Dealing with Planner Guilt

(You might want to grab a drink for this one..)

I think this is a really relevant topic as we approach halfway into the year, which is insane by the way. I’ve seen a lot of posts going around Instagram in regards to starting a new planner or buying new dated inserts for the upcoming financial year but, ‘I feel bad for not using what I already have.’ 

I think it’s safe to say we’ve all experienced some degree of planner guilt. It might not be in relation to the planner itself, maybe it’s because you’ve ended up collecting a whole bunch of stickers that are now collecting dust. Or maybe your washi tape stash only seems to continue growing. 

Depending on who you are and what your planning system looks like, this hobby can get expensive. So it makes sense when we take that moment to reflect, you may feel a sense of dread or guilt when considering purchasing the newest releases from your favourite shop, or you want to make the switch because what you are currently using is no longer working for you.

The following pic was my own planner lineup at the start of 2022 and what I was intending to use for the rest of this year. Especially since A6 discs was working so well for me the previous year, I had been a disc setup since April 2021. I knew I was missing a bound notebook I could take everywhere so I added that to my system too.

Am I still using any of these planners now? Not really (I’ll explain further in a bit).

Here is what I am currently using.

Yep, just one ring bound planner.

The point I am trying to make here is that our system changes. In fact, I think it would be stranger if one type of planner continued to work for you throughout your life considering all the different seasons of life we experience. We continue to grow and change, why can’t our planners?

It’s only natural that we want to set good intentions at the start of the year, new year resolutions and all. What that means for a lot of us planners is the bigger picture, high-level planning and goal setting we do at the start of the year. The half letter discbound planner you saw earlier, that was my major projects/writing planner I was using to break down those long-term plans and goals I wanted to achieve for the year.

Yeah I didn’t even stick to it for a whole month.

And that wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy the setup (which is a completely valid reason regardless). I had some major life changes occur in the first few months of 2022 so I had mostly thrown my system out the window at this point. I had to sit down and re-evaluate my priorities. I wasn’t going to waste my time and energy focusing on my goals and achieving all the things I had originally set out to do when I was already struggling to get out of bed each morning.

My mindset shifted into taking each day as it came and checking in with myself as often as possible, which meant that it was only natural that my planning system had changed. If our planners are supposed to serve our needs as an extension of ourselves, you do not need to feel bad if that means you have to change things up with your planners. A lot of us are creatives as well, it’s only natural we want to try new things.

Now that being said, there is nothing stopping you from using more than one planner at a time. Maybe instead of completely dropping your current setup, you simply add a new planner into the mix. There is no rule to say you can’t use all the planners in fact. One planner doesn’t have to serve all.

You want to alternate between 10 planners? Do it.

You want to use two planners at the same time and double plan? Go ahead!

One of the great things about using all the planners and notebooks is the flexibility. You can always return to something later and repurpose it for something else! Even if it’s dated, there are so many great hacks to put the inserts to use. That same bound notebook I was using at the start of the year is no longer being used for my daily planning but as a standard notebook for my course notes (I would share a pic but it would look like a bunch of scribbles 😂). 

At the end of the day, if your planner doesn’t give you a boost of serotonin each time you open it, I would highly encourage you to rethink why you use your planners. If guilt comes to mind, from one planner lover to another, please release that guilt. You don’t need it. Not to get too serious but life is too short to not use what truly makes you happy.

Let me know down below if you’ve made any recent revelations when it comes to your planning system or any changes you think you’ll make going into the second half of the year. Let’s celebrate our love for all the planners 🥰