Career & Business Coaching Blog for Creatives & Entrepreneurs.
Inspiration, guidance, and practical strategies for multi-passionate professionals who refuse to choose just one thing.
The Paralysis of Perfectionism: Why "Good Enough" is Actually Perfect
Many people find themselves stuck, unable to move forward in their personal or professional lives. I know because I see a lot of them in my coaching practice. They feel held back not by a lack of ability or opportunity, but by an internal struggle: perfectionism. While seemingly a virtue and a very helpful quality to achieve your goals, the quest for perfection and flawlessness often becomes an obstacle to your goal, leading to procrastination, self-doubt, and, ultimately, getting and staying stuck.
After a decade of supporting creative generalists and entrepreneurs to get unstuck, I know how perfectionism impacts our drive and productivity. So before even trying once again to "just do the thing," look inward. Are you setting yourself up for failure by creating unrealistic expectations? Are you holding yourself back through negative and destructive inner chatter? If that is the case, trying harder won't make you finally move forward. Instead, you must shift your mindset and mentally recalibrate: you must transform how you see perfection and understand it's an illusion created by fear to keep you safe.
What is Perfectionism, Really?
Perfectionism is often misunderstood as simply striving for excellence or having high standards. However, again, after doing this work for a decade, I can tell you it goes way beyond that. At its core, perfectionism is an all-or-nothing approach to life. It's the belief that anything less than perfect is unacceptable and dangerous. This mindset is paralyzing, as it sets an unattainable standard - a mountain, as I often tell my clients, that we expect to climb in one step!
The High Cost of Chasing Perfection
Perfectionism may manifest differently in different people, but it always comes with a heavy cost:
Procrastination: The fear of not meeting impossibly high standards leads to delaying tasks. First, you create the mountain in your mind. Then, you procrastinate because it's too big of a task to climb it all at once.
Analysis Paralysis: Relentless overthinking and analysis prevent taking action. You're always thinking, trying to figure out how to reach the top of the mountain, but never actually taking the first step.
Self-Sabotage: The inner critic undermines confidence, fostering a belief that you are simply not good enough. If you were, you'd be on that mountain top already!
Lack of Creativity: The pressure to create something perfect will damage your capacity for innovation and experimentation. Instead of figuring out how to make it to the top, you'll be stuck in a rut, coming up with underwhelming ideas, not knowing how to begin.
Burnout: Always creating mountains for yourself, aka unattainable goals, leads to exhaustion and a loss of passion. How could you not get tired, always giving yourself impossibly high climbing levels?
These are only a few of the many negative effects or causes of perfectionism. One that is particularly powerful in keeping us stuck is what we say to ourselves. Let's take a closer look at that inner voice and how it keeps us from achieving our goals.
The Inner Critic's Sabotage
A common theme among my clients is the destructive voice of the inner critic. This voice whispers nothing but doubts, focuses on flaws, and convinces us that our efforts will invariably fail. Some examples of how this inner critic keeps us stuck include:
"No one will buy that; don't waste your time."
"This has been done before. It’s not original."
"There is nothing special about this."
"I don’t deserve that because I am not good enough."
"I will fail, lose money, and everyone will hate me."
"Making it is hard, and I will suffer."
One of my clients described his inner critic as saying, "Look, the mountain is beautiful but too high for you to climb it." Another client's inner voice was even more brutal, declaring, "You’re not going to be good at expressing your ideas...nothing you do will ever matter." This relentless negativity chips away at self-worth and destroys the courage to pursue a life worth living.
The Antidote: Embracing "Good Enough"
The key to breaking free from the paralysis of perfectionism lies in embracing the concept of "good enough." This doesn't mean settling for mediocrity. Instead, it's about recognizing that striving for excellence is valuable, but demanding perfection is self-defeating. "Good enough" acknowledges that limitations exist - of course they do! But it allows you to progress, learn, and grow without the crippling weight of impossible expectations (and imaginary mountains to climb).
Here are some strategies to help shift your perfectionist mindset to one that embraces "good enough:"
Challenge the Inner Critic: Actively question the negative thoughts and beliefs that cause your perfectionism. Are these thoughts realistic and helpful? Are they really true? Or are they based on fear and unrealistic expectations?
Set Realistic Goals: Break down large tasks into smaller, manageable steps. Make them so small that you can't even make a mountain out of them anymore. Celebrate small victories along the way to build momentum and confidence.
Focus on Progress, Not Perfection: Shift the focus from the end result (the top of the mountain) to the process of learning and growing (climbing your way up slowly). Accept that mistakes are part of the journey and valuable growth opportunities.
Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a friend. If you wouldn't wish this pressure on someone else, don't put it on yourself.
Embrace Imperfection: Actively look for opportunities to be imperfect. Share your work even if it's not flawless, leave things unfinished (by your standards), and let others see the process rather than the result. It will be freeing, I promise!
Set Time Limits: Instead of striving for endless improvement, set a realistic deadline and commit to finishing the task within that timeframe (hello, I see you; I know it's hard!). This prevents projects from dragging on indefinitely and allows you to move forward.
Celebrate "Done": Acknowledge and celebrate the completion of a task, regardless of whether it meets every expectation. With your high standards, things will never be "done," so you might as well just let them be what they are.
Redefine Success: Change your definition of success from doing everything perfectly and at the highest level to your personal growth journey, finding meaning in your work, and focusing on your well-being first.
Some Case Studies in "Good Enough"
The Entrepreneur: Savannah started and stopped many entrepreneurial projects because they "didn’t quite feel right." After having her daughter, she realized she was working on interesting things, but they "didn’t truly come from my heart." She found her purpose by shifting her focus to postpartum care and wellness and coaching for new mothers.
