Same procedure as every year: days go by and you need a new planner for business. And not just any planner because if you choose well, your diary is your work tool. 365 days for the next year, a tool for all of them, for your private and professional life. For meetings and for free time, your planner should do it all.
We want to present to you a list to help you select your next business planner.
What defines a business planner?
A planner for business is first and foremost a tool. It is made to help you write down all your meetings, little reminders and more.
At the same time your planner should be practical in all terms, to write in but to carry with you as well.
You can select between dated and non-dated models. We clearly prefer dated ones. It sounds practical at first to start at any moment of the year with your agenda, but either you follow the traditional timing from January to December, or you are a teacher and you start your planning in September. There is nothing in between this. So select either one. A non-dated planner will only cause issues and mixed up dates. Plus: Honestly, are you motivated and do you have time to spare to write down dates ?
Space to write
Most planners are not made for business as they want to impose a day on you. For example, your day starts at 7 in the morning and finishes at 7 in the evening. However, that’s not really the case. How many days do you start much earlier or later, and how often do you still have meetings, dinners or sport afterwards? We are sure that your answer is “pretty often”. What you need is space per day and no predefined times. Like this you can organize every day as you need. There might be days you start early, others late. There might be days with only one appointment, others filled with 3 per hour.
If you want to be successful in business you need flexibility.
Empty pages
And this leads us to the next point. You need empty pages!
All of us already used our business planner during meetings, or a phone call. We quickly take notes and again we lack space. So what do we do? We write on last week’s page or in the space for the weekend? Yes, we are all in the same situation.
What you need are empty pages to make a To-Do list, a quick reminder or some notes for meetings.
Material and where the business planner is made
These three rules are valid for any kind of paper product.
Select well in terms of material. You can either select a model which you can refill or an annual one. But in both cases you should pay attention to the paper used. Only buy FSC certified paper and if possible select “FSC recycled” which means that at least 70% of the paper is made of recycled sources. 30 % are industry leftovers and are not new either. Alternatives are FSC 100 assuring that it is made of only FSC certified and regulated forests, or FSC Mix which means that 30% are recycled sources and 70% from new certified wood.
The ink is important as well. There are still inks which are made of petrol and not natural, others which are made with animal-sourced ingredients, so not vegan. The best is to find products that are transparent about their inks, certify that they are vegan and natural and if they recycle the leftover ink in the printing process, it’s even better.
Further, look where your product is made. When it comes to paper products, the biggest producer in Europe is still Germany, but France is catching up. You find great small manufacturers, so please avoid buying products without origins stated, or even from Asia.
The little extra
Of course you will also select your planner by its look, by the little additional information and more. Feel free to select what you like as you will spend the next 365 days together. We hope that you will find your new tool for business and have a successful year. Buying business planners is a ritual you do over and over again, we hope success is as well!