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While we live in a digital age of desktop reminders and planning apps, sometimes you just need the pen to paper feeling to really start organizing your life. There are still a lot of planner set ups and options available on the market, so if paper planning is the key to your organized life, playing the game of trial and error can be an expensive and frustrating waste of time. Instead, let’s look through this Panda Planner review; it will give you a good look at one of the more popular options as well as provide a comparison to others on the market today.
The first part of this article will focus on the Panda Planner review with a deep dive into the features and organizational specs the Panda Planner can offer. We’ll then go through a comparison so you know where the Panda Planner stands in relation to other popular choices. And, if the Panda Planner ends up not working with your organizational needs or style, you have other choices you can feel comfortable with as well.
What Is the Panda Planner?
The Panda Planner is the original positive productivity-focused and “animal” planner that has become such a popular method of organization. They are backed by psychologists in terms of their organizational and productivity-oriented formatting that takes the guesswork and grey areas of planning out of the equation. Need a space for checklists? Done! What about a space for organizing your thoughts at the beginning of the day? Check. What about a space for priorities or reviews on the micro or macro-level? That’s covered too.
As this Panda Planner review will show, this planner has you covered from small details and thoughts that just need to be collected to long-term goals and insights. If you’ve got an organizational system set up already or if you’re still figuring out how best to utilize your time, this planner probably has the tools to get you where you need to be.
Panda Planner Pro – Best Daily Planner for Happiness & Productivity
The Panda Planner Review: Product Specs
Panda Planner Pro – Best Daily Planner for Happiness & Productivity
- ★ GET MORE DONE. FEEL BETTER – Most people struggle to keep up with the demands of modern life, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and robbed of their passion. Panda Planner is a scientifically designed daily planner that will empower you to take back control, reclaim your happiness and flourish in every way
- ★ SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO PRODUCTIVITY & HAPPINESS – Overwhelmed by the symptoms of Lyme disease, Traumatic Brain Injury and Cancer, our founder turned to the proven research of POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY and NEUROSCIENCE and created a system to get his life back on track
- ★ YOU ARE AWESOME – You might not feel that way all the time, but if you could just find a way to stay on top of your sh*t, everyone else would recognize how badass you really are. Panda Planner unlocks your ORGANIZATION & FOCUS so you can hit your goals, every time
- ★ BONUSES & GUARANTEE – Included with your Panda Planner are some incredible ebooks (on topics like “How to Crush Your Goals” and “A Billionaire’s Guide To Productivity”) and a video mini-course on how to skyrocket your productivity. If you don’t feel happier and more productive, just reach out to us for a simple, no-hassle refund
- ★ WE BELIEVE that the demands and stressors of the modern world shouldn’t rob us of the lives we were meant to live. WE BELIEVE that life is meant to be lived vibrantly! We are on a MISSION to help 10 million people reclaim their happiness. JOIN THE PANDA MOVEMENT!
We’ve briefly mentioned some of the helpful features of the Panda Planner, but let’s take a deeper look at what exactly it offers. This planner is a hardcover design, which means it’s less likely to tear and be worn down as you take it with you in a backpack or briefcase or purse. It is meant to be durable and stay looking refined and clean, as that aids in productivity.
There are various layout guides to give you different options from daily, weekly, to monthly planning, as well as reviews, goals, insights, priorities, and thought collection. Each level of planning offers these features so you can plan and organize on the micro- or macro-level (or both ideally).
These extra organization sections cater to those of us who may need to brainstorm before prioritizing and planning the day, week, or month. It provides a space to jot down thoughts in terms of a morning review, and this is structured to be positive reinforcement as it asks about things you’re excited about and grateful for as you start the day. This is repeated in terms of end of the day wins and where improvements can be made.
Daily priorities and goals have a place as well as do tasks and scheduled items, and there is even a focus box and notes section, all geared towards cultivating positive productivity. These are repeated and tweaked for weekly and monthly planning as well in terms of reviews, project management, and abstract-goal planning; there’s even a place for monitoring and changing habits too.
Pricing
Unlike digital planners, paper planners tend to hover around a more affordable price point. You can plan on spending $20 to $60 on a comprehensive planner, with the price varying due to size, organizational options, and materials. The Panda Planner can be found for around $25, and the rest of the planners in the upcoming comparison will be around the same price, with a few outliers on either end.
For the comparison, we’ve opted to cater more towards budgets than individual price points. We
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feel this will aid in simplicity and bring in a more straightforward approach. You’ll find planners geared towards the $20-$35 budget tagged as $. Those between $35-$45 will be $$. Finally, those between $45-$65 will be $$$.
