One of the biggest lies in stationery culture is that there is a perfect system out there waiting for you to discover it. There is a perfect planner, notebook, app, layout, or method that will finally make everything click. Once you find it, the promise goes, you’ll achieve “planner peace”… you’ll be organized, productive, on top of your responsibilities, and, somehow, finally become the most organized version of yourself.

And if the system isn’t working? Well, surely you just haven’t found the right one yet.

The search for planner peace can become its own hobby. We try a new planner, discover a new planning method, reorganize our notebooks, download another app, watch someone’s elaborate setup online, and convince ourselves that this is going to be the one. Sometimes it works for a while. We feel motivated and in control. Everything looks beautiful. The pages are fresh, the system makes sense, and we imagine that we’ve finally figured ourselves out.

Then life happens.

We miss a few days. The weekly spread gets neglected. Tasks pile up. We forget to check the app. The carefully designed system starts feeling like another obligation. Eventually, we decide it must be the wrong system, so we start looking for another one.

The frustrating part is that when a system fails, we rarely blame the system. We blame ourselves.

Maybe I’m not disciplined enough. Maybe I’m too inconsistent. Maybe I’m bad at planning. Maybe I need to be more organized. Maybe I need to find a better method.

I think that’s one of the more insidious ideas built into stationery culture: the assumption that there is a single system that will solve the problem if only we can find it. It turns organization into a kind of treasure hunt, where every failed planner or abandoned notebook becomes evidence that we haven’t found the right answer yet, or that there is something wrong with us.

I fall into this trap all the time. I always think I’ve found a good system. And, to be fair, sometimes I have. A new planning method can genuinely make things easier, especially when it fits the particular season of life you’re in. But I also tend to move through planning and note-taking apps with surprising frequency. I’ll discover a new app and immediately see all the possibilities. I imagine how much more organized I’ll be if I move everything over, set it up properly, and use it consistently.

For a while, I’m convinced I’ve finally found the answer.

Then, eventually, I start looking again.

Maybe the problem isn’t that I haven’t found the perfect system. Maybe the problem is believing that a perfect system exists in the first place.

Our lives change. Our priorities change. Our energy changes. The amount of structure we need changes. A system that works beautifully during one period of life may become completely impractical during another. Even our tolerance for planning can change. Sometimes I want a detailed system with lists, categories, and carefully organized notes. Other times, I just want somewhere to write down what I need to remember without having to maintain an entire productivity ecosystem.

I’ve tried bullet journaling. And honestly, the idea of bullet journaling still pleases me. There’s something deeply satisfying about the thought of creating my own layout, designing my own planner, and building a system that is perfectly tailored to the way my brain works.

In theory, it’s wonderful.

In practice, I spend so much time drawing the planner that I never actually get around to planning anything.

By the time I’ve ruled the lines, made the boxes, decided where the headings should go, and admired my increasingly elaborate little organizational masterpiece, the day is basically over. Congratulations, me. I have successfully planned my planning.

That’s where the Hobonichi Weeks comes in.

The layout already exists. Someone else has done the hard part. I just have to put things in it. Revolutionary.

I used the Hobonichi Cousin before, but I became increasingly overwhelmed by it. It is a beautiful planner, but eventually it felt less like a tool I was using and more like a small administrative department I was responsible for maintaining. There was simply too much planner for me. Too many pages. Too many possibilities. Too much potential for me to become overwhelmed by the very thing that was supposed to prevent me from being overwhelmed.

The Hobonichi Weeks feels much more manageable. It gives me enough structure without asking me to become the CEO of My Own Productivity.

I’ve also experimented with digital systems. I used Evernote for quite a while, and I still have notes lurking in there somewhere, presumably gathering digital dust. I don’t really use it anymore, though. I’ve found that Apple Notes works better for me. It’s already on my phone, it syncs to my laptop, and I don’t have to think too hard about where it lives. If I need to write something down, I can just open it and write it down. Revolutionary concept: the note-taking app is good at taking notes.

When I was in school, I relied heavily on Dropbox. Dropbox was important. Dropbox had purpose. Dropbox held my academic life together.

Now?

Dropbox mostly sits there.

I imagine it occasionally wondering what happened to me.

There’s also the new Hobonichi app, which I actually like. I just don’t have much use for it. Naturally, this means I keep it on my phone.

Because apparently liking an app and needing an app are two completely different things.

