Panda Planner Vs. The SELF Journal - Review and Comparison

If you're a freelancer, student, or someone who has some freedom to arrange your day, you need a planner system. Without one it's too easy to float along and forget about your priorities.

I'm a fan of analog. Digital todo-lists and calendars are convenient, but I can never stick with them. My brain gives more weight to things I've handwritten, and I'm more likely to follow through.

For years I used a blank notebook[1] and the Bullet Journal system. A blank notebook gives you plenty of freedom, but it can be annoying to fill in the same structure everyday. Nowadays there are tons of planner/journal options pre-filled with calendars, daily schedules, priority lists, and other interesting boxes.

Planning/Journaling everyday can also be a good place to anchor new habits. Gratitude practice, morning pages, and writing 10 ideas seem to be common activites amongst journalers.

I recently filled out two of these pre-filled planners, the Panda Planner and the SELF Journal. I bought them both at the same time to figure out which one I liked more. Here's my review:

Panda Planner Daily and Weekly Overview

• $25.97
• No use guide, but they direct you to video tutorials online
• Monthly, Weekly, and Daily pages
• 12 month pages, 16 week pages, ??? days
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Pocket

Here are some examples of what the weekly and daily pages look like:

You could download the Panda Planner PDF straight from their website. Print it out and you've got a free planner. I'd still prefer to buy the real thing for the nicer binding and ribbon bookmarks.

SELF Journal Overview

• $34.99
• Built in Use guide
• 13-Week Goals Planning, Monthly, Weekly, and Daily pages
• Enough pages for 3 months, 13 weeks of daily use.
• 1 Ribbon bookmark

Here's what the Self Journal weekly and daily pages look like:

Best Self has the entire journal available as a downloadable PDF if you want to check it out or print your own.

My Thoughts

Panda Planner

Pros

• 3 bookmarks for keeping track of month, week and day is nice, though I wish they were colored
• More boxes than the Self Journal
• Founders seem to iterate the journal quite frequently in response to customer reviews

Cons

• Blinding white paper and heavy lines make the page feel busy
• Too many boxes feel repetitive, the weekly planning feels like I write the same thing 3 times.
• Paper quality isn't great

SELF Journal

Pros

• Beautiful paper and layouts
• Wide schedule for reshuffling your day
• 13-week goal postmortem pages

Cons

• Use guide was kind of confusing
• Cloth cover attracts dust
• Expensive

Things neither get right

• The daily schedule in both journals starts at 6 and ends at 9, they really need a night-owl option
• I would love more blank freeform pages in both.

What planner should I pick next?

Both of these planners are great for everyday use. The cons I've listed are really just nitpicks, and I'd be happy using either one for a long time. Right now I'll probably get another SELF Journal, but maybe you have a better option.

Do you use a journal that you use everyday? Do you love it? Let me know which one.

Purchase a Panda Planner on Amazon
Purchase a SELF Journal on Amazon

[1] Moleskines are alright, but I really enjoy using Leuchtturm 1917 Dotted Notebooks. I'll just never be able to pronounce it.