Category: Planning

Embrace Bold in 2025: My Ambitious Goals for the Year

Posted on by Jenna

Are you ready to go boldly into 2025 and conquer your goals? You’re not alone – I’m right there with you!

I want to share my goals for 2025 and how I’ve crafted a personalized goal-setting system that works for me. Over the years, I’ve tried countless systems and courses, but combining Jess’s EPIC Goals from JashiiCorrin and Sarra Cannon’s Your Path Forward/HB90 has been a game changer. Jess’s supportive community keeps me accountable, while HB90 has completely transformed how I view and manage my time.

Using these two powerful methods, I’ve identified six key areas to focus on this year: health, content, home, personal growth, fun, and finances. In this post, I’ll dive into five of those areas and save my financial goals for a future blog where I’ll also show you how I’m using my Budget by Paycheck workbook to set up January.

With my word of the year, bold, guiding me, let’s explore the ambitious goals I’ve set for 2025.

Health Goals

Health is a top priority for me in 2025, and I’ve set two specific goals:

  1. Weight Loss: I’m focusing on sustainable habits and practices that will help me reach my target weight. This includes mindful eating, consistent workouts, and celebrating small wins along the way.
  2. Ultra-Marathon Training: I’m preparing to tackle an ultra-marathon in early 2026. This year will be all about building my base and getting ready for the ultra! It’s a big, bold goal that will challenge me physically and mentally, but I’m excited to see what I can achieve with proper training and perseverance.

My health goals are all about building strength, resilience, and endurance—both physically and mentally. As I progress, I’m committed to embracing the process and finding joy in the journey.

Content Goals

This year, I’m stepping up my content creation game. My main goals include:

  • Publishing two YouTube videos per month that are engaging, inspiring, and valuable to you.
  • Launching my podcast, Runs on Planning, with bi-monthly episodes covering planning and productivity topics.
  • Building a strong connection with you through weekly posts in my Facebook group, Runs on Planning.

Creating meaningful content that resonates with you is at the heart of my mission for 2025.

Home Goals

Home is where we recharge, and I want mine to feel functional and reflective of my personal style. My goals include:

  • Decluttering and organizing my space to reduce stress and improve productivity.
  • Adding touches of my favorite aesthetic—think spooky vibes with celestial accents—to make my home truly feel like my sanctuary.
  • Establishing routines to maintain a clean and welcoming environment year-round.

These goals will help create a space that feels peaceful, inspiring, and uniquely mine.

Personal Growth Goals

I’m a firm believer in lifelong learning and self-improvement. This year, I’m focusing on:

  • Expanding my creative skills by exploring new mediums in art and crafts.
  • Prioritizing reading with a mix of fiction and non-fiction books to inspire and educate.
  • Practicing mindfulness and self-care to stay grounded and maintain mental clarity.

These personal growth goals will ensure I continue to evolve and thrive as an individual.

Fun & Relaxation Goals

Life isn’t all about work—fun and relaxation are just as important! Here’s how I plan to make the most of my free time:

  • Exploring new hobbies and revisiting old ones that spark joy.
  • Planning mini getaways to recharge and experience new adventures.
  • Incorporating more play into my daily life, whether it’s experimenting with photography or trying out a new recipe.

By focusing on these goals, I’ll cultivate a balance that keeps me energized and fulfilled throughout the year.

Wrapping It Up

So there you have it—my bold plan for 2025! This year is all about stepping out of my comfort zone, embracing challenges, and making meaningful progress in every area of my life.

I’d love to hear from you: What’s your biggest, boldest goal for 2025? Share it in the comments below so we can cheer each other on. And if you’re looking for extra support, join my Facebook group, Runs on Planning, or hop into my Discord community. Together, we’ll build a fantastic network of like-minded individuals ready to conquer their goals.

P.S. The first episode of my podcast, Runs on Planning, is live! Tune in to hear all about planning, productivity, and how to make it work for you.Listen wherever you find podcasts.

Here’s to a bold and beautiful 2025—let’s make it our best year yet!

How to Set Up Your New Planner for 2025

Posted on by Jenna

As we get ready to dive into 2025, there’s nothing quite like the excitement of cracking open a brand-new planner (or planners, if you’re like me!). Whether you are setting up one or many planners, this post will walk you through getting your planner or bullet journal set up for the new year!

Using multiple planners might sound overwhelming, but for me, it’s the secret sauce to staying organized, productive, and creative. Each planner serves a specific purpose, helping me embrace my ADHD tendencies while staying on top of my goals and daily life. Ready to dive in? Let’s set up those planners!

One way I help myself before setting up any planner is jot down ideas for what I need and want to track. Once you have an idea of what you want to put in your planner, grab some small post it notes and start flipping through your planner. Write out your idea for each page on a post it and stick it on that page!

