Well that didn't take long. My experiment with my large daily Moleskine is over.
I hate to call it a Planner Fail, because if I had put in more of an effort I could have made the Daily Moleskine work for me. But, I need my planner to be as effortless as possible.
The day per page was all well and good last week when we were all snowed in and I had nothing going on. It was fun to have so much space each day to write details.
But then Monday hit and we were back to reality. Snowy, icy, logistically-difficult reality. Things were canceled. Lots of things were postponed and had to be rescheduled. This month is full of Christmas parties, school plays, preparations and deadlines. Not to mention sending Christmas cards, ordering gifts (I'm not going out in the ice and snow to battle the crowds at the shops, hellz no), the list goes on and on.
Seeing only one day at a time left me feeling anxious and confused. I wrote my week's goals on Sunday's page but by Tuesday that page was out of sight. I tried writing my to-dos for the week in a separate notebook but then I had two books open on my desk, which was crowded. Even though I used my monthly calendar extensively, it wasn't large enough to accommodate the details I needed to write in it for lack of weekly pages.
Lesson learned: I need to see the overview of my week with each day's details.
So you know what this means: I'm back to my Trinote, and thank goodness. It will carry me through the rest of the year in stress-free organizational style.
January will be a flurry of planner experiments as I try out all my new 2011 planners. Will I find my Perfect Planner? Will I discover that the Trinote is my Perfect Planner after all?
Stay tuned!
QV Timer 21.... or something else.... ;-)
ReplyDeleteWow, that was fast! That's kind of funny, because after I read your post about it, I went to Amazon and almost ordered one. Then I remembered how I hate flipping back and forth...so I ordered a new Planner Pad. Haha. Blessings,
ReplyDeleteRori
LOOLLL, that was funny! You never let it get boring! :)
ReplyDeletePoor Moley-Poley; always competing with Tri. Do you give them nicknames?
After going through a gazillion of these, I've settled on a DIY planner via a Levenger Circa. My calendar lives on iCal/iPhone, but my projects, sketches, goals, journal and tasks are a hodge-podge of Levenger punched goodness. What I love about this system, is that when something doesn't work (or I get bored - 96% of the time why I used to purchase a new jounral) I punch something new, and experiment. In the end, it saves me a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteI promised to send you my hybrid system: a bit of Covey, Allen, Forster, Seah and many others. However it's still a work in progress
Oh! So sorry, Laurie, but at least you had your Tri to fall back upon. I am fascinated by how we all use our planners in different ways… I definitely use my FC to plan, as opposed to just keeping appointments or notes, although I do that too! If I have an event or deadline, even as simple as bringing snacks and drinks for a tennis tournament this weekend, I put “Buy drinks and fruit tray” on Friday’s to do list, so I don’t fear turning the page and having something pop up unexpectedly. I also use my monthly on 2 pages to schedule all appointments, bdays, travel days, etc. so I can plan accordingly. (I like to get my hair done before a trip, for instance.) My husband’s & daughter’s schedules also go onto my monthly, and then onto my daily page too. On a tangent, I just ordered the cute Kate Spade monthly desk calendar to use as my 2011 monthly on 2 page tabs since the FC monthlies start on Sundays, which splits up my weekends, and drives me crazy esp. when we travel. It’s a just a bit bigger than the FC pages, so I’ll have to trim it a bit, but I think it should work fine after they are hole-punched. Also, they are stand alone pages, so it should meld into my setup just fine. Can’t wait for the UPS truck! Only 23 more days to go til 2011! Also, I am so excited you are thinking about the pink Dayrunner ring binder! I would seriously love to send you the FC classic size daily on 2 pages as your Christmas present just so you can try it out! Seriously!!!
ReplyDeleteStefee, how do you function with the day on 2 pages? Maybe it's just me (and the fact that I'm a procrastinator) but I have mostly tasks that don't need to be done on a particular day. As long as I work them in somewhere, it's fine. Whenever I use a day-per-page planner, I usually wind up re-writing tasks day to day, or I have to use a traveling sticky note for my no-particular-day tasks. What do you do with tasks that don't need to happen on a specific day, but within some kind of time period (such as, sometime this week or month)?