The Panda Planner Review: How It Compares
In order to see how the Panda Planner delivers, we’ve created a comparison to other popular planner choices. While we are obviously focusing on the Panda Planner review portion of this article, we want this comparison to be as straightforward and non-biased as possible. To do that, we’ve opted for the following grading criteria: features, price, ease of use, organizational options, and design quality (rated out of 5 stars). We found these to not only highlight the important and unique features of each planner but also to show any drawbacks.
- BestSelf Co. The SELF Journal
- Lemome 2019-2020 Planner
- Erin Condren Hardbound Life Planner
Panda Planner
Panda Planner Pro – Best Daily Planner for Happiness & Productivity
- ★ GET MORE DONE. FEEL BETTER – Most people struggle to keep up with the demands of modern life, leaving them feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and robbed of their passion. Panda Planner is a scientifically designed daily planner that will empower you to take back control, reclaim your happiness and flourish in every way
- ★ SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO PRODUCTIVITY & HAPPINESS – Overwhelmed by the symptoms of Lyme disease, Traumatic Brain Injury and Cancer, our founder turned to the proven research of POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY and NEUROSCIENCE and created a system to get his life back on track
Ease of Use
Not only is this planner intuitive to use (it is literally laid out to walk you through each section), it actually comes with eBooks and a video tutorial on how to get the best use possible out of it. There is an entire community behind the Panda Planner that you’ll get access to that can help you cultivate your organizational techniques as well as give you creative ideas on the uses of your planner.
Organizational Options
This planner includes micro-level planning and organizing in terms of daily planning, goal setting, prioritizing, and positive reinforcement. It also covers macro level planning for weekly and monthly planning that also cater to all aspects of life organization – habit monitoring, priorities, abstract and hard goals, and reviews.
Design Quality
The hardcover protects against wear and tear during travel and keeps the planner looking clean cut, and there is a closing strap to keep the planner closed and private as well, which will also help if you put additional notes or papers in your planners. The exterior is nothing fancy and focuses on being minimalistic, so those with a taste for flair may feel this is a little bland.
BestSelf Co. The SELF Journal
BestSelf Co. The SELF Journal – Daily Planner 2019 – Monthly & Weekly Planner – Increase Productivity and Happiness – Undated Hardcover – Charcoal
- It’s a 13-week sprint to achieve your goals in 2019. Whether you want to start a business, increase performance, get in shape, write a book, or just want to hold yourself accountable, The SELF Journal will help you hit your target.
- The Daily Structure for Success – Morning & Nightly Gratitude, Today’s Targets & Goals, a 6AM-9PM daily schedule, and plenty of space for notes. Dimensions: 8.25 x 5.5
- With Monthly, Weekly, and Daily spreads you can organize your life with extreme detail. If you miss a day, don’t sweat it, this day planner is non-dated; pick up where you left off.
- Used by Daymond John from hit TV show Shark Tank as well as thousands of entrepreneurs, goal-smashers, students, managers & fitness professionals, it could become the key to the inevitable success you deserve.
- The beautiful canvas wrapped hard cover, thick paper is fountain pen friendly, and the strong fabric bookmark make this perfect for men or women.
This planner is built for goals. It is only a 13-week period planner, but it caters to macro and micro levels on goal setting, planning, organizing, and executing. The daily section includes tasks, goals, gratitude, reviews, and wins with lots of empty space for brainstorming. The weekly and monthly sections incorporate the same aspects while taking a wide-angle look at habit development and monitoring and, of course, leaving you lots of empty space to explore and create with.
Ease of Use
While you don’t get a community behind you or any online features, this planner is very intuitive to use, and, more importantly, it lets you use it how you want to. Because of that, it’s best suited for those who need help more in goal-setting and execution instead of general organization and planning. Coming into this planner’s set up completely unorganized may actually further frustrate you because of all the blank space.
Organizational Options
This planner covers macro and micro levels for goal setting with its daily tasks and goals as well as weekly and monthly monitoring. It’s great for breaking large goals into smaller, more doable portions and tracking their execution. If you need something to cater more towards task prioritization though, this may not be well suited unless you want to create those spaces yourself with the provided empty space.
Design Quality
There is a hardcover to reduce wear and tear and keep the planner looking clean as well as a closure strap for privacy. They’ve also included three color-coded bookmarks to make it easy to jump between micro and macro goals. Again, it has a minimalistic design that has become popular for efficient planning.
Lemome 2019-2020 Planner
Planner 2019-2020 – Academic Weekly, Monthly and Year Planner with Pen Loop, to Achieve Your Goals & Improve Productivity, Thick Paper, Inner Pocket, 5.75″ x 8.25″, Black
- ❉ BEAUTIFUL PLANNER – The durable soft Faux Leather cover is environmentally friendly and soft touch. With simple and elegant design, the planner is the perfect choice for organising your life.
