For me, it’s not planner outgrowth, but evolution. I have a space where I jot notes about what’s working/not. And I have to say, the two of you have helped me get to a place where I find this empowering. It’s not about what’s failing, but how can I accelerate my growth.

I've been a planner since 2014 when I first heard about Ryder Carroll's bullet journal system. I run my own business and have ADHD, and this solved so many issues I was having. I've been here for all the waves and trends and unknowingly "deviated" from the bullet journal system (TM) when hyper-artistic and decorative journals were booming. I've tried all the spreads, canon and non-canon, and I think like most, I've come to realize humans are like seasons, constantly changing. One system will never fit forever.

For that reason, I prefer stick to a dot or grid journal because it's wwaaayy more adaptable than a printed planner. I no longer pre-build or design layouts weeks in advance (I used to have pages and pages of unused weeklies & monthlies). I also just go with the flow. Right now, monthly > weekly > daily is working for me. I changed my daily this month since my needs changed. Daily is now a list of events & tasks along with interstitial journaling to keep me on task and end of day reflective journaling for mental and emotional health. It's amazing.

Because I have an autoimmune condition with chronic fatigue I have given up using a planner altogether. I am currently developing an index card system that is my own and designed specifically for chronic fatigue or people in busy times in their life when they're interrupted a lot. But it's still something I'm testing I'm not ready to publish it on my channel yet. I don't write goals anymore I write priorities and I have them on an index card that I read every day. I never read my goals everyday before.   I don't like having a book with a list of things that I meant to do and didn't get done or journal that's dated and empty pages. Those things really make me feel bad about myself. An index card system is better for me because I can shuffle out things when my energy is low. Or rearrange things based on my energy very easily. I can reuse the cards I don't have to recreate them all the time. Although I have some one off tasks on a card I can use a pencil and erase it when I have completed it. And now instead of a dated journal I use a notebook and write in it when I have the energy for journaling.  When it comes to my work I write a list of what I got done so that I have a way of tracking that rather than a list of things to do.

20:50 100% one of the reasons why I refuse to use digital tools is the farming and sales of our data/information. I don't even use the "hey (insert sleazy subnamed program of choice)" but I was getting copious ads for things I talked casually with family about just minutes before, and that's when I also decided to disable the camera and microphone on my phone unless in a phone call or taking a photo.

I loved the little excursion on personal branding! You explained it so well and simple, thank you Jess!
As to outgrowing a planner - I think this mainly happens when you feel like you have to rigidly follow some type of rules you (or someone else) set. When using concepts like them WANT analysis I think planning naturally changes with your plans. I've changed my planning style a lot over the past years.
Especially when becoming a mother for the first time, but even more with the second child! The second child had me overhauling my entire calendar system, because it had to be accessible for several people.
I think having a flexible mindset is key to adjusting your planning style to your planning needs!

As a Six Sigma program manager who enjoys journals and pens, I was tickled by seeing you both talk about the 5 Whys. Part of the reason why I am regularly changing my system is because of the work I am doing and because I am always my own project lol. My needs change, my interests change, so why shouldn't my system change?

Loved this episode! As a mom of two high schoolers, I would track school, sports, appts, meals, practices, jobs, my work, birthdays and 1000 other things very well with great systems. And then the kids graduated. And became self sufficient, moved out, manage their own lives and I was left with my super planner and nothing to plan. I had no idea what to do, always overdoing it and ended up with unused pages, trackers I didn’t need, etc. I’m on my 3rd iteration of a planner this year and went back to a dot grid notebook, bulleting some items and tasks, a simple monthly calendar spread and a weekly. Back to bare bones and basics while I figure out the rest. I def thought this podcast was about needing more from your planner, not needing less, but I got lots of takeaways. And validation. Thank you!!

Love this chat. I like the idea that our journals/planners change as we do. Last week's layout and notes look written by a different person, put together and neat,  thus week looks like i have never held a pen and my brain 🧠  belongs to a stranger. Both work  and strangely meet the needs for the  week I am having.

37:16 I feel you on backfill piling up! I also can’t start a new one or skip dates 😂

I set a very small goal for myself. 2 entries per day. So I’ll still catch up, but yes slowly haha

The paradox of the bullet journal is that the method / system was developed by a person to fit the unique way his mind worked.  We feel that if we’re not following his system, we’re failing the bullet journal. But, the essence of the whole method is designing what works FOR YOU! Anyway, my two cents to adapt and grow within whatever planning system works best for you, where you are right now.  Even if that changes every few months or so. 😊

Great post! In the planner-ing community, we're at the half-year mark and many are trying to gauge whether our current systems are serving us (or the other way around). I think it's NEVER about the planner... heck, you could use index cards, a pen and your phone for everything. When your system is no longer enjoyable and/or useful for you, it's time to re-set. So, you never really outgrow it, you just use what you've learned and move on. Whenever life gets really overwhelming, I go back to the OG Bujo Method (like a palate-cleansing), with my own tweaks. Can't stay there too long, however. I have a hybrid analog/digital system, based on my own needs that's working well. For now.

53:25 Frankenstein it! I LOVE my frankenplanner.

