Pro tip: I used to spend 20 minutes drawing a weekly spread with rulers and washi tape, but now I just scribble a list on scrap paper and call it done after realizing my perfectionism was eating up all my actual planning time, anyone else ditch the fancy layouts for something way more basic?

I switched last March after I spent an hour on a gorgeous February spread and then never opened that notebook again until April, what made you finally give up on the fancy stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

charles_wilson1d ago

My wife still does the whole decorated spread thing with her Hobonichi, and I gotta say there's something to it. She actually uses hers every single day whereas my scrap paper lists end up lost in my car or crumpled in a coat pocket half the time. The time investment in making it look good creates a sense of ownership that makes you want to use the thing. I've watched her spend 30 minutes on a weekly layout and then reference it like six times a day for appointments and reminders. Plus those washi tapes and stickers act like a visual index for her brain, she can remember what she wrote just by where it sits on the page. Take this with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary, but for some people the fancy stuff isn't a waste of time, it's the whole reason the system works at all.

iris_dixon911d ago

It's funny how that same pattern shows up everywhere, isn't it? Like with meal prepping. People who spend Sunday afternoon chopping veggies and stacking tiny containers actually eat their lunches all week, while the rest of us just stare into the fridge at 1pm wondering what happened. The upfront effort somehow makes the daily follow through automatic. It's like the brain needs that little bit of ceremony to treat something as important.