Hello there and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast
hosted by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by Mark
Your pages. And I'm Jess or Jessie Karen,
and today is like the Spotify Wrapped for the podcast.
I think everybody's actual Spotify wraps are coming out on
the day we're recording this. I have not checked mine.
I am so eager to see who my top site artist is.
And I really hope that Ice Ice Baby isn't in my top five songs
this year, but also I'm kind of hoping it's there.
I'm hoping that Apple Music just follows suit because I switched
from Spotify to Apple Music because I'm already paying for
Apple Music and I don't get the same excitement that everybody
else does. I'm like it's I have ADHD, like
whatever is the top of my list gets listened to until I'm sick
of it. I can tell you what songs they
are. Yeah, literally I cuz I listen
to mine kind of in order of just like when it got added to my
playlist. So I find that once I have like
a song and then like the couple under it that I've been playing
on repeat, like those ones are just gonna be in the top five
because it's like I just go back to that one song and then the
next one just plays. And then the next one just plays
and I listen to them over and over again.
So we work exactly the same way. But today we're going to have a
little like look back on the podcast, how it went this year.
This notably was our first year doing the podcast, very
exciting. So we're going to be thinking
about what are like our highlight moments, what are the
topics we enjoyed maybe didn't so much?
And also, what is the future of the Planner Palace podcast?
Or maybe what we would hope it to be?
Absolutely. Well, I'll go ahead and start
today, Justin, just tell you that my very favorite thing that
we've done this year is actually start the podcast.
And this is something that, you know, as I was talking to you
earlier the year when I was talking you and into doing this
along with me, I just said, you know, I'd need something where
I'm bouncing off of somebody. Talking by myself about topics
is great. I can do that all day long.
But it's even better talking with someone else about it that
has similar views or slightly different views to what we have.
And also on top of that, and if anyone does not know, this just
is the type A to my type B brain where I'm like, yeah, let's do a
thing. And she's like great order
process planning. And I'm like, Oh yeah, we have
to, we have to do that. So, you know, aside from the
topic itself, which I'll talk about in a second, just starting
this all together was very exciting for me this year.
So just a big thank you to saying yes and also for being
you and being awesome. Thank you for having me.
Oh my God, It's been such a pleasure.
I was like, yeah, this is just my long running stint.
I'm like retiring. I'm not going to be here
anymore. And no one will listen.
Don't worry, you cannot get rid of me.
Well, good, because I need to have you here.
But yeah, I think my favorite episode was definitely the first
one, again, because we started it, but also we just talked
about why we planned. And as we found out this year,
doing this podcast together, you and I, while we do bullet
journal under the way that we do with the topics that we cover
are very, in some cases, vastly different, but also the same.
And we have different needs for it.
And so I found that to be a really great episode.
And also just reading through the people's comments on that as
well, whether it was, you know, in the comments of the actual
YouTube video where we posted it or in the comments of the
podcast itself where people are listening to it.
It's so cool just to understand like why we all do it because we
all have different needs. I really love hearing like
obviously what you're doing in yours because like you said, it
is quite different to how I do like in terms of professionally,
like you're at a quite different space than I am.
And given the fact that you primarily use your planning
system for that kind of like professional work and getting
yourself organized in that area of your life, it's quite
interesting to see like how our structures systems and then like
execution differs because of that.
And also it's just been really cool hearing from our community
and like, you know, what are they using?
What kind of systems have been really useful for them versus
the ones that we probably steer away from because we just don't
find they work for us? Like the easiest of biggest 1 is
probably the index. Like, you know, you have your
ride and die index fans and then you have me who's just like
brother, Nah, I'm not gonna like waste a page on that.
I think I'll number my notebook. And it's so interesting to me to
hear that thought process behind that because I was very much
like, if you're not using the index, you're not bullet driven.
Like that's a main feature function of it.
Like that's, it's the brain, that's how you do it.
But then when you shared you look, some of my notebooks are
already in chronological order, so I don't need to reference
them again because nothing happens in them that isn't
happening by that date. That made sense to me, so I was
able to be a bit more open to the the whole idea.
Yeah, I always like it when like, you know, thoughts and
opinions get kind of challenged, like, you know, and obviously a
friendly, positive kind of way. And that's what I kind of
appreciate about the podcast is like it's an opportunity to
explore other ideas from other people and ask questions in a
way that feels safe and community based because it's all
done with love. It's not like, you know, coming
in here pitchfork and torch blazing, saying you know well a
journal unless you're using a dark grade notebook or like
anything like that. Would it be such a fun podcast
if every time you came, you came with like your chainmail on
ready to fight me every episode on something because I'm like,
no matter what you do, Jess, it is wrong if it's not this way.
