The 12 Best Productivity Planners to Help You Get Sh*t Done in 2023
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New year, new you. While many of us might start the year with lofty plans to achieve all of our big goals (we're going to actually get organized this year), experts say it’s better to start small and make a concrete plan with baby steps of the daily to-dos you'll need to finish before you start to make things happen—and for that, friends, you'll need a productivity planner.
Instead of typing your to-dos in your Notes app, these handy planning tools will force you to put your tasks and a plan of action to complete them down on pen and paper—something that research has shown will make you feel more engaged in what you're doing.
What Is a Productivity Planner?
Productivity planners offer a little extra oomph over traditional planners, as they're more targeted to help you plan things month by month, day by day and even hour by hour. This could mean prompting you to make a monthly goal that can be broken down into smaller steps to complete each week, or it could mean creating space for daily affirmations that will help you set your mindset for the day. Different productivity planner are set up to target different things.
What Is the Best Productivity Planner?
The best productivity planner really depends on your needs. Some people will benefit greatly from one with a simple monthly overview and a weekly schedule, like this one from Papier, while others will need a more of a daily, action-oriented model. We’ve rounded up both in our list of the 12 best productivity planners for your best year yet.
The Best Productivity Planners at a Glance
- Planning Features: Monthly goal breakdown, weekly schedule, sectioned days with room for notes
A “happy” planner seems like the best choice to start the year off right. (Besides, the more organized you are, the happier you are, right?) Not only does this sleek black option beckon give you a bird's eye monthly overview, there's a weekly schedule with a planning section for you to write down important to-dos. There's also room for your goals, important dates at a glance and notes. Each day, meanwhile, is further broken up into three sections, where you can write down your plans for your morning, afternoon and night activities.
- Planning Features: Yearly, monthly and weekly overview, monthly goals and lists, important dates
For a simple reminder of what you have to do each day, we love these more basic planners from Papier. These hardcover beauties have a clean yearly, monthly and weekly view in which you can jot down tasks and activities. Each month also has a section for some bonus goal setting, with space for 30-day milestones, important dates, to-dos and wish lists.
- Planning Features: Yearly goals, monthly and weekly schedules, action steps, balance prompts, self-review, stickers
This one's a bit shorter than some of the other planners, but its page quantity doesn't affect its quality: It allows you to really target and digest your smaller goals with its monthly and weekly planning options, space for self- review, prioritized task list and extra space for notes. There's bonus productivity content from the Everygirl and even a fun set of stickers to help jazz up your pages, making it a ton of fun to use.
- Planning Features: Monthly calendar, weekly and daily schedules with spacious area for notes, project planning checklist
Stationery company Leuchtturm1917 makes a sturdy weekly planner in which you can write down notes to your heart's content if you're the type to flesh out your plans in detail. (Think: some nice park journaling.) Its weekly layouts give you a solid look at your immediate tasks at hand while the project planning section can keep you up to date on the recurring goals you're looking to meet throughout the year.
- Planning Features: Yearly and monthly calendar view, year-in-review section, weekly schedule with notes and to-dos
Yes, you can get one of Rifle Paper Co.’s incredible patterns in planner form. But it will do way more than give you a sense of pride when you spy its stylish cover on your desk. Its weekly scheduling area features extensive note-taking space and a to-do section, and there's also a year-in-review page for you to easily keep stock of your progress.
- Planning Features: Annual and weekly goals, task prioritization, daily to-do list, gratitude prompts, daily accomplishments and areas for improvement, productivity scores
Rather than laying out your weekly schedule, this planner takes things day by day. Each page walks you through your top three tasks to accomplish and a full to-do list, offers a section for notes and appointments and suggests thought-provoking ways to start the day, such as writing down what you’re grateful for and how you’ll make the most of tomorrow. All of that, combined with annual and weekly goal setting and self-reflection, makes this this ultimate planner for getting sh*t done.
- Planning Features: Monthly and weekly schedules, goal sidebars, color-coded tabs, stickers
Planning out your week should be a positive experience—otherwise, studies say you're less likely to stick to it. Ban.do’s planners keep things upbeat with colorful stickers, a coloring page to help you de-stress and cheeky prompts to answer, too. It's also efficient, offering spacious monthly and weekly schedules, as well as spots for goal planning and note-taking on the side.
- Planning Features: Monthly and weekly schedules, monthly, weekly and daily goals, gratitude prompts, habit trackers, bucket lists
Filled with motivational quotes, bucket lists, productivity tips and more, this planner goes above and beyond goal setting and scheduling. The Roterunner has a wellness twist, complete with space to enter in morning and night routines, habit trackers and self-care checklists. The result is a handy planning tool that can better help you evaluate what’s most important to you as a human being—and how you should best spend your time.
- Planning Features: Monthly and weekly planners, mindmaps, vision boards, affirmations, color stickers
If you're a visual thinker, this Simple Elephant planner will be a godsend. Sure, it's got the classic monthly and weekly planning sections, but it also has goal-making tools, such as mindmaps and vision boards, that will bring things into focus for you. Its color-coded stickers mean you can mark important dates and tasks, too—like an elephant, you’ll never forget.
- Planning Features: Monthly calendar overview, daily goals, affirmations, gratitude and objectives, long, medium- and short-term goals
Although this undated planner is only intended for six months, it is highly targeted for setting daily goals. There is plenty of room to write down your objectives, with options for daily affirmations, daily gratitude and of course, your actual schedule. Talk about staying on task! And, once you've finished with the first six months, if you feel yourself accomplishing your goals, you can get a second one for the second half of the year.
- Planning Features: Monthly overview, weekly focus challenges, morning routine-setting, end-of-day reviews, space for journaling
The Panda Planner has earned a cult-following for a reason: It provides a hyper-focused look at your week with a seemingly endless amount of sections to fill out, from your intended morning routine to how you did at the end of the day. There are boxes that encourage you to look toward the week ahead, break down the previous week and separate projects into smaller goals, as well as a place to add your daily schedule. With space for journaling, it also makes it a good pick for personal growth.
- Planning Features: Yearly, monthly and weekly planning pages, storage, extra pages for notes, bookmarks
This popular minimalistic planner features monthly planning pages to break things down on a larger scale. It also lasers things in on a weekly level with a seven-day column layout and a spacious grid note section that you can use for reflecting, planning and more. There’s a few bonus niceties, too, like pockets, two ribbon bookmarks and a pen holder.
Freelance Writer
Courtney covers all things shopping and lifestyle at PureWow. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Elon University and has spent more than five years of her career...
