Career & Business Coaching Blog for Creatives & Entrepreneurs.
Inspiration, guidance, and practical strategies for multi-passionate professionals who refuse to choose just one thing.
6 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.
loAnyone oking 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.
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!
#3 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?
#4 Simplified Planner by Emily Ley
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.
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 6 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.
How to get the most out of your day planner
I was having a chat with a friend last Friday when she mentioned to me how hard it is for her to stay on track with her goals. It’s a “right brain thing” she told me, I’m build this way and I only thrive in chaos. She continued by telling me that – like everyone else – she has a planner, and write things in it. And that’s precisely the issue: she just writes things in it. She doesn’t use it.
That’s why I decided to call this tip “Make the most out of your planner” instead of buy a planner, invest in a planner, or even have a planner. Those are all really great things that you need in order to USE your planner, but that’s also really where the greatness stops.
I used to be a planner hoarder. (Still am, to be honest)
Every time I came across a planner that I loved, either because of its color (pink, please), bling (you had me at sparkle) or content (give me those pages darlin’!), I’d buy it. Once home I’d put it on top of the pile of other wonderful planners I’d “invested” in. Sometimes – if they were bubble wrapped – they would stay that way for weeks, months, sometimes even the entire year.
Planners were really unhappy around me.
I never gave them the love they deserved, and the attention they needed. Instead, come every Sunday night, I would *think* about prepping for the week ahead and writing all the amazing things down that I was going to achieve, but then the TV called, or a friend, or both.
Before I knew it, it was bedtime. Ah well, I’d do it tomorrow or next week. It didn’t really matter – so I told myself – I had the planner. Uhum – I had PLENTY of them. I wasn’t making any decent progress on my goals, so what was the deal though?
The truth is, a gazillion planners won’t change anything.
If you want to achieve your goals you need to USE your planner – not just look at it, however pretty it may be (starts to sweat knowing she’ll need to part with most of her sparkling babies soon).
Left brain or right brain, we can all use a planner. Yes it’s certainly true it comes easier to some than others. But that’s just more reason to do it. It helps you organize your thoughts, and get clear on what it is you need to work on. When I started using one – for something more than keeping grocery lists that is – everything changed. I got more done in less time, i was able to stay focused on my daily tasks better, and because of this shift I wasn’t losing sight of my big dreams and goals anymore – a chronic illness I’d been battling for years without success.
What follows are three of my best tips when it comes to using a planner, taking right from the tranchees where little guinea pig called moi tried and tested them out first. (You’re welcome :))
How to use a planner?
Take time to plan things out
If you want to take full advantage of your planner, you’ll need to take time to plan things out, and write them down in it. There’s simply no way around it. For your planner to be an effective goal-slaying companion, you need to give it the right stuff to eat: tasks. Planners are crazy about those little finger-licking sweets. They can eat them by the thousand. The more you feed it to them, the happier they get. But the problem is, planners count on YOU to get them. So make a habit of sitting down with your planner once a week (or every other regular interval that works for you) and write out the tasks you’ll take on together in the next period (that would be a week for me, but could vary depending on your chosen interval).
Keep your planner on your desk
Writing down tasks in your planner is only half the job. Once they’re in there, you’ve got to review them, focus on them, and make them happen. That’s why I love to keep my planner on my desk. I open it to today’s date and work my way through the tasks I’ve set. When I’m done with one, I cross it out (greatest feeling in the world). When possible I start with the big, important ones and work my way down to the smaller, easier ones. So make sure to check in with your planner every day and keep it on your desk.
Don’t be afraid to experiment
Every year I publish a round-up of my favourite planners. I do this because I’m always on the lookout for the ultimate planner – the one that will be absolutely PERFECT for me. That planner, unfortunately, doesn’t exist yet (I’m still working on putting it together), so what I’ve learned to do instead is to experiment, and tweak my planner so that it works best for me. If you’re planner doesn’t have a habit tracker for instance, why not add it in yourself? Or if you need a space for gratitude, why not use sticky notes? Whatever it is you’re missing in your planner, there’s always a way to add it in. Remember that you’re planner is supposed to work for you, not the other way around.
If you want more tips to get unstuck, I’ve got great news for you! This tip is part of a series, you can find all entries here.
7 best planners to stay organized
A dream without a plan is just a dream, right? So here’s the list of my 7 top picks of planners to get organized – and achieve your goals!
When I choose a planner I’m always on the lookout for specific features, such as: great monthly, weekly, and daily overviews; space for to-do lists and notes, smooth paper to write on, enough writing space, inspirational quotes or prompts, and most importantly an interesting layout or structure that helps me to stay on track, and achieve big goals!
Based on those criteria I’ve put together a list of what I consider to be the 7 best planners to get organized.
#1 The Erin Condren Life Planner 2026
The Erin Condren life planner is one of my all-time favorite planners. I included it in last year’s top list, and I’m including it again this year because this planner has every feature you could ever dream of.
First, it’s a full-blown planning tool. The Erin Condren Life Planner helps you set goals, get clear on what you want, and take leadership in your life.
What makes the Erin Condren Life Planner so unique is the extensive level to which you can customize it:
You can choose between a colorful or neutral theme. You can pick a cover (floral, artistic, neutral, colorful… you name it, it’s available!), or purchase different beautiful laminated covers so you can interchange them throughout the year for more variation.
You have 3 options for your weekly layouts: vertical, hourly, or horizontal; and you can choose between a 12 or an 18 month option. Every new month has a beautiful internal cover page to collect ideas or notes. It also comes with inspiring quotes and words.
The weekly spread runs across two pages from Monday to Sunday, with a note section on the side and below every day of the week.
The Erin Condren Life Planners comes with a set of stickers to highlight important moments throughout the year: birthdays, vacation time, days off, and so on.
