Finding YOUR Functional Planning Style | Tips for Experimenting

I hope you guys like this video, these are just a few tips to finding your functional style through experimentation. Leave your own tips down below!

[foxantheri]

My tip for functional planning is decorating after the fact: I love looking back through my old planners, but it's depressing when i've left big blank spaces due to my ADHD and experimental planning style. So I bought a thermal printer and fill all the blank spaces with things I love! Stickers, pamphlets, retroactive notes, all sorts of things work

[dianap]

I wish the quiz still existed, I was super excited to see if I could figure out what style I fell in

[marachristian]

I have watched so many planner videos and nearly got sucked into buying everything, but I caught myself in time and really thought through what I needed and what would work for me. I love seeing how other people use their planners, but I had to be honest with myself. Yes, I love seeing decorative and memory-keeping planners, and BUJO spreads, but I will never keep up with such planners. I actually made Pro/Con lists for all of the different styles and then settled on what would work best for me. Saved a lot of money by doing this! I will still watch all the videos, but I am at peace with my system!

[laurenstorey]

Your quiz link doesn't work off your website anymore

[ariautech]

I've been bullet journaling for four years now, and my planning style has changed DRASTICALLY throughout the different seasons of life. Sometimes your needs and circumstances just change

[DarkLightAsDay]

I've watched several youtubers explaining their methods. Most of them are entrepreneurs. Finally someone I can relate to, who works 9-5 AND knows what agile sprints are! So just thanks for being here.
I like coloring and pens and papers but I don't think I could open a notebook each time I needed to know what the next task is, not to mention reminders, so looking into digital apps. My dream is Jira with the Features of my life. And to have someone who cleans the house ;-)
Anyways I'm subscribing.

[vtsnowangel]

I absolutely need a weekly spread that shows an hourly layout but also has space for a weekly to-do list. Sometimes I throw in a daily plan, and habit tracking. I absolutely love that this video is so functional!

[zoel]

I just started in the cousin this year, and after years of struggling with my bujo layouts because I was trying to replicate things I had seen online I finally feel like I have something I can use long term. I love the vertical weekly layouts and the monthly calendars (I especially love that I don't have to make them myself) with the daily pages for journaling. I also found that decoration, as nice as it is, gets in the way of functionality for me because I wanted the decoration to look nice and that clashes with the messy functional style I have. My compromise has been using a variety of ink colors in my fountain pens when writing in the cousin! it's not technically decoration but having pink, green, blue, purple, etc. inks to play with still gives it a little bit of fun amidst my lists of chores :)

[miaayiti]

I realized that i prefer to DIY my spiral blank page planner. Found that I use 95% of it when I just keep it simple - pretty hardbook cover, annual calendar review, monthly calendar per page, and a saving tracker. This took me 3 years to figure out. Blank pages allow me the flexibility to use the planner as I need it for the day or moment. Love your video.

[nereidagomez]

I really like this series and I really enjoy reading everyone's comments and seeing the different perspectives and struggles everyone has. I can't just be functional in my planner. Otherwise I'm like just buy a regular notebook and make lists. If I spend all that money on a planner I want to make it look nice. So I add all the things and it ends up looking like a teenagers diary or collage. But that works for me. The functional and mess just appeals to my brain. I know it's not for everyone. But my ADHD brain is like it's so pretty ha ha

[OishikSarkarApocalypso]

The most realistic planning video on the internet ❤️ you have changed my life and shown me that this is possible for me 😃 I shall forever be helpful to you Rachelle.

