Searching for a better planner helps you get organized and get focused. There are two main types of planners: digital and paper. Both have their individual benefits, and figuring out which one fits your lifestyle makes one part of your hectic life easier.
Extra Extra write all about it! To become a better planner, writing down everything serves as the first step. Studies show writing notes by hand improve memory better than typing, but the important part is the information gets out of your head.
If you think you’ll remember it later, you’re probably wrong. Scientists disproved multitasking. And that’s in the physical realm; in your head, there’s another narrative playing. Ever heard the expression as easy as herding cats into a wet paper bag? That’s what you’re asking your brain to do with all your thoughts without having a place to write them all down.
Write down your to-do’s, your worries, your ambitions, your schedule. There are planners built for all of these functions. Knowing which is a better planner for you comes after remembering what you need to remember. Write it down! Give your brain a hand. It does a lot for you.
What exactly are you using your planner for? Setting goals for yourself and deadlines? Keeping track of projects and due dates? Having a place for your endless to-do list, or being able to plan your day out to the hour? Be a better planner by knowing what exactly you’re planning for.
Knowing what exactly you’ll be using your planner to keep track of helps you pick out the better plan for your life. There are different layouts available in both a digital and paper planner ranging from monthly, to weekly to hourly. If you’re more of a big picture person, a daily layout might not be the better planner. Filling in the minute details of the hours each day seems nitpicky, and you won’t use the planner.
Your planner’s purpose could range from the analytical recount of times, tasks, and meetings, or serve as the living memory book for your year. Some planners allow special places for personal pictures and specific quotes.
A paper planner will have these layouts already pre-designed with customary adaptations and add ons available. A paper planner that has every single function you desire might be hard to find on the market. Templates for digital planners have a wider variety of specific needs and often allow for a little more personalization.
Personally, if I don’t like the way my writing looks, I’m less likely to look at it. Which wouldn’t be beneficial for a planner. You should be looking at it every day if you want to be a better planner. Life gets messy; we know that. Translation for the planner world: even a perfectly color-coded, styled, and blocked out day gets messed up. Sometimes we can’t control everything.
So, if the thought of having to use white-out or scratch through writing makes your skin crawl, a paper planner might not be the better planner for you. Unless you’re okay with using a pencil in your planner.
Digital planners offer more flexibility in moving tasks or appointments that suddenly have to change. The digital landscape automatically fits all events perfectly into their designated boxes, without overlap or lopsided writing.
A paper planner allows more expression and customization. The bullet journaling craze grew in popularity, and now there are Instagram accounts, Youtube channels, and entire blogs dedicated to the community. Bullet journals offer paper planners the freedom of minimalistic to artistic in design because it’s completely up to the owner. There are not pre-set templates to follow on the pages. They are blank and open to all our creative designs.
Knowing what level of expression and neatness you desire will help determine your better planner as you grow into your new productive lifestyle.
Paper planners come in all shapes and sizes and weights. If your desire for better planning means constantly having your planner on hand, you’ll need to consider the metrics. A monthly view only planner will be slim and easy to slide into any bag without invading in space or weight. But if your idea of a better planner has your budget tracker, wellness tracker, hourly layouts, and braindump pages for the entire year, be ready to carry something heftier.
It’s one aspect people forget when they seem their dream planner online with all the perfect layouts. However, if you don’t plan on carrying your planner with you every minute of every day, it’s not that big of a deal.
An alternative to a bound paper planner comes from online printout templates. There are weekly and daily formats you can print and use the day or week you need one if you don’t need a planner every day.
A digital planner fits on any device you have it synced to or downloaded on. The point making this a better planner because no matter how many add ons you have or if you want an hourly layout for every day, or pages for budgets, holiday gifts, and brainstorming, it doesn’t weigh any different. Ahh, the beauty of technology.
Consider the ease of adding anything on the fly. Are you more willing to open a paper planner and pull out a pen? Or, is it better for you to open and app and navigate through your tabs and templates to get to where you need to be? These seem like silly considerations but helps make a decision for your better planner life.
Remember when I said writing stuff down helps improve your memory? Well going digital doesn’t mean giving up writing 100% if you don’t want to. New tablets and laptops offer compatibility with “active pens.” This means you have the simultaneous capability of a mouse and a pen. Even better, active pens only recognize the pen’s touch on the screen so you can rest your hand against it for a more natural writing feel.
While going digital in your pursuit for a better planner might eliminate some weight and burden, a pen and planner go together like paint and a canvas.
A planner’s prices rise faster than expected. Paper planner’s easily reaching $80 with add-ons and customizations. Plus, if you really want to be a better planner many Etsy shops offer themed stickers for the season or style you’re looking for.
Digital planner templates start as low as $5 on Etsy shops. The shops that offer digital planner templates often offer stickers that can be bought for the paper planners in the digital format. So, even if you decide a digital version is your better planner, you don’t have to sacrifice style.
However, there’s a free digital planner available through your google account. It’s your google calendar. You can block schedule, color code, set reminders, and even make a to-do list for yourself.
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