I think while it would be an interesting episode to have like
a hardcore purist on, I don't feel like that would make for
great conversation personally. Just be like us trying to
convince them that like maybe they're not quite right on this
and then just be like now or possibly not.
We might be able to convince them, depends on how set in
their ways they are. Yeah, absolutely.
All right, Jess, what about yourself?
What's one of your favorite episodes from this year?
Topics. Honestly, I think one of my
favourites was literally like last episode because it was just
so much fun to record. I, I don't often think about the
things in my planner stash or like things that have left my
planner stash. A lot of the time that just
didn't really work out. And giving myself the
opportunity to kind of reflect on like, OK, well, like, maybe
why didn't they work out was something that I was kind of
thinking about after we recorded the episode.
And then getting a little bit more kind of thoughtful around,
OK, how are we gonna then take that energy into New Year and
make sure we're not accumulating stuff that we're probably just
not gonna use? Especially, you know, given the
line of work I'm in. I do get a lot of stuff from
people. And it's not to say that I wanna
like, you know, what's the word? Bite a horse in the face.
No lift a look and gift horse in the mouth.
Or bite the hand that feeds. It's all horse related.
Yeah, all of it is about horses. I'm not gonna kick the horse in
the face. I don't really want to be
bringing in things that I realistically, no, I'm just
gonna show off on camera, be like, oh, look, I got a thing
and then put it in the bucket. Like I don't want to do that.
So maybe something I can work on next year in terms of like
collaborating with brands and saying like, hey, love that you
want to work with me. But specifically could you send
me like that thing? Not this thing because I won't
use that one, but I might use that one.
It's really smart. I actually think that we should
do that like every six months. Because after that episode, all
the things that I had out, I started to use a little bit more
because I was like, Oh yeah, I have those and I should use them
a lot more. And when we were talking about
using the things you already have ever, you know, shopping
your own stash, I just keep reminding myself that I have
those. So a lot of the things I was
like, yeah, I don't really use them a lot.
I find myself now grabbing for those because, like, mentally
I've like, put them in front of my face literally again, as we
were talking through them. So if we just do that every six
months, I think we would all find new toys that we have in
our office that we like totally put away and just forgot about.
Yeah, just put all of those old bits and pieces on rotation so
that they actually get used in our systems, and then we don't
have to feel guilty about the fact that they're taking up
space in a drawer and not getting utilized at all.
I need to start doing that with my clothes too.
I realized that I wear very similar clothes all the time and
the other day I was like, I should literally just rotate
them. Like after I do laundry, put the
ones that were laundered in the very back and shift everything
forward and like force myself to wear things.
That's the same thing I feel like I kind of have to do with
some of my stationary. Sometimes it's just like rotate
it around a little bit and like put different pens in front of
my face so I see them more than the other ones.
I thankfully already have that system for my clothes because I
have 8 of this shirt and that's that's what I wear.
You and that minimalist wardrobe.
Yeah, just one less decision to make in my day so I can go and
agonize over where to place my sticker instead.
Did you have any other standout episodes that you really enjoyed
filming? Yeah, I think my favorite was
definitely the fountain pen episode because I love them so
much. And it was so cool to have the
conversations with everyone around why they do use them or
why they don't. And I had a number of people
that have reached out to me now this year that were like, you've
really worn me down on this in the the best way possible.
I bought my first fountain pen. That makes me really excited to
think that people are like listening and considering things
and trusting us also to like give them recommendations or
talk about those things. As I continue to grow my
collection, I'm finding that I'm thinking about it a bit
differently in a similar space where people were like here,
Mark, we want to send you these pens to try out, but yet they're
completely like so expensive and no one's actually going to buy
those things. Other people have offered
different recommendations for us too that are a lot less
expensive and I'm trying those out myself and realizing they're
kind of the same in a lot of different ways.
But I think just sharing the love for fountain pens, fountain
pen ink, being able to talk with you, someone who is not as
familiar with it was definitely fun because you know, I get to
share my knowledge with someone who is still curious about them
a little bit and now has one of their own as well.
And you know, we got to get that better into your rotation by
filling up with non green ink because you've had green ink in
it for way too long now. Jess, it is time to make a
change. But no, it's beautiful.
I'll never change. I did actually do a whole video
with my green ink pen though. It was just a members only video
so like only the members saw it. That's all.
