Searching for the best ADHD planner? Spoiler alert: it doesn't exist.

Over the past few years, the online search volume for “ADHD planners” has skyrocketed. Especially in the last 6 months.

In July of 2025, the search term hit an all-time high of 18.3K searches worldwide.

Just look at this 5-year trend line and forecast:

And it’s the same across pretty much all the related terms you can think of, like “adhd friendly planner,” “adhd planner app,” and “adhd cleaning planner.”

On Amazon, the monthly search volume (in English) for “ADHD planner” is 8,100.

Guys. I guarantee you that most of the people who sell planners labelled as “ADHD planner” on Amazon just slapped that label on when the search volume started going up.

But the truth is…

There is no such thing as an ADHD planner.

There is no special ADHD-focused planner that’s going to solve your time management and memory difficulties. Will it help? If you use it, yes, it will. But it absolutely does not need to be labelled as an “ADHD planner” to be useful.

The best planner for YOUR ADHD is the one that fits YOUR brain’s needs. It is a planner of whatever kind…digital, physical, monthly, weekly, daily, horizontal, vertical, spiral-bound, a bullet journal, a tear-off pad…it literally does not matter.

The only thing that truly matters when it comes to choosing a planner is that it’s what works for you and your unique brain.

If it doesn’t fit your planning style, you’re way more likely to just quit using it.

Are there planners that have certain features that might be beneficial for a many ADHD brains?

Definitely.

But does that make that particular planner the best one for ADHD in general?

Nope.

Sooo then how do I figure out planning?

Finding the “right way” to plan that fits the way your brain works is going to take a little time, but I promise it’s possible.

Here’s what you do:

Grab a notebook.

Yep, any notebook. Lined, unlined, journal-style, spiral bound…whatever. Just a blank notebook.

Now, make a list of what you think you need in a planner. It can be specific, like “a spot to write notes every day” or “an hourly schedule to see my meetings” or “the whole week on one spread.”

Then, you draw it.

Yep, draw out a couple weeks (or a month, if you need a month view) in the style you think you want. Draw your boxes and your lines, put in the dates and the headings…create spreads that match what you think you’ll use.

It doesn’t matter if the lines are straight. It doesn’t matter how pretty it looks. We’re purely going for function, here.

Now, use it! Spend a few weeks (or longer) using the planner you drew.

As you go, notice what’s working and what isn’t. Maybe you’re running out of space to write tasks on each day, for example. So, for the next week, make a change. Change your boxes, spread a week over two spreads, or leave a full page for each day.

Tweak away. Add extras if you want, like a gratitude box, a weekly planning page, a page to track your goals…whatever you need.

Wait…am I bullet journaling?

You sure are! Bullet journaling is the perfect way to figure out your planning style. You don’t have to do it this way forever, of course, but it’s an awesome way to try different planner layouts before buying one.

Now, you don’t have to waste your money on multiple different planners to figure out what works for your unique and beautiful brain.

You do NOT need to deep dive into bullet journaling now. If you want to, okay go ahead, but hold those facts you found out about your planning needs close to your heart, because the deluge of layout options and gorgeous journal art will tempt you into adding too much to keep up with.

I successfully kept a bullet journal for a few years a while back, and it really was an awesome, flexible way to plan in ways my ADHD brain found helpful. Now, I use a planner, but only because I knew exactly what type of planner was going to fit my brain before buying.

I have multiple recommendations for you today along the bullet journal/ADHD planning line. If you can’t see it below, sign up and then you’ll be able to!

ADHD Rec #5: ADHD planners don’t exist, so do this instead…