I think that this would be a great book in hardcopy, but it doesnt translate well to a black and white kindle.

This book is bright cheerful, and filled with those who are looking for some guidance on how to forge their own path to personal happiness and fulfillment. There are lots of little exercises to get you thinking and examining your life and what brings you joy. There is a little less about planning than I'd hoped for from the creators, however.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

I'm a planner addict and was excited to read this book. If you are looking for a heartwarming book to give you tons of motivation and ideas for living your best life, this is definitely for you. Great suggestions on prioritizing what is important to you, and I especially loved her suggestion of just start, don't overthink. Recommended motivational read with inspiring photos also.

This is quite an inspirational book demonstrating how a "happy" life is truly a choice, a deliberate way of slowing down and focusing on the beauty of life, its challenges, and ways to use creativity and personal strengths to reset and enjoy life. My main criticisms is it can be redundant at times, yet, repetition can help solidify lessons. I do recommend.

This was helpful; I can see myself utilizing or at least trying a lot of these different ideas.

This is like a colorful book with tons of ideas in it. It is specifically targeting the happy planner audience.


It’s a little bit of the story of the brand thrown in. It’s not an enjoyable read to sit down and read it.

It’s much more of an I’m looking for a way to do meal planning and flip through it to that section type of book.


Which is a valid experience
That being said, sitting down and reading through it in about an hour hour and a half, I was bored to tears.

Obviously, on the way, the book is supposed to be used.
This would be an excellent present for somebody that you know does a lot of planning.

Or even if you or the friend that does a lot of planning and you know somebody who wants to get into it, this would be a great present with a happy planner.

It’s not super deep or in-depth; it doesn’t break down scientifically what happiness is. I wasn’t expecting that I knew what I was getting into.

So yeah, I’m pretty comfortable doing 3 1/2 stars here.

And I got my copy from net galley for review, but all of these opinions on my own as always.

I enjoyed the uplifting tone and fun illustrations. Very helpful for figuring out what you might want to do with your life.

So. I don’t know how many #planneraddict follow me. But. I’m obsessed with #planners however mine are never cute quite like #happyplannersquad make theirs. When I heard that THE #stephaniefleming had a book coming out. Well. I knew that it was definitely a #musthave for me 🥰 #planahappylife #thomasnelson is such a wholesome book of happiness. It’s great for those that need some positivity in their lives. A cute gift to give to friends. Or yourself. I loved how it was like a friend chattering to me about the things I know yet don’t do or act upon. It’s definitely an aesthetic that you want on your shelves and something to work through. #bookstagram #netgalley #readersofinstagram #happyplanner #netgalleyreview

I love a planner. Like I have 3 I love them so much (don’t judge)! Anything that helps my life stay on track, or at least make me feel like it, I’m all about. So when I saw this book I had to check it out. Lots of useful information from my favorite planner company (Me & My Big Ideas). This is part book, part workbook. Very uplifting and encouraging.

I'm a big fan of planning methods and have read pretty much all there is on the subject, so the contents of this book weren't really surprising for me, but I really appreciated how it was presented and found the information and tips to be quite useful for a beginner. The book itself is a beautiful object, and would make a great gift for a loved one interested in personal development !

I love my Happy Planner and was really excited to see this title on offer. However, I found it a bit OTT for my own tastes. I appreciate that a lot of planners will really enjoy it though.

I am a happy planner fan. I liked the goal planning section. It’s nothing new, but the step by step breakdown can come in useful. And the journaling prompts are nice. For a beginner this would be a great book. I was hoping to see how Stephanie uses her planner in her life. And was disappointed not to see that.

This book would be a really great addition to a gift basket for any woman but especially a young adult or college age girl who is becoming overwhelmed with life. There are a lot of really good tips in here on how to organize and prioritize happiness and I think that's really important especially in today's society. I definitely recommend this book and will be getting a copy for a good friend of mine who's going through a tough spot right now

I’ve been a big fan of Mambi and was excited to read this. I was really hoping for more from this book. I loved that there were photos and the topics discussed were interesting. However, they were things that I’ve already heard of doing. Some of the things discussed were unoriginal. Of course, there are lots of information on planning which I loved. The book felt somewhat of a mix between a self help book and a memoir. I enjoyed learning about Stephanie’s life. I would have loved to learn more about the business and how it was developed.

Stephanie Fleming is half of the family team behind a ‘Happy Planner’, Me and My Big Ideas (Mambi), and this book is – as well as a little tiny bit of an advertisement for their product 😉 – a self-help guide to the ethos of their company, the Happy Life Movement. Don’t worry, it’s not as hippy new age-y as it sounds, but rather a fairly down to earth discussion of how to identify and then live a happier version of your life.

Creativity is perhaps the biggest theme of the book, unsurprisingly when the author links living creatively to being happy. I think I agree. I read a great quote recently about creativity – dancing, singing, painting, whatever – being basic human behaviours, that have somehow been lost in the ‘rebranding’ of them as skills to develop. So yeah, I agree that we are all fundamentally creative and should celebrate this as much as we can.

The advice is not unfamiliar: try something new, allow yourself the learning of failure, don’t chase ‘perfect’. It can also be small, daily kind of things, not just converting the shed into an artist’s studio!