That's all that needs to see it. As long as little baby girl Iris
is getting used, that is all we care about.
She's such a sweet lady. No, I mean, it was very exciting
getting my first fountain pen this year.
Like, because, you know, you gave that to me as a gift, as a
celebration of our podcast, which I felt so bad for because
you, like, rocked up with a gift.
And I'm like, I am the present. Hello, it is me.
Well, you are. I mean, let's be honest about
it, Jess. Like if I really go back and
think about the hobbyist hangout, which I only did like 4
episodes a year on, I mean, one of the best episodes is when you
were a guest and we talked through it and that's really
kind of set that fire where everybody was like, you should
all do this more often. So you are the gift, you are the
present, you are the moment. That's all that matters.
I'll take it. Thank you.
Thank you so much Crown it. But no, I I really appreciated
the fact that we did actually get started on this.
I know that you already talked about it.
This is a throwback whatever, but it's just nice that like I'm
more I'm very much the kind of person who's always like adding
to the stuff that I'm doing. And sometimes when I add
something, it just like it feels like a big energy suck, like,
you know, just way too much work put in, not enough payoff,
anything like that. This has not been one of those
things which has been so lovely because oftentimes, you know,
when I experiment with stuff, it's like, Oh yeah, we bring it
around for a season and it's like, OK, that didn't really
work out. We're not going to stick with
it. It's fine.
But I still appreciate the trial and error.
But it's just been really nice to have, especially as somebody
who works by themselves for themselves, One man band,
somebody else. I have part of my system that is
with somebody else. Yeah, it's a lot of that give
and take that happens and you know, behind the scenes of this
as well. I feel like we've worked out a
really good partnership around like how we do things and how we
function and using our expertise as well to make that happen.
So I think that's what makes a good, you know, business partner
relationship is great. You need someone that kind of
balances you out, which I feel like we do for each other very
much so, But then also like playing to the strengths and how
it works out too. So it's been pretty awesome.
Yes, and Mark has certainly learned a lot about my editing
style and if he leaves the breath noise in, I will
excommunicado him and. This is again behind the scenes
stuff here for you all for this last episode.
So every time we edit this, I send Jess, you know, a version
of it to listen to, to watch. And when we first started,
actually, I need to find my notebook for the episode.
I would get this like this page of like all these things to pull
out. And I was like, it's like a
millisecond of a breath, like, come on, you know, like I was
just like, OK, you know, as we got used to it.
And then after probably the 3rd or 4th episode, I was like, just
doesn't like breathing. She doesn't like any, any
silence, nothing like that. And my favorite part was maybe 3
or 4 episodes ago, I'd sent it over to you and you wrote back,
no edits. And I, it was the proudest
moment of the year for me because I was like, yes, I
figured it out. No, I got it.
This is amazing. But it's, it is, it's very cool.
But I think that's the also the really fun part of doing this is
that you get so used to your own workflow.
And when you add somebody into that, it could potentially kind
of tip the boat. I think very often about like,
would I get an editor for my own videos and stuff?
Like, gosh, how much time would that save me?
But then I just feel like that would be, you know, you're
adding someone into your workflow that may or may not
work out. Luckily for us, it feels like
it's working out OK, but at the same time it's like, what if it
didn't like that could go a very different way.
So it's it's been a fun exercise to think of getting to work with
people, like you said, for two people who for the most part
work on their own or virtually or from a remote standpoint.
It's definitely a learning curve, but a very positive.
One though, yeah, I'm glad it did workout.
Otherwise, it's like, you know, I send back my oh God, it was so
funny when I was doing the edits, like, you know, that
first episode I was talking to my partner vocal saying like, Oh
yeah, I just sent Mark back a couple of edits and he looks and
he's like, was a couple or did you send him back homework?
I'm like, it might have been homework, I'm sorry.
And he comes around and looks at my computer.
He's like, Jess, what the heck? Just like this page of just
like, you know, from this time stamp to this time stamp trim,
from this time stamp to this time stamp, make it Mark solo
mode, just the whole thing. I very much appreciate that you
took the feedback in stride. It wasn't just like a wow, Jess
is a persnickety bitch and this is not what I'm going to be
doing. When you graduate from a biscuit
to a bitch, it really. Exactly.
That's right. This gets a cute.
This gets a fine. If you're going to be the other
B word, it means that you're just you're gone too hard and
you need to calm down. Yeah, no, it's definitely fun to
do and I'm excited for for next year as well.
