This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
What is a functional planner?
We’re all probably very familiar with functional planning with planners. Do you remember ever getting free or low cost academic planners in middle or high school? I remember them usually being about 7 x 9 in size, set up in weekly spreads. I would scribble my homework, friend’s birthdays, and for some reason handwrite my own name over and over again in cursive when I was bored or talking on the phone. It was an absolute mess by the end of the year, but it had MY LIFE in there.
What is functional planning exactly?
A functional planner is straight and to the point style of planning.
- Plans tasks and times
- Keeps track of important upcoming dates, events, and activities
- Usually less decorative and a more minimal aesthetic
- Provides stress relief with ability to write down reminders and check off completed tasks
- Typically only need basic pens, pencils, and highlighters
Functional planning with planners example
If your planning is daily for work or school, a dated weekly planner will be the easiest option for you. There is minimal set up on your part. You don’t have to write down what date it is as you write down your plans and tasks.
However, if your projects come in spurts, a blank undated daily or weekly planner might be a better option. It gives you the guiltless freedom to skip days or weeks without having to skip countless pages like you would in a dated planner.
How do you create a functional planner?
For people who prefer functional planners, planning the whole month in advance is a great approach. Adding repetitive tasks to weekly pages as well as unique events in advance sets the tone for the week and helps prevent accidentally forgetting it.
What are the types of functional planners?
- Dated daily or weekly planners
- MomAgenda – love the feature to add kids to the bottom of your week to keep their activities and your own separate but still on track
- Blue Sky – when it comes to work focused functional planning, this is my favorite. It is one of the cheapest options out there as well. Definitely no frills, enough space to takes notes for work, and a larger size at 8.5 x 11 to leave on your desk
- Undated daily or weekly planners
- Panda Planner – provides sections to focus on specific goals with the freedom of being undated
- Spiral bound planners
- The Happy Planner – each page can be removed from the planner
- Bound planners
- Passion Planner – provides 30 minute interval vertical planning from 6am to 10:30pm
- Ring bound planners with your preferred inserts
- filoFax – they carry some of the most beautiful colors and textured organizer covers
How do I organize functional planning with a planner?
How you organize your planner should be whatever way gives you the most productivity, least amount of brain fog, and some level of stress relief. Weekly spreads are my personal favorite and I like to plan the week out on Sunday or Monday morning at the latest.
- Bring over any unfinished tasks from the week before to the upcoming week
- Add in confirmed meetings, activities, or tasks
- Every morning fill in the rest of the day or upcoming days with additional reminders and tasks
Depending on the focus of the planner, I emphasize it. If it’s a work planner, every task is clustered around my work meetings and projects. If it’s a home/family/social planner, everything related to those things are the focal point and all else is filled in after.
Also, don’t forget this critical part of functional planning!
Highlight, cross-out, or check off the huge amount of things you do. It’s visual way to move it out of your mind and a physical way to see your progress.
How is memory or creative planning different from functional planning?
Functional planning is typically what we’d imagine planners to do. They are mainly used to write schedules and errands/tasks so we do not forget them. While memory planning is a way to mix written reflections (like a journal) and pictorial representations (like a scrapbook). I consider a memory planner and scrapbook different though because scrapbooking is more event driven whereas memory planning is a daily process. I also believe that memory and functional planning can collide. They don’t have to be completely separate processes.
What percentage of people use planners?
Are you wondering why planning and planners are engaging you so deeply? Apparently you’re not alone. According to WIRED, in the last decade, planning has grown with 5.5 million mentions for #planneraddict and 4 million mentions for #plannercommunity.
What age group uses planners the most?
This article by Concord Monitor with Stephanie Fleming, co-founder of Me & My BIG Ideas, states “the age demographic is around 25 to the early 40s range, with a lot of movement toward college-age women.” She also mentions that “I had imagined younger people preferring digital planners, but younger generations really want to slow down a bit. Having everything at their fingertips is not necessarily making people happy. There’s something about going back to basics,” Fleming says.
And the most resonating part of this interview with her, “A lot of people are looking for some digital detox.” I agree so wholeheartedly.
Are paper planners better than digital?
To start, a digital planner will definitely include more screen time and more upfront costs, especially if you want to go the tablet route.
For people who want to want that digital detox and find joy in feeling the paper, digital is not for you. Flipping through pages and writing freehand also provides kind of a mental break that I just don’t get from staying digital.
However, if you like the idea of things syncing amongst many devices, using a stylus or keyboard versus a pen and your own handwriting, digital might be a better option for you. There are also great companies focusing on digital planning that come with beautiful digital templates, stickers, fonts, charts and calendars that you can explore.
What are the benefits of using a planner?
As a midlife, full time working mother, with birthdays, kids’ activities, never-ending to-do lists for the home, in addition to all the things I have to keep track for work, paper planners give me a personal space to stay organized and a way to relieve my stress. I sit at my desk every morning and evaluate what’s coming up in a way that calmly prepares me for the day mentally. I do use Google calendars with my husband so we’re aware of each other’s schedules peripherally, but I always find it so easy to ignore or check off the task from my phone because I hate clutter.
Do paper functional planners actually work?
YES!
- A great place for record keeping
- Improves productivity
- Mental health benefits
- Time management improvements
- Lightweight to carry
- Not as easy to swipe away tasks like on a phone
Leave a Reply