The planner also comes with year-at-a-glance pages. An overview of 12 squares (one for each month of the year) that runs across two pages. This spread is perfect for writing down, and keeping track of your monthly goals.
All of this makes the Erin Condren Life Planner one of my favorite planners. I find it easy to use, very practical, and beautiful and unique at the same time!
#2 Self Journal
What I like about the Self Journal is that it combines day-to-day to-do lists with your action goals. Another one of its great – and unique – features is that this planner is date independent, meaning you can start using it at any time.
Some of the features of the Self Journal that I love include:
Space in the journal pages for daily morning and evening gratitude.
An evening routine that helps you reflect on your daily wins, and lessons learned.
Daily targets to help you focus on the 3 top tasks you want to accomplish that day. I’ve found that focusing on only 3 top things to accomplish everyday works wonders in achieving goals, big and small.
Weekly prompts to reflect and track your progress.
The length of the planner also differs from most other planners: 13 weeks instead of the usual 12 or 18 months. According to the creators of the Self Journal, they’ve chosen this time frame based on the science that 13 weeks – approximately a 3-month timespan – is the ideal time frame for goal setting. This 13-week roadmap is one of the power tools of the Self Journal, and a one-of-a-kind feature that I haven’t seen in other planners!
#3 The Planner
This planner, created by Carrie Green from the Female Entrepreneur Association, is the ultimate 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 journals, and planners remain some of my favorite planners! To me they are a beautiful mix between goal setting workbooks, to-do lists, and more common daily or monthly planners. The reason I love them so much is because they offer a ton of incredible tools to gain clarity about what you want, work on your goals, and achieve more by tracking your progress!
I particularly love the Business Planner, and the Daily Journal. The Business Planner is everything you need to be launch your business, or elevate your current one to the next level. It’s so good, that I recommend it to almost all of my business coaching clients! The Daily Journal offers the same mix of goal setting, planning, and progress tracking but for your personal life.
Daily Greatness also has a Training Journal, Wellness Journal, Yoga Journal, and Parents Journal. Worth checking out if you’re looking for more structure, and successful action-taking in your life or business.
The Ultimate Life Binder by Michelle from Secret OWL Society is one of the most complete, and versatile life planners available. Michelle is a multi-passionate entrepreneur who first created this binder when she discovered that she had lived the same year twice and that it had been a mediocre one.
The Ultimate Life Binder grew out of her desire to take 100% responsibility for her life and have her dreams, projects, and progress “all in one physical location”.
I’ve had the pleasure to talk to Michelle, and she told me that the Ultimate Life Binder helped her to live her life on an upward spiral. She’s now at the 4th revised (extended) version of the binder and has sold more than 2500 copies all over the world.
What I love most about the Ultimate Life Binder is that it’s as if Michelle has thought about everything. And I mean – everything! Having it as a planning tool really makes you take 100% responsibility for your life, the tagline of her planner.
Within the binder you’ll find:
Yearly overviews, goals overviews, monthly overviews, prompts to help you focus on a weekly and daily basis.
Handy daily to-do pages with space to reflect on how you want to feel, what you’ll do to take care of yourself, and what you absolutely need.
Fun lists for books you want to read, things you want to buy, courses you’re taking but also more practical overviews like password sheets to record your online passwords for safekeeping, goal breakdown worksheets, and even budgeting tools.
Social media and blog post scheduling, and even travel planning sheets.
What’s so powerful about the Ultimate Life Binder is that Michelle has created a binder that addresses the important stuff, even when it’s not that sexy, like tracking your financials, or getting clear on the habits you need to build (or change) in order to be successful.
If you’re looking for the more intuitive planner, with different focus than traditional planners, it’s definitely worth checking out!
Rifle Paper Co. offers 12-month hardcover agendas and 17-month planners. I’m including them in this list because I still love myself a traditional agenda (call it melancholy), and because the ones from Rifle Paper Co are the perfect combination of a classic bestseller with the more contemporary take on planners we have today.
My favorite is the hardcover agenda. It’s a book cloth agenda, featuring a gold foil cover, illustrated end pages, and calendar and weekly views. It’s a classic design that never fails. At the beginning of the agenda there’s a section for important dates, organized by month. At the end of it you’ll find a contact listing (so old school, I love it!).
Each separate month comes with its own monthly overview spreading across two pages. This planner has a weekly spread format, so no daily pages here. However each day of the week has enough room for writing down your most important tasks, to-dos, and goals.
This hardcover agenda comes with an inside floral print on front and back cover pages. If you’re a fan of classic, timeless planners like I am, you want to check them out.
#7 Day Designer
The Day Designer is one of my favorite planners because it’s a real work of art. Not only is it a beautiful and intuitive planner, it’s also very spacious! My favorite look is still the classic one. How can you say no to a black, white, and gold combo?!
The Day Designer is a mix of worksheets, prompts, planning tools, and note sections. I love how the first pages of the planner offer different worksheets, each designed to help you find out your strengths, values, personal skills, vision, and passions. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that knowing yourself well helps to achieve your goals!
The Day Designer has a separate page for each day of the week, except for the weekend, where Saturday and Sunday share one page. Weekly schedules start on Monday, and every day has runs from 5am to 9pm. On the daily pages you’ll find prompts for your top 3 to-dos, inspirational quotes, a checklist, a gratitude section, space for dinner planning, and more.
The Day Designer also comes with a monthly calendar, a notes section, and space for projects and deadlines. What I like most about this planner is that it’s a little treasure chest where you can organize all of your ideas, tasks, goals, thoughts, and even memories!
Now it’s your turn. What planner are you currently using? And what do you love about it? Leave me a note in the comments below, because I’d really love to know.