But before we get to even talk about that, were there any
episodes or topics just that maybe you did not feel like you
loved as much? Not that they weren't great
episodes or great feedback, but I mean that you just kind of
like, I don't know. I think it's probably not like a
full episode, but there is a topic that I always get very
attentative about talking about. And I think it's just because my
views on the topic don't necessarily align with what the
most common commenter will say, you know, if that kind of makes
sense. Like if I start talking about
this topic, I feel like I can already see it in my head.
The most common commenter is going to tell me XYZ.
And that would always be around the topic of AI generated art.
And now before you cancel me, all right, please come back.
Oh my God. But because I like, I understand
that it has been trained on other people's work, not OK
without their permission, not OK, right.
But I also think that it's a really great tool and has really
great potential. I think that it could be really
great for people who are already doing art in that that kind of
style, because it has a typical style.
People who are already doing art in that typical style is like a
really good way to like get a base image or generate ideas or
anything like that. If you're the kind of person who
doesn't already do art in that style, it really opens up the
ability to do creative work like that without having to skill.
And that's not to say that I'm trying to like discredit the
people who have put their time, effort, energy into upscaling
that because like, Oh my God, you do such amazing work.
You should be so proud of it. And you can create things so
much better than the generator can anyway.
But I do think that by having those tools available to what
I'm going to call the common person, AKA me, who does not
have those kind of creative skills, it doesn't mean that we
can start to create things that align with like, specifically
what we want to see in the picture without having to like,
custom Commission pace from somebody.
Yeah, again, now, now I'm going to get canceled because it's
like, oh, you're stealing work from artists.
That's not what I'm trying to do here.
I just think it's a really good tool that can like really help
us overcome things like skill barriers and stuff like that.
Well, I think AI is one of those things, like any type of thing
that can be a little dangerous, like when used responsibly.
And as a person that comes from a background, I'm classically
trained in graphic design and digital design.
I mean, we have these conversations all the time at
work about it. And especially for someone like
myself who who you know, went to school for this, I've learned
Photoshop and Illustrator and how to do all of that work.
I'll tell you, I personally love the shortcuts when you can get
there. I do believe that you should
have at least an understanding of how it works.
I don't think you need 4 years of education to understand it,
but I do think that you need to have a general respect for it
before you can start to do that. And a great example of this for
me and some people might take me down for it, is a lot of people
in design space don't like people using Canva because Canva
essentially going to gives you everything you need to kind of
do it quickly and easily when other people are spending hours
and their life is literally designed.
I use Canva. I don't use any of the Adobe
products at home because they are incredibly expensive for me
to use and just not in my budget for what is essentially a hobby
for me. So that's a really great and
easy way for me not to pay a lot of money, but get a lot of those
features that I can use. And it's helps me out across the
board. It helps me find B roll easily.
And it's not necessarily the AI part of this, you know, I'm kind
of going in a little bit of a different way with this, but I
kind of see them as one and the same where you can say, well, AI
is helping you create shortcuts to help you do things easier or
better. I mean, technically, I mean,
Canva does have AI, so I could use it if I wanted to, but I
don't always find the need for it.
I haven't found the need for it yet.
But I think some of it also is just, you know, how do you kind
of cut down on kind of the remedial type of task so that
you can focus on the things where you can really spend that
creative juices on. So whether it be, you know,
using AI as a way to generate outlines or ideas, I mean, you
still have to put your own emotion into that.
You still have to put your own thoughts and experience into
that. You can't just let it be out on
its own personal thoughts here. But I do think that it is a
powerful thing, but it gets very Gray and very hard.
It's like you said, when it's learning from other artists and
pulling them in and then generating something for
somebody else that didn't have to put all that time and effort
into it. So I definitely know what you
mean. Yeah, it's the kind of thing,
like I had the risk of sounding like the scientists from
Jurassic Park or something. It's like, oh, you spend so much
time thinking about the way you could, you shouldn't, you know,
should have thought about whether you should or something
like that. I need to go back and rewatch
that. But anyway, side note, yeah, I
think it's just it's a way to help speed yourself up.
It's a way to help like cut down on costs and all this kind of
thing. So I can understand why by
common person sitting at home working in their journal, I just
want to jump on an AI tool, generate some art so they can
print it off and stick it in their journal.
Like go forth it it gets a little bit different when you
have people who are like, you know, making these AI generator
pieces and then selling them as if they were not AI generated
because that feels disingenuous. Like that's different.
Like, you know, if we're thinking about writing, it would
be the equivalent of saying like, hey, ChatGPT, write me a
book and then like going and selling that, which I I'd be
interested to read the book because I feel like it would
probably be a bit of a wild ride, but it certainly would
have better spelling and grammar than my book would have.
