Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

VERY LONG REVIEW/OVERVIEW INCOMING. I have used a lot of planners in the past couple of years. Between undergraduate, graduate, & professional life, I've had a lot of very specific needs so finding a planner that works has been tough, so finding this planner was perfect. In this review, I will thoroughly outline the contents of the planner as well as provide some suggestions for how to use each area. For starters, I'd like to address the concerns expressed in lower star reviews. 1) I've been heavily using this planner & carrying it with me to & from work for several months now & it has held up wonderfully without any sort of cover - however I can foresee some wear & tear, given my persona lifestyle. If you have children, inquisitive pets, or are significantly rough on your planners, I highly recommend buying a folio cover (Erin Condren has lovely ones) that will house it, as well as pens & lists or notebooks if needed, effectively keeping it in one place & providing an additionally barrier against wear & tear. This will prolong the life of your planner's physical structure. 2) This planner is EXCEPTIONALLY self explanatory. You **do not** need the instructions on the card to use this planner by any means at all. HOWEVER, if you find you are more comfortable with using them & have difficulty reading the card, youtube has many wonderful resources for clever fox that are well presented, thorough, & even more in depth -- all without the difficulty potentially presented by smaller fonts or lost cards. Now, on to the content review: The first are, AWARENESS & SELF DISCOVERY is a wonderful touch, & I highly suggest you sit down & fill it out -- give it significant thought. I've found myself referring to it in further sections for guidance. This area contains questions regarding your personal vision, your core values, what are your passions/what brings you joy? what is your life's purpose? & also includes a nifty little area on what should I AVOID for a happier life? The facing page details DAILY RITUALS (gratitude, affirmations, personal reminders). Given the current climate surrounding self help & personal development (Marie Kondo, anyone?), this really speaks to me. Utilizing this section feels very useful for setting the tone of how you will utilize this planner. If you're just looking for a weekly appointment organizer, this is perhaps a bit excessive, but for a goal planner, habit tracker, or for those who are looking to ACTUALLY live their "new year, new you" resolutions, this is the perfect place to start. Next is the vision board. I used to find these very daunting, given I have the artistic abilities of an unripe watermelon, but once I discovered scrapbooking & planner stickers, I have realized this area is a wonderful place to visually outline your goals - big & small - for the year. For example, I have a large map sticker for my area with little "pins" in all the places I want to visit over the course of 2019, two large quotes that I want to make my motto for the year & incorporate more fully into my mindset, & a "top 3" sticker for listing the three bucket list items I absolutely WILL accomplish in 2019. The next page, to me, is terrifying. "What do I want my life to be like?" -- in 1, 5, 10, & 20 year increments, broken down to various categories to include health/fitness, career, relationships, finance, etc. I find this section absolutely should be done backwards (start at 20, work down to one so you can see what steps you need to take in the short term to reach long term), & beyond that, it is incredibly personal + involves a left of self honesty that I was expecting when I bought the planner so I could at least try & get my sh*t together. Refreshing, & also lends good perspective for planning moving forward. Next page: Your **one year** goals, broken down by the same area as above, with an additional area for outlining & giving your "big why". Next page: Your **three month** goals, + boxes for "why" & rewards if achieved. Opposite this page is a mind map, which I utilize similarly to my vision board, merely broken down to appropriate scale for my quarterly plans. Some resources suggestions for how to best utilize this section: UDEMY, personalexcellence.co, nerdfitness, marie kondo, sarah knight, UFYH/Unfuck Your Habitat, if you are truly struggling to fill this out cold-written/on your own. Onto the monthly layout. Monthly layouts are hit or miss, every time. CF's is pretty standard - with a twist. The notes sidebar on the left is a good size for general notes, or you can get stickers to cover it (Erin Condren's habit trackers & sidebar stickers work, etsy has tons of sidebar replacement custom stickers to cover the entire thing out of existence). Personally, I use small stickers (from honeyinked, on etsy) to break it down into categories for important things I need to do during the month (an overall mood note, typically something I'm concerned about/need to bring up to a psychiatrist), medication notes (dose increases, decreases, anything I have to take temporarily, important things to do/not do while on meds, etc), pet notes (vet visits upcoming, shots due, chewy.com orders, training sessions), reading goals, self care notes, & a section for my current class on UDEMY/what still needs to be done/started). Below all of this is a monthly goals section. You can just cold-list, or break it down into sections (school/work/personal, etc.). To the right you have a four-box set up for how you'll make this month great. If you're using the first section setup for the planner, refer to it! Reference short term goals & see what you can do this month to move you forward. For the actual monthly calendar itself, I tend to use washi tape to mark what days I work, MAMBI/happy planner mini day stickers (they take up two day boxes, if you have blanks) to list additional notes (shopping, errands, orders, etc), as well as other stickers or colored demarkations to note pay day, bills, & generally just outline the most important aspects of the month I'm not allowing myself to forget. A monthly review follows, which is another reason I highly highly recommend personalexcellence.co - anyone familiar with their 30 Day challenges will recognize the layout - there's a wheel for ranking the life categories you filled out back in section 1. Overall, the monthly section is good if you're set on consistency & personal development. Important note: the monthly sections are all BACK TO BACK, then the weekly section follows. Weekly: Monday - Sunday sections on the left, with small boxes to the right of the left page layout. Top goal, then three priorities. If you find you aren't using them, consider covering them with motivational quotes or pasting a to-do/shopping list over them to maximize space. The right page has a section for your main goal & reward, as well as areas for priorities & two sections for to-do lists. One of my very few peeves is that the to do list sections are pre-labeled with "work" & "personal." I don't have much reason for a work to-do list in this planner, so I tend to past over & re-label it. The habit tracker is wonderful to already have included, I can stop buying stickers (it's a real problem) to effectively include one & take up other much needed space. The LIFE BALANCE to do lists are wonderful - again, consider using them with section 1 for long term goal achievement. Finally, at the very back, you have dot grid paper. You can use this for lists, or additional vision boards. I personally use it for Day Zero project outlines, & various project planning. Because it's dot grid, you can also use it for bullet journaling needs. Overall, I find this planner to work EXCEPTIONALLY well for personal development, goal setting, & habit building. My only real "peeves" are I would love one more set of pages in the monthly area (to do lists that aren't week specific, but just generally need to be done or considered that month), as well as a little more flexibility in to do list labels on the weekly pages. Considering all of the pros of the planner, I can live with those minor detractors.