He also adds that it's important to lay out in your planner "where there’s time for recuperation, because in the same way that we can’t effectively multi-task, we can’t sustain a work day for eight or 16 hours nonstop. So being able to plan where we recuperate means that we’ll be able to be more effective when we do work. And there’s something about being able to identify your goals and being able to parse them out in a scheduled sense of time that is empowering. And in our urgency culture, it’s one of the most effective ways of regaining a sense of power and agency."

Fashion stylist Sarah Nearis often finds herself running from appointment to appointment and city to city, splitting her time primarily between Nashville and L.A. and styling the likes of Rita Ora, JoJo, Michelle Rodriguez, and more. To stay organized, she uses a planner app called Structured."I love it because I’m a very visual person and its layout inspires me to be more organized," she says. "I feel like, as artists, sometimes we can be scatterbrained and I get distracted easily, but this app is super user friendly, visual appealing, and motivates me to be more organized." This roundup was researched and written by Brigitt Earley, who has written and edited hundreds of buying guides for various publications over the course of the last 10 years. Not to mention, Earley knows a thing or two about scheduling and staying organized—she is a freelancer for more than a half-dozen publications, all while running a household of six (including four kids under the age of 4!). Before buying a planner, it's important to consider what you're looking for, what your goals are, and how you like to stay organized.

Download the printable calendar 2022 with holidays.

Pros: includes space for planning, to do lists, and gratitude; has two built-in bookmarks; easy to carry around; editor-approved

Instead of an app or gadget that claims to jump-start your productivity, consider investing in a good paper planner. There is plenty of research that shows how actually writing down your to-do list and schedule for the day — rather than typing it out on a laptop or iPhone — makes you feel more engaged in the task at hand. And once the calendar year is complete, a physical planner becomes an artifact — a time capsule, if you will — of its happenings. Leafing through the well-loved Hobonichi Techo planners I’ve used over the years brings me almost as much pleasure as scribbling in them did.The MYO Slim Planner is particularly useful for anyone who has struggled to build a planner habit in the past, since the easiest way to use a planner is to make sure it's on you and accessible at all times.