The Hobonichi app tracks my steps, which is particularly funny because my phone already tracks my steps. Apple Fitness tracks my steps. I know this. My phone knows this. Somewhere, there is probably a tiny database containing an extremely accurate record of how many times I have walked around my house.

The Hobonichi app also tries to track my sleep, but Apple does a better job of that, so I don’t really use it for sleep either.

So, essentially, I have an app whose primary function for me is to tell me something my phone is already telling me.

Perfect.

But I’ve been able to see the new Hobonichi Weeks lineup for next year on the app. So, there’s that.

I also use Google Calendar, which is probably the closest thing I have to a non-negotiable part of my system. Google Calendar is a lifeline. If something is scheduled and it isn’t in Google Calendar, there is a very real possibility that it simply does not exist in my brain.

I’ve tried Notion, too.

Of course I have.

Notion is one of those apps that makes you feel like you could finally get your entire life together. You open it and immediately start imagining dashboards. Databases. Linked databases. Beautiful pages. Color-coded systems. A central command center for your entire existence.

And then, approximately five minutes later, you realize you have created a second job.

Notion became overwhelming for me, too. However, I still think it might have one useful purpose: a reading tracker.

I think that could actually be fun.

I’d love to use Notion to track what I’m reading and then generate statistics about my reading: books read by month, pages read, genres, authors, maybe ratings, maybe how many books I abandoned halfway through because apparently I have limits. There’s something about turning reading into completely unnecessary statistics that appeals to me. Yes, the Fable app on my phone does this. But I don’t always use that app.

And this brings me to the question: Why am I still talking about finding the perfect system?

Because apparently I still think I need one.

Maybe I don’t.

Maybe the problem is that I keep looking for the perfect system when what I actually need is a few tools that work well enough together.

Right now, that looks like:

Hobonichi Weeks + Apple Notes + Google Calendar.

That’s probably my system.

It isn’t elaborate. It doesn’t have a dashboard. It doesn’t require a tutorial. It doesn’t involve six interconnected databases or a carefully color-coded productivity ecosystem.

And maybe that’s the point.

I do still need to organize all the notes I’ve accumulated over the years. There are notes in Apple Notes, notes in Evernote, files in Dropbox, probably digital artifacts scattered around the internet that I have completely forgotten about. At some point, I need to deal with all of that.

But maybe that is the project… not finding another app. Maybe my perfect system isn’t new at all. Maybe it’s simply figuring out how to use the things I already have. And really, that might be the most boring conclusion possible. Which probably means it’s the right one.

I’m hungry. I’ve spent a half hour writing. After all, I can’t focus because I’m hungry. It’s almost noon, when I can eat. Sometimes this intermittent fasting isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. I’ve also spent a good amount of time this morning texting Alexis about her day. I stopped after about 15 minutes because it has occurred to me that she is probably getting to class. Or in class. And I didn’t want to bother her. It’s Karissa’s first day back as well. She does her schooling online. I did tell her to get dressed for the day, though. I think it’s important to be ready for the day, even if you are just going a few feet from your bed to the computer.

I had some egg whites and yogurt with salsa earlier, and it was actually pretty good. It was also a nice source of protein, which I apparently need to make more of a priority. I’m trying to pay a little more attention to getting enough protein throughout the day.

I also have some medication waiting for me at Walmart that I need to pick up. I’ll probably take Karissa’s card with me and pick up her medication while I’m there, too. I’m not exactly sure when I’ll be able to get to Walmart, maybe Friday. I believe Tommy is home this Friday, so we could probably swing by Walmart while he’s home and pick up both medications.

If I’m lucky, my Foundayo will be available for a refill by then, too. They’ve kept pushing the refill date back, telling me each time that it’s too early to refill it. Hopefully, by Friday, it will finally be ready, and I can get everything taken care of in one trip.

Tommy has hockey tonight. They missed their game on Sunday because the ice wasn’t in good enough shape, so tonight is the makeup game. We’re fending tonight, which I don’t know yet what I’m making myself for dinner. Kel is also going to see her dad after work, so there’s a good chance she’ll be home late too. With everything going on, I think I’ll probably spend the evening playing Final Fantasy XIV.

In about a half hour, I’m going to get on the bike and get my exercise in. Once I’m done, I’ll probably make myself an iced coffee, after I drink some water, of course. I’m trying to remember that water comes first!