MI Goals is one of my all time favorite planners! I bought my first in 2017, again in 2018 and now in 2019. There have been a few changes to the planner over the years so let’s see what’s new in the 2019 version.
Quick facts
- Size: 6″ wide x 8.5″ high
- Hardcover
- Sewn binding
- Short & Long Term Goal planning pages
- Quarterly & yearly review pages
- Monthly budgets
- 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- Dates at a glance
- Lined & unlined notes pages
- Neutral inside pages
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
A fairly standard hardcover but with the year imprinted.
Approx 0.75″ thick
The first few pages are some detailed examples of how to use the planner:
Goal Planning
One of the reasons I like the Mi Goals planners and continue to purchase them every year is the amount of goal planning & review pages.
At the start you can review the prior year.
And work out what you want for the current year
Then start mapping out those goals in more detail:
You can plan up to 6 short term goals with 1 page to plan each goal.
Long term goals
You can plan up to 4 long term goals in 1 year. Each goal has 4 pages
- Quote page
- Brainstorm / mindmap
- What / why / when / how / reward
- Key milstones, things to do & outcome
There’s space to write the day or date when each milestone and task is planned / due
Related: Using the Mi Goals Planner for ecourse planning
Review Pages
There is a yearly review at the back and quarterly reviews throughout.
After the goal planning pages are the monthly & weekly spreads.
Monthly Calendar
Starts on Monday which is consistent with the weekly spread. The Mi Goals monthly calendar layout has changed over the years from a list format in 2017 to traditional boxes with lists underneath in the 2019 version:
NO split boxes on the monthly calendar – the date numbering restarts on the top row 🙂
Weekly Planning
The Monday week start is consistent with the monthly calendar. The layout is very functional – habit tracker + top 3, lined & unlined writing space for each day.
While the planner is Australian, holidays from around the world are pre-printed on the weekly spreads:
Budgeting
Tabs
While there are no tabs (due to the stitched binding), the section dividers are a completely black background making them easier to locate. There are also 2 ribbon bookmarks.
Week numbers are also printed in the bottom corner of the weekly spreads and the extra pages e.g. budget are also printed in the bottom corner.
Pen Testing
The paper feels the same as past years’ planners so here is the pen test from 2018: some ghosting but no bleed through except for the MAMBI stamps.
Pros of the Planner
- Plenty of goal planning pages (with plenty of room to write)
- Functional weekly layout with lined & unlined writing space
- Budget pages
- Lined & unlined notes pages
- 2 Ribbon bookmarks
- Doesn’t weigh much
Cons of the Planner
- The pages don’t lay flat on their own as easily as previous years’ versions of the planner
- Limited cover options (and just a plain color)
- The paper is a bit yellow in color – I wish it was white and thicker to prevent pen bleed through
- No cover personalisation – the cover is a bit plain
- No tabs
- The yearly review is only 1 page
Would I use this planner?
Yes. Mi Goals makes it to my list of favorite planners. I normally stay away from sewn bound planners however everything from Mi Goals is very functional. Their planners have some of my favorite goal planning pages too.
The Mi Goals Planner has changed quite a bit over the years. 2017 to 2019 on the right in the picture below. I kind of wish they’d do a cross between the various layouts.
A combination of this would be perfect:
- The non-traditional list style monthly calendar from 2017
- The weekly layout for 2018
- The lay flat stitched binding of the 2018 planner
- The size + compact style of either 2017 or 2019 versions
More planner reviews:
Planning Tips:
- Customising the Erin Condren hourly planner for task based planning
- How to resize any printable for any size bullet journal
- Using blank pages: 50 useful lists to add to your planner
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Kim says
Hello Rachel ?
This question is related to the Arc Disc System you reviewed. For some reason I couldn’t comment on it.
I was so eager to order the Arc punch and related accessories after your review but I have really struggled to find the notebooks and refills in A4 size. I have also struggled to find someone who will ship to Australia. There is a company here in Sydney called Winc but they don’t have the range ands haven’t been particularly helpful. I have emailed Staples in the Uk – they don’t ship here. I have tried a chat page for Staples USA (it was impossible to find an email address for them). I am still waiting on responses.
Do you have any other suggestions? It is extremely frustrating knowing what I want but not being able to order it.
Thanks for your wonderful posts. I LOVE STATIONERY ?
Regards
Kim
Rachael says
Hi Kim, glad you’ve found my blog helpful 🙂
I ordered my ARC from Staples Australia about 5 years ago (which has now changed it’s name to Winc). They appear to still have them in stock (with the exception of the punch): https://www.winc.com.au/main-catalogue-browse/winc-brand/winc-office-products/winc-arc-system-notebook/4294527402
I wouldn’t order from the USA as they use a different page size (US letter size is wider and shorter than A4). They also use half letter instead of A5 page size. An alternative to the ARC disc system is the Happy Planner. My sister stocks the planners, notebooks, dsics, punch and all the accessories in her shop: https://carefullycrafted.com.au/happy-planner/ she also has the classic & big punch: https://carefullycrafted.com.au/search.php?search_query=mambi+classic+punch&Search= The MAMBI punch is not a perfect fit with the ARC but you could still use the 2 together.
I’ll be doing a post either this week or next week with a comparison of the different disc sizes & which discbound notebooks are compatible.
Rachael says
Hi Kim, here’s the link to that post with the discbound brand compatibility: https://allaboutplanners.com.au/discbound-planners-notebooks-brands-that-are-compatible/