The Best Work Planners in 2026

In the past 15 years, and to my relief, admitting you have ADHD has become trendy—not that I'm doing it because it's trendy, but because it's actually safe to admit now. Me being ADHD isn't groundbreaking to anyone in my orbit, or anyone previously in my orbit for that matter. I had a keychain that said "keys I haven't lost yet" in high school, ironically one of the only things I didn't lose for a couple years. Throughout my scholastic journey, pieces and parts of multiple lists would hang out of bags or books, or hide beneath my car seats to be discovered a year after they were relevant. No, I'm not void of these experiences now, but I'm pleased to say, thanks to science, research, and really great ADHD experts, I'm double the productivity and half the anxiety of someone just raw-dogging a spaghetti brain.

When I worked at Holder, one of my mentors took a good look at me, my two planners, two notebooks, and my three inboxes and said, "You'll never get organized with all this." (Thanks, Scott!) Which leads me to one of the many tools I've evolved since being formally diagnosed at 30: a planner. It's taken a while, but I've explored great planners until landing on the one. In the world of ADHD, less is more, so I just needed the one.

Before diving into the planner life, let me divulge what goes in the planner, what doesn't, and when I view it.

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What goes in a planner:

• Trips / vacations
• Big picture of my month and week
• To-do lists for home and work
• Weather forecast
• Outfits / meals (this is a 50/50 commitment… not a priority, but something I enjoy when the time presents itself)
• Doodles
• Inspirational floor plan concepts for my future mansion
• Random words said in meetings that felt fun to squiggle on the page

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What doesn't go into the planner:

• Contacts: that's in my phone / Outlook
• Hour-to-hour meetings: that's in my work calendar. I put work and life appointments in my work calendar.
• Flight and travel details and confirmations: that's in my inbox / calendar

I look at my planner every day, but always on Sundays to prep for my week. It's how I start my morning and recap my day in prep for the next one.

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Top 4 Planners:

1. The best ADHD planner for professionals (or anyone): Laurel Denise Planners
2. The best executive planner: Full Focus Planner
3. The best budget ADHD planner: Bullet Journal
4. The best minimal planner: Ink and Volt Dashboard

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The TUL System

★★★☆☆

Used: for 3 years

I really liked the TUL brand and system, and for a long time. It's a disc-bound system at Office Depot, and you can use their small planners, large ones, and notebooks, moving documents around easily with their disc binding system. You can find their planners and notebooks here.

It's all customizable—rip pages out and put them elsewhere. Get the T-hole punch, and you can punch and insert any page of your choice. I used this system to get me through my Creative Writing program at SMU and work. The issue? Too many options, man. At the time I was unmedicated and sort of shrugging off the concept of ADHD as a really issue. Did it get me through? Yes. But I ended up with too many notebooks and planners and a failed system.

Best for: Those without ADHD who need to review a lot of printed papers (itineraries, agendas, shopping lists, agreements, contracts, etc.). If you have ADHD, I recommend it only if you're medicated and not easily sucked into buying all the shiny objects floating through the TUL world.

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Microsoft Office Suite (including notes, teams, calendar, etc.)

★★★☆☆

Used: for 8 months

My phone and computer. I tried to go all digital on Microsoft Outlook. It was fine, but unfulfilling and left big holes for things to fall through. As a gal with excellent penmanship, I was left with a bit of an identity crisis when typing out… everything. I felt too Silicon Valley, not enough Jane Austen writing by candlelight. And to be honest, I retain things a lot better if I can see it laid out big picture and have to handwrite things. While experiencing this void, I'm pretty sure I collected 50+ random notebooks in an attempt to get my fix. Whoops.

Pros:

• Nothing to tote around
• You’re already using your phone

Cons:

• Easy to avoid and hard to remember things if you don’t write them down
• Unfulfilling for those of us who prefer the vintage lifestyle of a scribe
  

Best for: ADHD folks with meh penmanship (or little desire to handwrite anything), especially those who don't get sucked into scrolling or other shiny digital spaces. Also, best for extreme minimalists.

