4 Steps to Planner Peace Again

Hey there Planners! Today I am sharing 4 steps to planner peace again when you find yourself in a planner funk and hating your planner. You know that feeling: you are frustrated with your system. You aren't reaching for your planner as much. Or, worst case, you have stopped planning all together. No fear - getting back into the swing of planning and being your most productive is easy with just a few tips.
I would love to hear from you: how do you find planner peace again? Are you in a planner funk right now? If so, what are you doing about it?
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[@merridithnewman2400]

This was perfect timing that you created this video as I have found myself there this week - I did what you said created a mind map, I left my planners for a day, I even got blank paper out and sketched what I need to see each day and week. Thanks!

[@ShayStone1]

I feel like this is a Ted Talk. Very informative.

[@laurieengels2914]

Your videos are so timely and so well done; just the BEST I've seen on You Tube for quite some time. Thank you so much!

[@jennifergentry144]

I so enjoy your videos. Not only are your videos fun to watch but they are so helpful in learning how to make a system work for you. I have a planner graveyard - old planners that I tried - really tried - to like but they aren’t for me.

[@PlanningAnnie]

Jennifer, thank you! I am so glad they are helpful! I know exactly how you feel about failed planner attempts. I have a graveyard just like that. But you don't know unless you try.

[@suzisaintjames]

Now that you know what you like and dislike, use the mind map to figure out exactly what the perfect planner looks like! And if that planner doesn't currently exist, make your own! That's what I did... using programs I already knew, Word and Excel. After all these years, I'm still fine tuning. So I only make a month at a time. A month is a good amount of time to test it to see if any changes need to be made. But I can print a new one anytime I want. But if that sounds like too much work, do like Annie, search for downloadables or draw your pages in a bujo. 💖🌞🌵😷

[@pbnjezly404]

When I hate my planner (like I do now), I have a tendency to muscle through because I hate feeling like I’ve wasted money. I buy more stickers because I feel like making it cuter will fix the problem, it does not! Thank you for this video!

[@PlanningAnnie]

I have tried the muscle through method as well. But when I start seeing my productivity slip, I usually throw in the towel. Best of luck adjusting your system!!!

[@suzisaintjames]

It sounds like it is time to divorce your planner. The honeymoon is over and the reality is that things change, people change. If you've gotten to this point, you know what you like and don't like in a planner. It's time to cut your loses and move on to some thing better! So use the mind map to figure out what you want in your next planner relationship. If you can't find the perfect system, create your own! Whether you gather spread ideas from KZbin or Pinterest or free printables like Annie or even make your own, you can design your own planner. 💖🌞🌵😷 P.s. once you figure out what the perfect planner looks like, you may find that you can enhance your current planner with stickers to change sections around to get through the rest of the year!

[@MW-yc2qd]

I don't believe "planner peace" is real because when you love planners notebooks etc there is always going to be new things we want to try which is the whole purpose of enjoying planners etc.

[@PlanningAnnie]

Love this! 💕 So true!

[@suzisaintjames]

I believe in planner peace, but for some people the honeymoon doesn't last forever. Your expectations change and you're off to the next planner. But, for some people, well, you look and look and finally find the one. ... For others it's love at first sight! I've been using half sheet, rings from the very beginning. I don't have time to draw a new setup every month so I use printables. I started with a bought, dated system. The next year, I decided that the refills were expensive for something I could make myself. Eventually, I've pared down to a future log, dailys and a reference section. As I discovered that a planner is more than a calendar and a to-do list, years ago, I switched from just weeklys, to full spread dailys. Could I pare down? Yes! But I love the real estate! I love my time ladder for time blocking, my to-do list and room to strategize new projects. But I'll never change the size nor using printables. Will my printables evolve? Absolutely, but aspects of every relationship changes. I guess planner peace is all about expectations. 💖🌞🌵😷

[@kimberlyc6418]

I’m so glad I ended up at video. I want and need a planner but the one I have is just not doing it for me. Now I’m so busy I need something more

[@stephaniemonteilh3240]

Thanks for making me laugh this morning oh, no marshmallows have been roasted here but I am getting frustrated. I have a d h d and need a planner to help me keep myself on track. Of course I've created one for work, one for home, a personal one, memory keeper, a gratitude Journal. . . You get the picture. I'm going to watch this a few more times

[@PlanningAnnie]

Try the mind map process. I always find that helpful when I am getting a little lost in my current system.

