5 Business Lessons Learned Using a Hobonichi Techo Planner

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Regular readers of HR Bartender know that I’m a planner. Earlier this year, I announced that I was trying out a new life planner called a Hobonichi Techo. It’s allowing me to bring together my planning, journaling, and commonplace bookinto a single place. 

Since I’m really enjoying my Hobonichi Techo experience, I’ve decided to use it again in 2025. As I was making the decision on what planner version to buy, I realized a few things that not only apply to my planner experience but to business in general. Regardless of your planning systems, you might find these to be helpful as well.   

Form and function matter. I believe that planning is very personal. My system might not work for everyone else. And someone else’s system might not work for me. Some people like planning in an analog way, others prefer digital, or maybe a combination of both. The same is true for organizations. Planning is part of culture. Companies have a way they like to plan. I’ve worked for companies that each had a different planning process. As a consultant, I work with companies that choose to plan differently. The bottom-line is to plan using the tools that help you successfully accomplish your goals. Adjust those things that don’t work for you. One of the first things I noticed in my planner is there were pages I didn’t know what to do with. Like a page to put addresses. I didn’t need a page to do that, so I found another use for the page. Individuals (and organizations) might find themselves in a similar situation. Maybe they have a planning method that they like 80% of the time. The other 20% doesn’t apply to them or they just don’t like it. Instead of throwing the whole system away … see if there’s a way to adjust the 20% to fit your needs. Just remember to monitor the process and ensure the adjustment yields the intended result. When you make a mistake, fix it. When I purchased my planner this year, I joined a couple of online communities to get some ideas of how others were using their planners. One of the things I noticed was comments about messing up a page – and wanting to throw the whole planner away. There were a lot of comments like this. I will admit that I have perfectionist tendencies, so this was a moment for me to realize that I need to figure out what to do if when I mess up a page. That’s when I discovered washi tape. (ha.ha.) Seriously, when organizations make a mistake in their plans, they have to figure out how to fix them. One option is to turn the mistake into something beautiful and marvelous.   Look at things upside down. Because a planner is a book, I found that I would only look at pages one way. You know, the way you read a book. At some point, I realized if I wanted to fix a mistake (using washi tape) the best way to do it was to turn the book upside down. Organizations might find themselves in a similar situation. They make mistakes or they’re trying to problem solve, and they only look at the situation one way. If they were willing to turn the situation upside down (alter your perspective), it could be very helpful in accomplishing their goals. Don’t leave the current year when you start working on the future. I mentioned at the beginning of today’s article that I made the decision to use a Hobonichi Techo for next year. And I’ve already purchase it. My 2025 planner is beautiful, and I can’t wait to start using it. But we’re still in 2024 and I can’t lose sight of that. Organizations need to remember this too. Many of the organizations I’ve worked with start their planning and budget process in late Q3 / early Q4. It can be tempting to focus on next year and forget about the rest of this year. Yes, we can look forward to the future. Don’t forget about the present. Because this year’s results will impact next year’s plan. 

Planning is an important activity. As individuals, we make plans for our personal and professional lives. Organizations make strategic and operational plans. Our plans help us succeed. Spend time understanding how to plan. Thinking about how we like to plan and what works for us isn’t a frivolous exercise. It’s an investment into our future. 

Image courtesy of Hobonichi Techo

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