Planners

Planner Hesitancy

December 15, 2021

Not to be confused with vaccine hesitancy (speaking of vaccines, WHEN ARE THE UNDER 5s COMING!? Okay, digression over).

I’m having Planner Uncertainty and it’s not even Jan 1.

The issue: I like my Full Focus planner too much (for anyone still shopping: affiliate link here, code SARAH10 will get you 10% off).

I like the daily layout. I like the paper. I like the height of the lines. I like using my gel pens in it. I like being able to flip it over so that only one side shows at a meeting.

None of those features are available in the gorgeous Hobonichi that awaits me.

ooh I had forgotten about those adorable stencils!

What I DO love about the Hobonichi is the weekly layout and the gorgeous cover. I just don’t think I’m going to be happy with the daily pages.

I could use the Cousin’s weekly pages and then a FFP for daily, but a) that is a lot of planner and b) I hate the idea of wasting the dailies in the Cousin.

As of now, I think I will still start the year with the Cousin (a challenge to make the best use of the dailies as I can!) and consider it an experiment of sorts, but giving myself permission to transition back to FFP at any time.

I’m sure you all needed to know all of this.


I shall ponder this on my run. Maybe I can/would use both (I carry the EC + FFP around daily now without an issue!). But what would make it onto the Cousin dailies in that case? A year of Time Tracking? Random art? Hmmm . . .

21 Comments

  • Reply Mrs. Candid December 15, 2021 at 6:21 am

    Your love for FFP is very evident in many of the BLP episodes 😃 You love it’s daily pages more than any other planner, so go for it 😊

  • Reply Emily December 15, 2021 at 8:20 am

    I am in a similar position. I also love the FFP, but I would actually be fine if it didn’t have the notes pages. I feel like a lot of book goes unused for me, and 4 books a year just feels so wasteful. I would rather keep all my meeting notes in a separate notebook. So if the FFP people are out there listening, please consider a more compact option 😊 I would buy it in a heartbeat.

    • Reply Meg December 15, 2021 at 4:32 pm

      I love the Daily Pages of the FFP as well, but the notes were such a waste – two options that you might like – FFP came out with their Portfolio planner which is larger, but doesn’t have the daily notes pages. Instead, notes are kind of combined with tasks. I ended up switching for 2022 to the Purpose Planner which has similar daily pages with only a small box at the bottom for notes on each page.

      • Reply Meg December 15, 2021 at 4:33 pm

        The other one that is what I’ve been using for the remainder of 2021 is the Papier Daily Planners which have similar daily pages with only a box at the bottom for notes.

        • Reply Emily December 17, 2021 at 6:18 am

          Thanks so much for the recs, Meg!

  • Reply Alissa W December 15, 2021 at 8:46 am

    I’m very intrigued by the FFP as I’ve been doing more daily planning. I’m thinking about trying it out since first quarter is very full time. I wanted to let you know your code is for 10% off not $10 as I went to go order.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger December 15, 2021 at 9:10 am

      Oh nooooo!!! I’ll change the text. Darn!

  • Reply Alyssa December 15, 2021 at 9:00 am

    I use both FFP and Hobonichi Techo Cousin 🙂

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger December 15, 2021 at 9:12 am

      I seriously think this is where I am headed. I do like my weekly separate from my daily so I can see both at once…

  • Reply Elizabeth December 15, 2021 at 9:04 am

    Based on everything you’ve said…maybe what you really want to do is just continue with the FFP? I know the H planner was really expensive but you could probably sell it on eBay? Or even see if a reader or listener would like to buy it from you? I don’t know why but it seems like you feel you owe it to go back to the H. planner but that you actually don’t want to. Life’s too short! Give yourself permission to use the planner you want to use!

  • Reply Evi December 15, 2021 at 9:43 am

    I love the FFP too, I am now also playing with the personal kanban method, writing tasks on post its and grouping them in ready, doing, done, pen, limiting tasks to 3 Work in Progress (after reading 4000 weeks, upon your recommendation. Loved that book). P.S. Here in the UK we are still waiting for the 5-12 vaccination approval.

  • Reply Elisabeth December 15, 2021 at 9:56 am

    I’m excited to use the Sprouted planner (thanks, Sarah!), but it boggles my mind how many options there are to consider! I think if I started getting into all the different planners I would end up paralyzed by the choices and would revert to all my to-do’s down on my hand or something because there are just too many selections with a million nuances!?

