Best Planners for Artists in Business
Artist’s don’t need a plan right? Creativity and planning just don’t mix.
That’s what I thought until admitted that I wasn’t getting things done – only dreamin’ about them.
What I found is that a little structure goes a long way and planning is just the edge of your canvas so you know how big your picture is, where up is, down is and where the edges are.
One good place to start is to use a planner – and no matter where you are in the year, you’re right on track and not ever behind.
I’ve tried lots of different planners, and this year I switched again, so I thought I’d share what I use and give you some things to consider if you’ve yet to choose yours for the new year.
A planner lays out your day, week, year just like that and says, “You have 12 months for yourself this year – watch gonna do with it?”
Well? Whatcha gonna do with the days you have in 2017?
Basically, you want to get stuff done that matters to you. Writing things down cements it and helps clear out what you don’t want and helps you get traction on what you do.
And before another ‘no can’t do it’ pops into your head: Money is not a barrier. A cheap one from the office store, a plain note book that you go through day by day, or calendar you print out from your iCal or Google Calendar. Any of those are good to get you started.
Before deciding on a planner, get clear on how you currently organize and remember important information. (Sticky notes on foreheads don’t count!)
A good planner should give you enough space to right down tasks for the day, appointments, projects, works with other ways and tools that you use, room for project notes, space for ideas and notes pages
If you want a little more design here’s my top three favorites and some new discoveries you could try this year.
1. Shining Year Workbook from Leonie Dawson
This is my first year using this planner and I chose it because while I love minimalist stye, this year, I really needed to shift my thinking and planning and her bright colors, fun images mixed with solid business prompts are just thing to do it. Grab The 2018 Shining Year Workbook.
I’m using the 2017 Shining Year Goals Diary Planner as my overview for the year, the planner for monthly and weekly focus and integrating with my moleskine for those brilliant ideas that used to end up on a thousand sticky notes – it’s all about progress!
Keeping everything all in one planner was the ideal I held to the last few years, but I always wind up with more sticky notes everywhere.
I’m still getting acquainted with it, but so far loving how clean my desk is because of them.
2. Desire Map Planner by Danielle LaPorte
Starting with how you feel is the way I live and when I found the Desire Map Planner, it was love at first write.
Starting each monthly page with your what feels right and will keep you lined up with your heart path is an awesome way to take action. Each weekly spread (she has a daily version too) has plenty of room to write notes, along with your top three things to focus on for the week.
I love the soulful prompts through this planner and the lightly colored ink that let’s you write over whatever you need. A great for creative business planner and I highly recommend it.
NOTE: A new shipment arrives January 15th (currently sold out) – so grab it quick if this one’s for you.
3. Bullet Journal
This style of planning works great with any basic notebook or Moleskine planner. If you like the process of creating your own titles and pages and it helps you get things done, then this style of planning is yours.
You start off by creating your index page and numbering the pages in your blank book. Then draw your year at a glance, quarterly, monthly and weekly pages, logs for projects or art, trackers, collections, brainstorm and idea pages, exercise, menus, movie list – whatever you need. That’s the beauty of this system – you literally make it your own.
I use this in addition to my daily planner and find that it’s a slimmer, grab and go version for the day’s notes and reminders.
It’s easy to integrate this style with another planner and I find the extra step of writing an action or creatively doodling it out, organizing by collections of topics and ideas helps bring them to life much faster.
There are ideas for ways of getting started on Bullet Journal and links to user videos that all have their own style.
You might just like the mix of imagination with your planning – check it out!
I limited this list to three that I know you could do well with, but you need to decide. Just pick something to get your beautiful ideas down on paper and take action on the things you may have been avoiding.
Your turn!
What is your favorite planner or note system?
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