The Creative: Connie feels she has "the soul of an artist, even if I don’t have the skill (yet)." Rather than waiting until she has the perfect skills, Connie can embrace her creativity by experimenting, learning, and sharing her work. By cultivating a growth mindset, she knows growth comes through practice, not innate talent.
The Career Changer: Kathryn wants personalized, results-oriented help with a career transition. By making the most of her existing skills and experience, she can create a solid plan that focuses on progress today rather than an unattainable ideal in the future.
Conclusion
As I have witnessed in my life and through working with many gifted and talented people, you think being perfect will be gratifying, but it only causes frustration and stagnation: you get stuck and stay stuck.
By aiming for "good enough" instead, you can free yourself from unattainable expectations, move closer to your innate potential, and experience the joy of progress, creativity, and meaningful achievement instead of the pain of never reaching the top of the mountain. You can Get Unstuck!
Take the first step toward progress and Getting Unstuck
Perfectionism can keep you trapped in a cycle of frustration and inaction. Constantly striving for an unattainable goal leads to self-doubt, procrastination, and a sense of failure, preventing you from reaching your goals and experiencing true fulfillment.
Are you ready to break free from the chains of perfectionism and start achieving your goals? Are you ready to finally get unstuck? Take the first step now - sign up for a free coaching session with me today!
Are you perpetually learning and never doing - aka hiding in the learning stage?
Have you ever gone on vacation and not actually been on vacation? Do you know what I mean?
As entrepreneurs, it can be really easy to fall into a trap of taking a holiday and instead of relaxing on the beach or fully immersing yourself in the culture around you, your mind wanders back to work and before you know it you’re spending your free time reading up on work documents, doom scrolling social media, and hyperfixating on what you are forgetting.
What’s the point of taking a holiday then?
Yes, maybe sometimes we come back feeling a little more relaxed, but not really. More often than not we come back completely neutral, if not a tad more frazzled because of how much time we “took off.”
That’s got to change. And not only on holidays! We have to start putting boundaries around our holidays - and our time - and sticking to them. We have to recognize that these boundaries are important to our mental health, our stamina, and even our work because a burned out entrepreneur is not a healthy, productive entrepreneur. If we are constantly pressuring ourselves to get in extra work, we are more than likely going to jump ship for something new a minute later (#creativegeneralist). But to stay focused on our current goal, we have to take time to be off the clock and truly relax.
Say it with me: vacations are for relaxing, not for overproduction.
Another common trait we share as creative entrepreneurs is falling into the trap of perpetually learning and never actually doing. I’ve had countless clients say they have to learn something new before they can do XYZ. When that happens, you know what most of us end up doing? That’s right: working while we are on holiday or having a day off. Which is frustrating, overwhelming, and can easily lead to burnout.
I had a client that always thought she had to do one more thing before she could get the first thing done. One time she messaged me saying she would be getting an Instagram post up ASAP. I knew it was a big step for her. But then I waited and the post never showed up. I messaged her asking what happened and she told me she decided it would be better as a blog post but before she could write the blog post, she had to update her website. She gave herself more work instead of just posting an graphic and caption!
She was hiding in the learning stage.
I think that’s true for all of us: when something is particularly scary or big, we hide in the learning stage so we don’t have to actually do the thing. When I did improv, it was so much fun to learn theories and techniques, but actually getting on stage to practice my “yes, ands” was terrifying. I was much more comfortable learning - about improv, myself, my classmates, etc. - than I was actually doing a show.
When we remain in the learning stage of a project, we get to sit in our comfort zone. No one can expect anything from us because hey, “we’re still learning!”. But once we decide to go for it - and do the thing - suddenly there are expectations, restrictions, and requirements for the quality of our work. This can be terrifying. Especially for the new entrepreneur or creative generalist who is just deciding to step out on their own and do what they’ve been dreaming of their whole lives.
So, how do we get to the doing part? How do we learn what we need to learn and then get unstuck and get going?
Stop yourself. When you’re learning something, give yourself a deadline for when you have to be done. By September 1st, I will be done learning about cybersecurity tools and start putting them into my websites. Giving yourself a deadline is a great way to force yourself out of the learning stage and into the doing stage.
Give yourself guidelines. Learning new things can be intoxicating and addicting, but you can prevent yourself from always staying in the learning stage by giving yourself explicit guidelines for your research. For example, if you’re trying to learn about car engines, you probably will need to know about other parts of a car, but you should limit your research to just the car. Don’t start looking at the history of the automobile, how GMC started, and why Ford was fired from his jobs (yes, I see you!). Stick to the research you need to do and then move on when it’s done.
Keep a log. Having a research log where you write down what you’ve done and how much time you’ve spent doing it can really help you see the amount of time you’ve spent learning. It will also remind you that to get the thing done on your timeline, you have to move on and start doing.
Set clear goals. If there’s something you want to do - whether in work or life - having clear goals about what it is and what research needs to be done will help it come to fruition faster.
Trust yourself. Yes, getting stuck perpetually learning can be disastrous and an amazing way to procrastinate forever, but sometimes the best thing you can do is trust yourself. Why are you still learning? What are you trying to accomplish by continuing to research? There might be something that your gut is telling you that your mind can’t understand and the only way to get to the doing stage is to complete the learning stage. By trusting yourself, you’re giving yourself permission to learn for as long as you need because you know that you will start the doing stage when the time is right. And that’s okay too.
Being a perpetual learner can completely hinder your ability to get unstuck and get work done or achieve the things in your life that you want. By creating boundaries for yourself and your learning, you can stop when you need to and shift into doing. That being said, its also important to remember that sometimes the doing can’t happen till your gut feels content with the learning. So trust yourself. You’ve got this!
Want to take a break?
"Taking a break" doesn't always mean you have to spend a fortune traveling the world. It can be as simple as shutting down your laptop for an extended period and immersing yourself in activities that truly fulfill you.