[@suzisaintjames]

In your mind map figure out what's relative. I keep two calendars for appointments and events. One in my home/personal (6pm-6am, and all day Sat&Sun). One in my work (6am-6pm, M-F, as I run errands to and from the office.) I don't need a calendar in my gratitude journal. I don't even use dated pages in my gratitude journal as some days my gratitude is a paragraph and somedays it's a full page or more. If you find that you never look at your yearly because you have a year's worth of future logs... Get rid of it! If you are just copying events from one calendar to another for no apparent reason, get rid of one. And your memory keeper? Asking yourself, do I want to remember every day or just big events, will determine if you have daily pages or a scrapbook where you add a photo and a note here and there. (Most people I know keep their memories in their personal. Those little photo printers are great!) 💖🌞🌵😷

[@Bettystroup]

I kinda go through the same thing. On weekly pages, some times it is full of colorful stickers, someitmes it just black and white. no stickers. It all depends on who's utube video I am watching and get inspired.

[@randomhodgepodge8902]

Trying life without a planner? Hahaha! No way. I'm too forgetful. Actual planner or not, I have always had to write things down. I needed an actual planner system and jumped into Happy Planner (no stickers) about 3 years ago because the monthly office supply store calendars I'd been using for years were way too cramped. This last year I switched from a vertical layout to dashboard. Hate it! So the good thing is I have totally ruled out dashboard as ever bringing me peace, got one of the 18 mo Spring Collection Happy Planner on sale and now I'm transitioning into it. Never thought I'd switch an actual planner mid year but yeah, if I want peace, it had to be done. My suggestion for those looking for peace is to get a piece of notebook paper and make mock formats from all the planners they have seen and give it a try so they can then buy with confidence instead of impulse.

[@TynishaThompson]

I’ve now watched this video twice (had to take notes) and at this season in my life it’s been the most helpful planning video ever! This was so great and I’m so glad I saw this before buying something else. Even though my new PPDaily is on the way 🥴. Your definition of planner peace is the best I’ve ever heard and has definitely given me a new perspective on planning. Thank you! 😉

[@pbnjezly404]

I took notes as well!

[@LesaKenner]

Such a great video and will revisit this one! I switched to a TN from personal rings. Was in each for a whole year. I went to a TN when the pandemic hit because I wanted something that felt like a journal but recently I felt the need to run back to my rings. I got thrown on a project at work and all of a sudden I felt I was drowning in my TN and needed flexibility stat. I'm now in the process of setting up a TN as a journal I keep at home and using rings for my planning. I think that will be my happy place for a while until my brain says hey I need this.... lol

[@PlanningAnnie]

Lesa, that is such a great example of finding planner peace in different systems during different seasons of life.

[@jennifergregory65]

I've been more or less plannerless since January. I have a dedicated work planner. But, by choice, my personal life has been in a state of unplanning since it finally occurred to me the responsibilities of my roles have radically changed over the last couple years but I'd been so surviving, I didn't understand why nothing was working. I'm learning the new me and not much from the previous system looks like a good match going forward, when I am actively planning again. Right now, there is a tremendous amount of anxiety surrounding the idea of planning. But, I still think these are incredible tips for real of the reasons our planners fall out of favor.

[@estherforcier2366]

Your intro made me laugh sooo hard. I would definitely make s'mores though.😂😂

[@KingdomPlans]

I just got sick of my Ruby Woo Personal size and had the urge to go back to my Carpe Diem A5 and when I did, I realised I couldn't stand the system I had set up prior. I took all the diecuts etc out and realised I hadn't got the nessecary sections that were important to me like habit tracking and Bible logging. Now I feel much more in love with my big guy again. Great video!

[@suzisaintjames]

I keep planner peace by only making my inserts a month at a time. I can adjust the tiniest issue and my peace continues. I don't have a planner graveyard. The first year, I muscled through a store bought system. The next year, I was too cheap to buy a whole system, when I could easily make one. I've been making my own pages ever since. If designing your own sounds like too much work, once you know what you want (through the mind map), do like Annie, search for downloadables or inspiration on KZbin and Pinterest. But the only way to find planner peace is to decide what you like and don't like. 💖🌞🌵😷

[@PlanningAnnie]

Agree Suzi!

