It is new planner season and I am SO excited! I am thrilled and honored to be part of the Mäksē Review Crew this year to give you a sneak peek into my favorite goal planning system on the market! I’ve been using the Mäksēlife (pronounced Moxie-life) since July. In that time it’s become my go-to planner for setting goals individually and with my partner.

New this year is a Mäksēlife companion notebook system, which is essentially the entire goal-setting system without the planner. The set includes four notebooks; one for each quarter of the year. I’ll detail all of the awesome accessories and answer some questions at the end.

I want to extend my gratitude to Sierra and her team at Mäksēlife for sending me the 2021 planner and accessories prior to their launch. The links included in this post are affiliate links. By clicking them you should understand that I make a small commission when you purchase—at no additional cost to you. This commission helps me produce this content and more and I thank you in advance for supporting me in this way! Here you will find a video walking through the launch, but scroll down for the same information +. links in the body of this blog post!

About Mäksēlife

Sierra Friend founded Mäksēlife in fall 2019—this is only the second edition of the planner! Sierra is a certified life coach and an original planner gal. She’s been planning and coaching for more than 15 years, so she intimately understands the market for planners and the strengths and weaknesses of other products. Her 2-in-1 goal-setting planner system is truly unique!

The name Mäksēlife comes from the phonetic spelling of moxie, which means “force of character, determination, and nerve to approach life with gumption and spirit.” At its core, Mäksēlife gives you the tools that you need to support your goal-setting and goal-achieving journey.

The Planner

As I mentioned, the planner is a 7×9, calendar year, 2-in-1 goal-setting and planner system. Designing this is really hard to do well. I think Sierra and her team at Mäksēlife have threaded the needle perfectly. Between the pre-work, compass assessment, notes pages, and different layout options, you’ll find the perfect planning home in Mäksēlife! Your goals are front and center each day you open the planner.

Using my 4C+ comparison system, let’s dive right in!

The Coil: Mäksēlife is coil-bound planner with a wire-o binding. I compare every coil-bound system to Erin Condren, the top coil on the market in my opinion. Wire-o coils aren’t my favorite. That said, Mäksēlife’s coil is much bigger than your standard wire-o, which prevents the stiffness you feel turning the pages on smaller wire-o notebooks. A smooth page turn is the most underrated aspect of your planner system and Mäksēlife delivers. Changing out the covers is the only time-consuming task with the wire-o coil.

Cover: Interchangeable hard covers are new this year to Mäksēlife! There are 4 interchangeable 7×9 covers for $10 for all 4, a great value when you consider two of those covers are from an Artist Series supporting Black artists. The cover options are Color Stripe Linen, Grey + Navy Pinstripe, Artist Series: Floral Watercolor, and Artist Series: Hold on to Your Vision. The latter is the one I chose and I’m loving it so far!

Customization: There are two weekly layout options in the Mäksēlife planner: vertical and horizontal. Mäksēlife is designed for the 2021 calendar year only, not the academic year. I prefer the vertical layout myself, so it was easy to transfer from a different planner’s weekly vertical layout into Mäksēlife’s without losing visual consistency. The interchangeable covers add to the customization fun!

Components: Let’s go cover to cover! The back cover has an accordion folder and band to tie everything down and store wayward sticker sheets. On the inside, Sierra has included 21 pages of goal-setting pre-work around her Compass Assessment system.

The Compass is a visual assessment (with plenty of instructions) of how you’re doing in 9 different areas of life, like health & wellness, family & relationships, spiritual & personal growth, etc. I LOVE pre-work in a planner, as it forces you to think intentionally about how you’ll use the planner. The pre-work section builds on the Compass Assessment with quarterly updates, monthly check-ins and weekly action spreads.

If goal-setting is the framework, the weekly spread offers plenty of flexibility to fill in the details. Each week has a habit tracker, a daily gratitude prompt, and untimed hourly blocks. The untimed slots are amazing if you’re a late-riser like me, as most timed layouts end between 7 and 10pm (when I’m just getting started!)

One new feature this year is the stretch/progress/maintenance goal distinction. For goal-setters looking to bucket their goals in this way, this is helpful. And there’s even a suggestion list for each goal-setting area! Additionally, the planner’s entire packaging is new this year.

The last thing to note with components is the paper. Mäksēlife’s paper is 120gsm, which is thick and substantial and more glossy than gritty. Unless you use a Sharpie with a heavy hand, the paper holds up well against shading through—a planner crisis averted!

Cost: The Mäksēlife planner is $68. While this is on the high-end of planners (in line with Erin Condren and Cloth + Paper), let’s remember we’re getting two systems in one without sacrificing on paper quality or attention to detail. These factors make the Mäksēlife an amazing deal if you need a goal-setting planner.

The Accessories

Functional Sticker Book: 15 pages of functional stickers made with matte stickers for easy writing and perforated for easy removal. This 5×7 sticker book retails for $20.

Goal-Setting Bookmark Trio: Three bookmarks that snap in. The text on each, respectively is this week, my vision and monthly goals. When you close the planner they peek through the top (peekaboo!). The My vision bookmark snaps into the annual section. The trio sells for $15.

 Companion notebook: This goal-setting system is broken out quarterly in a 5×7 notebook format with 60 pages in each notebook. The companion notebooks are on pre-sale for $48.

Sierra also let me know that her team is working on dot-grid notebooks and notepads as well as new loops and accessories to accompany the planner, so keep a close eye on the Mäksēlife Store and follow Sierra on Instagram at @plannerfriend!

 

Your Questions

I received a lot of questions about the Mäksēlife planner and wanted to share those answers with you!

Q: What are the biggest changes with a Mäksēlife planner compared to others?

A: The moving layouts. Mäksēlife has Monday to Thursday on first page of the spread with Friday – Sunday and a notes page on the other side. If you’re used to a different layout this takes some getting used to!

Also, goal-setting each week is an amazing habit but I sometimes forget. It’s essential to set aside time each week to sit down and write out your weekly action items!

Q: Will my stickers fit?

A: Everything fits! If your sticker sheets are sized for Erin Condren, Happy Planner, or any of the dozens of great sticker shops out there, they should also fit in the Mäksēlife planner.

One thing to note is that the paper quality is similar to Erin Condren—but it’s a little glossier with less grit. I use my palette knife to lift and replace stickers easily in my Mäksēlife planner!

Q: How does the Mäksēlife goal-setting system compare with other systems on the market?

A: This is a great question! I elaborate more on this in my video comparing different goal-setting systems. In short, the Mäksēlife system is very action-oriented and strongly emphasizes reflection. Before buying a goal-setting planner I’d ask yourself if checking in on your goals for a few hours weekly is attainable.

Q: What do you get from the Mäksēlife community?

A: There’s a great Facebook group moderated by Sierra and the Mäksēlife team that is participatory and collaborative. People here ask and crowdsource for info and I know Sierra will answer and chime in to discussions. I always think it’s neat when an entrepreneur is so accessible! There’s even a friendly ongoing debate between #TEAMVERTICAL and #TEAMHORIZONTAL over which layout is the best! Because Mäksēlife is still growing, there’s an active and growing user base of content creators who will feature Mäksēlife more and more on their channels.

Q: How else could you use the Mäksēlife planner?

A: Goal-setting is as open-ended as you want, but I’ve seen the planner used for virtual teaching, as a wellness tracker, as a work or home planner, and as a memory planner! The planner is neutral and super functional, which makes it great for just about anything!

I hope you found this post helpful! Check the video down below to hear some more thoughts about the new 2021 planner launch from myself and from the Mäksēlife review crew!