But if the mere thought of taking a break leaves you anxious, you’re fears are over – I'm here to assist! My creative and entrepreneurial clients come from all walks of life and all corners of the world. And all of them need support in finding the right work-life balance. Together, we'll help you get out of procrastination and “always learning mode”, so you can finally take action - and enjoy your holidays!
Are you suffering from generalist syndrome?
There’s this pervasive character trait for generalists - always wanting to know more, never feeling like you know enough, but letting that desire to learn get you stuck, preventing you from doing the things you want.
I call it generalist syndrome. Do you have it?
It’s pretty common, nevertheless, it’s incredibly detrimental to our work and life goals. I had a client once who was setting up an event for artists. She seemed to be stuck and I asked her what piece of her work was making her uncomfortable. She told me she wanted to find a new way to get people to gather and work together. She wanted to create a new type of community setting. But instead of doing it, she was focused on the learning part. She wanted to go take a course, become fully knowledgeable in this area, and only then have the event where she would “roll out the brand new meeting style”.
I asked her if there was an easier way to get what she wanted. This client was confused and stuck to her idea that this was the only way. But then I pointed out that there was actually a shortcut - one that would get the event back on track and allow her to create something new without having to go back to school to do it – she could talk to an expert (aka, a specialist, a creative generalists arch nemesis - just kidding!).
As generalists, we’re always focusing on learning. And that’s an amazing superpower we have! But we learn so many different things that we forget their are people out there who specialize in specific areas and they’re usually more than happy to let us pick their brains. For my client, the clear shortcut was to set up a coffee chat with someone who already specialized in the type of event she wanted to learn to create. Rather than go to school or take a course, she could pick the specialist’s brain and get her event off the ground!
That idea you’re currently munching over, the one you’ve been thinking about for a while now? You do not need to learn anything first in order to make it happen. In fact, one might argue that being an entrepreneur is all about learning on the fly. It’s like that famous saying - being an entrepreneur is like jumping off a cliff and assembling a parachute on the way down. We have to think on our toes. There isn’t always going to be a class to take or a course to finish before our brilliant business ideas become successfulr. Sometimes - most of the time - you have to just jump and figure out shortcuts to get that parachute made so you can fly even higher.
But how do you jump? How do you put aside your generalist syndrome and embrace the shortcuts specialist can offer? Here are three steps I follow every day to shift my focus from learning to networking and doing:
Don’t think, just jump. When we get stuck thinking about how much more we have to learn about a subject, or where we can learn the material, we get stuck. It’s like the college student who can’t decide what major they want to follow. They like writing about different characters, but they misinterpret that as wanting to learn the same material as their characters. Instead of just reading research about those positions, they decide to jump from Biology to Anthropology to Chemistry and Physics to English Literature majors. If they had just sat back and realized they wanted to write about a biologist, anthropologist, and astrophysicist, they could have saved themselves a lot of time and effort. Being in business or going after the life we want is similar. Just go after the end goal and don’t worry about all the things you have to learn first. I promise you will learn them on the way and save yourself a ton of time and effort in the long run.
Try and fail. “Fail” is the four letter word that evokes fear in most entrepreneurs, but really, there’s nothing quite like failure to teach you what you should be doing instead. The key to getting unstuck and going after what you want out of life is accepting that failure can happen and, if it does, you will be okay - probably better than okay. There is no shortage of businesses that have thrived because of failure. So, don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid to never start. Instead of perpetually learning, take a step back, a deep breath, and just start.
Track your goals. Having clear goals for your work and life can be super helpful in moving your through the learning to doing pipeline. For example, if your goal is to start a copywriting business out of your kitchen so you can spend more time with your kids, you don’t have to take copywriting classes. You don’t have to learn anything before you start. You can, instead, just start looking for work and building your website. Sure, you may have to learn a little bit as you go on, but you don’t have to learn everything before you get your first client. In fact, the best entrepreneurs tend to start working in a business before they even have a chance to create it. When you have clear goals and expectations, you’ll be better motivated to stay on task and get to the doing stage.
Letting the need to learn rule our lives can only negatively impact us, holding us back from the great things we are trying to accomplish. Instead of staying stuck in the learning stage, let go of the fear of doing, track your goals, and make the leap. You never know what successes wait for you on the other side of the cliff.
Ready to jump?
Working together, I will help you build a personalized parachute filled with expert knowledge and a plan of attack for your business’s next steps.
Having a preplanned parachute is overrated. The best part of being an entrepreneur is thinking on your feet.
How to Make Your Biggest, Most Unrealistic Dreams Come True
It's easy to think about all the little things you want to have or accomplish in life, but it's much harder to dream big and think about all the things you could achieve if you genuinely felt like you had no limits. To make matters even more challenging, once you've got the hang of dreaming bigger, it can still be hard to figure out how to make those dreams happen.
Our dreams are what make life worth living. They can be as big or small as you want them to be, but the bigger you allow yourself to dream, the more those dreams will carry you forward on your journey. If we dream big enough and act upon those dreams consistently, those dreams do come true! I know, believe me because I see it happen every day in my coaching practice.
In this article, we'll talk about how you can dream bigger and make your biggest, most unrealistic dreams come true! Because you know what? You can!
How to Stop Being Afraid to Dream Big
The first step to dream bigger is learning not to be afraid of your dreams. What's the worst that can happen? You fail; you learn something new and try again! There are no limits on what you're capable of if you dream big enough!
The first step to overcoming the fear of what's possible for you in your life is to admit you have the dream. You have to stop brushing it off as something "you could never do" or that "will never happen. Whenever a client dismisses their dream like that, my question to them is this: "What proof do you have that this could never happen or that you could never do it if you don't try?"
We tend to make other people or the world responsible for not achieving our dreams, but in most cases, those big dreams don't even get a chance to get out of the starting blocks because we throw them out before we reach the running track.
