5 Reasons you should use a paper planner

Do you currently save all your meetings and important events in your phone’s calendar? Do you have a range of virtual sticky notes in your phone for your shopping lists, to do lists, any other list that you likely forgot? How do you track your fitness, weight or meal plans? 

No doubt you’re feeling like your current system has worked fine for many many years now, but there’s still something missing. You can’t quite put your finger on it. Maybe you’re just not satisfied? Perhaps your phone calendar is now so full of colour codes, you’ve forgotten the key and sometimes even forgotten the event or task. 

That’s where I step in to convince you today to try your hand at paper planners, one of my favourite things in this world!

What are paper planners? 

Paper planners encompass any form of planner that allows you to physically write down and plan your diary, tasks, goals and anything else. 

They come in a range of different forms from a ring binder (my personal favourite) such as those from Filofax, Van Der Spek or Moterm. A bound notebook such as the famous Hobonochi Weeks, Stalogy or Kikki K. There’s discbound and wire-bound, the options are truly endless. But if it all seems overwhelming, in the end a simple plain notebook with a cover that speaks to your inner child will do just fine to start your journey. 

So, what are the 5 reasons as to why you should pick up a new paper planner today? 

1. It can improve your memory

It has been backed by science that writing things down physically can help improve our memory. Have you ever had your laptop fail in an important lecture or meeting? If you switched over to scribbling down all the points you needed to remember, chances are you’ll still be able to recall some of them even now. 

That’s because we engage a side of our brain that helps us focus. The act of writing allows us to slow down, subconsciously taking in the cues around us. When taking lecture notes by hand for example, we have to be selective about the information we digest and write down, thus engaging our brain to really understand the task before us. This is different from screen or voice recording the lecture verbatim. 

This memory retention also boots your chances of actually sticking to your goals. Top tips if you engage your creative side and really get stuck into not just writing down your goals, but drawing pictures, adding photos and connecting with them on a subconscious level.

2. It can help reduce stress

In today’s society where we can often feel like we have to be “switched on” all the time, who doesn’t want to try something that could help take some of the strain? That’s because using paper planners helps you slow down. Way down. Have you ever been to therapy? (Stay with me here) One of the key components in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for rewiring your brain is to make a list. Physically. When you're stressed, angry, anxious, you name it, often a therapist will prescribe that you physically write down all your emotions on paper and then just throw it all away! The very act of writing them down, will often help diminish those big feelings, because when we slow down and conduct the action of writing them out, our logical brain kicks in, reminding us things are not out of control and maybe we’ve got this. You certainly have got this. 

Another popular method of reducing stress through paper planning is journaling. The queen of journaling Julia Cameron has created a wonderful system to sort through all the different compartments of your brain through what she calls Morning Pages, defined as “three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning.” These are very powerful and deserve another post on them entirely! 

Next time you’re feeling stressed, why not try it? Grab a pen, paper, your favourite notebook and write your troubles away. 

3. It can help form a Keystone Habit

What’s a keystone habit? It’s like brushing your teeth in the morning, getting up and making your bed. That one, or maybe two habits you’ve been doing since you were a child that start of your day and invite all the other habits to just fall in line like a domino effect and yes, for the purpose of this example your morning coffee can be a keystone habit. 

Now, imagine every morning, or evening, perhaps only once a week you checked in with your planner. Not your digital phone while out and about, in the queue to the bank or waiting for the kids to come busting through the car doors. No. A paper planner, where you specifically sit at your desk or in bed, with your coloured pens, sticky notes and other accessories. You dedicate special time maybe a 15 minute daily glance of what needs to be done. Perhaps a weekly 1 hour sit down with a cup of coffee to plan your week ahead and check in with your goals. 

Without realising you’ll have started to setup a habit, only this habit is your keystone habit for planning. Just gaining discipline in continuously writing down your tasks and planning your weeks by hand will help you start to achieve all you need to do in real time. If that’s not convincing enough to give it a go then what is! 

4. Less Distraction 

We’ve all been there. We promised to write down an important meeting in our phone. We’ve just left the doctor’s office with the date and time of our next appointment, only as we were inputting it into our phone we see a notification of a work email pop up. We open that up to read and before you know it we’re down a rabbit hole putting out work fires, completely forgetting the date and time of that original appointment. 

Paper planners don’t have pings and dings and blips and rings to distract you. What’s more is they are so adaptable you can write something down on a random piece of paper and transfer it to your planner later. Or you can have a special dump section in your planner where you can quickly scribble any notes you need to before you forget or before you get distracted. It’s practically foolproof. 

5. Self Care 

Possibly my number one favourite reason for using a paper planner is one that encompasses all the above because it focuses around YOU. 

Having a paper planner is akin to dedicating time to you. It gives the stationery addict in you a reason to be ANOTHER pen (you deserve it). You can have fun exploring and expressing your creativity with colour, sketches, special symbols for a key or just decorating your planner in a way that makes you smile every time you use it. 

It’s so important to spend that time on us and its so easy to convince ourselves that we don’t need it. But we do. 

So this is your permission to go shop for a new planner and perhaps a pencil or two. Maybe even some stickers and accessories from Leeshcraft! Indulge your inner child, go wild planning all that you could achieve this year and enjoy being part of the planning community. 

We’re all a bit mad here! 

Are you interested in moving to a paper planner? Do you already have one set up? If so, which one do you use? Tell me in the comments below!