I finally stopped using a paper planner

For the past few years I had been using a paper system planner, and after that I used a slim weekly Hobonichi Techo, but I finally stopped using it. I will write about that change in mindset.

I started using a system planner after 2019, in other words after becoming freelance. It was because I needed to track my time fairly carefully. Before that, I had been doing it vaguely online, but I ended up reviving the paper planner. One reason was probably that I was often involved in workplaces where it was difficult to bring in electronic media.

After that, recording things in a paper planner became a habit and a stress-free workflow. Using a leather planner made me feel somehow more grown-up, which was nice. Because of that, even after switching from a system planner to a Hobonichi Techo at the beginning of this year, I kept going for a while, but at some point I stopped writing in it.

One big reason, I think, is that my personal task management environment using Google Calendar plus Notion had more or less reached completion. It may be obvious, but if everything can be done online, I can record things anytime as long as I have my phone.

There are countless inconvenient things about paper, but there were also good points.

At the end of the day, I would turn off the PC and write my daily record in the planner. That time was quite nice, and even now I have not found a replacement for it. I wonder if using electronic paper would let me feel that same sensation.