So take a moment now to think about some big, beautiful, seemingly unrealistic dream or goal you have for yourself. Got it? Good! Now let's talk about how to make that dream a reality.
How to Make Your Biggest, Most Unrealistic Dreams Come True
Once you're ready to accept your big dreams for what they are and are no longer pushing them away, the next step is to figure out how to make them happen.
Here's an easy 5-step plan to follow to get you started:
Make a list of your biggest dreams.
Don't censor yourself, instead of push yourself to dream even bigger. Imagine you'd like to leave your 9-to-5 job and start your own business. How big would you like that business to be? How free would you like to be with it? What would it look like if this business could be exactly as you want it? Those are the dreams we're looking for. There will be plenty of time to be realistic later.Pick a dream and give it 30 days of undivided attention.
If you only have one dream, you're good for this step. If you have more, and they're all screaming for your attention, pick one - for now - and devote 30 days to it. I know this can be scary for creatives and entrepreneurs, especially those with many ideas lying around, but we're not saying drop everything forever. Just pick one idea (the one that speaks to you the most right now) and give it four weeks of your time. After that, you're free to drop it, pick another or keep going.Start with the end in mind and create a plan.
What small step can you take every day for the next 30 days to bring you closer to this dream? I'm not saying reach it, but get closer to it because a big part of achieving unrealistic dreams is to be very realistic about the time you have and the effort needed to achieve them. You can only sustainably achieve big dreams because, yes, it's a marathon and not a sprint.For the next 30 days, spend at least 10 minutes working on your dream.
One small step each day for 30 days is all it takes to make unrealistic dreams feel more attainable. Please don't take my word for it (who am I, I've only been doing this work for almost eight years with 100s of clients :) ); try it for yourself. You'll see.Keep moving forward, and don't stop dreaming bigger.
Even if it takes some time for your dreams to become a reality, keep dreaming big and never give up – every time you take a step, every time you believe you can do it, you'll get closer to achieving your dreams!
If you want to make your biggest and most unrealistic dreams come true, start by believing in them. Get the ball rolling on achieving them by taking small steps towards making your dream a reality, and don't give up when things get tough. Conditions are constantly changing, so be flexible with yourself as well! It's not that hard to turn any fantasy into reality if you're willing to put in the work. What is one of your biggest or most seemingly impossible goals? Do you believe it can happen? Why or why not? Let me know!
You have big dreams but you don't know how to make them a reality?
I'm here to guide you through the process of achieving your goals and living a life that's fulfilling, exciting, and successful. When it comes down to it, my clients tell me they want a life that is truly meaningful and rewarding - both personally and professionally - because ultimately this is what helps us feel fulfilled as human beings (and isn't this why we're all here?).
And when we feel fulfilled, everything else falls into place much easier. So let's do this together! Let's start working towards creating the kind of life where fulfillment comes naturally instead of being forced upon us by circumstance alone...
5 easy steps to set successful goals for yourself
Happy New Year! I absolutely love those three words, don’t you? They come bearing the gift of opportunity, and the promise of 365 days to create whatever your heart desires. A clean slate for you to play with, reinvent yourself, achieve your wildest dreams.
I’ve always had big dreams, and goals but it’s only in the last few years that I’ve become really intentional about achieving them. Every year I find that I’m perfecting my goal-setting techniques, rituals, and habits. And every year, I’m achieving more of what I want. So much so, that I created a goal-setting course called Dream Bigger that you can join here.
This program guides you through the process of dreaming big, and setting fulfilling goals for yourself, all the way to creating an actionable – and achievable – plan!
The amazing results that students have achieved using the program, and reflecting on my own successes, proves to me that nothing is impossible!
What really matters is not what your goals are, but how you set them.
So here’s 5 easy steps to set successful goals for yourself!
#1 Reflect and learn
If you don’t know what you’re doing wrong or right, you will never be able to use that knowledge to grow. So the first step when setting successful goals for yourself is to reflect on your successes and failures of the year that has passed. What goals did you achieve? What went well? What didn’t? And from that to distill some lessons learned that will help you to move forward faster in the new year, or to avoid the mistakes you made last year.
#2 Write, and dream big!
Planning your goals for the new year is like doing a gigantic brain dump. You want to get everything you want to accomplish, and achieve over the next 12 months out of your head and onto paper. The important thing here is to be as complete as possible and not to censor yourself. You have a permission slip to dream big. At this stage you don’t want to make your life dream realistic, you want make it really fantastic!
#3 Cut, cut, cut
If you’re familiar with the 80/20 principle you know that according to that principle 20 percent of what we do in life (and business) accounts for 80 percent of the results we achieve. Applied to goal-setting this means that less is definitely more! So review the list you’ve created for yourself in step 2, and identify the goals or actions that you either don’t really want to go for, or that will not bring in the returns you’re going for. Make sure to feel into your goals when you do this exercise, and to dismiss anything that doesn’t feel right for you. Ask yourself questions such as: How do I want to feel this year? Is this goal helping me do that? Do I really want this? What desire lies behind this goal or action? Is this the best way to achieve it?
#4 Organize
Once you know the goals you’re going to work towards this year, it’s time to get organized and structure your goals by creating a plan for yourself. You can do this in any number of ways, with Nathalie McNeal’s 5×5 quadrant for instance, or by organizing your goals per quarter, month, week, or even day. Whatever system you’re using, make sure you’ve got a clear overview of what it is you’re trying to achieve, create visual cues for yourself (hang your plan onto the refrigerator, on the wall in your office, in the bathroom…) to be reminder of your goals daily, cultivate action-oriented habits, and use planning tools to help you work on your goals throughout the year.