Weekly Planner Setup 

Your weekly planner is your go-to for a bird’s-eye view of your schedule. It’s the first planner I set up because it lays the foundation for everything else. Many weekly planners have similar pages like a year at a glance, monthly dashboard, monthly and weekly views. They may be called or look slightly different but they all serve the same purpose. 

Yearly Overview:

  • Go through and mark paydays, holidays, events/appointments, birthdays, and non-monthly subscriptions (like annual memberships). You could even include rotating or quarterly home tasks. This is a great way to anticipate busy periods or budget fluctuations. 

January Dashboard:

  • Write down your top three goals for the month.
  • Include key events like birthdays, appointments, and anything else worth noting.
  • Track other things like books read, tasks, or workouts.

January Monthly View:

  • Set up a big-picture overview of deadlines, events, and priorities for January.

When you go to plan your weeks, you can easily refer back to each of these sections to make sure you don’t miss something important!  

Bullet Journal Setup

A bullet journal is where creativity meets organization. I use mine to dig deeper into my plans and create custom layouts that reflect what I need.

Annual Pages:
 Start with yearly trackers and collections, like:

  • Trackers and lists you want to cover for the year such as followers, or books to read
  • Future Logs to note events or appointments you want to remember 
  • Year in Pixels you can track something all year such as mood, weather, symptoms, or get creative! 

Quarter 1 and January Setups:
You can also set up your first quarter and January. You may not have anything that you want to track for the quarter and that’s ok. You can skip that and go right into January! That is the beauty of a bullet journal, you get to pick what goes in it and can adjust it every month if needed!

  • Start with a cover page. It’s always nice to have a cute cover page to divide one section from the next
  • Goals and tasks for the quarter that may not have a spot elsewhere
  • For the month you may want a monthly calendar but if you use a different planner for that you can skip it
  • You can include goals, things you want to watch or learn, workout info, content plans, and weekly spreads or task lists
  • Other ideas you may want could be a wishlist, brain dump space, and end of month reflections 

Embrace Imperfection:
 Your bullet journal doesn’t need to be perfect! One of the things I’ve learned from my ADHD is that flexibility and imperfection are your best friends. Allow your journal to evolve as you do.

Budget Planner Setup

The budget planner is my financial accountability partner. It keeps my spending in check and ensures I meet my savings goals. Even if you don’t use the same budget planner, you can still use these ideas for your planner or journal. 

First Steps:

  • Finding Your Why: Why do you want to budget? Is it for savings, paying off debt, or just to track spending better? Write it down! Then refer back to it as needed.
  • Goals: What are your short and long term goals? Are you saving for any large purchases?
  • Subscriptions: Keep track of any annual, quarterly, or monthly subscriptions. Review these every quarter to make sure they are still serving you. 
  • Categories: Create spending categories and map out your yearly spending plan.

Monthly Setup:

  • Use stickers (if you love a little extra flair) to decorate the January calendar.
  • Fill in key dates like bills, paydays, and expected expenses.
  • It’s also good to include any events that may have a cost associated with them like medical appointments or birthdays. 

This planner helps me feel in control and stress-free about finances, and trust me, it’s a lifesaver when you’re juggling a lot!

Bonus: Memory Planner

Your memory planner is a creative outlet to reflect on your days and document moments that matter. I use an undated planner but you could pick up a dated planner or a dot grid notebook and make your own!

Setup:

  • If you have an undated planner or plain notebook, date or draw out each week first
  • Use leftover stickers, washi, or other decorative pieces to decorate spreads—there’s no right or wrong way to do this!

Jotting down a couple notes of each day keeps me connected to the little joys and memorable moments. I like to use a variety of colorful pens and markers to make each day fun and unique. 

Conclusion

Each of these planners serves a unique purpose:

  • Weekly Planner: Gives me a big-picture overview and helps me manage my time.
  • Bullet Journal: Breaks things down into manageable tasks and fosters creativity.
  • Budget Planner: Keeps me financially mindful and on track.
  • Memory Planner: Captures daily highlights and reflects on life’s magic.

As someone with ADHD, I’d be lost without these “second brains.” They keep me focused, grounded, and empowered to tackle life’s chaos.

I’d love to hear from you—how are you setting up your planners this year?

Stay messy, stay magical, and keep shining,
 

2025 Planner Stack: Tools for Organizing My Messy Mind

Posted on by Jenna

Are you ready for 2025, or like me, trying to convince time to SLOW DOWN? I’m definitely not ready!

In my last post, I shared all the changes I made to my planner stack in 2024, and now I’m excited to reveal my plans for 2025. I’ve thought about this for what feels like way too long, but I really want to carry over what worked and leave behind what wasn’t serving me.

Your purchase through these affiliate links helps support the channel! I earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

What Planners Am I Using?

First, let’s dive into the planners I’ll be using in 2025. These are my go-to ADHD tools for staying organized, keeping track of tasks, and planning my year ahead.

