2017 Planners

I’ve been evaluating my current planners after a chat with a friend, and trying to figure out what I’m going to do for next year.

I have four options in the mix that I can choose from:

1. Passion Planner
2. Day Designer Planner
3. Kate Spade Planner/Filofax Ring Binder
4. Desire Map Planner

But which of these planners do I want to use for the end of the year and next year?

I started by breaking down what type of planner I like.  These are the things I’ve learned over the evaluating different planners in 2016:

• Weekly planners rather than daily planners – daily planners is too much overhead given the craziness of the week
• 2 page view of the month before the weekly views – to view the month at a glance, one page isn’t enough space
• 2 page view of the week – to have enough space to map out my week because one page doesn’t seem like enough space
• Time for the weekday broken down into 30 minute blocks – most of my meetings during the week are usually scheduled in 30 minute increments.
• Pre-printed with the date to minimize the amount of time I need to set up my week.  If it’s too much work, I won’t use it.
• A place for my Most Important Task for the day, and weekly To Dos, ideally with a section for personal and work, because they are both important
• A place for tracking habits
• A clear separation of the work day from the evening, so I can remind myself to unplug and make time to take care of myself as well – make dinner, exercise, rest, recover, read, etc.
• Portable – anything larger than 5.5″ x 8.5″ is too big for me to carry around

I think I’m going to start with the Passion Planner and the Desire Map Planner and go from there.  And of course, like everything else, I had intended to post this before the end of the year, and it’s January already!

What tools will you be using in the new year?  Are you predisposed to analog or digital planning options?  Which tools have you had success with in the past?