My 2019 Planner and Journal Lineup

December 29, 2018 Roni Loren

First, before we get into the nitty gritty of all the planner goodness this year, I just want to remind everyone that The One You Fight For, book 3 in The Ones Who Got Away series, is out New Year’s Day! You don’t have to have read the first two to understand this one, though that will enrich the experience. I’m so excited to share this book with y’all. This one was a tough one to write because Taryn lost her sister in the school shooting fourteen years ago and Shaw, the hero, is the older brother of one of the shooters. This may be the most emotional romance I’ve ever written, but I promise you there’s a happy ending. ;)

So if you want to grab your copy now to have it on your doorstep this week, here are all the links. And right now the paperback is cheaper than the ebook, so you can get a copy for your shelf on the cheap!

The 2019 Planner and Journal Lineup

Now, on to the planners!

If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know that I’m obsessed with planners and journals. In a lot of ways, it’s my hobby, but they have the added bonus of actually being functional and making me more productive as well.

I’ve shown some pictures on Instagram of a few of my planners and journals for the year, but I had a number of people ask to explain what each one is and how I use it. So, ask and you shall receive! Let’s dive in.

My Every Day Hub - The Day Designer

This will be my third year using the Day Designer. Sometimes I stray, but this is the planner I keep coming back to for the day to day To Dos and scheduling. Beyond the pretty cover, this is not a colorful planner, which is a plus for me. I find that when I buy planners with color schemes, I get tired of the schemes pretty quickly. Day Designer’s white pages with gray print are perfect. I can keep them clean or I can decorate the hell out of them.

I also like that it’s one day per page. I find this helps me focus on just that day and not get distracted by the things coming up in the week.

Sometimes I use the time side to track my time. Other times I just use it to mark down if I have an appointment. But I use the To Do side daily. I also mark my daily word count in the “dollars” box. It’s a flexible system that I can change around as needed.

A clean page vs. decorated page:

My Done Planner

I went into the details of what a “done” planner is in this post, but basically, this is where I record what I’ve actually done in a week separated out by area of my life or business. I use a Happy Planner Teacher Planner and label the different areas of my life where teachers would label the different classes that they teach.

When I do something in the day, I mark down what I did in this planner. Is this necessary? Of course not. But I’ve found that it gives me a sense of accomplishment AND it also shows me how evenly (or not) I’ve distributed my time in a week. Have I ignored health stuff? Did I let my interaction with readers slip? It’s a good overview of where my time is actually going.

Goal Setting Planner: Powersheets & The HB90 Method

The Powersheets are not a traditional planner. There is no calendar in it. This is strictly a goal setting planner that guides you through a process to pick up to 10 goals for the year. You have the opportunity to update them quarterly. Then it also gives you a process each month to go through to set monthly, weekly, and daily goals. I have used this planner for two years and have one ready to go for this year. I tend to keep the tending sheet open on my desk so I can always see what goals I set for the month.

This year I also added author Sarra Cannon’s HB90 method of quarterly planning for authors and entrepreneurs. The Powersheets contain both work and personal goals. The HB90 system is strictly focused on three main work/business goals for the quarter. I have used this method for the last 5 months of this year (including the kanban board that she teaches you about in her class) and it’s been ridiculously effective for me. Sarra has a quarterly planner you can buy from Etsy and print out yourself. Her system walks you through everything to get you started. I keep these pages in my Done planner pictured above.

Honestly, I’m going to see how it goes this year, but Sarra’s system may make my Powersheets less necessary. I like that it gives me such a laser focus. However, I’ve already bought the Powersheets and still need a place to have personal/home goals, so we’ll see. I’ll report back later in the year if I’m keeping up with both of them.

Reading Journal

I have done a full post on the layout of my reading journal here. I also have a free downloadable reading journal if you want one you can print out. But I’ve kept my reading journal for three years and I LOVE IT SO HARD. Three years filled up one book, so I’m starting with a fresh Leuchtterm journal this year. The sticker on the front is a Happy Planner sticker.

And if you’re looking for something fun to add to your reading journal, check out my 2019 Read Wide Challenge!

My Movie, TV Series, and Concert Journal

This is a new addition for me. I have kept a list of movies I’ve watched and TV series I’ve completed in my reading journal for the past two years. But the simple list doesn’t tell me much. So this year, I’m dedicating a separate journal to record movie reviews, TV show reviews, and to mark down memories of the concerts I attend (because we attend a lot!) I haven’t worked out all the details of how I want to do this yet. I like the idea of writing down the names of my favorite episodes of a TV series for example. Or maybe writing down quotes. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll report back once I have a fully working system. :) But for now, I’ll be using this pretty dot grid journal that I received as a Christmas gift.

