Hello! My name is Isabelle, and I am a college freshman studying in the U.S. Outside of school, I also enjoy filming study and lifestyle videos over on my youtube channel, cafe.studyy. In today’s guest post for The Stationery Life, I will talk about how my planning system has changed over the years and what I finally found to be the perfect system for my needs.
Ever since I could remember, the best part of going back to school every year was undoubtedly, back to school shopping. Most important of all those supplies for me was the planner. The book I would write all my assignments and tasks in throughout the year had to be the perfect fit. There was always so many options to choose from, so every year I experimented with a different format and layout, trying to find the one that fit the best.
First, I tried to use the academic planners offered by my school. The weekly motivational quotes were nice, but the planner layout was so dull and uninspiring that I usually stopped using the planner after 2 weeks of school.
The next planning system I tried was bullet journaling. I was attracted by the customizability of the system to suit each person’s needs. However, I quickly found that having to make all the layouts by hand each week simply didn’t work for my schedule, especially as I started getting busier in high school.
Finally, towards the end of high school I discovered the 10-minute planner on my Instagram feed and found the layout interesting and different from most American planners. I liked the minimal layout that provided the necessary spaces for assignments and reminders but also left space open for personalization if desired. I was also intrigued by the idea of tracking study time in your planner each day, and wanted to see if it would help me in terms of daily time management.
Deciding to try it out, I scoured the internet to find the cheapest and safest way to purchase the planner. However, as the planner’s company is based in Korea and most sellers were Korean websites, I was unsure if I wanted to pay international shipping for a planner I had never used.
It was at this time that I came across The Stationery Life, the only seller I found to be selling the planners in the US. I was able to buy the planner at a much more affordable price and receive it in a few days from ordering.
Now, having used the 10-minute planner every day for a month, I have found that I am much more aware of how I spend my time per day and realized from looking at the timetables that there are consistent hours of the day where I am more productive than usual. Now that I am aware of what times I study the best, I am able to study effectively for fewer hours per day and get more done. The minimal layout has also been flexible from days where I am so busy that I only have enough planning time for a hasty scribble, to days where I can take my time and decorate the daily plan with stickers and highlighters.
In a nutshell, using the Motemote planner has helped make my studying life efficient and enjoyable.