Sorry if I posted this twice 🤪 I used a Franklin Planner and separate private journal for decades before switching to bullet journal in 2018. In 2020 with COVID, I got into YouTube content with beautiful journals and Tombows and Archer & Olive. Now, I have quarterly A&O journal/planner for daily use, a reading journal, a gardening journal, a running journal, other reference journals. I only use the daily one every day, for high-level, long-term planning and reflection, as well as memory keeping. Love the reset every week, month, quarter, annual and aligning tasks with goals. I love my reading journal, and my gardening & running journals are very practical and useful. But through the day, I’m using a Happy Planner for messy to do lists, notes, and interstitial journaling. I rely on my phone for my daily calendar. At the end of the day, if you’re making appointments and deadlines, keeping promises, and filling your cup while making progress toward goals & spending your time intentionally, it doesn’t matter what planner form you are using 😉💕👍

Every video you two post makes me pause to think about something!

I've been "outgrowing" planners/notebooks/systems since before my college students were born, so I've had lots of practice at figuring out what's wrong with my system (and how it doesn't mean there's something wrong with me), but it wasn't until today's video that I consciously tied all of that back to change management. We talk about organizational change management, IT change management, systems change management, and project change management (and I'm probably missing a few more), but we're not outgrowing planners--we're updating planning systems through a change management process matched (messily or neatly, intentionally or as a byproduct of flailing our way toward figuring out what's going wrong) to the changes in our lives, whether those changes are temporary (anyone else's planner suddenly look like a stranger's when the flu, vacation, or an especially busy project hits?) or long-term (change in family, job, location, priorities, etc.). That's not just okay; it's necessary and even healthy.

I have never, not once in the 20+ years I've been doing some kind of written planning, gotten through an entire year without needing to make some kind of change, and 2026 isn't going to be an exception.

Hopefully, someone will remind me of this when fall semester arrives, bringing a need to set aside my A5 dated planner--plenty of room for managing my day-to-day stuff and the work to-do list for two online classes--for something more suited for handling the work associated with 1 online and 4 seated classes, all covering different subject matter, without losing track of faculty meetings, dental appointments, preparation for my son's 2027 wedding, and random life moments I want to capture.

I definitely outgrew planners. But journaling has been a constant. It can evolve with each month as needed. That’s why I don’t but planners but am in love with notebooks. You can make it what you want!

Love this! I recently revamped my planning system as I started a PhD program and fell off tracking what I had been tracking. What I needed to track was my research, my teaching, my to-dos, and my schedule, but I also wanted to have space to journal the day’s events. I’m still figuring it out (I’m currently trying to get back to incorporating my own drawings), but it took me a while to realize the system I had used for nearly 9 years just wasn’t going to work for this new adventure, so it will take me a while to find what works now. It was great to hear your thoughts on this topic!

I move between planners based on the seasons, my life, my work, etc. I tend to go back to what I put down after a while though, so I don't know that I'd say I outgrew a planner more than I had a shift that called for something else for a while.

The only thing I outgrew was monthly planning. Just like Jess, but for a vey different reason. So it required a different solution. Months are too short!! 😂
I plan in 6 weeks blocks now, so that required a system revamp. Otherwise I've really just been iterating, changing small things over time. But also happily going back and forth between systems. Whenever I bump into something that doesn't work, or when I feel I want a different approach, I just change it the next time I set it up. I'm trying to be really flexible with my system so it is aligned with my current state of mind.

Re: the Bullet Journal, I think the only two things I have stuck with from that system is 1. the bullets and 2. the reflection practice. I just matured out of the things that didn't work for me... which is apparently most of it? Unless you want to count a date header with notes & tasks beneath it as part of BuJo, even though they are not rapid log compliant 😂

I love this topic! I have a friend who is a die hard hobonichi daily person, but then she gets so frustrated when she misses a few days. I always think "why not try something else"? I, myself, am about to go into a change. I have been a vertical planner for nearly 10 years. It worked for me. Until it didn't.  This year, I noticed my planning needs and style have changed. I was lucky because I needed a new planner for work (I keep personal and work separate because that's what works for me) and I was able to get a planner I was curious about - the sterling ink common planner in B6 size, horizontal layout. Ive been able to use annual leave weeks as practice personal pages and i loved it. Im finishing up my vertical planner (hemlock & Oak brand) for 2027, because it was expensive and im not wasting, but i got an Aura Estelle B6 horizontal (less note pages at the back because I won't use those for daily journaling. I didnt need as much as sterling ink offers) for 2027 and I am very excited to use it. It might not work for me and thats okay. If I dont like it, I will look for something else that does for 2028. Its not that serious - it just needs to be functional for me.

My planner has always been more of a memories journal feeling space, than a productivity journal. I used digital syestems and a seperate notepad for daily lists that I was happy to recycle. My journal also tracked long term progress and projects. The every day grocery lists were never part of it for me. I had only been watching Jess and Erin for a few months when bullet journalling was still what everyone was calling it, and I said to a friend, I’ve started bullet journalling. She looked at it and said, that’s not bullet journalling. And pulled out her scrappy, lined notebook, with a ballpoint pen, where she was keeping track for her 4 kids sport, lessons, life, baking, appointments etc and I was like ohhhh….yes what I am doing is very different to that! So it was interesting to hear you talk about how the bullet journal method terminology has changed. I’m fully into the journal…less into the bullets.