Planners didn’t quite work out for @brandonwilson. Just like him, I have a huge stack of planners and notebooks meant for scheduling and planning life. Most are gifts, a few I bought myself. But all had been sitting quietly on the shelf for years. I even keep year planners that had ‘expired’, so that one day when I can use it as a random scrapbook or notebook. 

I always preferred digital planners and calendars. I can access them anywhere on the cloud. It’s always in my phone and when I’m out at work. It’s omnipresent. Best part of it: it’s ‘weightless’ and doesn’t take up space (other than memory space). I don’t have to lug it around in my backpack like a physical book. There’s no need to worry about clutter. It’s one less thing to physically manage. (Side point: I don’t count digital clutter as clutter since it’s easily hidden away)  

But interestingly, I decided on using a year planner recently for my money habits and goals. It was a beneficial conspiracy of conditions coming together—my sister just gave me a nice 2020 planner for Christmas which I didn’t know what to do with; I had been on this learning journey of money habit formation for some time and needed to get more serious about it; and I just happened to start a habit system for money which I wanted to track. 

There’s something about a physical artefact that lends more weight (pun intended lol) to the purpose you intended it for. In my case, I wanted to get serious about managing my money and learning better money management and investment habits, so that act of starting a physical book helps solidify that intention. It makes the tracking more tangible, and the act of doing all those money habits come alive more. And somehow, sitting down at my work desk first thing in the morning to write in that book feels really…nice. Faint daylight streaming through the blinds. A neighbourhood that’s still peacefully asleep. Occasional bird chirping. Just me in a quiet space, acting on my plain ambition and a quiet world ready for the taking.  

An abstract intention actualised in a physical ritual, wrapped up with a sublime experience.

Best way to create habits, if you ask me.