My Daily Memory Journal

This will also be a new addition this year. And y’all keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ve tried this before and haven’t been able to stick with it, so we’ll see. But I would like to keep a Hobonichi style journal, where I jot down memories or thoughts from the day and then either draw or put stickers in it. This isn’t going to be a deep contemplative journal. I already know I don’t do well with keeping up with those. This is more of a memory keeper, a simpler version of a scrapbook.

For this journal, I chose a Stalogy notebook because it’s about half the price of a Hobonichi Cousin and has similar paper. I’m keeping it in this notebook keeper since it has a soft cover.

The I-Bought-Them-On-Sale-and-Haven’t-Decided-Yet Planners

I’m weak in the face of 60% off. I haven’t decided what these beauties are for yet. One might become a planner for the family. The dark blue one may be pulled apart and merged with the Done planner since they are the same size. I got them so cheap that I don’t mind cannibalizing them to merge them into another. These are both from Happy Planner which you can buy online or at craft stores like Michael’s and JoAnn’s.

I would say “that’s it!” but that’s an understatement, I know. : ) I have a lot of planners. It works for me. I hope you found something in the mix that may work for you!

So what are you using for 2019? Anyone journaling?

Paper Planner Picks for 2019

September 5, 2018 Roni Loren

I can't believe it's already that time of year, but today is launch day for a few of the popular planner brands for their 2019 lines. If you've followed me for any amount of time, y'all know I love a paper planner. Planning on paper has really been a game-changer for me. There's a lot of power in writing something down and having it in my face instead of tucked away on my phone. I've tried a lot of different systems over the years and am always tweaking, adding, and subtracting from my current system, but I thought I'd go over what I've been using and what I plan to use in 2019.

My Current System and What I'll Be Using in 2019

Day Designer for Daily Planning

This year, my main planner and the hub of my system is the Day Designer, which provides a page for each day along with monthly and yearly spreads. I've found that, especially when I'm overwhelmed, I do best just looking at one day at a time. No distractions about what's coming up the rest of the week. What am I supposed to do TODAY. I also like that the Day Designer has a neutral scheme of white and gray so I can decorate it how I want (or not at all), and I'm not trying to coordinate with whatever color is in the planner. It also lets me change how it looks every day (and gives me a place to use all those stickers and all of that washi tape I collect, lol.)

A view without any washi or writing (photo courtesy of Day Designer)

So because the Day Designer has been working for me this year and in years past, I've ordered another one. (Note: my link is an affiliate link, which means I earn a little commission if you buy through my site but that doesn't cost you anything, and I haven't been asked to promote it. I buy one every year.) They launched today if you want to see the 2019 designs. This is the one I picked. Isn't it so pretty? And I love that the inner liner on this one is navy blue.

Goal-Setting

In addition to my daily planner, I also have been using the Powersheets for a goal-setting planner. This is different than a daily planner of To Dos. This is a planner specifically geared towards long-term and monthly goal-setting. I've used this system for three years now and have found it tremendously helpful. I'll be buying another for 2019 (they go on sale in October). I work the whole system, setting annual goals (which you get a chance to update every quarter) and monthly/weekly goals that you monitor on what's called a Tending List. I keep this tending list open on my desk at all times to keep my goals in my face. Here's an example of one of my tending lists. I decorate with stickers but you can keep it simple if that's not your thing.

*One note I'd like to make about the Powersheets. The creator, Lara Casey, has a number of religious items in her shop. The Powersheets, however, are not religious, so don't be worried about it being a Bible planner or something. It's definitely not.

90- Day Business Plan

A new one I've just started using is a 90-Day Business Plan where I set business goals for the next 90 days and then record not what I have to do but what I've done. So a Done planner. I modified a Happy Planner Teacher planner to make it work for me. I separate out the days into categories so I can make sure I'm covering goals that fall under a number of different areas in my life. If this system works well, it may end up being one I can use to replace the Powersheets or merge with them in some way, but I'm still playing around with it. I've also paired it up with a new Kanban board that I made that is focused on the 90-day goals. This planner and the kanban board are ideas I got from writer, Sarra Cannon, who has done some fantastic videos on her system if you want to check those out.

I may do a more extensive blog post about this 90-day planner and the kanban board to show you exactly how I'm using it, but for now, here are a few pics.