#5 Schedule, and keep yourself accountable
And finally… schedule. What gets scheduled, gets done. Have weekly check-ins to review your goals, and plan ahead. Put all your action steps in your calendar, and set deadlines for yourself. Don’t be afraid to keep yourself accountable, because that’s precisely what you need to reach your goals. And if going at it alone is too difficult, find yourself an accountability partner. Have regular check-ins with her, say what you’re working on, what you’ll do by when, and stick to it. The results you’ll achieve will be nothing short of a miracle, I promise you!
9 best planners to achieve your goals
As creative, multi-talented, curious, ambitious doers we have many interests and projects to keep track of. Every day is a fresh page in our planner with different work obligations, goals to aim for and a life to take care of. But that’s not all. We also have a mission – to make a difference, change the world… leave our mark. Right!?
Balancing our obligations with our personal interests and aspirations is often the biggest struggle we face. Making sense of the ideas, goals, and to-dos that constantly roll around our heads isn’t easy. Often it’s as if they’re all pulling at us for our attention. When that happens (which is, well, almost every day) it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
Without a systemized approach to our daily work, scheduled events and projects we might feel in control of our goals but we aren’t. That’s why we need planners!
As a coach for multi-talented, creative women I’m lucky to work with amazing humans who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. The problem is, due to their multi-passionate nature, they’re often juggling a lot of balls in the air at the same time. Making sure they stay there, and don’t come crashing down is a fulltime job – and not an easy one at that. Again, it’s a process that requires an organized plan. But also actions and the soulful productivity practices to go along with them. Regardless of how hardworking we are, neglecting to plan how we’ll achieve a goal will lead to disappointments & frustrations.
With the end of the year in sight, what better time to put together a list of my favorite planners to help you get clear on your goals, stay on track and finally achieve your dreams!
Here’s my pick of 9 best planners to achieve your goals.
The Clever Fox Planner made it to #1 on this best planner list again this year. From all the planners I have (and I have many, believe me) this is the one I use on a daily basis. I love the daily undated version. Yes, you can start using it anytime, isn’t that awesome? Even more cool is the space you have to record your weekly objectives, routines and habits.
Some other useful features include:
Comes in pink, black or orange.
Contains pages for gratitude and self-awareness.
Features pages to record your top goals for the year, daily rituals, a mind mind, vision board, and more.
Comes in both weekly and daily versions, with monthly overviews.
Anyone looking for a planner that will also serve as a goal-setting tool and habit tracker will enjoy the Clever Fox Planner. With space to record month to month and week by week objectives, wins, and habits I find it very useful, and a perfect addition to other tools to help me stay on track to accomplish the goals that really matter to me.
#2 Day Designer
As a creative, multi-passionate entrepreneur, the Day Designer is one of my all-time favorite planners. An instinctive planner that’s not only spacious but also extremely beautiful! Designed with the wisdom in mind that a well-structured day leads to a well-lived life, the Day Designer offers an ingenious, yet simple framework to help you find balance, focus, and increase productivity, by focusing on what’s important.
The Day Designer is a blend of worksheets, prompts, planning tools, and note sections. I love how its initial pages offer a variety of worksheets, each intended to enable you to discover your qualities, values, individual abilities, vision, and interests.
Inside the Day Designer you’ll find:
A separate page for each day of the week, with the exception of the weekend, where Saturday and Sunday share a page.
Weekly spreads that start on Monday and run daily from 5 am to 9 pm.
Within the day by day pages you’ll also discover prompts for your top 3 to-dos, inspirational quotes, space for dinner planning, a gratitude section, and more.
The Day Designer comes with a notes section, a monthly calendar, and space for project planning with due dates.
The Day Designer is a perfect planner for anyone looking to define objectives, create plans and take action.
#3 The Planner
This planner, created by Carrie Green from the Female Entrepreneur Association, is another great business planner to keep you inspired, focused & dreaming big.
The Planner is a limited-edition daily planner that covers an entire year of planning, and goal setting. When you’re flipping through the soft pages of this planner, you can’t help but think it was created by someone who knows A LOT about effective goal setting, and has a great sense of style.
The Planner has a luxurious powder pink & gold foiled cover, gold accented corners, and gold wire binding. The first pages of the planner are for yearly planning, and asking yourself powerful questions about what you want to achieve.
I absolutely love the monthly calendar spread, weekly planner pages and daily pages of this planner. On the daily pages you have space to list your 3 top goals of the day, a schedule from 7am until 10pm, and a section for notes. At the bottom of each page is an inspiration quote.
All of this, together with the free online course and monthly bonuses that come with The Planner, make it one of my top picks of the year!
The Daily greatness collection is probably the most in-depth planner collection out there. If you’re looking for a blend of goal-setting workbooks, tools for focus and productivity, to-do lists, and daily or weekly planners, Daily Greatness is for you.
For my business I swear by the Daily Greatness Business Planner – one of the most comprehensive and complete business planners available on the market today. Designed for optimal focus, personal growth and organization, the week-to-a-view pages will guide you in forming excellent thinking habits while taking action on your most important priorities. The weekly check-ins, challenges, planners and inspiration keep you firmly on track, while the 90-Day high-level check-ins and challenges keep you committed, accountable and motivated to achieve your goals. Each stage lays the foundation for staying true to your purpose as an entrepreneur, reaching your goals, expanding your mind and exploding your business.
Daily Greatness also offers other collections worth checking out in case you’re searching for more structure to continue making progress in other areas of your life or business.
#5 Inkwell Press LiveWell Planner
What I love most about the Inkwell Planner are it’s build-in tools to help you deal with overwhelm. Especially useful when you’re a multi-talented, creative woman with a gazillion ideas and interests!
The Inkwell Press Planner comes with proven productivity tools and reflective prompts to help you feel inspired, relaxed and in control while working on your goals. The planner is also fully customizable and comes in different planner formats including daily planning, week after week planning, goal-setting and more. With the new liveWELL 360° disc planning system, pages can be added or removed depending on your needs.
