My Treasured Tool – The Passion Planner

I love planners – I love them so much that I used to start at least three or four every year. Shopping for planners was too much fun! I made my own too and I even tried bullet journaling!

I don’t remember how I first learned about Passion Planners, but it was years ago, and I haven’t bought another kind of planner since. It just works so well for me! And no, they’re not paying me to say any of this. I buy the planners myself and don’t get anything for referring people to them. They do have a points system but I find that kind of thing clutters up my life too much, so I’m not part of it. They’re a company that tries hard to give back to people and organizations in need, so I’m happy to share my love of their products. 

One of the things I love about my planner compared to others is all the pages at the back. The pre-printed monthly and weekly pages suit me well for my schedule, then there are dozens of pages in the back for everything else. There are 20 blank pages and 20 dot grid ones. There’s a pocket for loose papers too.

The planner is set up with pages and strategies to help you achieve your goals, as well as to reflect on how each month is going. I don’t fully use the “Game Changer” goal parts, but the monthly reflection and “Good Things That Happened” sections are game changers themselves. There are to-do lists in the weekly spreads and the monthlies.

It’s easy to change up some of the titles – I use the “Things to Not Do” section as a place to track monthly spending. I use a dark gray marker over the title and it’s good to go. There are fantastic creative uses of the spaces online, everything from full washi-taped, colourful, artistic extravaganzas to tidy minimal notes. Check out the #pashfam tag on Instagram and be blown away with inspiration. 

In previous years, I spent a lot of time on lettering and doodling and colouring. I use a more minimal style now, doing my creative work elsewhere…most of the time…I still love doodling and drawing as I plan trips on the blank pages at the back. The paper is thick and rarely lets any marker bleed through.

My dot grid pages are well-used with layouts that work great for me. Some are fancy, others plain – but year after year, I add them to my new planner. I have a few others I like, e.g., for tracking how many vacation days I have left, books to read, ‘When Did I Last…?’, and also a weekly spending money chart that I put the weekly spread. As well as #pashfam, I get inspiration from #planner and #bujo (stands for bullet journal) hashtags on Instagram, mostly the minimalist ones (#minimalistbujo is awesome). There are so many talented people sharing their beautiful, functional ideas!

How I Track Things

Simple way to keep track of my online certificate courses

Long-term Planning

On tracking finances: I have spreadsheets online but to be honest, this simple way of laying things out works much better for me. 

I used to buy the undated planners because my work years start in April. Even when I switched to doing my planning on the calendar year, I kept buying the undated because of a fun little bonus. In the space where I’m supposed to write in the dates for the week, I choose to use the “Week Of” box to name my week instead. I love having a ‘Focus’ for the week too, and of course, a list of great things that happened.

They have three sizes for the planner. I’ve used (and loved) the small one because it fits easily in a bag to carry around. Eventually, I tried the medium, and now I realize how great the extra space is. Fun fact: I got a full size one once due to a shipping error. While my daily life is too mobile to lug that around, I think it would be great for someone who’s using it in the same place always, as a desk planner. 

Passion Planner recently released a daily planner as well. Like all of their products, they have PDFs you can download to try the different layouts and see what suits you best. 

One COVID-19 related note:

Like everyone, my world was turned upside down the last months. Getting my planner tidied up was one of the small things I did to help me feel calm and a (false, but I’ll take it) sense of control back. I used white-out tape to remove trips and appointments. When weekly spreads were too messed up to fix that way, I printed out sample PDFs to glue in over the chaos and moved forward peacefully from there. 

Why Analog Over Digital?

I’ve realized that for me, having a written planner isn’t about so much about effectiveness or efficiency. It’s because I like having it. I like writing things down (pens!). It helps me think through what’s coming up, what to prepare for or recover from. It helps me visualize my time better than anything electronic. Some things like quick ideas, little lists, quotes I hear are simply easier to jot down (with a lovely pen) than to type into my phone or computer.

On my blog, I write about productivity and I also write about building simple enjoyment into your life. My treasured planner does both. I find writing in it to be a joy, its focus on self-reflection powerful, and the fact that it helps me stay organized a bonus!