Managing time

When Gao Li bought a fancy notebook on sale in 2015, she didn't know how to use it properly. As it looked good, she didn't want to treat it casually, so she searched on YouTube and found a lot of videos about turning the notebook into a planner.

"That was the first time I got to know about planners. The various styles and people's creative use of materials really delighted me, and attracted me to the circle," says Gao, 33.

Planners refer to people's notebooks recording schedules and diaries, often with creative layouts and decorations. Creating planners is a popular hobby across the world.

Gao found that making a planner was an ideal way to view life from a different angle. "I began to imagine people's lives from their planners, and compare their lives with my own. I found that many amazing things they recorded were not strange to me at all, but I didn't find them so interesting when I experienced them. It inspired me to put things down and view them from an observer's angle, to make things more interesting and meaningful," she says.

The discovery started her own journey of making planners. The hobby gradually became a dominant part of her life, until she started working as a full-time planner blogger, who uploads videos about making planners and sharing stationery online. The job has won her many opportunities she had never imagined before.

At the beginning, creating planners was only something "fresh and interesting" for Gao, who didn't expect she would be engaged with it for a long time. But she has spent about seven years on it so far. The hobby has helped Gao overcome her shortcomings and better use her time. In 2019, when she began to use a planner, which required her to record how she spent her 24 hours every day, she was surprised to find her schedule included a lot of unallocated time, which presented opportunities for further details.

"I was broadcasting a TV show while shopping online on Taobao at the same time. But I didn't focus on any of that. I was still worried about my unfinished work. There were so many moments like that," says Gao.

She knew about how she wasted her time in the past, but it was only when her planner directly showed her how much time she wasted she had to face up to it. That urged her to be more efficient. Later that year, she formed the habit of rising early, doing regular exercises and lost 15 kilograms.

"I don't attribute all of the changes to writing the planner, but through the concrete records, my progress became trackable," says Gao.

In 2016, Gao began to upload videos about making planners by the name Bushimen. She graduated from the University of Auckland two years before, and was searching for a job but didn't get a satisfying one. She followed makeup bloggers on YouTube, and decided to become a planner blogger.

Her videos are mainly about tips on making planners, stationery recommendations and her own experience of making different kinds of planners. The videos have helped her attract more than 48 million fans on Sina Weibo.

Pulalapu, a user on knowledge sharing platform Zhihu, who also follows Gao on social media, says: "Her planner system, and layout logic are very clear. Beginners or those who have made planners for a long time can be enlightened by her videos."

Gao has been inspired by makeup bloggers, especially their easy-to-understand approach, and she hopes to emulate their successful style.

"I try to speak faster, cut off unnecessary small talk, and focus on what I want to express. Usually I record for an hour, and after editing, the final video is about 13 minutes. Therefore, my work is always pithy," says Gao.

As a planner blogger, she got in touch with some stationery brands. In 2018, one of them asked if she would like to design some stationery with them. With surprise and unease, she accepted the invitation.

"I am not a professional designer, so I was not confident with my ability to design planners. I learned the required skills while doing the work, and tried to express my attitude to life, my understanding of stationery in my designs," says Gao.

One of her designs is a sticky note, called tuoyan, which literally means "dragging salt", but also refers to another word with the same pronunciation in Chinese, meaning "procrastination". On the note, a caricature shows a person dragging a jar of salt.

"Writing the to-do list below the image, the contrast seems funny. Many people like me have written planners for a long time without becoming a productivity guru. We are always fighting against procrastination and working to avoid delaying things," she says.

The cooperation offered her more chances. She visited a stationery company in Japan, communicated with its designers, and it enabled her to promote her own designs, including pens, notebooks and bags.

"From creating planners to sharing planners and stationery, and now designing planners and stationery, it's like having fun in an amusement park. And then I began to draw the design and create the facilities by myself," says Gao.

She published a book, titled Write Here Write Now, recently, telling her stories related to making planners. She spent a year on that.

Many people are attracted by the beautiful and innovative planner pages, so they enter the circle, but at the end of the day it is the feeling of grasping life that keeps them there, she says.

"The planner is a carrier and life is the content. If one lives a boring life, you cannot find good content in their planners. But if one lives enthusiastically, you'll definitely feel the passion from what they create," says Gao.