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Productivity Planner Update

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I’ve been trying out different productivity planners throughout this year and have realized that the best one so far is still the one that I started using a year ago and that is called Productivity Planner. There is an explosion in this type of product right now and it’s a consequence of the workplace s​tratification I’ve been talking about. I get offers for new systems every time I’m on Facebook, and the market is huge. 

The reason why I hate most of these planners is that they are high-maintenance and require too much busy work that leads nowhere. Also, they all overuse the word “gratitude.” I cringe when I’m asked to start or end my day writing down the things I’m grateful for. This sounds like an exercise for imbeciles to be honest. 

The linked Productivity Planner helped me get back into research after I took a year off when Klara was born.  It’s not perfect, of course. It’s biggest flaw is that it offers the model of 5-day work weeks which makes no sense for an academic. But it’s still the most helpful product in this category. If you have other suggestions, please let me know. (I’m not getting compensated in any way for writing these posts, in case you were getting suspicious. WordPress would ban me if I accepted compensation for product placement.)

10 responses to “Productivity Planner Update”

  1. Pen Avatar
    Pen

    I’ve been using a Bullet Journal recently. It relies on you finding your own format for what works best, which works well for me. A lot of people decorate them or do a lot with them, but you don’t have to — it can just act as a simple daily/weekly/monthly planner, which is mostly what I use it for.

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  2. Shakti Avatar
    Shakti

    It’s not perfect, of course. It’s biggest flaw is that it offers the model of 5-day work weeks which makes no sense for an academic. But it’s still the most helpful product in this category
    So just transport the system to a bullet journal and make it a seven day week or whatever makes sense for you.
    I use this one which is dot grid journal that runs about $5. Or you can use graph paper or a plain notebook. I’d just divide the pages into 4ths or 3rds.

    Also, they all overuse the word “gratitude.” I cringe when I’m asked to start or end my day writing down the things I’m grateful for. This sounds like an exercise for imbeciles to be honest.
    LMAO. It’s an exercise in fighting depression and discontent. It is a performance designed to assuage others that you will not rock the boat. “I write a gratitude journal and I took over Congress,” said no one ever. If you are grateful for something, it’s more profound than a damn list.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Believe me, I tried. But then I start skipping days (“because I know I won’t get anything done today anyway”), then weeks, etc. I’m a very lazy, disorganized person by nature, so I need serious aids to keep me from slacking off.

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      1. Shakti Avatar
        Shakti

        Even simpler: Just create a template with that format you like with the units of time that make sense. Print out as many as you want and shove it into a binder you like and carry around. Voila!

        With the bujo, I don’t make the days in advance. Ahead of time, I do make a weekly format (each week) and I make a monthly format (each month) and I use a future log (basically 6 months in the future.)

        If I were you I’d use the habit tracker for the Seinfeld chain for example.

        I’ll see how well this system works for me. Maybe I’ll try your format in the bujo.

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  3. Demotrash Avatar
    Demotrash

    I print out my own planner pages and put them in a three ring planner. I went with this in the hopes that having a nice looking planner would encourage me to use it (to a degree, this ended up helping.) Also allows for greater customization.

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  4. Emmagale Avatar
    Emmagale

    The company that makes the productivity planner actually has a whole separate gratitude journal/app (the five minute journal) which I actually quite like :-). I’m currently using a Hobonichi planner as it has months, weeks, and days, and next year I’m going to try putting the inkwell press daily and weekly together in a discbound format! I make a lot of my own printables as well for a discbound notebook. I think the key is to choose a planner that works for your system, rather than trying to make your system for a planner.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Do you have a link for your Hobonichi planner by any chance? I want to check it out.

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      1. Emmagale Avatar
        Emmagale

        I use the Hobonichi Cousin Avec, you can see all of the options here: https://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/

        I did order mine from Japan, and it does have motivational quotes, but as these are in Japanese I can’t read them so it doesn’t bother me :-). All of the important things to me (numbers, months, days of the week) are in both English and Japanese so I don’t find having the “Japanese” version a problem.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          It looks very interesting! Thank you.

          I don’t mind motivational quotes. It’s just the constant gratitude checks that are way too new-agey for me. What’s next? Putting down a check every time you have an acai bowl?

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  5. xykademiqz Avatar
    xykademiqz

    All the calls to gratitude make me want to barf. Thanks for making me not feel alone in my disgust for the saccharine bullshit.

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