People who write out their goals are more likely to achieve them.
But guess what? Writing them down is NOT enough!
You have to take consistent action in order to reach them. My favorite tool to do this is a planner.
The good news is there are lots of planner options out there. The bad news is that it can be a daunting task narrowing down the options to just one!
I’ve always been a big fan of planners, so I’ve tried many of them. While I have my favorites, I actually don’t use just one. I usually use about 3 at one time, depending on my needs.
I’ve found that there isn’t a “one-fits-all” solution when it comes to planners because each one has different features. As long as they work together to help me reach my goals and improve my life and business, I’m fine with it!
Below are a few planners that I’ve tried and loved. See if any of them appeal to you. If so, try them out! You won’t know if it’s the right planner for you until you take it for a spin.
This article may contain affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through the link, I get a small percentage at no additional charge to you. See my disclosure for more info.
BEST PLANNERS TO REACH YOUR BUSINESS GOALS
Leonie Dawson’s My Brilliant Year Business Goals Workbook
I’ve been using Leonie Dawson’s workbooks since 2017. I always take a week off after Christmas and fill out my workbook. It’s a yearly ritual that I really look forward to.
My favorite features of the planner are:
- It’s colorful and cheerful and just makes my day looking through it
- It covers important topics like systems, monthly money goals, and fixing things that don’t work for you and your biz
- The monthly oracle reading is a fun addition. This is when you randomly choose a tarot card for each month’s theme. I love the Crazy Sexy Love Notes oracle cards by Kris Carr. They’re colorful, the images are pretty, and the cards are easy to read, meaning you don’t need to be a tarot card reader to understand what the cards are saying.)
- It’s far from a serious business planner, yet it’s really powerful
What it doesn’t have:
- This planner covers annual and monthly goals but doesn’t have a place for your weekly or daily goals. So you’ll need some sort of daily planner for your to-dos.
This planner is good for:
- Creatives who love fun, colorful workbooks
- Business owners in any industry or at any stage in their business
Price: Currently $24.95
Purchase frequency: You’ll need to purchase this planner yearly, but it’s now un-dated, so you can start using it whenever you want.
👉 Good to know: Leonie also has a Life Workbook you can use to map out your life goals too.
I learned about the Savor Life Planner from one of the Virtual Assistants in my membership, the Introvert VA Club. It looked interesting, so I decided to try it.
This one is a little different from most other planners because it only focuses on 3 months at a time.
I like this concept because every 90-days is like a reboot. It’s a time to reflect on how the past 3 months went and a chance to get back on track if needed.
My favorite features of the planner are:
- It’s clean and uncluttered
- It’s spiral-bound, so I can flip the pages open
- It’s focused on 3 months only
- It has plenty of room for daily to-do’s
- There’s lots of extra space for notes, lists, and brainstorming
- It focuses on self and soul-care
- It has stickers!
What it doesn’t have:
- You can map out your 90-day goals and daily to-dos, but it doesn’t include annual goals. So having another planner to work out your goals for the year is something you’ll need in addition to this.
This planner is good for:
- Pretty much anyone who needs a system for keeping tasks in order
- People who like a clean, minimal look
- People who want to focus on 90-days only instead of the whole year
- People who don’t mind buying a new planner every 3 months
Price: $29.95
Purchase frequency: You’ll need to buy this planner every 3 months, so if you want to cover a whole year, you’ll need to buy 4 of these books. But you can buy them one at a time. No need to buy them all at once.
👉 Good to know: After using this planner for about 2 years, I switched to the planner below.
Ok, this book is nothing fancy, but it’s the planner I use the most. This one is a daily planner, so it’s what keeps me on track with my goals.
It’s just an appointment book, so you can break down your day by the hour if you like. To be honest, I usually don’t. I just add the daily to-do’s on there wherever.
My favorite features of the planner are:
- It’s clean and uncluttered
- It’s spiral-bound, so I can flip the pages open
- It’s focused on daily tasks, but off to the side, there’s a place for your top weekly goals, a to-do list, and even an end-of-the-week review
- It’s affordable
What it doesn’t have:
- It’s not colorful or fun, but it does what it does best – reminds me of what needs to be done that day
This planner is good for:
- Anyone who wants to stay on track with tasks and appointments
- People who like a clean, minimal look
Price: $12.49
Purchase frequency: You only need to buy this planner once a year.
👉 Good to know: There are tons of daily planners out there, so if this one is too boring for you, you shouldn’t have any problem finding one that appeals to you more.
This planner is one I created myself. It’s a PDF digital download which means you can print the whole planner or only the pages you want to use. It includes yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily goals, plus much more.
It focuses a lot on money goals, so making money, tracking the flow of money going in and out of your business, and planning your expenses.
The planner also focuses a lot on time management, like tracking your time so you know where it’s going, scheduling important tasks, project management and action steps, and designing your ideal week.
And the planner also has pages to help you with your marketing efforts, like planning your blog editorial calendar, creating a social media schedule, and planning and tracking client outreach.
My favorite features of the planner are:
- It’s super cute yet uncluttered – if you like unicorns, you’ll like this planner
- It focuses on many areas of your life and business
- It’s non-dated, so you can reuse it year after year
What it doesn’t have:
- It’s not a physical planner, so you’ll need to print it out.
This planner is good for:
- Creatives who love fun planners
- People who love printables
- Business owners in any industry or at any stage in their business
- People looking for an affordable planner option (no need to buy a new one each year or every 90-days)
- People who want the option of being able to print the same page several times
Price: $19
Purchase frequency: buy once and reuse over and over!
👉 Good to know: You can punch holes in the planner and put it in a 3-ring binder to keep it organized. You can also use plastic page covers and erasable markers for the daily pages to save paper!
If you’d like to check out a few of the pages, you can download 3 of them for free!
Choosing the perfect planner doesn’t have to be a stressful event! Check out the planners I’ve mentioned and see which ones work for you. Whatever you choose, use them consistently, and you’ll be on your way to reaching your big business goals!
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