- ❉ ACADEMIC PLANNER TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS – With JULY 2019 – JUNE 2020, Monthly, Weekly and Daily sections, 88 pages for NOTES, bonus 16 months planner stickers, you can get organized and prioritize your life in WRITING! The 2019-2020 planner can help you fix procrastination and keep you accountable! Imagine what your life would be like if you reach your all goals… the sky is the limit!
- ❉ THICK ACID FREE PAPER – The agenda planner 2019-2020 features 226 archival-quality pages made from acid-free paper, which means it resists damage from light and air, ensuring long-lasting performance from one year to the next. The premium paper is environmentally friendly and protects eyes from strain because we use natural materials.
- ❉ FUNCTIONAL & LAY FLAT PLANNER: Constructed with an elastic closure, convenient pen loop, inner pocket, 2 bookmarks. An attached elastic closure keeping the 2019-2020 planner securely closed and the attached double full-length ribbon functions as handy bookmark. It also provides an expandable inner pocket for add convenience. Use the handy pocket to stash business card, small items, or planner stickers.
- ❉ GUARANTEED – If you have any quality problems just return it and we will send you a full refund. Give us a chance and let us show you a great 2019-2020 planner experience!
This planner fills a more traditional role with a yearly design that can be used on that macro level as well as on a micro level for daily tasks. If you’re more traditional in your organizing needs and want something sturdy and professional, this is right about there. There are two bookmarks as well as an expandable pocket to keep papers and notes, but the focus is on appointment, class, or meeting organization. This is ideal for work or academic use.
Ease of Use
Because of its traditional design, this is a very intuitive planner to use. Many of us are already familiar with its features and layout. However, it is year specific, so, jumping in midyear or trying to carry over into other months beyond its coverage just doesn’t work and will end up being a waste of money and time.
Organizational Options
While we have the macro and micro levels here, there’s not a lot of added organizational tools. The pocket and bookmarks may help, but having a task or goal section would be helpful, as well as priority and productivity reviews. As is, this planner is leaning heavily towards the basic and under prepared side.
Design Quality
We will say that this planner looks very clean and professional. The hardcover is minimal but classy, and the added pocket and bookmarks help in organization as well as function. There is a closure strap too for privacy and portability.
Erin Condren Hardbound Life Planner
Erin Condren Large Hardbound LifePlanner™ 8″ x 10″ – Undated Calendar & Weekly Planner, Vertical Layout
- BEAUTIFUL DESIGN: The ultimate, designer and customizable planner that helps keep your life organized on the go!
- SLEEK AND CHIC: This planner features a vertical weekly planning layout. It contains 176 pages of planning potential and measures 8″ x 10″.
- HIGH QUALITY: Made with 176 pages of rich, thick, premium paper stock. Includes a beautiful painted petal design throughout.
- FULLY CUSTOMIZABLE: Features undated, fully-customizable monthly overview pages and weekly spreads.
- THE PERFECT GIFT: Great for gifting, these dates have no expiration! Stock up now for gifting year-round with this flexible and fashionable planner.
This is a great planner for those who need the flair and creative spin on their planner. There are multiple design options that are colorful and range from cute to abstract. This planner works on the macro level for monthly planning with its colorful quotes starting off each month; and, it works on the micro level for weekly and daily planning. There are also notebook style pages for general writing too.
Ease of Use
Similar to the last option, this leans more towards the traditional planner set up (though the design is anything but), so it is easy and intuitive to use from the get-go. It is not date or year specific, either, so you can jump in whenever or wherever you need to. In terms of goals and priorities, things not covered in a daily management type system, you would need to set it up yourself using the notebook sections.
Organizational Options
This has the macro level monthly planning that is big enough for writing appointments and trips in each box, and it also have micro planning for weekly and daily tasks as well plenty of space for writing and brainstorming. There are no options for goal setting, reviewing, priorities, or habit monitoring unless you create them yourself. There is no closure strap, but there is a bookmark.
Design Quality
Creative types will probably feel like they can bloom with the design layout utilized in this planner. It definitely feels more personal and caters towards those who enjoy the colorful or creative formatting and use it to springboard into their own creative mind frame. It is a hardcover, too, so it should last in your backpack, briefcase, or wherever else it needs to go.
A Panda Planner Review: Conclusion
Now that we’ve gone through the Panda Planner review portion as well as finished the comparison section, let’s get back to the Panda Planner; where does it rank among its competitors, and how does it hold up its end of the deal?The Panda Planner definitely caters towards a wide variety of users, offering the simple macro and micro tools and formatting many of us are familiar with and need. It also adds in organizational and positive productivity-driven features like goal setting, habit monitoring, reviews, and focus boxes. While it may not draw your eye in terms of color and design creativity, it definitely caught our eye because of how well it performs. Overall, we would give the Panda Planner 5 stars and can definitely recommend it for those needs a little guidance in their long and short-term goals as well as general life productivity and planning.