The focus of the Inkwell Planner differs from most other planners in that it’s more than just setting goals and productivity. This planner’s main goal is to help you create a life full of happiness and purpose. It’s about bringing balance, self-care and meaningful creative pursuits into you life. How inspiring, right?
#6 Simplified Planner by Emily Lay
The Simplified Planner is intended to help you put that which matters most first in your life. Whatever it might be, whether starting a creative project, a new exercise routine or a healthy change in eating habits – the Simplified Planner will help you get there. Within the planner you’ll find events and memories sections, space for dinner plans, and more.
I’m especially fond of all the inspirational quotes added throughout the planner.
The Simplified Planner is a perfect option if you’re looking for a lovely, compact, well-organized planner. Oh, and it comes in two versions: luxurious Mohawk and gold wire-o binding. Both so beautiful it’s hard to choose!
The Erin Condren Life Planner is one of my most loved planners. It has everything you could ever want in a planner. Besides keeping track of your daily appointments and to-dos, it helps you define objectives, get a clear vision of exactly what you want, and take charge of your life.
What makes the Erin Condren Life Planner so exceptional is how much of it you can customize. Different planning layouts, color schemes, cover & coil options; you can build your planner the way you want – and need it.
MY PA Planner is a newcomer in my planner selections. As I’ve mentioned above, for my business I’ve sworn by the Daily Greatness Business Planner a few years now. The MY PA Planner might well be its biggest competition!
If you’re looking for a planner that doubles as a personal business assistant, this planner might be exactly what you’re looking for. MY PA is a goal-setting tool as much as it is a daily planner. It comes with an extensive section of reflective questions about your personal and business goals, review prompts, financial overviews, and more. It even tracks your social media and content activities. What I really love about this planner is that it gives more space to write down daily goals, actions, and to-dos than it does for appointments. For someone like me – and keeps track of appointments digitally – having enough space to jot down ideas and to-dos is a must.
My PA Planner key features that I love include:
Yearly Life, Business & Marketing Planner.
Yearly, Monthly and Daily goal Setting Planner.
Social media & content planner.
Weekly Review and Gratitude Journal.
Idea and Inspiration Vault for all your amazing ideas and doodles.
Daily Health & wellness checker where you can track your daily water intake and record exercise.
Space for your notes and reminders.
Space to draw, mind map & be creative.
With all these benefits and features, I’ve decided to give the MY PA planner a spin as my business planner this year. That’s how impressed I am by it!
#3 PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner
I’m ending this year’s list with my all-time favorite goal planner. Although some of the planners above come with goal planning sections, many of them don’t. And when they do they often don’t go into enough depth or don’t ask the right questions.
Not the PowerSheets. This intentional goal and action planner is a step by step system created to help you define who you want to be in the big picture and how to get there. It brings together a lot of the golden nuggets I’ve seen in other planners: ideas for the new year, prompts to dig deep into who you really are, evaluation tools to get clear on where you are right now, a section for your big picture dreams and even your word of the year.
That’s for the first part of the PowerSheets. The goals section that follows guides you through the process of turning your ideas and big picture dreams into goals and action plans that you can actually achieve. What’s really great about the PowerSheets is that it comes with monthly pages designed to help you keep on track with your action plans, as well as review them.
It doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the prettiest planners out there, too. Just seeing its bright colors and holding it in my hands makes me happy!
If you’re looking for a tool to help you make sense of all your ideas and turn them into actionable items, I’d give the PowerSheets a try. Lara Casey – the creator of the goal planner – and her team have been perfecting this planner for many years, and it shows. The PowerSheets is a must-have for any avid goal-setters out there!
That’s it for this year’s list of 9 Best Planners to Achieve Your Goals. In the comments below, let me know which planner you’re going for this year, and why. I’d love to know!
10 Best Planners for College Students & Young Professionals Starting Their Careers (2026 Edition)
Whether you're navigating your final year of college, starting your first job, or trying to figure out what comes next in your early career, staying organized isn't just about remembering deadlines; it's about designing a life and career that actually fits who you are.
That's why I've put together this guide to the 10 best planners for college students and young professionals who are ready to take charge of their career path, whether that means landing your dream job, building a portfolio career, or creating something entirely new.
The Clever Fox Planner Pro is a beautifully designed all-in-one planner that's perfect for students who want more than just a basic agenda. Now available in a bigger format and stunning rose gold edition, this planner gives you the space and structure to manage your academic life while also focusing on personal growth. You can use it as your daily, weekly, and monthly planner, gratitude journal, habit tracker, and goal-setting tool - all in one elegant package. According to its designers - a team of five passionate online entrepreneurs, this planner is the solution for anyone looking to boost their productivity and hit their goals while becoming the best version of themselves.
The Clever Fox Planners have many features I’m looking for in a planner. One of the most *clever* ones is its unmarked calendar that allows you to start with the planner any day of the year. But that’s not all. Each weekly overview comes with a habit tracking section, to-do list, main goal, and priorities overview. There’s even room to reflect on your week’s wins and lessons learned.
One of the most clever features is its undated calendar that allows you to start using the planner any day of the year, perfect for starting mid-semester or aligning with your specific academic schedule. Each weekly overview comes packed with student-friendly features: a habit tracker (ideal for building study routines or wellness practices), a to-do list, space for your main weekly goal, and a priorities section. There's even a dedicated room to reflect on your week's wins and lessons learned, encouraging the kind of metacognitive practice that actually improves academic performance.
The rose gold edition adds an elegant touch that makes planning feel less like a chore and more like a ritual you'll actually look forward to. The premium quality construction - with thick, high-quality paper and durable binding - ensures this planner will survive a full academic year of constant use. Whether you're tracking assignment deadlines, building better study habits, managing thesis research, or working toward personal development goals alongside your academic ones, the Clever Fox Planner Pro provides the structure and space to help you thrive as a student.
