Grace Beverley Planner Review (UK): Is The Productivity Method Worth It?

Short answer: yes, the Grace Beverley planner is worth £28 if your problem is a messy day. Its Quick Ticks, Tasks and Projects system sorts your work by how long each job takes. It's a weaker buy if you can't judge time well.

It's also the wrong tool if your real problem is deciding what matters.

The planner is The Daily Planner from The Productivity Method, Grace Beverley's planning brand. I've built this review from the brand's published specs and the method in her book. I haven't used one for 3 months myself. Where I couldn't check something, I've left it out.

What you get for £28

The Daily Planner is undated, so you can start it on any day of the year. Here's what's in it, from the product page:

• A5 hardback that lies flat when open
• 280 pages, enough for 3 months of daily planning
• 120gsm recycled paper, FSC-certified, 2 ribbon bookmarks
• Each day: Quick Ticks, Tasks, Projects, 3 non-negotiables, and trackers for sleep, steps, water and workouts
• Yearly, monthly and weekly goal pages, plus budget and meeting-notes pages

It's sold direct at productivitymethod.com. The brand says it has sold over 200,000 planners worldwide.

There are other planners in the range. The 8-Minute Planner is £26 for 50 pages, which covers 10 weeks of morning and evening pages.

The Desk Planner is a larger 3-month book that stays on your desk. The Digital Planner 2.0 runs on your laptop or phone. Prices were checked on 5 October 2026.

The method sorts work by time, not urgency

The Productivity Method comes from Beverley's 2021 book, Working Hard, Hardly Working. Every task goes into 1 of 3 buckets:

• Quick Ticks take under 5 minutes
• Tasks take 5 to 30 minutes
• Projects take more than 30 minutes

On top of those, you pick 3 non-negotiables. These are the things that have to happen today, whatever else slips.

Think of a sink full of washing-up. You rinse the mugs first because they take seconds. The roasting tin waits because it needs soaking.

Sorting by time works the same way. A 2-minute email and a 3-hour report stop sitting on the same line as if they cost the same to start.

What it gets right

A normal to-do list puts 5-minute admin next to a 3-hour project. Everything looks the same size, so the list feels heavy before you start. The 3 buckets fix that on day 1.

It also makes you be specific. Edwin Locke and Gary Latham reviewed 35 years of goal research in 2002. Specific goals beat vague ones like "do your best", again and again (American Psychologist, 2002). Writing down how long a job takes is a small step towards that.

Being undated matters more than it sounds. Miss a week and there's no row of empty dated pages telling you off. You just carry on. And it's well made. The flat binding means you can write on it without holding it open.

Where it breaks down

You have to know how long things take

The whole system rests on one guess: how long each task will take. Some people guess well. Others are miles off every time, and trying harder doesn't close the gap.

If you have time blindness, the sorting step becomes the problem. You put a 45-minute job in a 10-minute gap, the day overruns, and the planner looks like it failed. The planner gives you boxes to fill. It doesn't help you get better at the guess.

Sorting a task isn't the same as starting it

Writing a job under Projects doesn't tell you when you'll do it.

Peter Gollwitzer studied if-then plans. Deciding when and where you'll act makes you far more likely to follow through (American Psychologist, 1999). The planner asks you to sort. It doesn't walk you through that last step.

It sorts by length, not by importance

Quick Ticks are satisfying to clear. That's the trap. You can tick 12 of them and still not touch the one Project that mattered. The method tells you how big a job is. It doesn't tell you whether it's worth doing today.

Who should buy it

The Daily Planner is a good buy if most of these are true for you:

• You're new to planning and a blank notebook hasn't worked
• You use one long to-do list and keep misjudging how long things take
• You've read Working Hard, Hardly Working and liked the system
• You'll fill in one book every morning

Who should buy something else

If your problem isn't the shape of your day, a time-sorting planner won't fix it. Match the tool to the job that's going wrong.

• Everything feels urgent and you can't choose. The Priority Pad plots each task as urgent or important, using letters, not paragraphs. Making a concrete plan for an unfinished task cuts how much it nags at you (Masicampo and Baumeister, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).
• Your week falls apart by Thursday. The Weekly Planner Pad holds the whole week on one A4 sheet, with your monthly goals and a 90-day focus.
• Your head is full before the day starts. The Morning Mindset Journal is 7 prompts done with a pen in 10 to 15 minutes. You clear what your head held overnight, then decide what the day is for.

These are separate tools. You don't need all of them, and you don't need to use one every day. Pick the one for the job you're stuck on and leave the rest.

Grace Beverley planner vs OCCO at a glance

	The Daily Planner	Priority Pad	Weekly Planner Pad
What it helps you decide	How long each task takes	What matters today	What the week is for
Format	A5 hardback, 280 pages	A5 tear-off pad	A4 tear-off pad, 52 weeks
Dated?	Undated	Undated	Undated
Price	£28	£29	£32

If no planner ever sticks

If you've tried 5 systems and none last past week 3, the tool may not be the problem. Trouble starting tasks, judging time or keeping routines can be linked to ADHD.

Your GP is the place to start. In England, you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies without seeing a GP. For an ADHD assessment in England, ask your GP about your Right to Choose a provider. This article is a starting point, not a diagnosis.

Related reading

• Best Productivity Planners UK: 6 Options Compared
• Best Journals for Ambitious People: A UK Guide
• Best Planner for ADHD Brains: A UK Buyer's Guide

Frequently asked questions

Is the Grace Beverley planner worth it?

Yes, if your days are messy and you misjudge how long tasks take. At £28 for 3 months, the Quick Ticks, Tasks and Projects system is a simple fix for a flat to-do list. It's a weaker buy if you struggle to estimate time or to decide what matters.

What is The Productivity Method planner?

It's Grace Beverley's undated A5 daily planner, based on her book Working Hard, Hardly Working. Each day you sort tasks into Quick Ticks (under 5 minutes), Tasks (5 to 30 minutes) and Projects (over 30 minutes), and pick 3 non-negotiables.

How much is the Grace Beverley planner and where can I buy it?

The Daily Planner is £28 at productivitymethod.com, checked on 5 October 2026. The 8-Minute Planner is £26. The brand also sells a Desk Planner and a Digital Planner.

Is the Grace Beverley planner good for ADHD?

It can help with a cluttered day, but its system depends on guessing how long tasks take. That's hard with time blindness, which is common in ADHD. A tool built around choosing what matters may suit you better.

Is there a digital Grace Beverley planner?

Yes. The Productivity Method sells the Digital Planner 2.0, which you use on a laptop or phone. The paper Daily Planner and 8-Minute Planner are both undated.