For me, self care is as much about establishing a framework of healthy habits and routines, as indulging (indulgences should definitely be a part of your self care plan.). I’ve tried several methods but two tools I always use to help me keep up with my framework are Google Calendar and a planner. These are my top three planners for 2021, three very different styles, that can fit anyones needs.

The digital calendar allows me to know both my colleagues and families schedules in one place. My personal planner has always been about visualizing my time, tracking where I spend it, and fostering good habits.

17 Month Planner – Rifle Paper Co.

This 17 Month Planner is a traditional planner from Rifle Paper Co. This is a lovely planner, very similar to the one I used in grad school. It’s beautiful, sleek, and very functional. all about keeping organized, with no distracting extras. I found this type of planner very helpful when tasks, appointments, and due dates are fixed.

Passion Planner:

Passion Planner is all about increasing productivity, setting goals and accomplishing them. It has the calender, and weelky spreads, but it is more involved than a traditional planner. focused on visualizing what you want for your life, setting goals, and breaking those goals down into achievable steps. I’ve used a Passion Planner twice. It’s all about visualizing what you want to accomplish, setting goals, and checking in. The first few pages are about setting six month, year, and 3 year goals. Then it has monthly spreads followed by weeks.

Monk Manual:

Technically Monk Manual is a planner. It has the obligatory monthly, weekly, and daily spreads. Unlike many planners, Monk Manual focuses on being, instead of measuring productivity. Who are you now, who do you want be, and how can you get there.

Flexibility is constant in my work. When I use tradition planners, I am constantly whiting things out, putting a blank sticker over things, or once erasing a hole through the paper. After a few weeks I decided to keep my daily work tasks on my online calendar, and devote my time with Monk Manual to my personal life.

Everyday I have a space to sit down, and think about how I’m spending my non-work time, to reflect on what I’m grateful for, what I’ve done well, what has caused me unrest, most importantly how I can be better the day after.

Paper planners still have place alongside our online systems. There is something wonderful in making a tangible record of where we are, what we are feeling, and how we spend our time.