The Simplified Planner is one of my all-time favorite planners. It’s a planner that makes you happy just by looking at it. With its six beautiful and joyful designs, this planner is the perfect companion to organize your life, your work, and make things simpler in the process.
Emily Ley, mother-of-three and founder of The Simplified Planner, is a firm believer that simple is best. In this always-on-busy-world we live in, Simplified stands on the idea that there is more to life than overwhelm. Its mission is to inspire and empower women with the tools they need to simplify their lives so they create space for what really matters.
The Simplified Planner comes in a daily and weekly edition. They both cover 12 months. The daily planner has one day per page and shared weekend pages and features luxurious paper and a gold wire-o binding. The weekly edition has one week per two-page spread and features a book-bound, lay-flat binding. This makes the weekly edition slightly smaller in size and easier to write in (I use ring-bound planners but often find it’s hard to write close to the rings. But that might be just me and how I write :)). Both editions are finished with a beautiful hard cover with gold foil details and protective gold corners.
Besides the weekly or daily pages the planner comes with full month views and space for your schedule, to-dos, notes and meal planning. Colorful stickers and a pocket inside the front cover tops it all off. Not to mention the elegant box the planners come in or the monthly “planning tips” that you’ll get from Emily via email with each purchase. A simple yet complete planner for anyone looking to simplify their life.
Are you one of those creative, multi-passionate types (like moi) that enjoy lots of options, and – if possible – a little DIY in the process?
If so, you will LOVE the Erin Condren Life Planner. There are plenty of planner manufacturers out there that offer customizable options. None of them to the extend of this planner. The Life Planner is full of tools to help you plan out a successful year, and to help you set goals, figure out what you truly want and take charge of your life.
As I mentioned before, what makes the Erin Condren Life Planner (even more) awesome is how you can customize your planner to make it unique for you:
Interior color: you have the choice between neutral or colorful interior.
Cover: you’re free to pick a cover (in fact that’s how the whole customization process starts) or interchange your covers by purchasing different beautiful laminated ones and change them depending on your mood. You can also choose between having your name printed on your planner or two lines of text of your choosing. I mean, does it ever get better than this?
Layout: you can choose between vertical, horizontal or hourly weekly layouts.
Calendar: the Life Planner comes with three different calendar options. Two 12-month options. From June to July if you’re looking for an academic planner or from January to December if you’re looking for a standard one. The cool thing is that you have a third option, and in my opinion one of the most awesome features of any planner I’ve ever seen! You can order the January to December version including the remaining months from your time of purchase until January 1st. Isn’t this AMAZING? Often I decided against buying a planner because I couldn’t start using it right away (right?!). This option takes care of that issue completely!
Coil color: you have a choice between platinum, gold, rose gold (my favorite :)) and black.
The Life Planner comes with a goal-setting spread and weekly spreads for each week of the month. An entire week is spread across two pages (from Monday to Sunday) and each day features a lined section. At the back of the planner you’ll find a notes sections with lines, dots, coloring book pages. The 4 sheets of stickers are great to customize your planner even more, and make sure important events and to-dos stand out.
All of this makes the Erin Condren Life Planner the DIY planner by excellence, and super fun to put together. It’s also easy to use, extremely functional, and absolutely beautiful and unique at the same time!
The Conquer Kit by Natalie MacNeal is A Creative Business Planner for Women Entrepreneurs. A newcomer in my planner lists, but one that has definitely deserved its spot! On the back cover of the planner, Natalie MacNeil states that The Conquer Kit is a *canvas for your dreams and goals*. I have to say… it sort of is.
When I started using the planner I followed along the recommendation to “sketch, scribble, collage, and write all over its pages” (and had so much fun doing it!). And yes, by the end of it, I was left with a strong business plan AND the strategies to put them into action.
The thing about The Conquer Kit (uhm) is that it is NOT – in fact – a planner.
If you’re working on building a business (or if you have an idea or project in mind), The Conquer Kit is the workbook you need *before* you start using your planner.
Through eight clearly defined and actionable steps you’ll go from ideation to business creation. Natalie has thought of EVERYTHING (in a very her kind of way) to guide you to tap into your creative genius, build a strong foundation, create heart-centric product and marketing plans, put together your A-team, envision the bigger picture, map your next steps, and ultimately bring your dream business to life.
I use The Conquer Kit (or at least sections of it) on a somewhat ongoing basis. I go back to it for clarity, or work through the steps again when I have a new project or goal in mind. I find new golden nuggets every time!
Blue Sky has been a trusted name in planning for years, offering professional yet approachable planners that strike the perfect balance between functionality and style, making them especially popular with students navigating the complexities of academic life. What sets Blue Sky apart is its commitment to practical design: durable covers that survive being tossed in backpacks, high-quality paper that handles different pen types without bleeding through, and layouts that actually work for students juggling classes, assignments, extracurriculars, and social commitments.
The brand was founded with a simple mission: to create planning tools that help people organize their lives without overwhelming them. Blue Sky planners typically run for 15 months (July through September of the following year), which is absolutely perfect for students. This format aligns seamlessly with the academic calendar, allowing you to start planning your semester before it begins and carry through to the end of the following school year, no awkward gaps or wasted pages.
What makes Blue Sky particularly great for students is how its design anticipates your actual needs. The monthly spreads give you that crucial big-picture view of exam schedules, project deadlines, and study group sessions, while the weekly layouts provide enough daily space to break down assignments into manageable tasks. There's room for tracking multiple courses simultaneously without feeling cramped, and the note sections are perfect for capturing quick reminders or brainstorming ideas during lectures.
