When I came across Mi Goals planners I wondered why no one was posting about them! Probably because most Aussie planner companies aren’t as well known as the bigger USA planner brands (with the exception of Kikki K of course!)

Because I have no self-control when it comes to planners, I bought their:

• 2017 planner
• Get shit done notebook
• Goals notebook
• Progress Journal

This is not a sponsored post – I paid for the planners myself and all opinions are my own!

I normally avoid book bound / glue bound planners, but I couldn’t resist the functional and minimal layouts. I was pleasantly surprised by their planners – they actually do lay flat without having to hold the notebook open and write with the other hand. So let’s take a closer look!

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2017 Goals Diary

What attracted me to this planner, was the different layout for monthly planning. Instead of a traditional 2 page calendar with boxes for each day, there are 3 lines to plan each day instead. It’s a layout that maximises the amount of writing space and makes it easier to see what you’ve written. Plus, because the writing space is lined, your plans don’t end just a bunch of jumbled text.

In addition there’s a sidebar for goal setting, things to do checklist – including a top 3 (love this) as well as open ended note taking space.

I loved using this style of monthly calendar for planning June’s blog posts:

Related: Using the Mi Goals planner for monthly blog post content planning 

Pros of this planner:

• Cheaper than most planners – the softcover (which is the one I purchased) retails for only $29.95AUD (I got it for 50% off since it was mid-way through the year)
• Portable (A5 size)
• Compact planner – because there is no spiral / coil binding, it’s only 1.5cm thick and weighs hardly anything
• Weekly habits tracker
• Decent quotes – some planners have cheesy quotes whereas mi goals quotes are motivational.
• Simple, minimalist design in black and white so you can use any colors they won’t clash / will always look good!
• Half yearly review and end of year review sections to track your progress – most planners just have the annual goal setting pages and there’s no follow through
• There’s also 10 goal worksheets in the planner with space to record the type of goal (short, medium or long), key milestones (as well as dates and a box to tick off once complete), things to do in order to achieve the goal, and the outcome you want at the end
• Week numbers are in the bottom corner
• 2 bookmarks – so you can keep your place with what month you’re up to as well as the weekly spread (since there’s no tabs)
• Cover comes in 3 colors: black, pink and blue
• Fast shipping (and free shipping to Australia when you spend over $50)

I chose the black cover (looks great with the gold foil date on the cover!)

Cons of this planner:

• There is a weekly habits tracker but there’s only room to track up to 3 habits – I wish there was space to track at least 7 tasks
• The open ended blank space each week could be better utilised into checklists that tie back into the goal setting pages at the start of the planner. I wasn’t really sure how to use the space when I used it for the 52 planners in 52 weeks challenge and felt like I ended up under-utilising it
• The paper is thin so all of the pens I did pen testing with (including gel and ballpoint pens) bled through the page to the other side
• The paper is a bit yellow in color – I wish it was white and thicker to prevent pen bleed through

The gel pen that came with this planner writes nice – but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it when there’s so many other nice pens to choose from that come in more colors!

I used the Mi Goals 2017 planner for week 19 of the 52 planners in 52 weeks challenge

Goals Book

When I saw the goals book I thought it would be a great notebook for tracking larger projects which can get lost amongst daily planning.

There are more goal setting pages in this planner than most other goal-oriented planners have. And the goal setting pages are super functional – not just those questionnaires that most planners have. There’s actual goal setting pages so you can break down how you’re going to achieve those goals – definitely something more planners should have!

The book has pages to breakdown each milestone/ step into the smaller steps.

I’m going to use it next time I launch an ecourse (haven’t decided which topic to go with yet – if there’s tutorials you’d like to see for how to make something comment below). So I’ll be using separate pages for each module of the course and all of the lessons, worksheets, videos, photos and other course collateral you need to make.

While the planner doesn’t have tabs, the section divider pages have full black color printed so they’re still fairly easy to find.

See how I used this planner: Using the Mi Goals Planner for ecourse planning

Get Shit Done Notebook

This was an upsell for $3 when you bought the 2017 Diary.

I was a bit disappointed with this notebook and wouldn’t pay the normal retail price of $5.95 (you could make a DIY notebook for cheaper than that!)

This book is tiny (A6 size) and is rather flimsy with only 48 pages. The paper is also very thin ay only 80GSM (thinner than the 2017 goals diary) so is also prone to pen bleed through.

It would be a good notebook if you use your planner for appointments, routine tasks and meal planning only, and needed some extra space for task planning / keeping on track with your goals. It would also make a better alternative to using a notepad (which I’ve done in the past) where the pages tend to peel themselves off and get lost.

Progress Journal

I wasn’t going to buy this little notebook but I couldn’t resist.

To be honest, when it arrived I kind of changed my mind about it. It’s too small for my liking (only A6 size) – I wish it came in A5 size.

The way it’s set up is focused more towards journaling which I don’t tend to do. It has sections for:

• My focus for today is… (with a checklist)
• Blank space underneath on the left page

And on the right page sections for:

• Today I… for journaling
• I did this today to take me closer to my goals
• I struggled with today
• Tomorrow I’m looking forward to

Pros of the Progress Journal

• Just the right amount of space to keep track of daily to tasks – it would be a good alternative to a traditional planner, or if you prefer task based planning
• Very light – weighs hardly anything so it would be ideal to keep in your handbag
• 3 colors for the cover to choose from: pink, light blue or dark blue

Cons of the Progress Journal

• Small – it’s only A6 size (about 4” wide x 5.75” high)
• Expensive – for the very small size of the planner at $19.95AUD the price is too expensive in my opinion
• Because it’s fatter than the 2017 goals diary (about 1.5” or 2cm) – the notebook doesn’t stay open unless you hold it open with one hand while you write with the other – which is one of my main frustrations and reasons I usually avoid glue / book bound planners
• Only 1 bookmark ribbon to keep your plan so if you were using this to keep track of the workflow of multiple projects you’d need to bend the page or use a bookmark or sticky note as there aren’t any tabs

Conclusion

I recommend the 2017 Planner and the Goals Book – both are good value for money. I wouldn’t recommend the Get Shit Done notebook and Progress Journal unless you like really small planners!

Related Posts:

• Which is Cheaper: DIY Printable Planners or Pre-Printed & Assembled Planners?
• 7 Ways to make colors POP when printing using an Inkjet printer 
• Ultimate planner page size guide (with printable reference cheat sheet) 
• Planner Organization: Why I use the Arc Planner instead of binders

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