If you follow this blog, you’ve probably picked up on my Type A personality… Assuming some of you reading this blog have a type A personality as well, here are some planners I recommend.

To me, the best layouts for a type A personality are:

• Weekly spreads with a big checklist (or multiple checklists so you can categorise tasks)
• Multiple boxes for each day with space to add your categories e.g. the style of most student planners where there are separate boxes for each subject
• Hourly / Half hourly so you can schedule out your entire day

This post contains affiliate links. If you click one of the links and make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) in exchange for referring you. 

1. Agendio

If you’re willing to spend the money, just go straight to Agendio. You can create exactly what you want – weekly spread, monthly layout, how many pages per week, add habit trackers, create your own checklists, line spacing etc.

I’ve mentioned this company numerous times on my blog, if you haven’t already seen my reviews, here are the links:

• Using my custom Agendio Planner (would I order from this company again?)
• Modifying the Agendio Planner
• Agendio Review (custom, personalised weekly planner) 
• Agendio Daily Planner
• Agendio 5.5″ Wide x 8″ High Weekly Planner Review (Custom Planner)

Practically endless layout options and multiple page sizes to choose from. You can customise everything from the font style, font colors, column widths, line spacing, square versus circle checklists, pre-fill recurring tasks, design your own extra pages, choose the cover color, tabs or no tabs etc.

If you’d like to order an Agendio, here is my referral link.

A major con for me is the lack of pretty covers offered by Agendio. If the cover is important to you or you don’t like the style of Agendio planners, this post has some other companies I recommend that do custom planners.

2. Mi Goals

The Mi Goals is one of the first weekly dashboard layouts I ever tried and the one that made me realise it was my favorite type of weekly spread. The Mi Goals planners have everything a type A needs. In particular, the Goal Digger Planner has:

• Weekly spread with a habit tracker, checklist, top 3, lined and unlined
• Annual goal planning & yearly reflection
• Goal worksheets (not just 1 page either) – both short and long term goals
• 2 monthly planning pages
• Monthly review
• Monthly budgets
• Extra notes pages
• In the 2018 version I have, the monthly calendar used to have bigger boxes for Saturday and Sunday – perfect for people working on a side hustle – but unfortunately they removed this layout on the later versions and there’s an equal box for each day of the week on the monthly calendar now instead

You can color code with the neutral color scheme and the sewn binding actually lays flat.

Bonus: the past few years they seem to overstock so the planners are discounted ridiculously cheap (about $10 around mid and end of year).

Mi Goals ‘Goal Digger’ Weekly Planner 2018

I’ve tried (and liked) both the dashboard weekly spread and the goal digger. There’s also a 90 day progress journal.

If you want to break your projects down into more manageable steps, most planners don’t leave enough room to write and it takes too long to keep setting up structured pages in a bullet journal. Which makes their goal planner the perfect addition to your weekly planner. This undated journal breaks down short and long term goals into milestones and all of the steps required for each of those milestones. I’ve used it to plan one of my ecourses in the past. You can read about that in this post: Using the Mi Goals Planner for ecourse planning 

The Mi Goals ‘Goal Planner’

Mi Goals Progress Planner

3. Limelife Planners

Limelife Planners have a wide range of layouts, most of which, are different to what other planner companies offer. There’s also a wider range of page sizes. And one of the best parts are the free downloads for each of their layouts so you can test it out (and test the same layout at different sizes) until you get the right fit. Then you can order the right planner for you without wasting any money (especially since their international shipping is expensive).

Quick facts

• Personalised cover (various cover designs to choose from)
• Size: 7 x 9″ (personal size, A5 and 8.5 x 11″ options also available)
• Spiral binding
• Interchangeable covers (laminated)
• Various weekly layouts to choose from (I chose layout C)
• 2 page monthly calendar starting on Sunday
• 2 page weekly planner starting on Monday divided into multiple sections per day (great for students and clustering things e.g. cleaning tasks, meal planning)
• Monthly tabs
• Plenty of notes pages
• Colorful

Something else that’s worth mentioning: the paper is really smooth, pens easily glide across the paper.