Anecdote planners have quickly become a favorite among students who appreciate thoughtful design that goes beyond basic scheduling. What makes Anecdote special is their understanding that planning isn't just about tracking assignments, it's about creating a system that supports your entire student experience, from academic goals to personal growth. Their planners feature clean, intuitive layouts with a focus on intentionality, helping you not just manage your time but actually reflect on how you're spending it.
The brand was created with the philosophy that your planner should tell your story, hence the name "Anecdote." Each planner is designed to capture not just what you need to do, but the moments and milestones that make your academic journey meaningful. This approach resonates particularly well with students who want more than a glorified to-do list; they want a planning companion that helps them stay connected to their bigger academic and personal goals throughout the semester.
What makes Anecdote particularly great for students is its balanced approach to structure and flexibility. The yearly format gives you a complete overview of your entire academic year, making it easy to map out semester schedules, plan for finals weeks, and coordinate breaks and holidays. The weekly spreads offer generous space for each day's classes and assignments, while still leaving room for tracking habits, jotting down reflections, or noting those "aha moments" from lectures that you'll want to remember later.
#7 Inkwell LiveWell 360 Planner
The Inkwell Press LiveWell Planner is an all-time favorite planner of mine. This year celebrates the 5th edition of the liveWELL Planner. And it features some amazing changes for its 2019 planner edition: the brand-new liveWELL 360™ system.
This disc planning system allows you to customize your planner to make it perfect for you. The fun starts with four covers to choose from, including two vegan options that I absolutely love! After that you can select your style: daily, weekly (flex or classic), monthly or goal-setting (my favorite option) and whether or not you want tabs. Add-ons can be purchased to customize your planner even more or as standalone planners. The options are:
Goal Setting Planner
Project Planner
Meal Planner
50 pages of dotted or gritted notes
What I love most about the Inkwell LiveWell Planner is its focus on goal setting and productivity. When you buy this planner you become part of something greater: a community of like-minded planner lovers who want to achieve their goals. Productivity courses, a podcast, blog and YouTube channel all accompany this planner to make sure you get and stay on track making this planner an all-in-one productivity solution.
#8 Day Designer
The Day Designer is a real work of art. Ever since I discovered this planner a few years ago I’ve been amazed at how attractive it is, and practical! It’s beautiful, intuitive, and has so much space for everything! There is a wide selection of contemporary cover designs to choose from. My favorites include the Jungle Out There (flamingo lovers unite!), Antigua, and Brushed Confetti. But the classic remains the Black Stripe. I mean, how can you say no to a black, white, and gold combo?!
Whitney English – designer and creator of the Day Designer – believes that a well-designed day is a well-lived life. I couldn’t agree more. As a minimalist and essentialist I believe that the more intentional we live our life, the happier we are.
The first pages of the Day Designer hold different worksheets, each designed to help you find out what really matters to you and what your personal skills, values, vision, passions, and strengths are. Yes, it’s absolutely essential to have clarity in order to achieve your goals!
In the daily planner edition, each day has its own separate page, except for Saturday and Sunday, which share one page. Each weekday, from Monday through Friday, has an hourly schedule from 5am to 9pm (great for early birds!), space to add your top 3 tasks of the day, an inspiring quote, dinner planning, a spot to record daily gratitude, notes and more. What I particularly like about the daily page is the space reserved for your daily to-do. Most planners don’t leave a lot of space to add to-dos (and let’s be honest, it’s important not to have to many of those on our daily list) but I love having room to scribble down things on the spot, or a list of things I have to remember.
This planner is an effective tool to help you organize your goals, ideas, tasks, days, thoughts and life!
The AT-A-GLANCE Monthly Planner is a trusted classic that's been helping students stay organized for decades, and for good reason. This is the planner for students who prefer a streamlined, no-nonsense approach to planning. Instead of overwhelming you with daily spreads and complex tracking systems, AT-A-GLANCE focuses on what students actually need most: a clear, comprehensive view of the entire month at once. This bird's-eye perspective is invaluable when you're trying to balance multiple course schedules, track assignment due dates across different classes, and plan around exams, group projects, and extracurricular commitments.
What makes AT-A-GLANCE particularly brilliant for students is its simplicity and reliability. The brand has spent years perfecting the monthly planner format, and it shows. Each month gets a full two-page spread with generous daily blocks, enough room to note class times, assignment deadlines, exam dates, and important events without feeling cramped. The clean, uncluttered layout makes it easy to scan your entire month in seconds, helping you avoid those dreaded scheduling conflicts and last-minute deadline surprises.
Whether you're a grad student coordinating research deadlines, an undergrad managing a full course load with work-study hours, or someone who simply prefers to see the big picture rather than getting lost in daily details, the AT-A-GLANCE Monthly Planner delivers exactly what it promises: an at-a-glance view that keeps you on track all year long. Sometimes the most effective planner is the one that simply works, semester after semester, without any fuss.
I wanted to finish this list with a planner with a totally different approach still. That’s why I decided on The Freedom Journal. The promise of this planner is to guide you in the accomplishment of your #1 goal in 100 days.
The Freedom Journal is a goal-setting, productivity and accountability tool all at once. John Lee Dumas, the creator of The Freedom Journal, has interviewed over 2000 successful entrepreneurs and has created a unique step-by-step process that will guide you in setting and accomplishing your #1 goal in 100 days. What I like about it is the Agile approach, a methodology I was trained in as a project manager and that works wonders to complete projects in the most efficient way possible. Imagine doing that with your goals? That’s the promise of this planner!
When you order a copy of this planner you get access to an exclusive planner community on Facebook. You also get the audio book, mobile app and fillable PDF version of the planner for free. Worth getting your hands dirty if you ask me!
💡 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.
That’s it for this back to college or kill it at that first job list. I hope you enjoyed this post, and that it helped you to choose the planner that is perfect for you.