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Ink and Volt Dashboard

★★★★☆

Used: for 1 year

I used the dashboard system and the potential was there. Amazon has cheap brands of this style, but I highly recommend Ink and Volt. I loved a few things from this system that would stick with me in the future:

Pros:

• The habit tracker
• Topics for lists
• Snapshot of the week

Cons:

• I wanted a little more room to doodle and note
• There was just something… missing…
  

In the end, I don't think I exited this system based on its flaws so much as my own. This system just left me jonesing for more. Which brings me to the next system I tried.

Best for: Anyone with ADHD who has a good digital system to support the dashboard, like Microsoft Office or Google. Someone who doesn't need paper and pen to doodle or scribble thoughts and notes. Not to sound sexist—but a lot of the ADHD men in my life enjoy this system.

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Creator’s Friend

★★☆☆☆

Used: for a couple weeks

One time, two floors above my phone, I whispered "I may get a new planner" to my husband. An hour later, every other ad on Instagram directed me to the ADHD planner of the century—all 500 of them. Of course the one that pulled me in and courted me with beautiful colors and whimsical ideas was Creators Friend, an Australian-made (gah, I just love Aussies) planner system for spaghetti brain.

So, I ordered. And gleefully awaited.

I should have managed my expectations. Yes, this system is very pretty. You receive a small planner for each month, which the idea of giving each month a pretty color sounds divine. But the quality of the covers left much to be desired and the booklet was too stiff to stay open. I used it for two weeks then retired.

Cons:

• The stitched binding is stiff, so it doesn't stay open
• The covers are stock paper… I was hoping for something a little nicer
• The different templates were disorienting and some were better than others

Pros:

• The colors! So pretty and I love the idea of having a different color each month
• The planners are very small and take up very little space
• The brand has great accessories
  

Best for: If you're an artist or creative hellbent on the exploration process, by all means give this a go. It's a really cool concept. Just order the three-pack to see if it fits your needs. Or message me because I have 11 and you're welcome to try 'em out.

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Bullet Journal

★★★★☆

Used for: 2 years

Ah, pre-baby days. When the world was my oyster and time was infinite. Every 4-6 months, I would purchase a bullet journal from Michaels and draw my own beautiful planner. It took a full, meditative, glorious, pretty pen-filled day. I followed bloggers and YouTubers who organized their planners in fun ways. While this was not a sustainable process for both business owner and mom, it was an affordable one and one that taught me what I do and don't use in a planner. I could easily evolve my preferences.

I highly recommend Artist's Loft brand journal from Michaels. Splurge $2 whole dollars on the nicer one with the pages numbered. It's worth it. It also holds a pen (though the pen holder has been known to break). It's a $8 planner and totally worth it. Buy it here.

Pros:

• Totally custom
• Toss what you don't use, keep what you do
• Cheap

Cons:

• Time-consuming
  

Best for: If you're childless and your hobbies are creative, I highly recommend the bullet journal. It was a really fun system that worked.

Great inspirational bullet journal influencers: 

Kaylyn Brooke

Liane Davey

Planning Annie

Jashii Corrin

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Full Focus Planner

★★★★★ for the general public, executives, and, methinks, your disciplined CrossFit enthusiast

★★★★☆ for me and similar working parents with sleep deprivation and little room for extras

Used for: 2 years

Ah, so close. I had a business therapist who recommended Full Focus. Their planners run in 12-week increments and align with the book The 12 Week Year. I liked the book and still take a lot of those strategies with me into my current planner system, but with a newborn, it required more time than my ADHD postpartum brain could allow. I may return to it one day because the whole Full Focus brand is impressive, and it works. It's most beloved by large executives. While the brand is a little culty, most influential brands that garner an impactful following have an enthusiastic community (think: Crossfit).