Limelife Planners Layout C review

I ordered my planner in 2018. They now have 3 page sizes (including a square version which is rare).

I think their layout C is the best pick for a Type A personality. You can add your own categories and keep all of your goals organized into their separate boxes. The only thing I dislike is the combined column for weekends but you can convert the lined sidebar into weekend planning space instead if you like.

I’ve tried their layout C in the past (the design has been improved since the one you see in the photo below)

And also recently tried their more unique layout type N. Post with my thoughts on that weekly spread and how it turned out coming soon!

4. Plum Paper

Similar to Limelife Planners, Plum Paper offer a variety of layouts although Plum Paper’s are more generic.

You can request the pages come pre-punched for discbound planners, although I chose the unpunched option. Discbound planners can vary slightly with stem lengths and the size of the mushroom top so I would rather punch the pages myself.

Read more:

• Ultimate Discbound planners & notebooks comparison (plus my favorites)
• Discbound punch comparison – ARC versus Levenger versus Happy Planner
• Discbound planners & notebooks: brands that are compatible

One of their more unique layouts is the Vertical priorities (there’s a horizontal priorities too). This one has:

• Weekly habit tracker
• 2 boxes you can use for anything – top 3 for the week, reminders, due dates, bills, weekly focus etc.
• Priorities section for each day with 3 lines (but you’ll need to write small to fit 1 task per line if you want to do a top 3)
• Lined writing space to keep everything neat
• Box at the bottom of each day could be used for meal planning, daily spending, reflection
• They now offer 2 color schemes and a neutral option
• There are plenty of extra pages you can choose to add to each section or disperse throughout the planner

The only con of this layout for me, are the smaller weekend sections. You could use a daily planner or project planner if you run out of weekend planning space.

There are 3 page sizes to choose from: A5, 7 x 9 ” (my favorite size) and 8.5 x 11″.

Plum Paper Vertical Priorities Weekly Spread

If you want to categorise everything, try their Me Planner. I ARC’d mine (tutorial in this post).

Week 29: Plum Paper Me Planner 

More recently, they came out with a goals notebook which has a dashboard layout and is on my list of planners to try!

Image Credit

5. Printables with Discbound planners

If you’re type A, you want things done your way and one of the best ways to do that, is with a discbound planner. You can add, remove and rearrange pages so that the planner is a perfect fit for you. There are many discbound brands to choose from now, but the one I recommend starting with is the Happy Planner. They’re an affordable price point with a variety of styles for the covers, inside pages and add on pages as well.

• Where to find discs to make a discbound planner or notebook (downloadable comparison)
• Guide to Discbound Planners & Frequently Asked Questions
• How to make your own DIY discbound bullet journal, notebook or planner
• Discbound planners & notebooks: brands that are compatible
• Favorite Happy Planner Refill Inserts

The dashboard layout is my favorite and if you need more lists, their half sheet classic size or the mini checklists are ideal.

Trying out the Happy Planner Dashboard Layout

Happy Planner refill page options for a Type A personality:

• Notes & things – could use this as a weekly planner with a different color for each day, or categorised lists
• Checklists with different colored list paper (great for color coding)
• Big Ideas checklists – same as above. I just like these more as it has a rainbow polka dot design on the side
• Today top 3 (has dot grid on the back!)
• Checklists (since these are 1 color per checklist, they’re great for color-coded planning)
• Daily schedule rainbow weekly + checklist on the back (I think this is the most functional half sheet weekly planner they have)
• Mini half sheet checklist
• Mini half sheet habit tracker
• Day to a page planner (schedule + checklist)

Read more: Favorite Happy Planner Refill Inserts

If you’re looking for ideas, here are some of my past weekly spreads using Happy Planner Inserts:

• Happy Notes Half Sheet Review + DIY Half Sheet Printable Inserts
• Happy Notes Half Sheet Review + DIY Half Sheet Printable Inserts
• Weekly Planning with Happy Planner Inserts and no weekly spread

Using MAMBI inserts and Carpe Diem planner stickers for a colorful weekly spread!

