Vent: my monthly spread kept dying because I made it too pretty

For the first 3 months of this year my monthly setup took almost 2 hours because I kept drawing these fancy borders and banners, and then I would barely use the page. Last week I tried something dumb and simple: one box per day, no colors, no theme, just a plain grid with dates and a short list of 4 things I want done. I filled it in 10 minutes and actually checked it every morning before work in the kitchen. Curious if anyone else here had to ugly-up their journal before it became useful, or is it just me?

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the_robert3h ago

Tbh I'd push back on the whole "pretty is the problem" idea. Drawing those borders for 2 hours wasn't wasted if it made you want to open the book, the real issue was you never built the morning check habit, not the banners. A plain grid that you ignore is just as dead as a fancy one, and plenty of people make grids and still forget them by day 4. The 10 minute setup worked because you put it in the kitchen where you'd actually see it, not because you made it ugly.

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