Each day has 7 columns. The categories I'm using are Writing, Readers, Business, Yoga, Input (basically how I fill the well), Budget, and Home.

I have this fully filled with post-its now but this is how it looked when I first made it. This is focused strictly on the three main goals of my 90-day plan.

Other Options

Inkwell Press

Though I'm not ordering one this year, I've used Inkwell Press for a number of years, and they're beautiful, high quality planners. There paper is to die for. This year they're introducing a disc system for the first time along with some new inserts for goal-setting, meal planning, and daily planning. If you're interested in checking out what they have, they launched the 2019 planners today as well. If you use my affiliate link, you get 10 dollars off your first order of $50. If I ever go back to a weekly layout, I'd go back to Inkwell. I also still use their meal planner.

Happy Planner

Happy Planner is one I know a lot of you are familiar with because they are everywhere these days: Michael's, JoAnn's, Target. I always end up buying at least one Happy Planner a year to use for some purpose (like the teacher planner I mentioned above.) I love how they're always innovating and trying new layouts and designs. They're also the most economical of the planner choices, especially with store coupons. This week they're doing some Instagram reveals of their 2019 line, so if you're interested in them, be sure to check that out. Y'all know I'll be buying ALL the sticker books from them. I have a little bit of a sticker problem... lol.

So that's the system I plan on using in 2019. Are you getting a planner for 2019? What's been working for you?

7 Reasons Why I Use a Paper Planner

September 15, 2016 Roni Loren

I post about planners a lot. I know many of you probably think I'm ridiculous. And I am--unapologetically. But even though decorating my planner has become my hobby (some people scrapbook, I buy washi and planner stickers), I don't do this for the relaxing hobby. That's just a side benefit. The real reason I use one is because it's vital to my day. I'm running a business, writing, and being a wife and mom. It's a lot to keep track of.

But why a paper planner?

1. I have the memory the size of a garden pea.

I blame pregnancy. After I had my son, I think he took my memory with him because he can remember EVERYTHING (like to a freakish degree.) And I can't remember last week. But if I don't write something down, it's gone. The planner keeps me from forgetting the important stuff.

2. Electronic calendars don't work for everyone.

Yes, they have all kinds of fancy calendar and productivity apps and programs. That's what I tried to use before this. I learned quickly that once it's typed in, it's dead to me. I'm extremely visual so if it's not in my face, it doesn't exist. And when I set reminders, I'd just close them and then forget again. However, once I write something in my planner, even if it's not in front of me, I remember things better. Research has shown that writing things down helps us remember them and process them better, so there's some science to that.

3. I can't hide from it.

Yes, technically I can close my planner, but I don't. It sits open in front of me all day. There is no ignoring it. I can see clearly what I should be doing and that "mess around on twitter" is not on the To Do list.

4. Checking things off is highly satisfying.

It just is. I do something. Check mark! Maybe this comes from being a please-the-teacher student as a kid. I want the A. I want that checkmark. I don't want to look down at the end of the day and be left with a bunch of empty boxes and pending items.

5. Planning out each week makes me more intentional with my time.

Instead of sitting down and thinking, What should I do today? I already have my plan in front of me. On Sunday every week, I sit down with my planner and map out the week. Yes, there are surprises that will come up, but I have an outline of what I want to get done that week. How many words I need to write. Who I need to email. What promo I need to do. When I need to blog. What I'm cooking for dinner. What's going on with the family. With all those decisions out of the way, it clears my mind to do what I need to do and to be creative.

6. It keeps a visual record.

When did I turn in that thing? When did we go on that trip? I told you about my memory. So it's very helpful to have a physical record of what I've done. I can look back and see how many words I wrote in a month, what derailed me, where my time went, etc. And flipping through pages is way easier than scanning through an electronic calendar looking for that stuff.

7. Pretty things motivate me.

This may not be important to everyone, but for me, having something lovely that holds my plan makes me more likely to use it and stick with it. I look forward to decorating it and making it fun. It makes me smile when I see it.

Those are my main reasons, but there are so many more. The key is finding what works best for YOU. My husband is a die hard electronic calendar guy and it totally works for him. (He also has a great memory, so that helps.). Other people rather a simple list on a steno pad. Whatever works.

But if you want to give the pretty planner a try, it's launch season for 2017 planners. Here are a few that launched this week and some others. (IWP and Day Designer are affiliate links but I don't rec anything I haven't bought for myself and loved. And I haven't been asked to feature them.)