[Jenx]

I’m glad I’ve found your videos as you really encourage real planning not just selling stickers. Must admit though that I’m a happy sticker buyer 😊. I used to use Franklin planners from before Steven Covey became involved. I used those longer than any other but I like a good weekly view to. Maybe I should start from there; digital planners have never worked for me and the older I get the more I need to write to help me remember

[Mirkwoodsqueen]

I'm an artist, critical thinker, OCD planner, who is also the Operations Supervisor for a trucking company. I have 2 planners. Work and ME. They do cross once in a while. I like color, I like to doodle. So I planned both of my planners to be extremely efficient but creative. Doodle Space, Dump space, and Organizational falls into the middle. As of the last 8 months, I've gone back to a journaling/Doodle style planner with monthly in the front of each section and just dump space with doodle space. So I bought blank books. I have built my own planners for years so this works well for what life threw at me. Extreme stress set me on this path for now. I need to just be able to be organized to a degree and then free in the rest of my life. Loss/Stress/Illness - > takes a toll. Sometimes you just have to step away and put up a wall between work and life. At 60 that is me.

[biddle]

Thank you so much for doing this video. I wanted to get into more detailed planning this year and was actually dissappointed that most of what I was seeing on youtube was about decorating. Really happy I found your channel

[SapphirasMama]

I am mostly minimalist but this year I have gone Scientist and done some more decoration then I normally would. Last year I had the Cousin Avec but this year I have the entire year in one book. I also have broken my Cousin into sections. My months gives me what bills due, appointments, pay days, looking after my nephew and holidays. Weekly is split into sections. I split the page in half, where the top half is my todo list, appointments and weather (I have chronic pain and a nervous system dysfunction in hot weather). The bottom half I have split up into categories. Headings include: to watch, to buy, to pay, priorities, to contact, errands, chores, don't forget and appointments. This helps me to keep track of everything. Now my daily section has turned more Bujo styled, where each month focuses on a specific topic. January is my budget and does everything to focus on finances, February is my nephew and all to do with his care and growth. March is for my pets, April is work, May is the different colours that I do for diamond painting (each colour is colour in diamond painting has a code and once I finish a section, I write the colours down that I have completed) and have done similar things fornthe rest of the year. I have done some more decorating in my weeklies then I normally do with stickers. My faith planner, which is another Cousin has completely different system. Monthly section is where I put my prayer and praise, weeklies I put down the scripture for the day and daily section is where I write info from studies I have done or watched

[gabsalvas]

I realised that i use my planner to mainly journal and memory keeping with a of back planning, with minimal planning for the future. So the cousin really seems to work for me, because once i backplan, i can easily decorate. And journaling keeps me coming back everyday to it!

[strandedinseattle]

I stopped expending fantastical amounts of money and effort on expensive notebooks for my bujo/planner. I prefer functionality over aesthetic, artsy spreads which take way too much time to set up on the daily - that burns me out so quickly. This year I went with tiny field books for my day to day planning and to do lists, which is working phenomenally. I picked up a $7 annual pocket planner book and am using its allotted daily spaces for a miniature diary record of events or thoughts while utilizing the calendar aspect for appointments and monthly events. I could have used the daily areas for my "to do" list, but it's so tiny and I prefer my running "to do" list in the handheld field book. The field books fit perfectly under the elastic ribbon holding the planner closed, it's like they were made to be used together!

[katarinakrysmuller]

Wow it is the first time I see such a good analysis of planner. What a clear view you have of this practices. Thanks for sharing.

[AutumnMoonArt]

Absolutely loving your videos! 👏 Super helpful.

As a super visual person (& artist & adhd), a 'pen only' planner will numb my brain. So decoration & colour, for me, is essential to a planner motivating me to use it (as you mention) and then, actually being functional.
However, the creatives among us can become so caught up with decoration that we end up with impractical planners, and not understand why they didn't work. So focusing on 'pen mostly' (rather than 'pen only') with say some colour (like colour blocking) is a great way to test what you'll actually need.
Also there are tons of super cheap planners from $ stores or £ shops. If the thought of setting up layouts on a blank page switches off your brain 😂 then a cheap planner is a great way to test them out before jumping into one of the big guys.

[Elibel]

I remember that my first attempt at BJ was 2019, where I had planned 6 months of layouts in advance based on a lechturm I previously used and liked (just like the one you show at 6:50). But 3 months in, I realized I would rather draw my own weeklies. I change every year and keep what works... I realized also I have seasons... winter is usually much more sober and summer months are all over, artistically (even though I use the same structure, they're not decorated the same.)