Here’s an interesting reader question about productivity planners:

Hi I wonder if you have reviewed (productivity) Planners or if your readers can recommend some. Semi-business types with annual goals to help track goals break down tasks and monitor progress. Something like these type of planners: – http://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-undated-planners-productivity.html

Of the undated planners mentioned in the linked article, I have reviewed the Stalogy 365 notebook. I liked it a lot, but it’s basically just a notebook that gives you some very subtle guidelines along the top and sides of the page to indicate dates and times so you can turn it into a planner. But the print is hard to read!

I haven’t reviewed too many other formatted productivity planners, but here are a few.

Archer Planner

I think the Archer Planner has an interesting design, but some users may find it is pre-formatted for too many life-logging micro details, like the state of your hair each day. It also comes in monthly booklets, which can be inconvenient if you need to keep more long-range plans in a yearly book. And unfortunately, as of this writing, the Archer Planner may not be an active product anymore. Looks like it is not currently available, with no news on re-stocking.

Quo Vadis Life Journal Infinite Planner

The Life Journal Infinite is an undated hardcover A5 size planner. The layout is somewhat free-form and versatile, giving you a way to organize monthly and weekly layouts with out too much pre-formatting. It seems targeted towards Bullet Journaling and logging more than tracking goals and task lists, but can be easily adapted to multiple purposes. Quo Vadis also offers many other dated planner designs that are more business or academic oriented. I used their Sapa X for several years back in the ’80s.

Nolty Planners

I continue to be a big fan of Nolty planners from Japan, though these fall into the annual/dated category. They have great paper and a wide variety of layouts. The only problem is that they are not that easy to find in the US, though you can order via Kinokuniya if you don’t live near one of their stores. The other downside is that some of the content is in Japanese, rendering most of the backmatter useless for English speakers. But I find their Efficiency Notebook layout really handy for planning and tracking. The week on the left has little time markers that you can use to block out appointments. The open page on the right can be used for notes or to-do lists. The monthly Gantt charts at the beginning of the planner are great for habit tracking but can also be used for project planning. (This review of my first 2018 Nolty has a lot of details.) Their Japanese website can be a little hard to navigate, but it does have photos of the various page layouts for different models.

At-A-Glance

This one might surprise people, as I’ve never reviewed an At-A-Glance planner. But I had to throw this in as I used to use the desktop weekly planners a lot at work in the mid-1990s and they still have a weird appeal for me every time I walk down that aisle at Staples! The wire-o binding and black faux-leather flexible covers seem kind of cheesy and retro compared to all the upscale hardcover planners that are out there these days, but they also offer some updated and more decorative designs. They are relatively inexpensive, and if you want a dated planner with lots of space to schedule tasks, they’re an option worth considering.

Of course it’s hard to recommend a planner because everyone uses them differently. It can depend on what kind of business or personal plans you need to track. Sometimes the best planner is one you design yourself, to suit your exact needs. (Some of the books mentioned in this post might give you some ideas!) I have actually been thinking a lot lately about ways to use refillable binders– partially because I have so many in my collection that I feel guilty about not using! I love bound notebooks, but sometimes a Filofax or similar notebook where you can add, remove or move pages is the most practical thing for productivity planning. You can use various pre-formatted inserts or make your own.

Readers, please chime in with your own ideas about favorite productivity planners!