  • Weekly Overview: I’m going with a Happy Planner vertical for 2025. Even though I didn’t use a weekly spread as much in the second half of 2024, I love decorating it and find that it gives me a creative outlet. Plus, I already have it, so why not continue using it?
  • Google Calendar: This is my go-to for repeating tasks, work events, and anything in the future. It’s always with me, and I make sure to consult it before setting up my monthly or weekly layouts to avoid missing anything.
  • Archer and Olive (A&O) A5 Bullet Journal: I’m using this for annual trackers, monthly and weekly tasks, fitness, and content. I’ve been adjusting this throughout 2024 to find what works best, and it’s been a game-changer, so I’m sticking with it in 2025.
  • Budget by Paycheck Workbook (The Budget Mom): The smaller size of this workbook is perfect for me. I never liked the larger version, so I’m excited to try the more compact format. It’s not perfect, but I can make it work for my needs.

What Journals Am I Using?

Now, let’s talk about journals. These are where I get more creative and flexible with my tasks and projects.

  • Erin Condren Focused Notebook: I’m planning to use this for cleaning tasks, home maintenance, and interior design ideas. You know, those ones you don’t do every week or even month. I’ve tried this type of thing in the past, but it never really stuck. This year, I’m hopeful that having a dedicated notebook instead of a planner will make it easier to keep track of and accomplish these tasks.
  • Happy Planner Notebook: I’m moving away from the Hobonichi Day Free for memory keeping spread planning. I didn’t like the Tomoe River paper, and I didn’t use the calendar as much as I thought I would. I’m going to try a Happy Planner notebook instead because then I can move or add pages as needed. One section will be for memory keeping notes and spreads, and the others will track art and craft projects. I’ve found that I often forget about projects for weeks or even months, so I’m hoping this will help me stay on top of them.
  • A&O Square Notebook for Media and Reading Journal: I’m simplifying this for 2025 by having everything in one notebook and organizing it by month and only writing a few lines for each book, movie, or TV show I engage with. I’m also going to try printing book covers and TV/movie posters on sticker paper, instead of photo paper, to keep it light and compact.
  • A&O Undated Planner (Amy Tangerine): I’m not entirely thrilled with the weekly layout. I would have preferred seven columns for each day across two pages instead of five columns with large boxes for Saturday and Sunday under the weekday columns. But it’s still a better option than drawing out the weeks myself, so I’m going to make it work. I hope to capture a little magic from each day in this planner and pair it with another A&O dot grid notebook for longer, nightly journaling. 

Are you sticking with what worked for you in 2024, or are you making some exciting changes for the new year? Share your planner stack in the comments—let’s inspire each other!

2024 Planners in Review

Posted on by Jenna

2024 was a year of planner… upheaval!

Well, at least for me. Let’s look at which planners made it through and which were sacrificed for planner peace. My planner stack changed a bit over the year and that’s ok, we are always evolving and it’s ok to switch it up if it’s not working for you!

Links are affiliate links. I will earn a commission if you purchase through them.

Let me know, did you stick with the same planner all year or change it up? What planner(s) did you use?

How it started… 

I had my trusty Erin Condren Vertical and Daily Duo and I grabbed a companion planner to use for brain declutters and other lists. I picked up the Happy Planner wellness for fitness, a cute mini dashboard for goals, and a big vertical for content. Then I had Archer and Olive (use code Runsonespresso to save 10%) for my monthly trackers, memories, media, and reading. 

Before 2024 I shared my planner stack, I’ll link to the post here. 

How it’s going…

The Erin Condren vertical is still here but I swapped the Daily Duo out for only the Archer & Olive bullet journal. I found the daily was too much space and I wanted to see my weekly tasks all together instead of flipping back and forth.

I tried the fitness planner a few different times but it never stuck. Maybe because I didn’t have a good grasp on my fitness this year. But I started tracking a few things in my bullet journal and that’s been going well these past few months. My goals and content have been trashed. I couldn’t find the right thing for planning and tracking these. 

I still have my memory planner and journal. I’m also still doing media and reading but I’ve struggled to keep up with the media journal. 

Thoughts/Reflection

I will say, I tried to use each planner I had for different things this year. If it wasn’t working for my original intention, I tried using it for something different. But nothing was really working. I started the year having everything very compartmentalized, which has been my go to for years. I’ve always liked planning out content, goals, chores etc in different planners then using my catch all to bring it all back together. 

This year, it wasn’t working for me. 

A little over a year ago, I got a promotion and the type of things I need to track for work changed. I struggled to find a system for work, which also messed with my personal system. I finally figured out work and then I was able to settle into a new system at home.

I also have taken a step back from content so I don’t need a dedicated planner for that. I took a few months off completely and am slowly adding some ideas back into my bullet journal.

