Welcome to the Best Planners for Bloggers and Solopreneurs series. I’m a mama to two and a part-time blogger, so time is my most limited resource. As a result, I’m obsessed with time management, productivity, and planning.
If you’re balancing a whole lot of work and personal responsibilities, you’ve come to the right place. In 2017, I bought 8 planners to test out and review. Take a look at my planner reviews and sign up for Master Time Management, my free 5-day email course for bloggers and solo business owners.
This post includes affiliate links, which means if you choose to buy something using my link, I’ll earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The folks at GoalDrvn sent me a free review copy of their planner, but my thoughts on the planner are all my own. You can read more on my disclosure page.
Other reviews in this series:
The Best Planners for 2018 (a round-up of all my planner reviews)
Daily Greatness Business Planner
GoalDrvn Planner Review
The GoalDrvn planner is new on the scene, and a unique addition to the world of planners. I think it’s the most technical planner I’ve tested, with a very specific and detailed system you follow to use it most effectively.
The pros of this system are that you will make progress towards your goals. On the minus side, there’s a definite learning curve to this planner. You’ll have to spend some time reading the opening pages to understand how the system works and what all the acronyms in the planner stand for.
Check out the YouTube video for an unboxing/walk-through of the GoalDrvn planner.
Not into videos? No problem, here is my quick review:
The GoalDrvn Planner is a great option if:
- You set goals but fail to reach them. The GoalDrvn planner walks you through a process to break your goal down into bite-sized action steps that you can tackle each day.
- You like structure. The GoalDrvn planner provides a very structured system to help you reach your goals.
- You struggle with work-life balance. The GoalDrvn planner has a section to help you set goals for your personal life (health, fitness, relationships, etc), and has a system to hold you accountable to these work-life balance goals.
The Good
The GoalDrvn planner is really a planning system adapted to a planner. The system is well-thought out, and it tackles most of the major time management roadblocks that prevent people from reaching their goals.
This planner is an excellent choice for anyone who has trouble reaching his or her goals. I love that it’s broken down into 3 steps: goal setting, planning, and scheduling. Most people get stuck in the planning and scheduling parts of the process. Luckily, the GoalDrvn planner has some great features to help you stay on track. I love the habit tracker, the morning and evening reminders, and the pages for breaking down a big goal into action steps.
Another awesome feature: each weekly spread is followed by a bullet-journal style dot grid spread. This mix of structure and free space is perfect for people who want to customize their planner even further. It also offers bullet journal novices a place to try new bullet journal spreads while still keeping the structure of a traditional planner. This is the only planner I’ve seen set up in this way, and I love it!
The Bad
The GoalDrvn planner may be overwhelming for some people. You need to use the GoalDrvn system with the planner, so if you don’t take the time to read and understand the opening pages of the planner, you’ll be lost. This planner could also lead you to multitask too much. Each week includes spaces for tracking and planning for multiple goals, which could be distracting and overwhelming.
Another disadvantage: The GoalDrvn planner is on the small side. This makes it easily portable, but if you write big (like me), you’ll have to start using abbreviations or get very fine pens to fit all your notes in one place.
The Ugly
The GoalDrvn planner is designed for function, so it’s not pretty. There are tons of boxes to fill in on each page, which is fun, but if you like bright and colorful planners, you’ll be disappointed. I also wish the orange elastic was black. Carrying around a notebook with a hunter orange elastic felt less professional than carrying around the sleek, black Productivity Planner.
If you’ve got a planner, but you struggle to stick with the plan, check out Master Time Management, my FREE 5-day email course for bloggers and solopreneurs. Sign up below to learn how to stop the overwhelm and get more done every day.