Honestly, this is the planner I recommend to most leaders and C-suite folks. It's exceptional and forces you into great habits, plus the Full Focus brand is very "be your best business self." They even put clever little "you can do it” quotes on each spread. I even bought their board game to play and identify my "personal brand." Yeah, it's still sitting on a shelf, but maybe writing this post will force me to have at it? (I shall also blame this on the baby, poor thing.)

The ultimate tip: on Sundays, plan and strategize your week. There's a spread to prep and debrief each week, so if you have the time and availability on Sundays, it's worth it.

ADHDers would benefit from this system if they have a partner or team also using the system and keeping them accountable. The website has a lot of resources there. If you have an ADHD coach or work coach, this could be a great supplement to those sessions. And just to show you how committed the Hyatt family (owners) is to being the top business planner resource, they have pricey executive and executive administrator training courses.

Pros:

• Pretty easy to customize
• Forces good habits and strategic goals
• Polished and professional—you look smart just holding this thing

Cons:

• Requires commitment
• I wish it had more space for notes and doodles

It's worth noting, they have special edition planners so you can try one catered more towards your needs. There's a wellness planner and a minimalist one, which I may prefer in the future.

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Laurel Denise Planners

★★★★★

Used for: 2 years

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present the planner for me. Laurel Denise planners market to a female audience, but their planners are great for everyone. They're classic and beautiful, and functional and organized in such a smart way. Plus, the Laurel Denise community is fun. There are tutorials on their site and tips and tricks to use the system. Plus, they feature case studies. You can see how someone with your career or goals uses their planner. The Laurel Denise community is pretty glitter and rainbows, but if that doesn't strike your fancy and you buy one of their planners, do not skip out on the tutorials and case studies. It's macho to effectively use highlighters and Post-its, kay?

What this system brings given my experience with the others:

• Like TUL, Laurel Denise offers pages you can rip out and place into other sections. They're sold separately, but worth the purchase.
• Like Ink and Volt, I can view my week all at once and this one even lets me see my month.
• The Laurel Denise brand has the heart and soul like Creator's Friend, but better structure.
• I use the dotted pages in my planner for checklists like the ones I built into my bullet journal.
• This planner lets me track habits and weekly goals without feeling overwhelming like Full Focus.
  

Take their quiz to see which one would work best for you. I also like the quiz as a tool to understand what you want from your planner. I've actually gone through three styles.

The Nancy (large, landscape): This was my first planner from Laurel Denise and I selected a pretty solid shade of green in lieu of a print. First, I was like "good god this planner is massive." But it did fit in my La Clare bag (which is my go-to recommendation for a young professional purse, so stay tuned). And the space was used. I loved the whole month view, the weekly view, and the notes at the back. It was like looking at one big dashboard and digesting all that info at once. Satisfying and left less room to miss things hidden on other pages.

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The Anne (large, landscape): I liked the vertical notes or "list style" where I can list out what to do each day. It still gave me that satisfying holistic view of my month, my week, and some notes all at once. This was also about the time I realized having a kid requires a lot of stuff (too much if you ask me) and these planners are large. While that's nice for writing lots of notes, it's not convenient for an already packed bag. I picked a pretty floral print this round. This was also an undated planner. I ended up leaving it a little early to go back to a 2026 dated planner. I just like that the work's done for me, but the undated came with all the right tools to do your own.

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The Scout (small, portrait): I went wild. This planner is both small and portrait, with a coil. I have to say, the size is really great to fit in my bag, but sometimes I miss the amount of space a larger option provides. Still, I love the Scout and though it is small, I can view my month and to-do's all at once. I'll use this happily this year. And, the design is awesome. This past year they launched Jane Austen-inspired prints. It's as though they read my mind (see above). I picked a lovely red and yellow poppy print called Bewitched and it has bewitched me body and soul (I had to).

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Biggest tip: Get what works for you now! 

As I approach the Big 4-0, I realize I've spent my 30's really researching the best option for me. Here's to evolving, changing, and trying systems that go with those things in my 40's! Happy Planning!