Currently, I use my vertical for my weekly overview and have fun with stickers. I thought the daily duo would work well because it had the hourly and the to do list. But I really need to see my full week at once to see which days I’m at the office and which days have meetings. I tried the new weekly overview in the duo but the problem was a lot of flipping back and forth so the vertical is the holder of all meetings, appointments, and events. Then I do a simple weekly spread in my bullet journal for tasks and other reminders. 

It’s kind of similar to the compact vertical but I get to do the arrangement how I want with the weekly task box first, Mon to Wed across the top and Thurs to Sun on the bottom. It makes my brain so happy! Plus, I can still do all the monthly stuff I like to track in my bullet journal. I wouldn’t be able to fit all that in the compact vertical, or even the monthly. 

I like my memory keeping and journal system. I used it all year! I will make some minor tweaks but I’ll share that in my next video where I share the 2025 stack.

It wasn’t in my original blog post but I’ve been using a Hobonichi Day Free for my scrapbook planner. I saw Linda Loves Creating using one and thought I’d try it. I like the idea of it and have been using it all year but going to adjust this a bit next year as well. Because I can’t with this paper. I KNOW I KNOW. I’m a terrible human being because I cannot embrace the tomoe river paper!

Finally, my reading and media journal. I really liked how I kept the reading journal simple and set each month up using Sweet Bean Plan stickers. In 2023, I tried to do different books for each monthly theme and it became a lot to draw it all out and setup. By the end of the year I had given up and started using random stickers. This year, using SBP monthly reading stickers worked really well. Lesson learned, keep it simple silly.

As for my media journal, I started out doing a page for each piece of media and wrote a synopsis and review. That got to be a lot and I fell behind, way, way, way behind. I decided to write a few sentence reviews for each about halfway through the year. That has been a lot easier but I have a lot of empty space on some pages. I also put books in here too so it was somewhat redundant even though I don’t write reviews in my reading journal, just track the book and stars given. I also printed photos of the cover/poster on photo paper and it really bulked up the journal. I started putting them on the bottom to try and balance it out. 

I’m planning to do something a little different next year, again more info will be in the next blog so be sure to check back if you want to see what I’m doing for 2025!

*NEW* Budget By Paycheck Workbook

Posted on by Jenna

Imagine a world where you have a clear financial plan, your savings account is growing, and you’re stress-free about money. Sounds too good to be true?

Let’s find out.

Let’s take a closer look at the new Budget Mom Budget by Paycheck Workbook! This year, she has launched it in a new, smaller szie. The smaller version measures 7×9.5 and retails for $44 on sale. You can also get the large size, listed as 10×11 listed on sale for $48. Both are listed at $50 regular price.

The covers are removable but I stuck with only the beautiful wildflowers design. I wasn’t really a fan of the other couple that are available. And no, you can’t use your Erin Concren covers on it because it’s 9.5” tall, not 9. I was slightly disappointed because for some reason I had it in my head it was 7×9. But that’s on me!

In the back, you get three sticker sheets. Two are on matte paper and the other is shiny. There are stickers for each monthly tab and enough date dots to cover all 12 monthly calendars (but not monthly and meal plan calendars). There are plenty of other stickers like payday, bills due and some decorative ones. 

There is also a folder in the back. It is not a heavy cardstock or coated like the cover. It is a slightly heavier paper but I’m not sure it would hold up for all 12 months. It feels a bit flimsy. The pocket is 6.75” across and 5” tall at the highest point. It would be a good spot to stash your receipts until you were able to enter them in your workbook.

The first page has a QR code and link to the instructions, which includes both video and PDF. I really like this because as you are filling in your workbook, you can pull up the instructions on your computer instead of having to flip back and forth between instructions and pages. The opposite page has space to work on finding your why.

Next up is the goal worksheet with room for short, middle, and long term goals and a page for memberships & subscription. I really like the membership page as I will review mine every quarter and see if there are any I’m not really using or can maybe change levels. These two pages are followed by savings trackers. You get a total of eight savings trackers. 

Next up is the yearly spending and balance. I really like how she combined these two pages. The previous yearly balance pages seemed a little redundant. It was spread over two pages but the graph was for the full year on each page, so for two graphs to track your net worth. It never really made sense to me and one graph was never used. You don’t get a graph this year, but that’s ok for me. I can look at the numbers and compare month to month on the tracker.

There is a page for your budget categories and two notes pages.

Then we go into the monthly spreads, starting with a monthly calendar. It is blank and you can choose either a Sunday or Monday start. My favorite part is you get six rows so each day of the month can have its own space or you don’t have to put the end of the month either at the top of the current month or move it to the next month. Some planners only give you five rows and that means sometimes the 30th or 31st will be SOL. The side columns include room for important dates, notes, and financial goals. 

