I've Tried Dozens Of Planners, And This Is The Best One That Organized My Anxious Thoughts For A Whole Year
Hello! I'm Raven, and as an adult who lives with anxiety, I sometimes have a hard time getting my shit together (this is adulting, right?) — so, for as long as I could remember, I've lived and breathed by planners and to-do lists.
For example, when I went to public school in Florida, they would provide free planners to students at the beginning of every school year — and, well, I was the nerdy kid who couldn't wait to receive mine so I could plan everything out.
But this wasn't because I was an A+ student who took Gifted classes — no, this was because I was so afraid of forgetting when a paper was due or when I had a test or exam because if I didn't organize in advance or write things down, my anxiety would flare up like no other.
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Now, as a "grown-up" who has a job, my paper and test deadlines have turned into article deadlines, doctor and vet appointments, and bill payments. And even though I feel like I've tried every planner under the sun to stay organized (I even tried bullet journaling), I always felt like something was missing.
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For instance, no matter how detailed I was with my organization, I would need to use two planners at all times because one would have the organizational structures I needed for day-to-day planning while the other — aka my bullet journal — would have the lifestyle trackers that would keep me grounded and reflective.
That was until I found this pretty little planner...
This, my friends, is the Wit and Delight Weekly and Monthly Planner. I bought mine for about $20 at Target.
It's basically an all-in-one planner that not only helps you organize by week and month but also allows you to set up your monthly goals and reflections as well as track your mood.
The reason why this planner even exists in the first place is because Kate Arends — who is the creator, founder, and designer — has ADHD and is a mom herself, and needed a planner that worked with her brain and could keep her organized without feeling shame if she needed to move things around.
And honestly, this is refreshing because I'm already judging myself for all the things I've missed or haven't completed yet, and I don't need a planner to give me a side-eye about this either.
So, when I read that this was the sole purpose of this planner — organization and mental health over judgment and "girl-bossing" — I knew I had to give it a try. And after a year, I can say it did deliver on its promise of getting me organized while keeping my anxiety about life to a (reasonable) minimum.
So, if you're currently in the market for a new planner for the 2023 year, here are a few reasons why this planner has not only helped my anxiety but also kept me on track with my daily routine — and why it might do the same for you.
1.Its design is minimal, which allows you to just focus on the tasks at hand.
While some people might prefer having cool-designed planners or creating different visual themes every month in their bullet journals (hey, I get it — they're fun to look at), I prefer the minimal approach. It allows me to know exactly what is going on for the week without being distracted by other visual things (like a sentimental quote or a group of bright flowers in the corner of a page).
Yes, I still have fun by using different colored pens and markers (I've actually been using these guys), but because I'm such a visual person, I need to know what color signals what when I quickly glance through my planner — and having a plain one helps with this.
The cool thing is, even though these pages are blank with no lines, it gives me the freedom to structure my days any way I want. For example, for some days, I can plan out my appointments and deadlines while other days can be used for more "journaling" if I had nothing major going on that day, so I can reflect back to see how my month went.
Since there are no visual indicators on what you should do with these pages, you can write and create whatever you like (similar to a bullet journal for the most part).
For instance, when I was having a hard week, I would draw a little box with the word "win" inside of it and write my "win" for the day to help me focus on some positive things that were going on in my life. It helped me to feel gratitude while also staying organized — which was a win-win in my book. (Don't leave because of the awful pun — sorry, I had to.)
2.It has a daily check-in section at the end of each day for you to monitor your mental health.
If you like to monitor your mood for whatever reason, this feature will be incredibly helpful to you. There are six mood faces to choose from: "Yas," "Good," "Fine," "Blah," "Woah," and "Nope." At the end of each day, you can color a face in to indicate how you feel. Simple, right?
For me, I like to review my daily check-in at the end of each week to see how my mood fluctuated and why (this is where the journaling aspect of the planner can come in handy because you can read back to see what happened that day). And if I notice that my mindset has been slipping or my anxiety was getting high — aka I start circling in a lot of "blahs" throughout the week — I can be extra kind to myself during the weekend so I can feel more like myself come Monday.
3.It has journal prompts at the beginning of every month and reflective check-ins at the end of every month.
Listen, as someone who has a mental condition, it can be really hard to be in the moment with your thoughts (you know what I'm talking about, my fellow anxious friends). Even though I try to plan out my week or have set days to complete certain tasks, it can be nerve-wracking when something randomly derails my plans and I have to re-strategize. (Yes, I have the skill set to manage through this — thanks to therapy — but it doesn't mean it's still not frustrating to deal with.)
However, what I love most about this planner is the ability to take a pause at the beginning of every month (or at the end if you want to plan ahead) to reflect on the past month's goals and reposition how I want to move forward for the following month. This flexibility allows me to analyze what wasn't working, what goals and focus items I keep pushing off, and why.
While the beginning journal prompts mostly focus on goals and intentions, the check-in prompts aim to reflect on your personal internal needs. (See how none of the questions are: "What goal did you accomplish this month?" or "What do you wish you did differently?")
Answering these questions every month really allows me to recognize how much I've grown or how well I'm doing when I tend to be harder on myself than I mean to be. Plus, the answers can provide information on how I want to pivot next month (i.e. if I feel like I still need to grow in a certain area, I can make that a goal or intention for the following month).
The most important thing to note is that there are no rules — however you choose to answer these prompts is completely up to you. What matters most is that you're being completely honest with your answers. And if you want to be a little more thorough with your goal planning, you can use the planner's calendar to schedule deadlines, too.
And since we don't gate-keep things here, feel free to copy these prompts for your own journaling needs if you want to give them a shot.
4.It has not one, but two, ribbon bookmarks to keep things extra organized.
Let me tell you how life-changing this is. I never thought I would ever need this element in a planner or notebook, but it's really rare not to need to bookmark more than one area in a planner (at least for me). A lot of the time, I usually have to cross-reference two or more pages when I'm writing notes or planning ahead, so having the ability to easily flip back to a page (without having to dog-ear it) is amazing.
5.It has a lot of empty spaces for you to organize things any way you want.
While artsy planners can be fun to look at, they don't provide a lot of freedom that bullet journals do, where I'm able to create any page I need — and since this planner has a lot of empty spaces, I can pretty much do this within a structured planner format, so I don't feel too overwhelmed.
For instance, I have written down a list of movies and TV shows I want to watch; a "bad day" checklist at the beginning of the planner to review whenever I'm having — you guessed it — a bad day; and notes from the weekly one-on-one meetings I have with my manager. And since the planner comes with adhesive page markers, you can flip back and review as needed with ease without panicking trying to remember where you wrote something down. (No, just me?)
Or, if you want to get extra creative, you can use other stationary stickers or sticky notes to keep things organized. For example, I use this sticky grid notepad at the beginning of every month, where I write down my complete personal to-do list for the month (shown below). This allows me to just have everything I need to do in a centralized place. And since to-do lists tend to change often during the month, I can just remove the sticky page and create a whole new one without fearing that I won't have enough space.
No joke, this is probably one of the key things that has kept me most in line with my everyday tasks. And if I want to break it down further so I don't feel as overwhelmed, I'll use this "Today's Top Three" mini notepad to stick in my planner or on my desk to help me focus on three small things for the day.
