The very first planner I will be reviewing is the Passion Planner!
In this blog I’ll be giving you my first impressions of the planner, and walking through how the planner works.
I’m so excited to jump in and see what this great planner has to offer. I know that there are lots of people out there who absolutely love this planner (shoutout to #pashfam!), and I’m looking forward to trying it out myself.
Why Passion Planner?
There are a few reasons why I selected this planner to start my journey with. Mostly, the Passion Planner seems like it is primarily going to walk you through defining goals, breaking them down, and then working them into your everyday schedule. I really liked that approach, and I wanted to start 2019 by focusing on big goals. The Passion Planner seemed perfect for the job!
Review
This review will be for the 2019 Dated Passion Planner Pro with a Monday-Start in Elite Black.
Size:
At the time that I ordered my Passion Planner, the Pro size (7” x 10”) was the only size available for the 2019 Jan – Dec dated planner.
I know that up until this year, Passion Planners were offered in two sizes; a large 8.5” x 11”, and a Compact in an A5 size. I had every intention of ordering the larger of the two when I was ready to purchase my Passion Planner, so finding just the Pro size available was perfectly okay for me.
I understand that the team over at Passion Planner takes user feedback, and will make changes to improve their products over time. So, I fully trust that they’ve found a planner of this size will be most effective for their users.
Dating:
Users can select from a variety of date options when ordering their Passion Planner. Options include dated planners starting in January, academic planners starting in August, or completely un-dated planners. Users are also able to select whether they want a Sunday-start or a Monday-start to their weekly spreads and monthly calendars.
I love that the planners are so customizable to the user’s preferences. Personally, I prefer to have my weeks start on a Monday. I work a 9-5 from Monday to Friday, and I like to have my Saturdays and Sundays grouped together. To me, the weekend is one chunk of time that I don’t want to split up between weeks.
Aesthetics:
The Passion Planner comes in a variety of color and design options, as well. However, I’ve selected the Elite Black version. It is a plain, faux-leather, soft-cover journal with a light green bookmark ribbon, and a black elastic band.
I really like how simple and elegant this planner looks. There is no design on the planner, other than the Passion Planner logo stamped into the front cover. I think it looks clean and professional.
Paper:
The Passion Planner has very thick, 120 GSM paper. The Passion Planner team wants you to be able to express yourself and get creative, so their paper will withstand most types of markers and pens. I think that’s great!
For me, the paper is much thicker than I’m accustomed to. The notebooks I use most often for Bullet Journaling have 80 GSM paper, so when I’m flipping through the pages of the Passion Planner, I often feel like I’m skipping pages or turning 2 pages at once. It will probably just take some time for me to get used to it.
Other Features:
As I mentioned before, the planner has a green ribbon bookmark, and a black elastic band to keep it closed.
There is a pocket in the back of the book for storage.
The Passion Planner gives you 20 blank pages and 20 dotted pages in the back for you to use however you’d like.
Every planning page has a small shaded tab at the edge of the page, grouped by month, for easy browsing when you’re flipping through.
Planning:
The first couple pages of the Passion Planner are devoted to explaining how to use it, followed by an exercise in goal-setting. The planner shows you how to decide on your goals, get specific with how you’ll be achieving them, and then add those steps into your schedule.
After that, it dives straight into your monthly and weekly planning spreads, which you’ll be seeing as I put this planner to use.
The Passion Planner makes it obvious that its method is extremely time-oriented. By that, I mean every day is literally broken down into 30 minute intervals for you to schedule your appointments and tasks into. What this does (that I think is absolutely great!) is forces you to be realistic with how you plan. You’re taking your goals, splitting them into manageable tasks, and then setting a date and time for when you will actually be working on that task.
Personally, I get comfortable with writing goals down, thinking about them, and then never actually doing them.
I get frustrated seeing my lists of ambitions at the beginning of every bullet journal, and none of them ever accomplished by the end.
The Passion Planner asks “When, exactly, will you be doing that?”.
This type of planning is quite uncomfortable for me, honestly – but it’s exactly what I need!
The team over a Passion Planner is probably well aware that there are people like me, who are uncomfortable with staring their goals straight in the face, and making their dreams a reality. So, they have also built in some great tools to keep you on-task as you go. Every weekly spread has bits of encouragement, challenges, ways to reflect on everything you’ve achieved, and space for you to be creative.
I can’t wait to get this planner set up and see what it has to offer! Follow along the journey with me both here and over on Instagram at @taskingforit. See you soon!