VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

We all have a lot of roles in our lives that we try to keep organized, and today I’m going to be talking about the planner I’ve been using to do just that.

Shout out to RoteRunner for sending me two of their planners to review. I was super excited to be able to test their newly revised Purpose Planner, as I’ve been a fan of their products for a while. I also want to add, they’re not paying me to say any of this, so you’re going to be getting an honest take on my favorite things about this planner.

The Planner’s Structure

The RoteRunner Planner is a six-month undated planner. They have a hardcover and softcover, but I am finding that I prefer the softcover since it’s more flexible (obviously). Structurally, it’s got a rubber band to keep it shut and two attached ribbon bookmarks. There’s a pocket on the inside for storing loose papers.

The paper is really lovely. I have had planners whose ink just bleeds through, and this planner doesn’t bleed with the Pilot pens I use.

Improvements they made from the previous version of this planner are now un-dated, and the days of the week are blank. The planner doesn’t require a Monday-start, so if you want a Sunday-start planner, you can do that. I know that Monday-start planners are picking up a little bit more steam in the US, but for the most part, people are used to a Sunday-start calendar.

A Role-Oriented Planner

I actually found the Purpose Planner because I was doing a lot of research into what planner I should get for 2021. The thing that attracted me to it was the fact that it was role-oriented and not goal-oriented.

When you set up your planner, there are five pages at the beginning to list five different roles in your life. These roles can be anything from your job to just being a healthy person – which, yes, that is a “role” that I listed. There put down what you want to achieve in the six upcoming months. 

Take those goals and break them down into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that will help you in whatever areas of your life you’re looking to improve. 

Let’s say your goal is to be a healthier person. In that case, tasks might include drinking herbal tea every day or getting enough water, or actually going out for a walk. The options are endless, but to sum it up, you’re looking at your life from a holistic view. Take into account all of the things that bring balance into your life, rather than just focusing on trying to get things done. The planner’s structure encourages you to take a step back and reflect on how all the roles in your life affect one another.

The Weekly View

The weekly view is packed with trackers like meal planning and hydration. There’s also a self-care and fitness calendar, which I love to use each week has its own daily habit tracker so you can adjust your habits weekly as your life changes. There’s also a sleep tracker that I admit I don’t really use. There is also a “not-to-do” and a “to-buy” list.

Priority actions are broken out into different sections for work and career home and admin, projects and passion, friends and networks and an area with a header for you to customize.

My favorite thing that they changed from the previous version of this planner is the AM focus checklist and PM focus checklist. The times on the planner run from 6AM to 6PM and has checklists for the day. Previously it was 5AM to 10PM with no checklists. It’s been a great addition I didn’t know I needed.

The Monthly View

The monthly view also has an area for making priority checklists and reflections for thinking about things you’ve learned, memories you’ve made, and reasons to be grateful.  

To be completely honest, sometimes I forget to go back to the previous month and add my reflections. I found it helpful to use that page area to reflect on the last month when setting up the upcoming month. For example, I use the January reflections space for reflecting on December.

Why I Prefer Weekly View Planners

Like many people, I experience migraines. Sometimes they can completely derail a day where I felt like I was being really productive and focused. Having a weekly planner (vs. a daily planner) allows me to take tasks from the time that I’ve lost and put it elsewhere in the week where I know I have more available time. Using a daily planner gave me guilt for having entirely empty pages of daily goals that I just couldn’t achieve due to something outside of my control. You cannot hustle every day. You have to take time to take care of yourself.

Also, at the beginning of the planner are pages for adding your bucket list and reading lists for the coming months. There’s also an annual calendar view, and at the very back of the planner, a checklist for just questions to check in with yourself and see how you’re doing with your self-care. 

You’re looking at your roles and the different streams of your life and how you can actually improve them and make them all flow together nicely. And it’s not just focused on goals and hustle. You’re encouraged to focus on yourself.

I consider using a planner to be an act of self-care. I don’t just use a planner as a place to keep my tasks. Using a planner as a dumping ground (or inbox) for things that cross my mind throughout the day helps me to keep my head clear for whatever task is at hand, instead of ruminating on what else needs to get done. It’s less about productivity and more about keeping my mind clear.

I’d probably get nothing done if it wasn’t for using a planner. I’ve tried a lot of different options over the years with my previous favorite being the bullet journal system in a Moleskine notebook. I’ve come to realize that I work best with using two tools: a main planner notebook, and a project management app like Asana for larger projects that have a lot of moving parts.