[@iliana.m]

Excellent video!! All the tips are on point and I totally agree! I think I've done everything in the past except for the mind map! Maybe something to try next time! 😃 For me, the challenge was to wrap myself around the fact that maybe sometimes I just want to change planners/journals very frequently compared to what I consider is best doing, so this made me feel frustrated at times. I'm now trying to let myself just following my mood! And see how what happens in this journey! Even if I want to change every week, I'll let it be and see how it goes. The ocd thought behind this was the "what if I don't like it int the end ended up with a dozen half-filled bound notebooks and having my memory keeping or diary thoughts being scattered with no chronological order in multiple places...? That possibility frustrated me a lot. But these few weeks I'm working on letting this just happen and see if it's really a problem or not after all!! (Maybe I find out a new approach I was so missing before!) 😃 The trick from your suggestions that work this time around when I changed the system was taking a break from the planners/journals, not at the same time with all of them but as I fall off of each I just didn't try to replace it immediately and instead letting the next idea of a planner come to me when it comes.

[@JT1358]

My system stays the same, with no decor, no washi, definitely no stickers, but I use A5 rings paired with Personal rings, and each binder has its own colour-matched set of dividers. If I feel the need for a change or refresh I just swap binders. Having said that I'm suddenly missing my Leuchtturm A5 from last year....

[@yvettecasey-hunter1504]

I go back to the system that works best for me and not the device or tool. Process and system brings peace.

[@stephaniedawsey9354]

My struggle is always rings vs bound. I WANT to move things around and add/delete but I HATE rings …

[@Luxebullet]

Me too! 🙈

[@JT1358]

I moved into rings this year after a break of several years - and am missing my bound book...

[@isawillreisen]

A really helpful video. I am struggling a lot with sizes. Think I tried almost every size this year 🙈 which costs a lot of money. Currently I would say I found a good system in my standard tn but I always think that rings would be a nice addition. Well, before I will buy anything else, I will try to incorporate into my TN and see if that would work too 😅

[@suzisaintjames]

What is it that you like about rings? I've used rings for years, but you're right, size is Soooo important. If a TN is for you, what's missing that makes you look at rings? Maybe I can help? Sending lots of love 💖 from sunny 🌞 Arizona 🌵. 😷

[@isawillreisen]

@@suzisaintjames thank you ☺️. I love the idea of using the GTD method with Bullet Journaling. Just struggling with the lists. Sometimes I think that rings would be easier to have the inbox, next action, projects part in that and then my monthly weeklies and Dailys in my TN but then I have to carry another cover with me. Still thinking about how I can add it to my system in an efficient way. I will start a new job in August as a project coordinator and I need to have a good overview about all projects.

[@suzisaintjames]

@@isawillreisen, the Annie Smith channel primarily uses standard TNs. She has tons of great videos. This primarily talks about her different books. She has several like this one because everytime she changes her thinking she does an update video. If you're going to look at her other videos, I'd go back a while. Her more recent ones are more flip throughs, whilst her older ones are more tutorial. Hope this helps. kzbin.info/www/bejne/roTdo2mgeLOmatE 💖🌞🌵😷 P.S. if you don't need a whole notebook (or section) for brain dumping (for example), consider tipping in an extra page on and then... Search Planning Annie for her tip in video.

[@barigell]

Have you ever purchased a planner that had wayyyy too many prompts? I am trying a new one that attempts to merge quiet/Bible time with annual/monthly/weekly goals…in theory it’s exactly what I wanted. In practice it’s so cluttered and busy that I find myself avoiding it altogether 😬 Thinking I may identify my fave elements and recreate on my own as a bullet journal…

[@PlanningAnnie]

I run into this problem all the time with printed planners. And many times, what works for me one month doesn't work the next month and I want to change it. That is EXACTLY why I make my planners in notebooks so I can change it up when I need to. I use a mind map process for identifying what elements I need in a planner. You can check out the process in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKq6ln9pl6atmck Hope this helps! Thanks for watching!

[@outinarizona]

In 2018 I got so into dividers and dashboards they outnumbered the inserts! I quickly learned that dividers for me were like a closed box--the data behind them out of sight, out of mind, never accessed, never used. The less dividers and the less formal dividers, the better. For Work 2021, the monthly is the digital Outlook calendar. For weekly, it's a Wo4P inserts, with enough space for daily items, and 3x5 notecards as a monthly "tabbed" divider. In the current month, I also use that same 3x5 divider as a page marker. This planner keeps a personal record of work hours, mtg date/times, team PTO, etc...things I keep for the month, confirm the data shows on the permanent record, and then shred for compost. The second "planner" is a Cambridge medium (A5) spiral notebook with the perpetual calendar along the top. I use it for all action items, all mtgs and all projects, in a bullet journal-like setup. I use one for each year and store it close by for reference, as only the high points make it into the digital-shared team log. Major overhaul projects can span a couple of years.