Why we still love paper planners
According to my Substack analytics, two weeks ago, the most clicked link in this newsletter was a post about the Hobonichi Techno, the planner I'm using in 2020.
I was a little surprised, but it also speaks to a larger trend I've noticed in the last few years: a resurgence in interest in paper planners, in using some analog tools to track our lives rather than making our entire lives digital.
In high school and college, before everyone had a smartphone, I was obsessed with using my paper planner to track my whole life: every after-school practice, every homework assignment, every plan in my (very limited) social life.
But then came Gmail in 2004. I switched to Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar in 2007 and got an iPhone in 2009. Since then, I dropped everything paper and started tracking everything in my life digitally: I use Google Calendar for everything. I use an app for to do lists, an app for taking notes, an app for tracking my daily steps and another for tracking my workouts.
But a few years ago I decided it was time for a paper planner again. I read about bullet journaling but decided it was too labor intensive for me to create spreads every week, so I wanted a planner that would do some of that setup for me. I still enjoy the act of writing things down and crossing them off, which just isn't as satisfying with a digital app. And there was something appealing about not being entirely digital, in some small way resisting the digital attention economy and committing things to paper instead. I also started using the planner for goal tracking: I’d set yearly, monthly, and weekly goals. Each week I'd look over the past week in my planner and set goals and focus areas for the coming week, sort of a weekly review, which helped me get a lot more organized and focused around the things that were my actual priorities.
I've tried quite a few planners over the last few years. This year, I'm using the Hobonichi Techo Cousin for my paper planner, and for a digital to-do system, I'm using the Things app. I like using an analog tool and a digital took together in conjunction as a hybrid system: the app is great as a catch-all system if I remember something I want to do while in transit and a great way to organize random todos, on there subway or out to dinner. And I'm using the planner to set goals and priorities every month, week, and workday.
In lieu of the usual “what I’m reading” section this week (the internet has been pretty slow this week), I’m including a bunch of great resources I’ve been reading over the past couple weeks that I found interesting and helpful about the Hobonichi, the Things app, and our obsession with paper planners:
I would lay down my life for this Hobonichi Techo planner, by Rachel Miller of Just Good Shit.
The cult Japanese notebook a Strategist editor fell for, New York/The Strategist.
The case for using a paper planner, by Kristin Wong, New York Times. (From 2018, but holds up!)
Why millennials love bullet journals, Oset Babur, Vox. (From 2018, but again, holds up!)
The hybrid productivity method, The Sweet Setup. (On using both a paper planner and a digital to-do app together)
Compelling reviews for why Things is the best to-do list app from The Sweet Setup and Wirecutter.
My Things 3 setup for 2020, by Stefan Zweifel.
Happy 2020 planning!
Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, you can click the “heart” at the top of this post on Substack or share it on social media or forward to a friend — they can subscribe at nishachittal.substack.com. And if you have thoughts on this week’s newsletter or suggestions to include in the future, feel free to reply to this email and let me know.