Then we have five sets of the Budget by Paycheck and Cash envelope pages followed by six expense trackers, debt repayment, and net worth tracker. At the end we have the Budget Breakdown, which is a little different than previous versions. There used to be a page to compare the previous month’s budget spending. It always felt a little redundant to put my monthly budget/actual in so many different places. Now we can look at the monthly breakdown then compare the month to month on the yearly balance page, which makes sense. I can see how it is from month to month across the year, not just the current and previous month.

After the Budget Breakdown is the monthly meal plan calendar. Again with six rows so plenty of space. Lastly, there is a notes page with a spot for “how can I improve next month”. 

Overall, the Budget by Paycheck workbook works well for me. I appreciate the changes she made to make some of it more streamlined and less redundant. There are pages I won’t use. We are cashless so I have no need for the cash envelope break down sheet. I am trying to think if I could repurpose it to track my category spending, especially the variable items (food, personal, other). I also don’t need the debt payment page as we don’t have any credit card debt or loans aside from house and cars. I’ve always counted the house and car payments as bills, not debt. That’s my personal choice, you may do it otherwise. 

What do you use for your budget? I’m always looking for ideas in case there’s something out there that will be budget planner peace for me (yah, I don’t think that will ever happen!)

Will the Simple Elephant Planner Work for ADHD?

Posted on by Jenna

They say an elephant never forgets. Is it because they use the Simple Elephant Planner?

simple elephant planner

I found the Simple Elephant Planner on a list of planners for ADHD and found it on Amazon. It’s currently available for $7.75 to $9.99, depending on color choice. This is a great price point and not a huge investment if you want to give it a try. 

All links are Amazon Associate links. I may earn a commission. 

What’s Included

  • About Page
  • Small sheet of icon stickers
  • Black elastic closure and pen loop
  • Vegan leather cover with stamped elephant imprint
  • Back cover pocket
  • 3 ribbon bookmarks
  • 110 gsm, off-white paper

The first four pages are your prep pages. You have a two-page spread titled “My Focus”. The left side has space for affirmations and gratitude, while the right-hand side has a place for five goals. You could also use the space for goals in five areas of life. You also get a mindmap and vision board spread.

simple elephant planner

Next, we move into the 12 monthly spreads. Yes, the 12 months are all at the front of the planner. Across the top, you can fill in the date and year and have one line for goals. I guess you have to pick just one for a monthly focus. There is a nice lined notes column, perfect for monthly tasks or action steps. 

The month’s pages start on Sunday. You only get five rows or weeks, so you may not always have room for the last one or two days of the month. 

After the monthly spreads, you have 52 horizontal weekly spreads. At the top, you have room for weekly goals. It’s larger than the monthly one, so you can put a few in there. Monday through Wednesday are below the goals. On the next side, you have a box for success and what I can do better, followed by the rest of the week. Saturday and Sunday split the space. 

There are a few things I don’t like about the weekly spread. I tend to have more tasks on Saturdays and Sundays, so I hate when planners give them less space. I would have preferred the success and do better boxes to be at the bottom of the second page. 

The what can I do better wording is negative. I’d like to see something more positive, like adjustments or changes. It’s a minor thing, but I think the connotations of words can have a big impact on if we continue to use something. 

The weekly spreads randomly place an elephant in the corner to remind you to check that you are on track to complete your goals. I looked for the first four elephants, which were randomly placed at four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, and three weeks. 

At the back of the planner, you have 56 note pages. These are great for keeping all your notes and plans together. You can use one for each week and track whatever you need. Maybe the first week you need to write out your shopping list, then the next week you have a lot of action steps for goal work to keep track of, and then after that, you are planning for a big birthday party and need the space for planning. 

What do we think about the Simple Elephant planner?

You cannot beat the price point. For under $10, you can have a simple, portable planner. It’s simple and straightforward, with no bells and whistles or a lot of extras you don’t need. You also get three ribbon bookmarks, which are great for keeping in the current month, week, and note section. 

The off-white paper may not be your jam, and the planner spreads could be improved.

Will it work for someone with ADHD?

It’s not for me, but others may consider it a great planner. The simple design can help you focus, while the little elephant can be a great reminder to go back and look at those goals you set! You basically get a notebook in the back and can make those whatever you need them to be. And if you try it and it’s not for you, you are only out $10 or less!

What do you think of the Simple Elephant Planner? Would you pick it up?

hero's planner

Will the Hero’s Planner work for someone with ADHD?

Posted on by Jenna

The newest product from the Hero’s Journal, the Hero’s Planner, is available in perfect or spiral bound for $79.99. While it may seem a bit on the pricey side, I assure you that the value it provides will outweigh the higher price point. 

hero's planner box

So, what exactly does the Hero’s Planner offer? Designed with the needs of individuals with ADHD in mind, it provides a comprehensive system to help you manage your time, tasks, and goals effectively. And you also get:

  • Stick on pen loop
  • Four (4) sticker sheets – 3 functional, 1 decorative
  • Elastic band closure
  • Folder in back
  • Ribbon bookmark

I do wish it came with two ribbon bookmarks. I like being able to mark the current month and week. It’s a minor thing in the long run, as I can also use clips or magnetic page markers. I like the included sticker sheets. They are bright and fun and would make me want to keep looking at my planner. 