  • Reply Christina December 15, 2021 at 10:47 am

    I’ve got a similar problem! I got a Hobonichi with an adorable cover but I’ve really been enjoying the Ink + Volt planner you recommended to me a few months ago. What to do? I am suffering from a sunk cost fallacy- the Hobo cost a lot, so I feel like I MUST use it, even though my current system is excellent. I wonder if my sister or a family member would like the Hobonichi as a gift. Hmmm.

  • Reply Amanda December 15, 2021 at 11:15 am

    It’s nice to know I’m not the only one! I, too, want to love the Hobonichi Weeks but immediately realized on December 1st that I don’t love it as much as my beloved Filofax personal. So beautiful Hobonichi is sitting unused while I await the delivery of my Filofax 2022 refill pages.

  • Reply Lisa of Lisa's Yarns December 15, 2021 at 11:56 am

    It seems like you want to love the H due to your history using the product, but you don’t really love it since you’ve fallen hard for the FFP! I have been using the W222 since I bought it and am overall really happy with it. It turns out I just don’t need daily pages. I don’t know that I ever will? I don’t plan my days to the extent that hardcore planners do. So I regret getting the accessory notebook but I am sure I will find a way to use that, like for note taking for work. I currently use a college ruled notebook for work notes, but it’s so big and my desk space at home is pretty constrained. So that is probably the best use for it, although the college ruled notebook was free since work buys them… At least the accessory notebook is undated so I have no pressure to figure out how to use it!

    I wish I didn’t hate coil-bound products, otherwise the FFP might be a good fit for me. But I prefer no coil and a lay-flat format like W222!

    BTW, at the baby’s 1y appt last week, his doctor said she’s hearing a Feb timeline for 2-4. Of course I am anxious for the 6m-2 group, too, since 2 is pretty far off for us! But I’ll take what I can get!

    • Reply Seppie December 15, 2021 at 9:27 pm

      FFP has a non-coil version!

  • Reply Beth December 15, 2021 at 12:07 pm

    So interesting! I am very happy with my current bullet journal system. I have a couple of FFP sitting around from my subscription (I had 2 subscriptions accidentally, oops). I do like the daily pages but for now I like more flexibility in my system. The bullet journal allows me to go totally off format for a random day (like today) where I have one big multi-pronged project to do. And I can take a page in the middle of the week for a drawing or something else random. I like it but I may go back to the FFP at some point when I need more structure.

  • Reply Nicole Vinson December 15, 2021 at 1:29 pm

    FFP now makes the A5 (or letter sized version) and for Lisa of Lisa’s Yarns & me they did it without a coil. 🙂 I am transitioning over this week. The question is do I just take my three big goals for each week and put them on a post it next to my office phone, the bathroom mirror or on my forehead ? By Friday, I have been consistently missing one of the big 3. The daily three are on my brain but not the weekly. I guess this is just life!

    Happy Belated Birthday to G!

    Good luck with a healthy school break and call!

  • Reply Anandi RC December 15, 2021 at 4:00 pm

    I feel this so much 🙂 It really sounds like you WANT to use the FFP but feel like you SHOULD use the Hobonichi you bought. Can you use ONE of the notes pages of the FFP to make a weekly layout or tape in a weekly printable? I know on Etsy there are some weekly printables that look like the Hobonichi. This is what I was doing in my Passion Planner Daily when I needed a high level summary for the week and it worked pretty well because I don’t always use the Notes pages.

    • Reply Becky Yang December 16, 2021 at 12:27 am

      Thank you so much for introducing me to the FFP, I really have been enjoying the size and the feel and, well, the focus.

      I am struggling a bit with the monthly calendar and the week preview boxes, would you consider sharing how you use them?

      Thank you!

  • Reply Hope December 17, 2021 at 8:41 am

    Or just use the daily pages in The Hobonichi for miscellaneous notes that you can transfer later. Stick with the FFP since you seem to love it for Daily pages.

    I use my Amplify planner horizontal weekly pages to journal so that I can use them rather than waste them. I got to switch to vertical weekly for 2022 so maybe it will be different. Most planners seem to have too many notes pages at the back or in between that go unused. Especially the quarterly planners.

    By the way G looks adorable, belated birthday wishes.

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