New 2017 Planners

1. Inkwell Press (Get 10 dollars off with my link)

This is my planner of choice right now and is the one I've stuck with the longest. I just ordered my 2017 one and I couldn't be more excited. Gorgeous design. Thick paper. And the layout totally works for me. I use the three boxes each day for Blog post, Dinner, and Word Count (see the pic at top of post), but you can use them for whatever you want, which is the beauty. And I divide each day down down the middle to separate appointments or events (on the left) and my to do list (on the right.)

2. Day Designer

I used Day Designer for a while and it's a beautiful planner and is perfect for someone who needs a daily layout instead of a weekly. So if you have a lot of daily appointments or you like to write out your full schedule along with your to do list, this is a great option. It's also nice to track your time after the fact to see where your day went.

3. Happy Planner

You can get these at Michael's and Hobby Lobby, often with a 40% off coupon. They are colorful with great paper and designs. It's also a disc bound system so you can move pages around. I used a Happy Planner for a while and really liked it, but eventually figured out that a horizontal layout worked better for me than vertical. They've since come out with a horizontal but I like the Inkwell Press layout better still. This is a great option though and is cheaper than many of the others.

4. Erin Condren

I haven't personally used an Erin Condren, but I've looked at them at Staples and they are lovely. They are also the first brand that launched the decorative planner thing.

5. Plum Paper Planner

This is another one I haven't used but have heard great things about. You can customize with a number of different layout options and I've heard the paper is very high quality.

Hope that helps! Anyone getting a new planner for 2017? Do you use a planner? An electronic calendar? How do you keep your life straight?

Still Haven't Found Planner Peace? Four Gorgeous Mid-Year Options

May 11, 2016 Roni Loren

Summer is almost here. Can you believe it? I definitely can't. And what does summer bring besides hot weather and longer days? For many of us, it means shifting our schedules around to accommodate kiddos on summer break, family vacations, and warm weather activities. So I thought it would be a good time to do a quick little planner post because there are lots of gorgeous mid-year options releasing right now. Plus, it's a good time to evaluate if what you're doing this year is working for you so far or not. Or maybe you're like me and you just get bored and like to change things up every few months to keep it fresh.

So I've put together a few of my favorite mid-year options for planners. Ready for some planner p0rn?

1. The Day Designer

I've spoken of my love for the Day Designer before and I stand by that. When I first started using it, I found that I loved the daily breakdown, but I eventually missed my weekly overview. I went back to my Happy Planner, but then missed my daily overview! Lol. I can't be happy. So right now I'm using a two planner system. One for the weekly overview and the Day Designer to (ha!) design my day and track my time. I did a little video about my current system if you care to watch. But if you find that you're having trouble focusing each day, I highly recommend the Day Designer. It's a great way to zero in on what you need to be doing RIGHT NOW and hides all the other visual clutter that you might have to deal with in a weekly planner. Plus, they have some super cute mid-year covers. They also have A5 inserts for those of you who use binders.

2. The Inkwell Press Planner

I don't have this one in my hands yet, but I've been stalking them online for a while and ordered one yesterday. I'm really, really curious to try out a horizontal weekly layout. And I LOVE the three boxes on the side of each day. I can think of so many things to track there. Meal plan. Word count. Blog posts. I've ordered one of their mid-year ones and should get it this week. I'll probably do a flip through video. But if you'd like to try one or one of their other products, you can get TEN DOLLARS OFF if you use my link. Woot! Besides planners, they also have adorable notepads.

3. The Happy Planner by MAMBI

This has been my go to weekly since last year (the pic above is my week this week.) I love the colors and ADORE the ARC ring system because you can move all the pages around, and if you have an ARC punch, you can insert whatever you want. This is the planner I keep going back to. BUT I do get tired of the vertical layout sometimes, which is why I want to try a horizontal. I'm hoping in the future, they offer a variety of different kinds of layouts. But the great news about these is that they are inexpensive and you can usually get 40% off with a Michael's coupon or Hobby Lobby coupon. Plus, tons of great accessories.

4. The Ban.do Agenda

This is another horizontal layout and I've ordered one but haven't received it yet. My guess is that I'll end up putting this one head to head with the Inkwell to see which one I like better. This one is very hip and stylish. Bright colors, quirky graphics, lots of fun little touches. I'm not sure about the quality of paper and such since I don't have one in my hands yet, but I'll do a video or review once I get it.

By this time next week, I'll probably have all four of these in my hands and will be able to compare. Planner addiction anyone? Lol. But hey, that means I can rotate out every few months and keep it fresh. :)

Anyone else figuring out what's working for them so far this year and what needs to be revamped? Does the summer dramatically change your schedule? And for you planner lovers out there, which one are you loving right now?

