'Plan With Me' videos will inspire you to get your life together

This post is part of Hard Refresh, a soothing weekly column where we try to cleanse your brain of whatever terrible thing you just witnessed on Twitter.

If you've never watched someone doodle an umbrella, you're in for a treat.

We all have those planners we bought and never used. Perhaps we got through a couple of weeks of jotting down dates before we abandoned it on a shelf somewhere. But those weeks, those planned weeks, were just so nice. We remembered the things we were supposed to do because we wrote them down, perhaps even with nice pens we bought for that very purpose.

But the weeks piled up faster than we could keep up with our planners and they began to collect dust instead of dates. In a perfect world, our planners would remain by our sides, ready to be written in at all times.

It turns out that that perfect world exists in the planning community on YouTube. Date-centric people from all over the world come together to show us how they keep their lives on track, usually via the bullet journal method.

Bullet journaling was created by Ryder Carroll to help people organize their schedules, to-do lists, and random thoughts all in one place. The method utilizes a system of bullets, hence the name, to keep everything in check.

This type of planning goes beyond writing "lunch with Mark" on a specific day of the week. It's more in depth and requires daily attention.

These YouTube creators are so dedicated to planning that they plan their planners. Most come up with themes for each month, which they illustrate with the detail that an architect might put into drawing up floor plans. However, instead of plotting the design of a home they're building month-long logs, complete with mood trackers, content goals, and ink-drawn doodles.

The monthly spreads are littered with inspirational quotes and bright colors. "Life is tough, my darling, but so are you," is one example of the kind of quotes that are regularly used. They may feel "Live, Laugh, Love," in theory, but when written on the pages of a well-executed Bullet Journal they feel more meaningful for some reason.

If journaling was a super power, these planners would be saving the world with their straight lines and inky doodles, drawn with the help of rulers, tape, and sometimes even lasers. No, seriously. Lasers. Watch this video to see a laser used to write on a straight line without the actual line:

Others achieve intricate designs by taking their sweet time with an old fashioned ruler. This video is sped up and set to music, but I'm sure the process took a while— which is lucky for us because it's just so satisfying to watch:

If you've somehow watched all of the plan with me videos, don't worry. There will be more next month. These planners aren't getting forgotten in a drawer anytime soon.

Now, if you'll, excuse me, I've got to go buy some pens.