So. One of my favorite things my
favorite writer slash I call him like a writer committee and
David Sedaris. I go and see him all the time.
His book Naked was actually the very first book I ever read for
fun and I've absolutely loved him.
And at one of his last talks that he did where he reads
through like his books, his journals, he actually asked AI
to write something in the style of David Sedaris.
And then he read it. And it's so funny because you
have like this author has published so much and done so
many amazing things and then a get AI just to write it and for
him to read it raw off of there. It has like touches of it, but
it's not fully him. And I love when he goes and like
actually critiques ChatGPT or whatever he's using to write it
because you're just like, see, This is why it's crap because it
can't even do something as simple as, you know, comedy,
satire, right? You know, it just it works out.
It's hilarious. I think that's The thing is like
you can train these things, but to actually get specifically
what you want, like, you know, very, very particularly what you
want, whether that's writing or art or whatever.
Usually there does have to be a little bit of kind of like, you
know, user LED input in that. But if you want just like, you
know, simple base case, something that's a bit general
generic kind of a thing and you want it quickly and time
effectively, then it's pretty damn good.
What would be a either episode or topic that wasn't really your
favorite from the year? This is what I think that might
surprise people because it was a topic that was basically geared
towards me, which was our where them boys at episode talking
about other guys in the planner community.
And it's a great topic and I love it because I always love
discovering and finding other creators in this space.
And the handful that did reach out to us and they were like,
I'm a guy and I created over here.
It was cool to like discover them and do that.
But I think for myself personally, I feel like almost
like I think. Exhausted that topic for myself
because early on it was kind of the only topic that I was
focused on, especially when I started Men who bullet
originally was really focused on that and it was where the guys
in the community and let's promote the guys and like do
that. And then I just came to really
understand that it's not about male, female guy, girls, you
know, any type of gender or anything on that type of thing.
It's just more about the style in which we like to do it and
how we use our journals and planners.
And I think over the years I've uncovered that where I've just
come to realize that it doesn't matter.
You know your sex or you know how you identify, but more how
do you like to express yourself in your journal?
What styles of design do you like to use?
What materials do you like to use?
It's always a great conversation.
And I think what always comes out of those conversations are
people that say I'm not X or Y and I still like this type of
planning on. That point though, because I
think that one of the things that's come up a couple of Times
Now episodes throughout the year is the idea of like, how do we
describe things when we're so maybe like trained, I guess is
the right way. We're so trained to describe
things as feminine or masculine. And because we've done it for so
many years, it's really hard to break away from that pattern.
And I thought it was really great that we had one commenter
in particular because like, I can't remember which episode it
was, recent episode where you kind of posed the question of
like, I don't know how to describe this.
Like, what's your advice type of a thing?
And they had responded back, which was really great.
See, love our community. We love our planet pals that
help us, help us out. So they had said rather than
using terms like masculine and feminine and stuff like that,
just go towards ones that are more kind of like aligned with
like brand descriptors. So it's like, Oh yeah, that's
like Sailor Moon esque or something like that.
Or use words that are kind of based around like specifically
what the style elements are. So it's like instead of I don't
like feminine, it's like I don't like floral or something like
that. Because, you know, florals are
stereotypically mad quotation marks for anybody who's just
audio mad quotation marks, stereotypically feminine.
So it was kind of cool to get that feedback from them and
start thinking about, you know, different areas in my life
personally. You know, what am I kind of
putting in male female camp that doesn't necessarily need to be
there. And by putting it in male female
camp, I'm like limiting the availability of enjoyment to
those things for people who don't identify in those ways.
So that was just a really cool point.
I know we're not talking about the things that we like from the
year, but I really appreciated that.
Well, though it's a really great example to that starts a
conversation around like, how are we doing that?
I think what you just described just right there was perfect
because I think a lot of us do that.
I know I do that because you're right.
We're going to train from kids just to think about it that way.
And what I've discovered over the years, like I kind of just
said, is that it doesn't really matter.
You have styles of things that you like.
So I like your point there. Let's describe them as styles or
as themes, not, oh, this would be for a guy or this would be
for a girl or whatever that might be.
I think that it's just very much let's just approach it is I like
this or I don't personally like this and explain why because
most of the time it doesn't have to do with whoever is leaning
towards let's do with your own personal taste.
Yeah, I think that even like I've, I've talked about this a
couple of times, not so much on the podcast, but just in
general, is that when you when you're growing up and you get
into that point of like, I'm not like other girls.
