I’m a working mother of 3 who balances homeschooling with partial clinic/partial home office work, in addition to managing a couple employees, my children’s karate, dance, and music lessons, and the remaining litany of tasks that come with busy family life. I’ve long-since crossed that necessary productivity threshold where using a smartphone (“infinity in my pocket”) to manage and plan my life is no longer worth the risk of the innate potential for distraction. This is THE best all-in-one planner/journal I have ever seen—and I’ve seen a lot! I recently reviewed a number of the top selling productivity journals and settled on this one primarily due to:
-DAILY blank journal pages for any as-needed use, right alongside the more rigidly structured Task lists, Key Action lists, and the like. Sometimes they turn into additional lists, other days they are a place of true journaling and self-reflection for me. But they are always useful in one way or another.
-The quality, weight, and smoothness of the paper, i.e. it takes to ink so beautifully, like my higher-end journals and stationery. As a lifelong, hopelessly chronic journaler, my appreciation for attention to this element can not be overstated.
-The built-in repetition of stating, framing, and reframing visions and goals. Some may find it redundant but from a psychological standpoint it’s actually quite brilliant—it forces you to think about what’s truly most important to you from multiple angles, which aids in crystallizing your own vision for yourself.
-The “Extras” in the back for as-needed use—lists, charts, blank pages to make of as you wish. It’s everything I can imagine needing for those unexpected, miscellaneous thoughts, events, or ideas that I want to revisit later but wouldn’t know how to categorize or where best to notate them. It can now all find a home in the planner where I know I will eventually find it again.
I sincerely think this is the best of all worlds in the planner/journal space for busy, goal-oriented professional PARENTS who don’t need a bunch of warm and fuzzy parenting quotes with floral and paisley print taking up half of every page. While the online tutorials for using the journal (which I DO recommend watching) seem to cater their marketing towards “younger” and perhaps childless professionals, they have still (though perhaps unintentionally) created the ultimate working-parent planner in the process. I don’t think I’m ever going back. At least, not until my youngest child has successfully graduated and left home! (File under “A Vision of Your Future”...) THEN maybe I’ll get one of those planners with floral and paisley print that takes up half of every page. Until then, I’m a convert to the Phoenix Journal.
| Manufacturer | Elluvion |
|---|---|
| Brand | Phoenix Planner |
| Item Weight | 1 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 9.25 x 6.5 x 0.75 inches |
| Item model number | TPJ-1 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Color | Charcoal |
| Material Type | Paper |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Manufacturer Part Number | 43215-10598 |
