My boss once told me, “You’re seriously a taskmaster machine!”
I attribute this trait to my days when I wrote things down for the sake of having the satisfaction of crossing it off the list. Ever since grade school, I’ve been, ahem, slightly obsessed over day planners.
Top 5 Daily Planners (Plus a Pen Recommendation!)
My aunt from Taiwan would send me cute pastel sheets, often with cartoon characters, and tons of stickers and cute pens to go with it. Since then, 20 something years later, my tastes haven’t changed much. I still get really excited about pastel and cute cartoons, but I’ve also discovered minimal, sophisticated chic!
With the aid of a planner, I find myself planning organized days and weeks in advance. I write everything down, creating self-set deadlines to keep me on track. Being a solopreneur can be difficult due to lack of accountability. It’s a good thing then that your planner can serve as your accountability partner!
Daily Planner Allows Reflection
With this year underway, it’s the best time of the year to gift your loved one (or yourself!) a new planner. It is time to not only write down your New Year goals, but to constantly reflect to yourself:
- How can I break my main goal down into mini tasks to reach my final goal?
- What are 3 things I did well today?
- What are 3 things I can improve upon?
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I guarantee you, if you ask yourself these questions and put all your jumbled thoughts onto a piece of paper, your mind will see things more clearly. Ultimately, this leads to taking action and being a taskmaster towards larger goals.
So, being the planner obsessed person that I am, here is my compiled list for ‘Top Daily Planners.’
Best Self Co. Journal
This journal tops the list as it seems to be the #1 productivity tool. It combines the ability to reflect daily, as well as weekly. It also has plenty of idea jotting sections and blank areas to brainstorm. Best yet, this Best Self Co. Journal is dateless so you can jump in any time of the year!
The downside? At $32 for 3-months, it can be quite costly. Luckily, their site provides you a link to download the entire PDF for FREE, which I have opted to do. I’ve combined this with Staple’s Arc System Punch and for ~$50, I now have an endless supply of journals!
Arc System Holepunch & Notebook
The Staple’s Arc System Punch is one of the coolest office tools I have seen. They have a lot of accessories you can buy, including padfolios, spiral notebooks, calendar inserts, dividers, folder inserts, etc. It’s essentially a fancy hole punch that punches paper for spiral bound notebooks and allows you to remove and insert countless pages so you can customize your notebook anyway you want.
In this case above, I’ve found the Best Self Co. Journal’s templates and pages. All I have to do is print the pages double sided on 8.5×11” paper, cut them in half, hole punch, and insert into my 6×8” Arc spiral notebook. The options are endless!
Sugar Paper Daily Agenda
Sugar Paper is a LA based paper products company and you’ve probably seen them at Target in the gift wrap or stationary sections. They have excellent quality paper, with cute, simple, modern designs. I’m a fan of their planners as they are neatly outlined. You will want to start scribbling in these books as they have monthly dividers and ample space to write all of your tasks and goals! Time to be a stylish #girlboss!
Mon Journal
I had this Mon Journal planner last year and absolutely loved the size and functionality. It has thick paper, a spiral bound notebook, and is dateless! Start in any month of the year and you’ve got yourself 365 days more to fill in! It doesn’t have breakdowns by the hour, but has section divided into morning, afternoon, and evening. A very minimalist design, it also comes with a folder pocket insert in the back in case you need somewhere to store important information!
Molang Diary Agenda Scheduler
Another dateless journal, this Molang Diary Agenda Scheduler is a great daily planner if you are looking for bigger squares where you can insert media. The open space allows you to doodle and paste photos into the boxes. This open format gives less structure so you can make this planner into a daily journal. I used washi tape to decorate and give the cream colored pages a bit more color.
BONUS: ICONIC 2-Way Retro Pen (Set of 5)
With every great day planner, needs a great ICONIC 2-Way Retro Pen… or pens! These pens are awesome as they don’t bleed through paper, total in 5 different colors, and are written in fine and broad tips! Mmmm yes please!
What are your favorite daily planners?
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These are wonderful planners, Emily. I always check the best planners to get each year. Got recommendations for 2019? Thinking of get one at https://calendars.com.au/calendars/organisation.html.