I'm sure you had that moment, Mark.
I'm not like other girls. Exactly.
And you, you get to this point of view, you're like, I don't
like pink because pink is a girly color.
And now I look back on it, I'm like, Oh my God, you're so
fucking cringe. Like you're allowed to enjoy
pink, Just enjoy things. So now I've actually gone back
and realized that so many of my start of journal setups are pink
themes. I don't know how that happened
but it just turned out that way and I'm like you know what?
Loving it vibes. It works out.
I mean, I think for me, everyone gets on me at work and here at
home because the things that I give them are a lot of times
like pink purples, pastels, just just colors and things that I
just would not normally use inside of my own planner and
journals. And I was like, why aren't you
going to use these? I was like, I just don't like
those colors. Like it just doesn't go with
like what I like to do. So I have a hard time with a lot
of those colors. So if I did use them, I'd have
no idea. And maybe that would make things
more interesting. I don't know.
But I like to keep it pretty basic.
I know what colors I like to use.
I know, you know, I've definitely found my style, my
look. I think a great example of that
is like Eric small things. Think most people would see that
and be like, oh, that isn't like a masculine guy's kind of
design. I freaking love it.
I can't get enough of it. I have an obsession, but it's
just something about that just works for me the same way that
some florals may work for other people that just really enjoy
that look for their general and their general aesthetic.
Maybe you don't like clean lines, you like curvy lines.
That's totally OK. So yeah, I think just from a
topic standpoint, like I said, I think that it's good to call out
and like celebrate different people in the community.
But I think the long term conversation of that is that it
doesn't matter. Like we're all planner pals at
the end of the day. Let's find things that we have
in common. Let's share what we love and
maybe you don't side with somebody on the way that they do
their deal. Well, we can still respect what
they're doing, just we don't have to adopt it ourselves and
that's totally OK. Yeah, I think that like having
community call outs and stuff is something that I really I enjoy.
I enjoy getting to like, you know, showcase people who are
doing well, but I just want it to be kind of like people who
are doing well. I don't want to just like kind
of cut off the majority of the people that I could be giving a
shout out to because I've decided to like, you know, only
focus on people in this very specific box.
Not saying that our planet guys aren't valued because they
definitely and certainly are. And it was nice to get to shout
them out and also just highlight the fact that I don't follow
like any any planner guys at all.
I do now though. After that episode, I do.
That's all you need to do. You know, we, we found more, we
shared more. That's what this whole thing is,
is all about. Were there any other topics just
that you felt like you weren't vibing with or anything else
Wanted to call out before we start talking about the future.
I think that our episode on community versus competition was
like an important thing to talk about, and I do value talking
about it. And I think that it's, you know,
a valid topic, but I also wonder if maybe that topic specifically
would have been better for several ago.
Like I think that that was more of an issue in our community
back in 20/20/2019 kind of thing.
Whereas nowadays, because people are a little bit more
established and we have what I'm going to say just like better
community role models. Possibly.
Like that has probably influenced the fact that we
don't see, or at least I don't personally see as much of the
kind of like art theft in the community or anything like that.
Or people who are like, you know, taking ideas from other
people and not giving credit or feeling like they have to one up
somebody constantly. And it's like all about the
views and the numbers and rah, rah, rah and stuff like this.
And it's not to say that like it's not about views and numbers
because I live on social media. It's my thing.
So there's obviously going to be some part of it that is kind of
analytically based and thinking about like, OK, if I put out
this topic, will that actually do well?
If I put out a video about this topic, probably won't do as
well. But you just kind of think about
like for those pieces of media, what is the purpose?
Am I trying to grow an audience or am I trying to deepen
community in that respect? And I think that most people who
are sharing online now, but that's not to say everybody, but
I feel like the most people who are sharing online now, they're
not necessarily as worried about the kind of competitive aspect
of sharing online, if that makes sense.
I think it makes total sense and I think that it was a good topic
from a standpoint that it probably does exist.
I think about this a lot for us because we've been in the game
for a while and you know, you just hit some major milestones
on YouTube, for instance, right? And you know, I'm growing in my
accounts as well. And I think like we've kind of
matured as we've gone through. But I actually completely agree
with you and I love what you said, that maybe we have better
role models in the community now than we had previously.
And I feel like that could be kind of two parts in that.
I think 1 is that in 2019, 2018-2019, old journaling for us
specifically was really taking off and so there was a lot more
people creating to. You were trying to find ways to
make make yourself stand out a little bit more and do that.
