You probably haven’t heard of the Ignited Life Planner… I hadn’t until I randomly stumbled across it on Amazon one day. There are parts of the planner that I like and some I don’t, but overall this is a good planner if you’re looking for goal sections throughout (annual, monthly and weekly) and a vertical lined weekly spread with a medium page size.
I purchased the planner myself and as always, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one of these links I’ll receive a small commission in exchange for referring you (at no extra cost to you).
Quick facts
- Size: 7″ wide x 10″ high (approx. B5 page size)
- Black cover only
- Hardcover
- Sewn binding or spiral binding
- 12 month project plan / annual overview
- 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
- 2 graph pages per month
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- 60 weekly spreads (5 per month)
- Lasts 12 months
- Neutral inside pages
- 3 ribbon bookmarks (different colors)
- Undated
Price: $50 USD on Amazon (often on sale for $30 USD). Also available on the Ignited Life Planner website.
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
There are 2 binding styles – the sewn binding (which I chose) or there’s a spiral bound version too. The sewn bound comes in black only, the spiral version comes in black, brown and a beige / grey color.
The elastic band is different – it only covers the corner not the entire planner. I don’t stuff loose pages into the cover of my planner but you might have to with this one because there’s no pocket folder. I’m not sure how secure that corner elastic band is going to be…
Approx. 0.75″ thick (2cm)
Goal Planning
I like the goal pages in this planner:
- There’s a decent amount of space to write
- A mix of unlined and lined pages
- 1 year, 3 year and 5 year goals – not just the current year but also gets you thinking about what you need to do now to achieve those goals in the coming years
- Goal pages for family / relationships, personal accomplishments, health and work / financial
- 12 month project plan broken down by month / quarter
There’s a 2 page spread with mind mapping space and future planning for each of the goal categories.
I think another page (or even 2!) for each of the categories would be good because the only action steps section to breakdown how you’re going to achieve your goals, is on the 12 month overview and the writing space is small. If you’re working on multiple goals at once the action steps will become jumbled. I personally prefer to list out all of the tasks for big goals (separate page/s for each goal) and then transfer those tasks to monthly and weekly spreads.
Line spacing is 8mm
Following those pages is a 12 month planner… but not in the same format you find in most planners. The 2 page spread is broken down into quarters, and then into months as well. I like this idea but I need more space. The line spacing is 8mm, columns for each month are 2.6cm wide – I’m only going to be able to fit 2 words max.
There are 5 x 2 page spreads with 3 goals per spread (so you can plan up to 15 goals total in this planner which is a generous amount).
If I use this planner I’d probably end up ignoring the vertical lines / months and just allocating tasks to that quarter so I have more space.
Related: 12 Bullet journal annual planning page layout ideas
Monthly Calendar
I love almost everything about this monthly calendar!
- Big boxes for lists categorised for the goals set on those initial pages of the planner
- Weekly focus box (and it’s lined)
- Line spacing is 5mm
- Undated, so no split boxes!
The boxes for each day are 3.9cm wide x 3.1cm high
The circles to write the dates have a 6mm diameter which is a bit small to write the dates but could be completely covered by some date dot stickers placed over the top.
One con for me is that the week starts Sunday which is not consistent with the weekly spread which starts Monday.
Each month also has 2 graph pages. I would’ve preferred lined or dot grid pages, the lines on the graph pages are bold.
The printing of some of the lines appears a bit off in some places (5mm squares versus 6mm squares).
Weekly Planning
I really like that the goals you set at the front of the planner flow through to the monthly calendar and the sidebar of the weekly spread. Without them you could end up focusing on goals for only 1 or 2 categories, the sidebar reminds you that you need to balance them all.
Line spacing is 5mm, columns for each day are 38mm (1.5″)
There is an equal space for each day with sections for:
- Thankful for
- Today’s focus
- Tasks
- Appointments
- Today’s wins / learnings
If you didn’t like one of these titles you could use a black marker pen like the Staedtler Triplus Color and then write the title you want in a white pen like the Sakura Gelly Roll.
Unlike most vertical planners the appointments section is blank so you can add whatever times you need (and could do half hour or hourly intervals – or both).
Pages lay flat on their own and there are 3 ribbon bookmarks in different colors.
Pen Test
I didn’t do a pen test as I won’t be keeping this planner (I don’t use vertical weekly spreads). The pages feel thicker than I was expecting. I can only see minor ghosting / show through of printing on the backside of pages
Pros of the Planner
- Minimalist color scheme and gender neutral covers
- White paper
- Larger page size than is usually available for sewn bound planners
- Spiral binding option also available
- Detailed goal planning pages
- Functional monthly calendar that ties back to those initial goal planning pages
- Functional weekly spread and no pre-filled times so you can choose your time intervals (or only add appointment times when you have them)
- Undated
- 3 Ribbon bookmarks in different colors
Cons of the Planner
- No tabs
- No pocket folder
- No extra pages at the back of the planner e.g. notes pages
- No annual review
- No structured goal check in pages
- No structured monthly planning pages, just the 2 graph pages per month
- The writing space on the 12 month project plan pages is too small
- Corner elastic band, it doesn’t go around the entire planner
- Some colorful covers would appeal to me – most planners have black covers so I’d like to have other color options
Would I use this planner?
The usual price tag of $50 USD is overpriced in my opinion. The finishes on the planner are fairly basic – there’s no different colored covers and a few thing typically incudes in sewn bound planners like a pocket folder and pen holder are missing. There are a few pops of color printing on some of the earlier goal pages but otherwise the design is black and white only so the printing costs should be low. I regularly see planners in this style in the $30 – $40 USD price range, so would recommend at the sale price it is often advertised for of $30 USD.
This planner is halfway there for me. I like the preliminary goal pages and really like the monthly calendar, however there’s no structured monthly planning or monthly review pages, no annual review and there’s no extra notes pages either.
Overall, I wouldn’t use this planner not only for the reasons listed above, but mainly because I don’t use a vertical weekly spread. If there was a horizontal weekly spread then I would consider using this planner.
Similar planner reviews:
- The Perfect Notebook Review (Discbound Planner)
- Mi Goals ‘Goal Digger’ Weekly Planner 2018
- 90X Goal Planner
- Mi Goals Weekly Planner Review
- Goal Crazy Planner Review
- Full Focus Planner Review (Michael Hyatt’s 90 Day Undated Goal Planner)
- Mi Goals Progress Planner
Planning Tips:
- How to organize planner stickers
- 10 Different ways to do a monthly goals review in your planner
- 7 Quick & Easy Ways to Personalise Your Planner
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