If you’ve been around a while, you may remember the Hero’s Journal, which is a daily goals-focused version. It comes in different versions: space, magic, and fantasy/dragon. The Hero’s Planner is the weekly version with a dinosaur theme! Also, the pages are white, unlike the cream/yellow in the Hero’s Journal. 

Personally, I hate the cream/yellow and am super excited to see the white pages in the weekly planner!

As with many planners like this, there’s an intro section with instructions, and you get the story’s start, which will be carried through the planner. 

hero's planner

Now, we move into the planning parts and start with a year at a glance. On the left-hand side, you have seven boxes, and on the right, six, for a total of 13. You can set up each box as a month in the year and put in birthdays, appointments, or other future dates. You can also use them to set goals or track habits. With the page being mostly blank, you have a lot of freedom in setting up and using these boxes.

We have a pre-monthly checklist followed by our monthly calendar. I absolutely LOVE that the calendar has six rows, so you will never have to double updates until the end of the month. You get a few lines along the bottom and a dot grid side column. 

hero's planner

Moving into the weekly spreads, you get two pages per week. You get four weekly spreads. The left-hand side is a horizontal weekly spread with Monday through Sunday. There is room for a headline each day and five lines underneath. At the top is a habit’s icon key. You get five icons and a line. You can assign a habit to each icon, and then, on each day of the week, you can color in the icon as you complete the habit. 

The bottom has a fun drawing you can color in on the right-hand side, while the top is split into two columns. The first column has space to write in your main quest for the week and your to-dos and sidequests. You also get a quote. The other side has a dot grids notes section for whatever your heart desires!

Each month, the weekly spreads change just enough to keep it interesting and help you keep using it—after all, what will next month look like?!

After three months, you will have your quarterly check-in, and at the end of the year, you have a yearly inventory. I really like this idea and would probably bookmark this page to refer to throughout the year. You can track your books, music/podcasts, movies/shows, milestones, and quotes. You also get three puzzles and many blank pages (26).

I believe the Hero’s Planner would make a great weekly planner for someone with ADHD. It offers a fun story to follow, a way to gamify your habits, and changes throughout to keep you interested. There are minor things I would change, like adding a second ribbon bookmark, but those things wouldn’t stop me from buying or using this.

Tell me: Would you use the Hero’s Planner? What would you use the year at a glance page for?

Watch video version of review:

Will the Passion Planner work for the ADHD brain?

Posted on by Jenna

In our quest to find the perfect planner for your ADHD brain, we will look at the Passion Planner today.

I grabbed this one because I loved the rainbow ombre cover. It is a soft, faux leather cover that is nice to the touch. The Passion Planner logo on the front and the quote on the back are holographic foil.

I ordered the medium (approximately 7×10). It is also available in small (approximately 6×8) and large (approximately 8×11). I like the medium size because it’s small enough to carry with you but large enough to write in. I sometimes feel the smaller ones are hard for my handwriting. The medium, undated planner is $52.99.

You can check it out here.

It has a pink elastic strap, one green ribbon bookmark, and a pocket in the back. Unlike most pockets, the pocket is fabric, not paper. There is no pen loop. In the pocket are two large, round stickers and five sticker sheets. Only one sticker sheet is functional; the rest are decorative. The paper is 120 gsm and should hold up to your usual pens and highlighters. The paper is quite smooth to the touch, so some dry time may be needed. 

I also ordered monthly tabs and date stickers. These would both be helpful with an undated planner. 

Now, to dig into the planning pages!

As with all planners, we start without a nameplate. Passion Planner also includes a line for your email and reward. Does anyone ever write a reward there? If so, have you ever had to pay someone when you’ve lost your planner? I don’t usually take my planner places, so this has never been an issue. 

Next, we have a how you will benefit and a welcome page. Following that is a how to use page. I appreciate that this is a “simple 4-step guide”. This is much more palatable than the booklet and many instruction pages with the Law of Attraction planner. Turning the page, we have the passion roadmap where you can dream big and plan your goals.

This undated version comes with mini calendars for 2023 to 2026. There isn’t room to write any future plans. You could highlight or use transparent dots to mark dates. There’s not a lot of room for a key, but you could add it around the years above the calendar sections.  

We start with the monthly calendars. As you can see, I went with the undated Monday start. You can also get it as a Sunday start. On the left hand side bar, you can write in your personal and work focus, people to see, places to go, and things to learn. Similar to the Law of Attraction, the page is split with the bottom third having personal and work projects and a blank space for a mindmap. You could use that for notes or any other important info you want to have at hand. 

