New paper planner format

For the last quarter century (and then some), I’ve kept a paper planner. I’ve used a few different brands over the years—Day-Timer, Day Runner, Passion Planner, Moleskine, and most recently Leuchtturm1917, which I’ve stuck with for the past four or five years.

Regardless of brand, I’ve always used a one-page-per-week format. It aligns well with my planning cadence—I sit down weekly, so it works—and there’s something deeply satisfying about literally turning the page each week.

That said, I decided to change things up for 2026. I’m sticking with Leuchtturm1917 and their B6+ format, but I’ve switched to a monthly planner (two pages per month) with plenty of dot-grid pages following.

A few shifts in my process prompted the change:

• The weekly format often leaves me with either too much or too little space for priorities and notes.
• I’m leaning more into my long-standing habit of writing a daily to-do list. Digital tools still don’t replace this for me, even though I often pull from Obsidian when assembling that list.
• I strongly prefer dot-grid pages over lined ones—a preference the monthly format supports, but the weekly does not.

As with previous planner changes, I’ll give this a full year before deciding whether to stick with it or try something different next time.