(Full disclosure: Some of these are affiliate links, which doesn't cost you anything and actually gets you 10 dollars off in one case (yay!), but I always like to be upfront about that. And I never endorse something that I don't love and/or haven't purchased myself.)

Don't Just Make a Plan: The Benefits of Tracking Your Time

May 5, 2016 Roni Loren

I talk a lot about To Do lists and planning here, but there's another part to productivity that I've never paid that much attention to: tracking the actual time I spend doing things. I add things to my schedule, but how often do I stick to that? Not very often unless it's a set appointment. So if I get to the end of the day and haven't checked off all of my To Dos, what's the reason? Did I screw around and waste time? Did I schedule too much? Were my goals unrealistic? I didn't know.

Two Planner system - Happy Planner and Day Designer

So, this week I decided to track my time. I'm currently using a two-planner system since I've found I need both a weekly overview and a daily tasks list to keep me focused. The Happy Planner houses my weekly events/appointments and I get that planned out on Sunday. But then I'm using my Day Designer each morning to write out a fresh To Do list. But the Day Designer also has a column for your schedule. I decided to try to use that to track my time as I get things done vs. pre-planning anything in that section. It's turned out to be SO helpful, so I thought I'd share my thoughts with y'all. Here's some of what I've discovered...

The Benefits of Tracking Your Time

1. Know how long it takes you to do something.

Often we underestimate how long something is going to take us to do. Tracking time gives you hard numbers about how long something takes. So instead of assuming, "Oh, I need to blog and that will only take 20 minutes.", you'll find out that it is actually taking up an hour of your morning.

For instance, this week I'm doing fine-toothed-comb editing on LOVING YOU EASY. That means that I have to read EVERY word. This is the stage where I catch typos or awkward sentences or little logic mistakes. So it's pretty intensive. And I've discovered by tracking my time that I consistently take 30 minutes to get through one chapter. That's very helpful for me to know because now I can look forward and know how long it's going to take me to wrap up these edits.

2. Learn your peak productive hours.

We all have them and they are going to vary from person to person. Like I hear that some writers get up at 4 or 5am to write before everyone gets up. That would never work for me. My brain isn't creative at that time. *not a morning person* This week, I've learned that I'm not productive until about 10am. No matter how motivated I am, my la-la-la, ooh-bright-and-shiny-distracted time is between 8:30 and 10am. This is the time I check all my social media accounts, chat with friends, read interesting articles from Twitter, etc.

My guess is that this segment of time is how long it takes for my morning coffee to kick in, lol. But I'm learning that I have to ease into my work day. My highest productivity is after lunch. I know this to be true when I'm drafting too. I don't get into my writing flow until afternoon. It is what it is.

3. Helps you tailor your work day

So building on the point above, if you have a pattern of when you're productive, when you're creative, when you need mindless things, you can structure your day to play to those. This may be harder if you have a schedule at work that's out of your control. But if you're able to, you can schedule the things that require less mental intensity at times when you have the most trouble concentrating. So for me that means I should probably schedule low intensity things in the morning when I know I'll be less likely to be writing/editing. Social media updates, responding to comments, answering email, etc. It's all good information to have to make the best use of your time.

4. Keeps you honest about wasting time and gives you options for when best to do it.

We all waste time. That's not a bad thing. We need fun and mental breaks too. But if you track your time, you can find out if you're doing that a little too much. You can pinpoint what sucks up your time, what sends you down a rabbit hole. And if you need it, you can use apps to shut down your access to the internet and have focused times to work on what you need to work on. I talked more about that in this post. And you can even schedule in a time to do those not so productive things. That can help because you know--ooh, I want to read this article, respond to this FB thing, etc. but I can save it and do that at x time when I have break time scheduled.

5. It's motivating and reinforcing to write down what you've done as you go.

Don't wait until the end of the day to write everything down. You'll forget and it won't be accurate. Write down what you did each hour as you do it. Keep a notepad or planner nearby so it's easy to jot down. I find it's hard to write down "wasted a whole bunch of time" lol. I'd much rather write down. "Two chapters edited!" That's reinforcing. :)

Ready to give it a shot?

You don't need two planners like I have. Though you can! If you just want to try it out for a few days, use a notebook or find a printable. The Day Designer has free printables of the schedule I'm using. So grab one of those if you want something with the times already on it. And let me know if you try and how it goes! :)

Does anyone already track their time or have you tried this experiment in the past?

*Day Designer link is an affiliate link.