Fall is my favorite time of year, by far. So I pretend fall starts on September 1st. So many great things in my life have happened in September! My husband and I got married in September, our daughter was born in September, and so many planners launch in the month of September. By the time you read this, the Hobonichi launch will have happened and many ninja fingered planner fiends will have gotten their favorites!
This is the time of year those in the planner community evaluate their planner systems so they can identify their planner systems for next year. Several do this before September 1st (see above re the Hobonichi launch!) but I do this after the first of September as I begin to think about planning for the third quarter of the current year. What will I need to finish out the year strong, and set myself up to be successful next year?
What's my process?
- Reflect on the things I used in the current year. Which things were successful? Which things fell flat?
- Do I know what my focus will be next year? I may have different needs for things like health and wellness or career development. What do I want to accomplish and what types of tools do I think I will need to help me work toward those goals?
- Finally I look at the offerings of different shops, evaluate their planners based on the formats available and compare them to my goals and preferences (I LOVE me a bundled planner, for example, where the months and weeks are all together) around types of paper and how much room I will want to write.
- Once I have identified the planner lineup I feel will meet my needs I do my orders.
This process is by no means perfect, and there is always room for evaluation based on what happens during the course of the year. In 2024, for example, I used a B6 PaperTess Designs Yearly Notebook for my work planning. When I left my job in June, that planner and the way I planned my days as a whole significantly changed - so I moved out of my Wonderland 222 (which I had been using for personal and shop planning for the first half of the year) and moved into the A5 PaperTess Designs Undated Yearly Notebook and I have been LOVING the freedom I've had in this planner! I decided to use it as a 6 month planner and use one calendar spread for my personal appointments and another for my social media content and I have as much space as I want to journal and imagine and dream.
I love this time of year. I'm excited to start wearing my cozy sweaters and my fuzzy slippers and figure out how I will plan in 2025.
How do you figure out your planner lineup?
❤️ Lisa