ReplyDeleteYes, I must see the whole week at once, or things get lost, and I feel like I don't know where I am.
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I hear you about procrastinatin' and I also have todos that don't get done on the first day. When I don't get everything done on that day’s todo, I turn to the next page and write "See 12/8" for all the tasks that didn't get done on 12/8. Right now that’s what I’m looking at in addition to today’s tasks. That way I don't keep re-writing the task, but merely note that something(s) on 12/8 didn't get done. FC also has a monthly goals/todo on the monthly tab which is a big full page of "master task lists" for personal and business, but quite frankly, I don't fill that out. (I don't do a lot of things the FC way. Like, indexing all of the important info after each month... too much work!)
ReplyDeleteBasically, I am lazy, but I do spend alot of time and energy figuring out how to make my days as easy and effortless as possible, which paradoxically actually takes some effort! The R-side of FC day on 2 is a full glorious blank sheet of paper for my beloved lists: Each day after I drop of DD at school, I spend an hour running errands so I keep my lists on that page: eg: Yesterday, Wed. is my Walmart / Staples / Petsmart day (they are all right to each other), so I keep a running list of things to buy or return at each store.. I also journal on the R-side, keep any directions needed for that day, note any big purchases, phone conversations with teachers, note special things about my hubby & daughter, etc. I tend to write in little blocks of text as opposed to going all the way from left to right. Chunks of text are easier to read at a glance.
I am a SAHM mom so I don’t have many daily appts, but it’s nice to have it just the same for daughter’s afterschool activities, doc appts., salon visits, etc. Under each appt I write down any special items needed for that visit, or if I can cluster another errand to coincide with appt, I’ll put that todo right there. For example, we all go to chiropractor every 3 weeks, and the library is nearby, so I put “Library” under Chiro appt to remind me to take any books back or to check out books. (Gas prices are up again!) It helps that the books are for 3 weeks, nice!
Currently I am using a hacked version of day on 2 with just plain FC Classic size pages, so I have room on the bottom of the appts column to write down the daily dinner menu. Come January, I’ll move it to the R-page.
Oh, and one little thing that gives me great satisfaction: after I complete a todo, I highlight it in my fave color. It’s so gratifying to see a colorful page and so much more fun than a solitary check! Also, I still see exactly what I accomplished (I never understood those who “cross it out” after completion, I like to see all that I got done!!!)
For long-term projects I have tabbed sections for each: 1. Party Planning, 2. Home, 3. Love & Gratitude, 4. Christmas & Bday, 5. Business, and 6. Travel. I bought some fun slash pockets for each tab to hold loose pieces of paper. I also placed these in the front of my binder so it’s easier to write on the L-side of my daily pages. Hope this answered your question. Now are you ready to try the FC Classic day on 2? My offer still stands!
Steffee thanks so much for all these details on how you use your D2P! I love the idea of having so much space to write all the details of my day. But I'm still recovering from my day-per-page Fail and am thinking I may just need to see the entire week at a time. I will think about your offer though, thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteHey Laurie, no problem! I really enjoy your blog, and look forward to more of your planner trials and adventures in 2011. I'm esp. interested to read about what you think of WeekDate! So nice to "chat" with others who feel the same passion about their planners!!!
ReplyDeleteStefee I'm thinking of ways to combine your D2P method with those used by two Philofaxy readers who have done guest posts recently. They (Jotje and Jess) both use a week on 2 pages diary insert for the weekly overviews, and daily pages for the details. You might like their posts:
ReplyDeleteJess is a university student:
http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2010/10/guest-post-jesss-personal-finsbury.html
Jotje is a busy mother of 4 working at her own business and generally ruling the universe with her Filofax:
http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-post-task-and-time-management.html
I wonder if I can do some kind of weekly and daily combination like this in my Filofax? Hmm. I think I've found my next planner experiment! :)