A daily or weekly planner? The same question seems to be at forefront of my mind every December when it is time to buy my planner. And for YEARS, the weekly planner won.
Weekly Planner
Pros
Overview of the Week
Having an overview of each week makes planning a breeze.
During my last two years of undergrad, I was involved in honor societies and multiple extracurricular groups as an officer and my hands were full! Beyond full. I worked a few times a week, went to meetings at odd times and days during the week and during some semesters, I had to read 2 books per week.
Having a bird’s eye view of my week was crucial in planning out tasks for each day. I could see my entire week: all my work shifts, due dates, meetings, and I would even note all projects due the following week.
The overview keeps planning effective and efficient. With a weekly planner, you can divide all of assignments due during the week into smaller, actionable portions based on that day’s schedule to plan out your week.
Cons
The Overview Overwhelm
With a weekly planner, planning is easy, the feeling of control and owning your week comes easy, and all your tasks feel like they live in their own day’s boxes. What I’ve found, however, after 15 years of using a weekly planner is that seeing the entire week can feel totally overwhelming–especially if your life is as busy as mine has been.
You plan out your week on Sunday night or a Monday morning of a brand new semester and all you see when you open your planner is all the things you have to do. This leads me to the daily planner.
Daily Planner
Pros
With the daily planner, each day feels manageable.
When you open your daily planner, you only see the tasks for that day. That alone makes the entire day feel manageable. Rather than seeing the 20 tasks you have to do for that week, you only see 3 or 4 tasks.
Your week feels longer and each day feels fulfilled.
With a daily planner, you can plan by hour. Instead of seeing all your week’s to-dos and trying to guess when you can do it, you can schedule tasks based on your actual free time. You can purpose hours, create time blocks, and be present, going one hour at a time.
Cons
You don’t have an overview.
Obviously the biggest con is not seeing your entire week. However, effective planning– writing due dates, transferring tasks to the next day if not completed, and planning chunks of each assignment offsets the need for an overview.
Why the switch to the daily planner?
“Don’t fix it if it’s not broken” replays in my head when I think of why I switched. Simply put, it worked so long and every season of busyness that it was incredibly difficult to switch. I switched because of mental health reasons.
Every day felt overwhelming last year. I was a full-time graduate student, worked 35 hours a week, and I could not tell you where my hours went. I planned out all the to-dos but not when to do them. Dinner took up more time than I realized, Netflix became an escape, and with all the tasks in front of me, I procrastinated or wasted time, pushing all tasks towards my weekends where all I did was play catch up.
The Verdict
Three weeks into the new year and I’m LOVING my switch to a daily planner. Each day feels long. Every hour gets purposed. And rather than seeing work as something to get out of the way so I could get to my tasks, I see those hours purposed and can purpose my after-work hours accordingly.
A weekly planner is for you if:
- you need an overview of your week
- you have projects and tasks that need to get broken down into chunks
A daily planner is for you if you:
- want to break down your day into time blocks
- want designated time slots
- need space to write tons of things
There is no right choice. The years I used a weekly planner were years I needed one. I love the switch now but it doesn’t mean it would’ve been right for me during past seasons of my life. I’ve done both the vertical and horizontal layout and all were perfect during the years I used them. If you’re looking for planners, my favorite place to shop for them is Michael’s! I love the Happy Planner.
If you’re purchasing a planner, be sure to check whether the pages are thick in case you want to highlight or use inky pens. Here are the highlighters I’ve been using for two years.
I recently purchased a daily Simplified Planner by Emily Ley during Black Friday last year and I love it–seriously love it– with everything I got. If you want to check these out, look here. She also has a weekly planner.
Which kind of planner do you prefer?