Alternatively, you can make your own printables, or print a combination from various places to put together a planner that works for you. If you’d like to learn how to make the exact weekly spread you need, try my ecourses:

• How to make printables in Microsoft Excel
• How to make printables in Microsoft Word
• How to make printables in Adobe Photoshop

6. Clever Fox Pro

There’s a smaller version (A5 page size), but for a Type A personality you’re going to want to go bigger and get the Clever Fox Planner Pro. The Pro version includes more goal pages and more room to write.

So many sections to categorise everything

Clever Fox Pro Planner

Quick facts

• Size: 8.5 x 11″ (US letter size)
• Softcover
• Sewn binding
• Undated
• Lasts 12 months
• Multiple goal planning pages – annual and quarterly goals check in pages
• 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
• 2 Page monthly review
• 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
• Neutral inside pages
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• 26 dot grid pages at the back of the planner
• Pocket folder
• Comes with 3 sheets of planner stickers
• 120 GSM paper (normally too thin but somehow in the Clever Fox planners there’s minimal ghosting or bleed through)

Price: $37 USD on Amazon (I chose the turquoise version)

A5 versus the Pro version

Clever Fox A5 planner review and Clever Fox Pro Planner Review

7. Passion Planner (Vertical Hourly)

I personally don’t use a vertical nor an hourly layout but if you’re a type A that does, I’d go with the Passion Planner.

• The line spacing is small but it’s one of the few planners I’ve found with half hourly timeslots (and if you prefer to plan by the hour you can just use 2 lines)
• While not as custom as most of the other planners on this list, there’s printables on their website if you want to add them over the ‘space of infinite possibility’ section.

Quick facts

• 2 sizes
  • Compact – A5 (5.83”x8.27”)
  • Classic – A4 (8.27”x11.69”)
• Minimalist design – black and white
• 2 Page weekly spread (starting on Monday or Sunday  – you choose)
• 2 Page monthly spread (starting on Monday or Sunday  – you choose)
• Academic and calendar year start versions
• Dates at a glance
• Monthly and yearly reflection questions with lines note space to write your answers
• Ample goal setting pages
• 20 blank pages
• 20 graph paper pages
• Elastic band to keep it all together
• Gender neutral
• Faux leather cover

The planner tends to go on sale (for about $10 USD) a few months after their calendar and mid year releases.

Passion Planner Review – Compact and Classic Sizes 

8. Get to Work Book

See my review of the planner here.

The weekly spread has a top 3 for the week and each day, plus plenty of lined writing space you can use as a checklist, or add times if you want to schedule things in detail.

There’s neutral colors so you can color code without worrying about the colors clashing. The only thing I don’t like is the graph paper as it’s too small for me (3mm). You could use this for habit tracking or add some checklist sticky notes if you need more room.

Quick facts

• Size: 8.25″ wide x 9″ high (pages are 7″ wide x 9″ high)
• Wire binding
• Sturdy hardcover
• This belongs to page in case your planner is lost
• Dates at a glance
• Project planning pages for each month
• Different quotes divider page for each month
• Neutral color scheme
• 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
• 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
• Tabs

Get to Work Book Planner Review 

Planning tips

• 50 Motivational Quotes to add to your planner
• 15 habit tracker tips & ideas to try
• 6 Useful ways to efficiently plan your week using highlighters 

More planner recommendations

• 7 Planners that include a weekly habit tracker
• 4 Expensive Planners that are worth the investment
• 9 alternatives to the Plum Paper planner
• The best planners if you want to keep work and personal in the same planner

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