The month view has six rows, so you won’t need to wonder if all the days will fit. I appreciate it when undated planners have six rows instead of five. The rectangles for the month are about 1.5 inches wide by 1 inch tall. After the monthly calendar, we have two pages of monthly reflection. There are seven questions to answer, and then you can rate your month on a scale of 1-10. There is also an end-of-the-month checklist. 

The undated Passion Planner frontloads all 12 months. After six months, there is a mid-year roadmap. This way, you can make sure you are still on track for those big dreams and goals. After the 12th month, you have your monthly reflection plus one for the year. 

After the months, we get into the weeks. The lefthand column of ther weekly has this week’s focus and good things that happened. There is also a quote and a little challenge you can do for the week. The bottom third has a personal and work to-do list and a “space of infinite possibility”. 

The columns for each day are about 1.5 inches lacrosse and about 5.5 inches tall. Under each day header as a spot for the day’s focus. The columns start at 6 am and go through 10:30 am. There is a line for every half hour. Unlike the Law of Attraction, you can use the last hourly spot. They didn’t put a random water tracker there. 

After the weekly pages, you get blank and dot grid pages. There are 20 blank and 23 dot grid pages. There is plenty of space for notes, goal planning, trackers, or whatever you need. 

Overall, I think the Passion Planner could work for the ADHD brain. It isn’t overwhelming in terms of setup and pre-planning pages. Plenty of room exists to add notes and items to the monthly and weekly pages. The one thing I don’t like is having all the monthly pages at the front. I prefer to have month, week, reflection, repeat. I also prefer a paper with a bit more tooth to it over the smoothness of this paper. 

If you don’t mind all the months together and smooth paper, this might be your planner!

Would or do, you use the Passion Planner? What do you think about the setup and layouts?

Erin Condren New Daily Duo: Worth it?!

Posted on by Jenna

It’s planner launch season! Of course, I ordered from the recent Erin Condren Life Planner launch. In this post, I will share what I ordered and my thoughts and compare the current Daily Duo with the newest version!

I am an Erin Condren affiliate and will earn a commission if you purchase from the link in this post. I ordered and paid for everything in this post myself; Erin Condren did not send any of these items to me.

Up first, the accessories! 

I always order the sticky notes, sticker books, and washi in all the patterns. Everything is so versatile and can be used creatively and functionally! I missed the canvas sticky notes because I was looking for them in the A5 rings version, but they are only available as a snap-in option. That’s a little disappointing.

I also grabbed the two petite notebooks, one in evolve and one in bold blooms. The evolve has the new productivity layout, which is really great for making notes and to-do lists. The bold blooms is a plain line notebook, perfect for journaling or jotting down notes and reminders. 

Lastly, I grabbed the new snap-in pocket dashboards. I have the clear ones from last year, but I couldn’t resist these colors! I use these in my 7×9 notebooks to hold sticker sheets or important papers. 

We will look closer at the new A5 Daily Duo in the ring agenda and I will compare it to last year’s version. 

First up, the new Agenda. I love the smaller size. It feels much more portable and takes up less space on the desk. Plus it’s black, and that’s my favorite color. My only issue with the new agenda is the rings. I feel like they are cheaper than previous versions. The gold finish isn’t the bright gold of last year, and the rings don’t always close right. The pages will catch because they don’t fully close/line up correctly. You have to kind of finagle them. 

If I get brave, I may replace them with higher-quality silver hardware. 

I do wish they would offer silver hardware. I love that planners and notebooks have a silver coil by default. Why can’t the agenda be silver by default with a gold upgrade like everything else? 

The new agenda also has a different pocket layout in front with larger pockets to slide accessories into, like a sticker book. The back no longer has a space to slide anything into the pack of the agenda, but it still has the slit to put a medium-sized Erin Condren notepad in. 

The A5 only comes in evolve or bold blooms. Sadly, canvas is not an option this year. This is probably my biggest gripe. I have the canvas now. Why can’t they offer all three in both A5 and 7×9? I went with evolve because I don’t like the full-page bold blooms on the dashboard or the font in the bold blooms.

The monthly page hasn’t changed, but when you turn to the dashboard, it is now on the left-hand side. I really like this change. They tried it last year in the monthly, which made sense since it was a monthly view, lined page, dashboard, and more lined pages. I think it works in all the planners because you have the dashboard on the left, and then you can use the lined page on the right to expand on the things you put on the dashboard. 

We also get an updated ruler. It is now also a stencil, so you can easily draw boxes, flags, and habit trackers!

The biggest change is that there is now a lined page (front/back) and a weekly overview between each week in the Daily Duo. I don’t think I will use the weekly overview. I have gotten used to using a separate weekly and don’t want to flip back and forth in the daily. 

