Best Planners and Organizers 2020

Best Planners and Organizers TechnoBuffalo 2020

• Best overall: BestSelf Co. The Self Journal
• Best value: AT-A-GLANCE Simplified Planner (small)
• Best for short-term planning: Day-Timer Distressed Look Starter Set Organizer
• Best for long-term planning: Michael Hyatt Full Focus Planner
• Best for on-the-go: Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner

Best overall: BestSelf Co. The Self Journal

The BestSelf Co. journal is a fantastic planner that helps organize your life through goal setting and productivity planning. In fact, this journal is used by Daymond John from Shark Tank because of its creative and successful layout.

This journal has a daily structure for success, which encourages you to write down what you're grateful for every morning and night. Expressing and understanding your gratitude can help you feel happier on a day-to-day basis because it inspires you to focus on the positives in your life. This planner also has sections for your targets and goals, a 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily schedule, a tasks section, a spot to record your daily wins and lessons learned, and an area to write additional notes.

The journal is intended to help you form productive habits through 90-day periods as it's is broken down into 3-month planners. It is designed to look professional with a canvas-wrapped hardcover and features thick paper that measures 8.5-by-5.5 inches. Also included is a sturdy bookmark that is made from fabric so you can mark your spot in the journal.

Although this journal is designed to be used by everyone, some customers mention that it almost seems created for entrepreneurial minds.

Best value: AT-A-GLANCE Simplified Planner (small)

The AT-A-GLANCE planner is a 12-month design created by Emily Ley that is intended to help you plan your day, week, and month at once. This planner is designed with a flower-print hardcover and wire binding, making it beautiful and durable.

This planner includes weekly and monthly overviews to keep you on track with your tasks and goals. The weekly summary contains a two-page spread for every week. Bullet points are featured in the margins of every single day so that you can quickly check off what you have completed.

The monthly overview has a two-page spread for every month. It features a to-do list as well as tips and tricks to help you with your planning. These templates are excellent for individuals who are visual and like to see the whole picture. Although, if you wish to write a lot, you may run out of space.

The planner has high-quality paper that measures 8.5-by-5.5 inches and is ink-bleed resistant. You won't have to worry about your doodles or to-do lists smudging or seeping through your pages. This planner also comes with sticker tabs to mark the months.

Best for short-term planning: Day-Timer Distressed Look Starter Set Organizer

The Day-Timer organizer is an amazing planner for anyone who is looking to prioritize and set goals for a three-month period. This organizer features a seven-ring binder with prefilled planning pages and accessories. The page sizes are 8.5-by-5.5 inches.

The cover of this organizer looks professional and rustic with its distressed and rugged vinyl exterior. Also included with this organizer is a pouch and holder for cards or pens, allowing you to jot down your tasks easily. The entire journal can be zipped shut around the edges, keeping your content safely inside.

Inside the planner, there are three months of undated pages ready to organize your thoughts and plan your goals. You can choose from three different page formats, including a one page per day format, a two page per day format, and a two page per week format to suit your style. Each format includes to-do lists, a schedule section, and an area to record notes. Once your 90 days are up, you can simply purchase more pages and add them to your journal.

Although this journal is excellent for short-term planning, some customers have mentioned that the hardware comes apart after a while.

Best for long-term planning: Michael Hyatt Full Focus Planner

The Michael Hyatt planner is a fantastic organizer that helps to keep you on track when reaching your long-term goals and planning for the future. Although this planner has 90-days of pages, it also incorporates weekly and quarterly review templates to ensure that you are staying on track.

Designed by Michael Hyatt, who is a well-known productivity expert, this planner encourages you to increase your productivity and build great habits through its well-thought-out layout. While planning and organizing, it is common to feel overwhelmed with all the tasks and steps we need to take to reach our goals. This planner is specifically designed to eliminate any overwhelming thoughts by instructing you on how to separate your high-leverage essential tasks from your daily to-do tasks. This helps keep you on track with your daily priorities as well as your long-term priorities.

This planner has a dark grey exterior and includes pages that measure at 6-by-9 inches. Some customers note that it feels quite bulky compared to other similar-sized planners and that the undated pages can become mundane to fill in.

Best for on-the-go: Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner

The Leuchtturm1917 planner is a great option for recording your tasks and to-do lists on the go. This journal has 18 months of dated pages for optimal planning. The layout of each double-sided page consists of a full calendar week as well as a lined section for easy notetaking.

This planner features a hardcover and high-quality paper that is acid-free and contains a high ink capacity. You won't have to worry about your ink bleeding through your pages or smudging as you write. The page templates are perfect for jotting down tasks as you think of them and checking them off immediately as they are completed. There is not a lot of space for journaling, however.

The planner offers some cool features, including a three-year overview from 2019 to 2021, special holidays for 58 different countries. and (if you're interested in astrology) the phases of the moon.

Some accessories included with this notebook are stickers for labeling and archiving pages and notes, two ribbon bookmarks to help you mark relevant areas in your planner, and an expandable pocket attached to the back cover to store papers and other small items.

Bottom line

Planning your day, week, and month by writing down your daily tasks and weekly goals is a great way to increase productivity and help you become more successful in every aspect of life. Choosing a planner that includes well-thought-out templates and areas for positive reflection will set you up for success.

We recommend the BestSelf Co. The Self Journal because it features an incredibly useful daily structure. These templates include sections for reflection and gratitude, a daily schedule, a spot to prioritize your tasks, and an area for goal setting.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide