Can Tweek be a good digital alternative to the Franklin Planner?
Not long ago, we received a thank you email from a user of ours. In his email, he shared his joy of finding Tweek and finally being able to plan his week the way he used to. It is important to mention that he had been using the Franklin Planner for the last 13 years and had spent a lot of time searching for an online alternative until he found a worthy replacement.
This gave us the idea to write this article. We thought it would be great to compare the basic concepts of Tweek and Franklin Planner and see for ourselves how similar they are. We believe that this article will be useful to many readers who have also faced the difficulties of switching from a paper planner to a planning application and are in search of an alternative.
How was the Franklin Planner created?
The Franklin Planner story begins in 1983, the year when entrepreneur and author Hyrum W. Smith created The Franklin Company, originally named Franklin International Institute.
A year later, the company publishes its first Franklin Day Planner, and in 2002 Franklin Planner launches online sales. To this day, these planners remain popular and have a lot of fans and admirers among those who are used to keeping notes and to-do lists on paper.
In addition to that, through a partnership and merger with Covey Leadership Center, the company engaged in consulting activities. Since the first book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" was published, many books, audio recordings, courses and consultations on self-development, productivity and life organization have been developed.
One of the first Franklin Quest Day Planners 1994-1995
© National Museum of American History
What is a Franklin Planner?
Currently, the Franklin Planner brand produces not only daily and weekly paper planners, calendars, planners for teachers and travelers, etc., but also related office supplies and document organization systems. In short, everything that is somehow related to and contributes to productivity and organization.
The company's mission is to provide the tools and time-tested planning principles to accomplish what matters most. According to the company, systematic planning on paper helps to define values, create successful habits, track and achieve goals.
So, moving from idea to implementation, let's take a closer look at what Franklin Planner is all about. The planner has a minimalistic weekly view with vertical columns for each day of the week. There is also a space for Task and Notes, which are two wide columns just below the days of the week.
Modern-day Franklin Planner
© Franklin Planner
Can Tweek be a good substitute for a paper planner, then?
Nothing can replace good old paper and pen if you really stick to keeping your to-do list on a physical medium and getting all the perks of it. But there are some things that can only be accomplished in an online planner while keeping the familiar paper look.
So, what do paper planners and Tweek have in common? At first glance they look really similar: minimalistic design, vertical columns for to-do lists, the bottom half is also reserved for undated notes (Someday). An important feature is that each day of the week in Franklin Planner and Tweek does not have an hourly schedule, which gives you complete freedom when making a to-do list for the day, and also helps to reduce stress when planning tasks. The difference is that in Tweek you can create compact notes and a list of subtasks for each task, saving space for notes, which is difficult to do in a paper planner because of the limited format and sheet size.
And only an online planner has repetitive tasks, task search, reminders, synchronization with Google Calendar, and the ability to move tasks from one day to another without using an eraser.
And for those who really don't want to part with paper planning or are used to having a paper version on hand, Tweek has a printable template:
Conclusion
Speaking of those who are used to making notes on paper, it is impossible not to mention an obvious fact - the whole value for them is in simplicity. It's important to quickly sketch out a to-do list without getting distracted by the long and tedious sorting of tasks into various columns, lists, and folders.
The Tweek team specifically designed the app to look like a paper planner to recreate that special feeling of simplicity and ease that we experience when making notes on paper.
When choosing a planner, many people pay attention to its appearance, and for minimalist enthusiasts, the lack of unnecessary detail and features is just as much of an advantage because it allows them to focus on what's important. That's why for those looking for a replacement for a paper planner, Tweek is perfect.