The weekly overview could be used for many things, such as meal planning and shopping lists, cleaning schedules, bills, workouts, projects, or assignments. You could also use it for work and the daily pages for personal (or vice versa).

I will probably also pull out all the lined pages and put them at the start or end of the month for goal planning. I don’t think I will use them between the weeks. 

We always have Monday on the left side when we flip to the daily pages.

BUT the BIGGEST AND BEST change is NO MORE MINI CALENDAR!!!!!!

I might be a tad excited about this change. I HATED that mini calendar and always tried to find ways to cover it up and make the space useful.

With the removal of the mini calendar, the to-do list has shifted up, and we have a larger blank space at the bottom. I wish the to-do list had been lengthened to fill half the page. There are some days when I have a lot of little things to do and have to go into the blank space. There is no change to the hourly section. 

Overall, I’m happy with the new version of the Erin Condren A5 ring agenda. I’d love to see a few changes, like higher-quality rings. And I really wish they’d offer all three designs in all sizes. I much prefer a very neutral inside. 

What are your thoughts on the changes to the daily duo? Are you ecstatic the mini calendar is gone? Do you hate the dashboard on the left-hand side? How will you use the weekly overview? 

Watch my review here:

Should You Go Wild?

Posted on by Jenna

What do you get when you put thousands of planners in one location?

Chaos! And Go Wild.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my first Go Wild this year. I was going alone and didn’t have any friends going. To say I was nervous is an understatement! But I quickly learned there was no need to be nervous. Most everyone was welcoming, and there was so much going on that it didn’t matter if you were alone.

Go Wild is quite expensive, but I highly recommend attending at least once if you can afford it. It was fun to be around like-minded individuals and meet people you’ve chatted with online, and the speakers were quite inspiring! I feel like I took a lot away from most of the sessions. 

How much did it cost me? Here is a rough estimate.

Ticket $720
Hotel $1055 
Airfare $12 
Lyft $111 
Food $190

Total $2076

I did have a single room. I didn’t want to room with anyone. You could share a room to lower the cost. I used airline miles for my flight; otherwise, it would have been around $250-300. The Lyft includes to and from the airport and one off-site meet-up. The trip back to the airport has half of the total. It must have been a busy time! It was still cheaper than renting a car and paying for parking/valet at the hotel. 

I have celiac disease, and I door-dash some groceries to my room. I ordered snacks, breakfast, and items to make sandwiches. The food also includes two hotel breakfasts, one airport dinner, and snacks. It may have been different if the area around the hotel had more gluten free options. I researched ahead of time, and nothing safe was within walking distance. 

There are ways to make it less expensive, especially if you don’t have dietary restrictions. 

You do get a ton of swag, both from the conference and from other attendees. I did swaps and tablemate gifts, but those are completely optional. I sat at the Happy Planner sponsored table and received the Retro Sunset box (retail $49.99), a pencil pouch, a bracelet kit, and several discs. 

We also received items from Archer and Olive, Altenew, sticker books from Amber Plans Her Day and Mojo JoJo, stickers from KrissyAnne Designs, a bunch of Zebra items (mildliners, brush pens, Sarasa pens, and more), Pipsticks Hello Kitty sub, A Kel of a Plan self-care planner, and an Erin Condren bag filled with even more goodies! I’m sure I’m probably missing something…

Not all of my tablemates brought gifts, and I was okay with that—those who did also brought smaller gifts. I was grateful for this because I was worried about the room in my suitcase and going over the weight limit! I thought all the tablemate gifts I received were thoughtful and mostly items I will use. Hopefully, others thought the same about mine!

VJ from Notiq was my favorite speaker. She gave me a lot to think about. Martha Stewart had a lot of funny responses to questions. I also really enjoyed V from Under the Desk News. They spoke a lot about TikTok but the ideas behind it could translate to other social media. And, of course, I was excited to see Frank Warren from Post Sewcretys. I started reading the Sunday Secrets when they first started. 

Would I go again? Yes. Would I go if I couldn’t truly afford it? No. Don’t get me wrong—I had fun. I met some people. But I wouldn’t go into debt to attend. The sessions could have been longer and focused more on planning, personal branding/social media, productivity, etc. I also found the morning line-up before each day stressful and poorly run. 

I heard some people lined up around 3 a.m. when we weren’t supposed to be in line before 6:30. I heard the ADA accommodations were supposed to be limited to two per sponsored table, but that was not enforced. I also heard some volunteers were “saving” spots at their table for friends, which they weren’t supposed to do. 

I feel like if there are rules, then those should be followed and enforced. 

I’m curious about how some of the other conferences compare, but I don’t know if I will get a chance to attend any of them since Go Wild was so expensive. Does anyone want to sponsor me?! 😂

Did you go to Go Wild? What did you think? Is it worth it for you? If you didn’t go this year, would you go next year?

Watch my video version here: