What Planners Should I Use to Organize my ADHD?
It’s a New Year! So what’s on the top of our minds?
Planners!
A planner that works for you - that you will use! - is important to help keep you organized and reduce your anxiety around things you need to do.
The best way to shop for a planner is in-person at a well-stocked office supply store. I find that searching online is difficult because planners aren’t described using searchable terms.
I recommend a format that shows Monday through Friday on 2 pages: horizontally, Monday - Sunday. With the days of the week running across the top, I don’t have to think, or look too closely, to understand where I am in my week.
Generally this will be described as a “weekly, monthly” format, 2-pages per week. But to figure out whether the days are listed horizontally or vertically, you will have to look inside.
Time tracking is another option that you will want to consider as you choose a planner: that is, what printed format best suits your needs for each day. If you make lots of appointments and need to monitory your schedule closely, there are planners that note each 15 minute increment in a day, But if hourly works for you, or if you can just write in your times, you have more planner options.
I like the planners that include a monthly calendar with space to write in, followed by pages for the weeks in that month. I bought the Day Designer 116853* for 2020; the size is not too large or small to carry around, at 8” x 9,” and this planner also has space for To-Do’s on the weekly pages.
I use a planner both to schedule appointments and to schedule or “block” time for projects and activities. ( I also use a blank “bullet”-type journal to hold notes of ideas, projects, and meetings, and to plan on a bigger scale. I’ll post about that another time1)
But this post is mostly about finding the right planner when shopping! The beginning of the year is when you’ll find the most stock on the shelves — and be mindful that even if the exterior design looks the same, the page layout may be different.
*https://www.staples.com/2020-day-designer-7-x-9-rosey-posy-dot-116853/product_24391389