click.
Here's the truth: planners are fantastic tools for organizing goals you've already set. But if you're feeling stuck, unfulfilled, or unsure about your career direction, that requires a different kind of planning. Take my free Creative Generalist Career Assessment to get clarity on what you really want, then come back and choose the planner that will help you get there.
If you're ready to get organized and want to get closer to achieving your dreams this year, the right planner can help you do just that.
When I choose a planner, I look for several specific things, of which the major ones are: clear overviews for months, weeks, to-dos, and task lists, great paper quality, enough writing space, interesting prompts, and, most importantly of all, systems that help me to create and achieve really big goals!
Based on those criteria, I've put together a list of what I consider to be the 7 best planners to achieve your goals in 2026.
The Clever Fox Planner is an agenda, daily planner, gratitude journal, and goal-setting tool all rolled into one. That’s why I feel it deserves to be #1 on this list. According to its designers – a team of five passionate online entrepreneurs – this planner is the solution for anyone looking to boost productivity, hit their goals, and increase their happiness through self-development.
Vitaly, one of the creators of this unique planner, explains:
We are all about productivity and personal development, so we knew we needed a system to track our goals and to help us increase our performance (and overall quality of life). As true believers that pen and paper works wonders to program our subconscious mind, our quest lead us to paper planners.
Vitaly and his team tried out several productivity planners on the market, and although those were great, they knew something was missing. Either the planners were only for 3 or 6 months (while they wanted a 12-month planner), or the planner lacked key features (such as a habit tracker or a yearly goal focus section), or it did not have enough space for notes, to-dos, or goals. In the end, for lack of finding a planner that would 100% satisfy Vitaly and his team’s needs, they decided to create it for themselves. That’s how The Clever Fox Planner was born.
I love The Clever Fox Planner for many reasons. The most important ones are that you can start with this planner any day of the year thanks to its unmarked calendar, that each weekly overview comes with its own habit tracking section, to-do list, main goal and priorities overview, and room to reflect on your week’s wins and lessons learned.
At the beginning of the planner you’ll find a gratitude and self-awareness section, a page to add your daily rituals and affirmations, a double-sided spread to create a vision board. The planner also included a double spread for your life and business goals followed by an overview page to list your five most important goals of the year, and a mind map section.
I also have great news for bullet journal fans (and note takers like moi). The end of the planner has a large section of dotted pages. Perfect to bullet journal, keep notes, organize your thoughts, track ideas and so much more. A must-have for any planner lover if you ask me!
This structured planner is designed to help you navigate your passions, transform them into reachable goals, and define a roadmap to achieve them.
Founder and designer of the Passion Planner Angelia Trinidad says:
I wanted to help people overcome that feeling by making a tool that sat them down to clearly define their goals and dreams, break them down into more actionable steps, and then write them in a place that they would see and use everyday.
Angelina shares her story about the planner here.
I love the Passion Planner because it really delivers on its promise. It has super simple directions on how to use it and why, a monthly calendar view for each month (which I cannot live without!), and pages for reflections. The reflection section is what makes this planner really unique. And I love that on the right side there’s a blank area for you to get really creative – brain dump, draw, create a mind map, write notes. Anything you need to achieve your goals!
#3 Day Designer
The Day Designer is really a work of art. It’s beautiful, intuitive, and has so much space for everything! I like the classic look of this planner (how can you say no to a black, white, and gold combo?!)
Whitney English created this planner because she saw a void in organizational tools for fellow female entrepreneurs. You can check the Day Designer story here.
The first pages of the Day Designer offer different worksheets, each designed to help you find out your personal skills, values, vision, passions, and strengths. Yes, it’s very important to understand yourself in order to achieve your goals!
The planner gives each day a separate page, except for Saturday and Sunday, which share one page. Each weekday, Monday through Friday, has an hourly schedule from 5am to 9pm (great for early birds!), op 3 to-do prompts, a general to-do list (checklist), an inspiration quote, dinner planning, a spot to record daily gratitude, notes and more.
The Day Designer has a monthly calendar with beautiful tabs and daily pages for your appointments/meetings, a to-do list, and a section to remember your projects and deadlines. This planner is an extremely helpful tool to help organize all of your goals, ideas, tasks, thoughts, and even memories!