There was a lot of negativity and toxicity in that as well
because like you just said, when you have people stealing ideas
or not giving other people props for what they're doing because
they don't want people to go and see them instead of viewing your
content, I don't really see that anymore.
But I think it's also because some of those people have burned
out. They're no longer here and that
burnout that honestly probably happened from like pushing so
hard for all of that time to do that versus I personally feel
like you and I and some other creators that are still around
and still creating and doing that, while we may put pressure
on ourselves, it's in a healthy way most of the time.
Or at least this is for me personally.
I'd love to hear your thought on this too.
But the pressure I put on myself now is more about having fun and
sharing. I'm not worried about a
perfectly curated feed like I was before.
I'm just here to share what I love about journaling and
stationary and, and just get that love out there.
And I want to attract the people that are in that same space.
I want to educate, I want to teach, I want to share, but I'm
not trying to compete against you or anyone else to do that.
I very much respect what you do. And while we may have some
overlapping topics and ideas, the way you present your
information is so much different than the way that I present it.
And I think people appreciate that.
Yeah, so you don't want me to get into fountain pens?
I'll steal your thing. And people would love you for
it, and you would I would. They just flush me right down
the drain. Don't worry, you are not at
risk. I'm not, I'm not starting a
fountain pen buying habit. It's not happening.
But I wonder also if maybe maybe my kind of view on that topic
specifically is dictated by the fact that we are, like you said,
kind of like more matured in this space.
Like we've been at it for a hot minute.
We've, you know, established our own style.
We have our own way of doing things, both in terms of like
our journaling and then creating that and then also our video
making and creating with that. And I wonder if it's just like,
I don't see the competitive aspect as much anymore because
I've kind of gotten comfortable in that creating space.
Maybe that's like part of it. It could be that and also
Instagram and YouTube and all the other social medias have
changed over the years as well. The algorithms have changed.
You don't. Honestly.
I personally don't feel like I see as many people's content as
I used to. I used to follow a specific
hashtag so I could catch their content, and now Instagram did
away with #followings I. Know I'm so annoyed but also
like fair because I followed bullet journal weekly and they
weren't weeklies and I would get very irritated and then I would
literally be the same person who's using hashtag bullet
journal weekly on a page that is definitely a monthly log.
So like pot kettle black. Yes it is I but still
frustrating. It is.
And so because of all of that change, and I think too, we also
saw a lot of content creators have to change when it came to
how they create their content. I mean, the introduction of
TikTok and shorts and reels and all of that.
I mean, I remember when that all started to come out, I fully
embraced it because I thought finally, like I can do stuff
that I really like, not just take these top down pictures
that are perfectly curated every single time.
Like I can start having fun with this, but others.
And I would put you into that boat.
I knew you hated it. I think you still probably hate
it to a certain extent, but yet you put out these viral reels
that get millions of views and you're like, I still hate this.
That it's just like, I don't care how many followers I got
from this stupid video, I'm not making another one.
Like oh gosh, yeah. I think that the introduction of
TikTok S style videos and whatnot certainly did change it
for a lot of people. And I I just miss static
pictures and carousels. Like that's where where
Instagram was at its prime for me.
And now all I watch are silly little videos that aren't even
related to journaling on there, despite following only
journaling accounts. Yeah.
I think it fully falls into just how the social media platforms
them, how themselves have changed.
And so I think those who can ride that wave and kind of go
along with it and stay relevant, those are the ones who are going
to survive. The others that just kind of
can't keep up with all of the things that they feel like we're
expected of them to kind of hold up that front and that's why
they start to kind of dwindle away.
And and I'm always sad to see when that happens.
I hate when a favorite creator just says not doing this
anymore. It makes me very sad.
But I think behind all of that, and the only person that I've
seen that with this year is because of a personal
relationship. Nicole over her plans that
blossom, like she just said, not enjoying this anymore.
It's not fun for me anymore. It's causing more me more stress
to have to think of something to create to then put it online,
like just not, I'm just not going to do it anymore.
And I was that because I love her work and she was, you know,
one of the first major inspirations for me and a person
that I collaborated with early on.
But the good thing is, is we actually built a friendship and
a relationship and we still chalk.
It's not just about journaling a bullet journaling anymore.
It's about lives and what's going on.
So I think you know, when you can create friends on this
platform as well, it also does away with any of the competition
because then you get to know people for who they really are
and it doesn't become competitive at all.
Yeah, it feels a little bit more shitty stealing off a pier.
