Jibun Techo Planners

Jibun Techo planners are here, if in a somewhat haphazard manner and with basically zero fanfare. Planner season is really an all-encompassing life stage. It’s hard to resist the allure of all the fun Hobonichi covers, along with the page-a-day space, and many of you are already devoted Traveler’s Notebook system users, and the ease of slipping in your planner along with the rest of your inserts makes the most sense.

However, the Jibun Techo has been the sleeper hit of the planner community over the last couple of years, and some of you have been advocating for its presence on our shelves. “You can organize your day!” “They come in great sizes!” “You’re missing out!” I’m thrilled to finally have them in the shop.

I was a bit ambivalent about using a new planner, or even committing to a planner at all, given the vagaries of life these days. However I’m going to be using a Jibun Techo 6next year, and I have to admit, it is a great size. I am looking forward to organizing my day and not missing out any longer.

Here are some of the inside page formats of the Biz Mini, the one I’m going with:

While I will be trying out the Jibun Techo, I’m not sure how my planner and notebook system is going to work next year. I have a couple of notebooks on going (reading journal, journal) that are fairly permanent and ongoing regardless of dates or years, and I certainly don’t live a complicated enough life that I need multiple planners—or perhaps more accurately I’m not organized enough to sustain multiple planners. Notebooks and planners should be a support system for helping you get more out of life and reduce organizational headaches, not the other way around. That being said, I do enjoy organizing by pen and paper, so I’m going to have to think about what I’m doing in life, beyond the normal existential crises. I’m always trying to simplify in life, although that usually means putting the kids in semi-clean clothes to reduce laundry or pouring my leftover tea into the plants.

I’m excited for something new, though, as another year begins. We are leaving lots behind from 2021, another long and exhausting year. In many ways, it seemed quite a bit more challenging than 2020, even though the pandemic had just begun. I suppose we were running off the exhilarating fumes of adrenaline and impending doom, and by the time 2021 rolled around, reality had set in.

But new year, new Liz. Oftentimes my days seem to slip past me in a blink—I’ve dropped off Caleb for a day of learning, poured myself a cup of coffee, opened my iPad and notebook, spent a few hours trying to lure the cats into my house, and all of a sudden it’s time to pick him up again. How much learning could he have gotten done? So perhaps I will try making more use out of the hours I get in a day, time-blocking or goal setting or some other system of Getting Things Done.