After using a not-so-great planner last year (I used the Create & Cultivate Self Made planner in 2020 and wasn’t a huge fan of the lack of writing space or instruction on how to use some of the features), I did some hefty research before making my planner purchase for 2021. Ultimately, I ended up purchasing the Roterunner Purpose Planner and have been using it for one whole month – so it seemed like a good time to write a review! Just as a disclaimer, this post is not sponsored (but hey, Roterunner, hit me up!).

What is the Roterunner Purpose Planner?

This planner is a six-month, open date planner. The dimensions are the same size as a larger hardcover Moleskine (19x25cm). I tend to lean towards smaller size planners so they fit easily in any of my handbags, but I decided to take a risk with this one. I ended up liking the larger size since it allowed for more writing space. The flat-lay planner itself has an internal storage pocket, an elastic to keep the cover shut, and two ribbons for bookmarking.

I purchased the planner online through the Roterunner website. Hopefully they’ll be available through more retailers in the future, but at the moment it appears that online purchases are the only way to get your hands on one of these.

Compartmentalization Rules

At first I was a little bit concerned about the amount of compartmentalization. Every week has boxes for checklists for:

• Work & Career
• Home & Admin
• Projects & Passion
• Friends & Networks
• To buy & Not to Do
• 7 Daily Habits
• A sleep tracker
• Self Care & fitness calendar
• Meal planning
• Notes section

And this is on top of the weekly calendar setup. Does it seem like too much? At first I thought I might end up being overwhelmed by the amount of compartmentalization, but I’ve come to realize it actually makes me less worried by the amount of things that I needed to get done because I can separate things that are work or project related from things that matter to my health or home. I don’t find myself digging through my to-do lists anymore. I can zero in on specific areas if I need to.

I recognize that this might not be for everyone, but if you have a shorter attention span like I do and find organizing things into lists helps you to think clearer, this level of compartmentalization is really great.

Final Impressions

Favorite features

• Non-Dated Format: Six month open date allows for more flexibility and less guilt if you want to change to a new planner halfway through the year.
• Compartmentalization: keeping everything in separate boxes really does help to keep focus. For some things on my to-do list, I didn’t know which compartment to put it in though. Some items would fall into both Projects & Passion and Work & Career. There were a few compartments that went unused (like the Sleep Tracker), but overall I enjoyed having these features available when I needed them.
• Quality Feels: The hardcover and paper feels high quality. I didn’t run into any issues with my pilot pen ink bleeding through the paper.

Least favorite features

• Monday start weeks: After six months of using the planner, I don’t think I’ve gotten used to it.
• Timestamps: Even though this planner uses a horizontal weekly layout, the timestamps are only on the far left side of the week. I would’ve preferred if time stamps were included for each day of the week, because the further along in the week, the harder it became to use time blocking. Having lines in this section instead of a dot grid might’ve also helped here.
• Placement of the Monthly Reflections: This might be a “me” thing, but I found it hard to keep referring back to the monthly goals and reflections page. I’ve been tending to go week by week and not review the month’s goals. Having a section at the end of the month for reflection instead of at the beginning of the month might’ve been helpful.

After using the Roterunner Purpose Planner from January 2021 through the beginning of June 2021, I overall felt that it was definitely one of the better planners I’ve used. I did find that a lot of space went unused in the planner, including weeks that went completely unused. It’s pretty funny that this was my biggest complaint, considering my last year’s planner didn’t have enough space – this one has too much of it! For the rest of the year, I’m going to test out two 90 day/quarterly planners to see if having a more short term planner has any effect on personal project management.

(Note: Some of these links may be affiliate URLs)

SKILLSHARE

Skillshare is full of project-based classes that help you add pieces to your portfolio while teaching you how to use new skills. I have a few classes I teach on there and can offer a free 14 day trial of Skillshare premium.

COURSERA

MOOCS, or Massive Open Online Courses, are making a big comeback. On Coursera, you can take free higher education courses in your favorite subjects from colleges around the world. They have everything from entomology to content strategy.

TEAM TREEHOUSE

Cupcake ipsum dolor. Sit amet topping tiramisu. Lollipop ice cream bonbon powder jelly beans dessert. Candy gummies wafer cheesecake.

ENVATO TUTS+

Formerly known as just Tuts+, it’s now included with any subscription of Envato Elements. There’s everything from video courses to guides and eBooks.

CODECADEMY

Codecademy is a great place to get started learning to code for free. You can try 180 hours of learning content for free and decide if it’s for you before you dive into the more premium content.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY

General Assembly is most known for its Bootcamp-style courses that span over a few weeks and get you prepared to start a new career. However, they also offer smaller one-day workshops or online engagements. The list is always changing, but there is always quality learning material.

Looking for more resources?

I’ve created a page of my favorite resources, which include online learning and my favorite tools. Some of these resources also come with a free trial! Check it out!