Well, it does. Especially people you like very
much respect. Like, you're just like, no,
like, I can't do that to my friend.
Maybe I could do that to a stranger, you know, or something
on the side or whatever. But yeah, when you have a
personal relationship or a community that is very much
behind you, like you build those morals into what you do and your
people, and you want to see that reflected.
So I think you're exactly right. I'm just getting flashbacks of
those, like 2000s DVDs. Like you wouldn't steal a car.
Oh my goodness. Like I might.
In this economy, I might. Yeah at this point now yes I
will copy everyone's everything just to get it done faster.
ChatGPT create a YouTube video in the form of Jashi Currans and
give me all the B roll and weird hands and just go and publish
that for me. Thanks.
And make the videos and make the channel.
Thank you so much. Yeah, you can also copy her
voice. That's actually something.
Jess, I didn't talk to you about this just yet, but I'll bring it
up because we're right here. One of the new features on the
platform that we use for this allows us to train an AI voice
for the podcast. And I half of me is like, that
would be kind of funny, but half of me is like, that's getting
too scary and I won't do it. I don't know, I'm kind of
tempted. Like we'll just have an episode
next year. Yeah, we'll we'll do this for
next year, right. We'll lead into that
conversation next year. Where's the podcast going?
And it's just, like fully typed up and talked by Robo Voice.
Hello. Welcome to the Planner Pals
podcast, posted by Mark. Or it would be like a really bad
like Australia, New Zealand mixed accent of AI trying to
replicate what you do. Get a mate.
Welcome back to the Plan of Pals podcast.
I'm like, no. I don't want to know.
Like please create a male American voice that likes to
talk about journals and stationary.
I'm not even going to try to intimidate that one.
Intimidate, interpret, imitate, imitate.
We're living that in. I don't care.
That would get us cancelled I. Need that.
All right, So we're not going to do AI voices of next year, but
we've had a few discussions and let's just, you know, lay it all
out now, what are some stuff just that that the planner pals
can expect for next year from us?
I think that next year is going to be when we start to dabble
with interviews, which I'm very excited about because obviously
like we get to run our mouths with each other every two weeks,
which I love and appreciate. But it would also be really cool
to hear from other planner pals, other people in our community
and how they plan what they're doing, because their systems are
definitely going to be different to ours and it'll be really cool
to get their insights on the podcast.
That'd be something I'd be very excited to have.
I'm actually really excited about that as well because with
the hobbyist hang out, that was kind of what I thought I was
going to do. And part of me from like a
planning perspective on this is excited for that too.
I just know that it's a lot of work to try to get people and
times like not only do you and I have to figure out times on
opposite ends of the world and time zones, let's go ahead and
throw a third person in there and who knows where they live or
what they do and it'll be all kinds of interesting.
So I think that'll be really neat.
It'll also be very fun from an editing perspective.
You know, like how we, how do we make three things?
The list that Jess will send me will now go from, you know, 1 to
55. Again, I'm going to need your
partner to just be there as a buffer.
Jessica, you can't make him do this much work.
My buddy has to. It needs to be cut.
I'm the president, I'm the moment.
He's the editor. That's.
Right, no notice. I can't wait.
No, it'll be really great. The other thing that Jess and I
have been talking about too, we already try to find ways to do
this, but we want to do it more is to include more of the
planner pals into the things that we talk about.
Now, while we do ask for your ideas and especially asking for
feedback and input and things like that, we want to know what
you want to talk about as well. What topics are on your mind.
So our question for you this week are really asking you, not
really a question, but to have you reply, let us know would be
what kind of topics are you interested in us talking about
in Season 2? I'm very excited to start
titling everything Season 2 Episode 1.
As we get into that and even as we've talked about potential
interviews and things like that too, are there topics and people
that you would like to hear from as well?
Let us know, make sure you reach out, comment on the videos.
You can always send us emails, Planner Pals, podcast@gmail.com,
comment on the Instagram Planner Pals podcast.
There'll be so many different ways that you can just let us
know what's going on and then we can consider that into this new
year that we literally will be going into when this episode
releases. You will already be in 2025.
I will be at the end of 2024. We are right here, on the cusp
of all this new exciting stuff. Oh my gosh, I'm actually so
excited for next year. It's going to be, I already know
it's going to be amazing. And that's because we're going
to make it amazing, right? This year has been great, like,
you know, kicking off the podcast, getting our community
growth and like, you know, having other planner pals
connect with us. It's just been so much fun.
And I'm really excited to continue that both with you,
Mark, and also with our planner pals.
For today, though, thanks for watching.