At the start of 2025 I bought my first paper planner–a black, pocket-sized Moleskine Weekly Notebook that slipped into my Levi's with ease.

I planned to carry it with me everywhere so I could have one less excuse to be on my phone throughout the day.

By February I had abandoned it.

While the pocket-size was convenient and portable, it was simply too small.

I wanted to track goals, habits, and finances; make plans and record memories; create a historical artifact that I could look back on with pride.

My ambitions were far too great for such a tiny notebook.

So I thought, "Why not get something bigger–MUCH bigger" and I bought the biggest planner I could find–a black, Master A4-sized Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner that was 50% off (that's when I learned that it pays to wait a month after the new year to go planner shopping.)

I was enamored with the possibilities that such a large notebook could afford.

The pages were massive and had plenty of room for all of my productivity needs. There was so much space to fill I started imagining new things to track and new plans for my life just to ink over some of the white void reflecting back at me.

I abandoned that planner after just two weeks.

My ambitions were dwarfed by the daunting scale of such a massive notebook.

The next experiment was an orange, A5 Leuchtturm1917 blank notebook that I used to start my first Bullet Journal.

This medium sized journal was a much better fit. Just big enough for tracking my habits, tasks, and memories while not being so big that I felt overwhelmed with the pressure to fill every inch of the page.

At that size I found dedicating a full page to each day was the sweet spot for my planning needs. I could rapid log my tasks, plan by the hour with a time block, and write a half-page diary entry in the evening to cap off the day.

But three filled Bullet Journals later my needs expanded again.

I wanted to start planning beyond the daily onto the weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly levels without any digital dependence.

So, in March of this year I bought a B5 Composition-sized Leuchtturm1917 Monthly Planner and moved over my entire calendar system to paper completely eliminating Google Calendar from my life.

It turns out a B5 planner was the perfect size for my purposes. I've been planning completely on paper ever since and have no plans to go back.

Now I use a combination of notebooks of various sizes for different purposes.

My A5 Bullet Journal is for daily plans, diary entries, logs, and a wide variety of creative exercises.

My B5 Planner contains my goals, schedules, and higher timeframe tasks lists.

Thanks to its portability I still carry a pocket notebook with me everywhere to capture just about everything else from ideas and quotes to observations and notes.

I also use a B6 notebook for my Reading Journal. It's slightly slimmer and shorter than an average book allows me to easily carry it with my in a bag or keep next to my books on a stand for quick notetaking.

I even have a B6 Slim gridded Notebook that I use for practicing my Japanese writing. The tight squares and less wide pages are easier on my eyes when looking over my notes. It also feels less daunting filling the pages with practice strokes making study sessions more gratifying.

Every size plays its role in my system.

I learned what role each size plays with lots of experimentation and discovered a few principles along the way.

• Planners need to be the right size for the amount of plans you're making. Too big and you'll feel bad for leaving pages empty. Too small and you'll be frustrated that nothing fits.
• Small notebooks are best for on the go memos and capture.
• Smaller pages are easier to fill and create positive feedback for new writing habits. Best suited for when you have a goal of writing everyday but haven't built a consistent practice yet.
• Large pages are best suited for prose writing, goal setting, big visual outlines, and moments when you have a LOT on your mind.
• If you're unsure, an A5 or Medium-sized notebook is a safe bet.

By starting with the purpose you'll find it's easier to choose the right tool for the job.

Prompt:

What is your favorite sized notebook? How does the size affect how you use it and how you feel about what you've written in it?