I love the Daily Greatness journals, and planners! They’re between Leonie Dawson’s workbooks, and more mainstream daily or monthly planners, and offer a well of incredible tools to gain clarity, work on your goals, and achieve more!
I particularly love the Business Planner, who has literally everything you need to be launch a new business, or elevate an existing one to the next level. It’s so good, that I recommend it to almost all of my business coaching clients!
This year, Daily Greatness came out with a new Yoga Journal, and Parents Journal. Absolutely worth checking out if you’re looking for more structure in your life, business or both.
#5 Inkwell Press LiveWell Planner
The Inkwell Press Livewell Planner is an absolutely delightful planner. My favorite part of this planner is the focus on goal setting and productivity. At the beginning of the planner, there‘s a section for planning your yearly goals. Every month has a mission board for setting new goals in areas such as Personal Goals, House Plans, and Health and Fitness. Each month also comes with note pages, and you can reflect on the past month and plan for the next.
There are also some fun features at the back of the planner: a gift list, travel records, a books and/or movies list, a monthly bill tracker, and a section where you can record important dates (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).
The Inkwell Livewell Planner is a colorful, playful, and very feminine planner.
#6 Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner
Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map Planner not only helps you plan your to-do list, but also inspires you to feel the way you want to feel. This is soulful planning at its best, and a core piece of setting goals successfully!
The Planner was created by Danielle LaPorte. Here’s what she says about the planner:
I’m going to say something a bit audacious and salesy-sounding. Here goes: The Evergreen Desire Map Day Planner could totally uplift your life. Because being mindful, reflective, honest, optimistic, on time, and at least a bit organized — is a daily deal. The inspired and “together” life you dream of has got to have practical applications. This is it. A Day Planner that incorporates your soul and your to-do list; your core desired feelings and your goals; your gratitude and your plans for change.
The Desire Map Planner leads you to focus on your soul, life, and goals. The planner will help you to keep track of small and large intentions in your personal and professional life, take better care of yourself, focus on your mindset, creative ideas, and feel grateful throughout 2017!
Are you looking for a planner that can do it all?
Erin Condren Life Planner is full of tools you can use to plan your year. This planner is created to help you set goals, figure out what you truly want and take charge of your life.
What makes the Erin Condren Life Planner (even more) awesome is that you can totally customize your planner to make it unique:
You can choose between a neutral or colorful interior. You can pick a cover, or interchange them by purchasing different beautiful laminated ones and change them depending on your mood.
You can decide between different weekly layouts ( vertical / horizontal / hourly) and 12 or 18 month options. Every new month has a beautiful internal cover page with inspiring words.
Once you open the planner, you’ll see the year-at-a-glance pages. There are 12 boxes that are perfect for writing (and keeping track of!) your monthly goals.
An entire week is spread across two pages (from Monday to Sunday) and each day features a lined section. After all of the monthly/weekly spreads in the planner, you will find the notes section.
You will also get two pages with stickers (birthday, vacation, days off, and so on). Another feature is the Perpetual Calendar where you can write down all important dates, and it’s really great because you can take it from planner to planner.
All of this makes the Erin Condren planner very easy to use, super functional, and absolutely beautiful and unique at the same time!
💡 If you're using a planner to figure out your next career move, I can help. Explore coaching for creative generalists or join the TrueSpark community.
Frequently Asked Questions About Goal Planners
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The best planner for multiple goals is one that offers flexibility and separate tracking systems. For creative generalists managing multiple projects, I recommend the Clever Fox Planner or Passion Planner because they include sections for different goal categories, habit tracking, and reflection space - allowing you to organize various interests without forcing them into one rigid structure. A new favorite of mine is the Plum Planner, which offers so much customization that any creative or entrepreneur can find a version that fits them perfectly.
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Choose a goal planner based on your planning style and needs. Look for clear monthly and weekly overviews, enough writing space, quality paper, and most importantly - systems that help you break big goals into actionable steps. If you're a multi-passionate person, prioritize planners with flexible layouts over rigid daily schedules.
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Yes, research shows that writing down goals increases your likelihood of achieving them. Planners help by creating accountability, tracking progress, and keeping your goals visible. However, a planner alone won't create clarity, if you're unsure about your career direction, that requires deeper work than organization can provide. A career coach like me can help, schedule a free strategy session to explore how.