Further chapters deal with things like dismissing the inner critic, and not waiting for the ‘thing’ that will make you happy (you know: “When I reach size x… buy a house… find twu wuv” ;)); seeking inspiration for being joyful; a section on wellness, in several forms and across topics from physical and mental, to intellectual and career; setting boundaries and finding balance. Chapters end with a “Think on this” point to muse, then a “Give it a try” suggested activity, for example, creating your own vision board.

The ‘method’, such as it is, is defined as ‘The Four Ps’: Purpose, Planning, Positivity, and Persistence, all of which are discussed in a lot more detail in the second section of the book, sandwiched between the topics mentioned above. It’s not a bad approach at all, but while I thought there was a lot of value in it, it didn’t quite speak to me the way I thought it would. I’m getting back into using a Bullet Journal (oops, probably a competitor of MaMBI ;)) precisely because it mixes organisation and creativity, while staying flexible. I hoped this book would inspire me further in that direction, but it felt a little bit on the shallow side – perhaps if you’re totally new to this then it’ll resonate more.

Overall, then, a decent enough book but didn’t quite grab me somehow. I don’t disagree with anything, it just didn’t make me feel ‘oh!’ at any point. Oddly, I was left wondering if a bigger ‘advertisement’ ie discussion of their journals would have been more concrete and more useful, rather than another – decent enough, but nothing terribly new – discussion of the topics covered.

I started scrapbooking in the 90’s and around 2013 or so I found a new creative outlet .... planning creatively in my planner. Using washi tape and stickers to decorate my days. I thought this book was going to be more about planning a Happy Life using your Happy planner. However, it was more of a self help kind of book. I did enjoy it overall. Some helpful advice throughout the book. Some stuff I’ve heard before and some new stuff I hadn’t. I do think this would be the perfect gift for someone just finishing up High School or College and beginning that next chapter of their life. I think it would be absolutely perfect for them on their new journey.


Thank you in advance to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I have a Happy Planner and belong to Happy Planner Facebook groups. I also suffer from depression. This book is very helpful and gives many prompts that help me try to realize that I have reasons to be happy. I think this book is changing my life for the better.

I started scrap booking like many others in the late 90s. One of my favorite companies was Me & My Big Ideas! In 2015 I discovered Happy Planners. I had no idea the creative minds were the same behind the two companies. What a wonderful surprise! I love the products and so I wanted to get to know Stephanie Fleming better by reading her new book, Plan a Happy Life.

Stephanie is approachable and has really good advice on getting your priorities straight. She comes off as your big sister or girlfriend who has had to learn the hard way how to let go for your own sanity of the perfection we are assaulted with daily. She explains how to figure out what you really want and gives you a plan on how to get there.

Her four Ps method is easy to follow through: Purpose, Plan, Positivity (something I feel is often left out), and Persistence (which is the hardest one). There are some really inspiring quotes and my creative juices are flowing. I am going home after work and putting this into action.

This book is exactly what the title infers, planning a happy life. Stephanie Fleming gives you a step-by-step process to plan your life around what makes you happy. “It’s about defining what happiness looks like for you. It’s about harnessing the power of planning and unleashing your own innate creativity to carve out and claim your own happy life. And it’s about enabling and encouraging everyone around you to do the same.”

First of all, this book might be something you are looking for, but it was not for me. There were two main issues I had while reading this book. First, it seemed like one big advertisement for The Happy Planner, which the author is the creator of, and keeps referring to over and over again throughout the book. I think this book would be a great addition to one of her planners though.

Secondly, Stephanie puts too much emphasis on being happy. Which I get, everyone wants to be happy, but not sure the author’s way of achieving that is going to work for everyone. I guess I just disagree about how we get to our happy. Stephanie believes that “You are enough” and she asks if you believe that. Her equation is this; ”Purpose + Planning + Positivity + Persistence = A Happy Life”. And she goes on to expand and explain each of these steps that equal a happy life.

I don’t know if it was just the kindle version of the book, but it had a bunch of errors in it. For example, this sentence, “We create it happen.” And this one…”Are ?”. And this one…”You are entirely up to you.”

I did like a couple of her points about being happy. Such as, to get what we want we need to make changes, and if you can’t control something or change it, you can still control your actions. I also agree with not overthinking things, and just start working towards that goal and make small changes a little at a time.

So all in all, this book was not for me. But if you are new to planning and need some guidance on how to make changes in your life so that you will get things done, this book may be helpful to you.

I have never been a planner kind of person, but as I have gotten older I realized that I do need a planner. I picked up a Happy Life planner last year and never in a million years would have ever believed that I'd use it. Guess what? I do use it everyday for my daily life and my work life. This book Plan a Happy Life has given me some ideas on how to use my planner more efficiently and I'm very grateful for it. Now is the time to plan your happy life and don't take things for granted. I loved the book and I will continue to use the things that are in the book in my every day life.

I have to start this review with the note that it is not a book that gives advice on planning techniques or designs. Plan a Happy Life gives you a bunch of prompts to help figure out what you would like to plan and plans for your life over all. A lot of the prompts are helpful and I would encourage people to sit down and go through the book with an honest and open mind.