The Planner Graveyard
With Halloween around the corner, let's explore the planner theory of the carefully curated collection of abandoned planners, half-used inserts, forgotten notebooks, and “perfect systems” that lasted anywhere from three months to approximately one optimistic weekend.
I think most planner people eventually end up with one. A drawer. A shelf. A basket. Possibly an entire closet if things got out of hand for a few years there (cough, me, cough).
The planner graveyard. Dun, dun, duuuuuuun!
Every planner in the graveyard once represented hope, “This is the system that will finally fix my life", “This is the planner that will make me consistent", “This is the planner for the version of me who meal preps.”
Spoiler alert: I still do not meal prep.
The funny thing is that every abandoned planner made perfect sense at the time. We had reasons. Very logical reasons.
This one was too bulky, that one didn’t have enough writing space. One was beautiful but impossible to carry, another was practical but had the emotional appeal of corporate tax paperwork.
Social media makes this worse. Online, everyone seems to have perfectly consistent systems that they use beautifully and they showcase beautiful system after beautiful system. They aren't called "influencers" for nothing, am I right?!
Meanwhile, many of us are over here closing Instagram or FaceBook thinking, “Maybe if I completely redesign my planning system at 11:30 PM on a Tuesday, everything will finally come together.”
But honestly, the older I get, the less guilty I feel about the planner graveyard. Every abandoned planner taught me something useful, and even if I did have to eat Ramen for a month after buying a new one, I had fun filling up that closet!
Maybe the planner graveyard is just part of being interested in planners. People who love cooking own unused kitchen gadgets. People who love crafts have unfinished projects. Planner people own notebooks full of unrealized potential and at least one set of inserts they were certain would change their personality.
Ok fess up, how big is your planner graveyard? What planner did you swear would be “the one” before quietly abandoning it? And does anyone else keep certain planners because “I might go back to it someday,” despite absolutely no evidence suggesting that will happen, or is that just me?
As usual, on Fridays you are free to discuss anything ring planner related. Have a great weekend everyone!
'Influencers' are the ones who churn most. They have to: they have to have another 'perfect method' for this week's new video. And they have to waffle on for ages, avoiding the point, in order to make their videos long enough to fit in all those revenue-earning ads.
ReplyDeleteI don't plan. I have over 100 binders. Go figure, as they say...
I refuse to take ”advice” from someone who’s perfect planner set-up videos or blog posts that have a history of a new best system every couple of months or include phrases such as ”this is my new set up [or *shudder* ’ecosystem’] for the upcoming month”.
ReplyDeleteI have more time for the ones who have had the same system for years and years, but are perhaps occasionally changing out one size of notebook/organiser for another.
I’m perhaps a bit different in that I will use whatever I buy for the rest of that year, regardless of how well it works out. I had one filofax organiser for almost 30 years, although I didn’t always use it towards the end.
In the last year I’ve bought a fair few ring organisers, but I mostly use them for note taking, so they are not unused.
I have been experimenting with my work setup this year, but again, thats been using up one while phasing in the other and then printing a few various inserts to trial run. I think the pile of scrap paper/note paper that the experimenting with inserts has resulted in is the only thing I can offer up to the planner graveyard. :)
Whatever planner I start the year with, that's the one I will finish it with. So I don't have a Planner Graveyard, but lest you think I am practical and frugal, I do have an Empty Notebooks I Haven't Used Yet graveyard.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Wouldn't want to risk being short of notebooks when the need arises. Although I could probably equip a school class or two with notebooks...
Delete