I'm curious about how other people use their planners. I use mine for planning of course, but I also refer to it (weeks, months or even years) later as a record of events.
For example, I kept my planner that I used in my last job. (Uncalendar Full Size, for those of you who were curious.) In it I recorded all the corporate trainings I attended (which were a lot). Now when I apply to my next job, I can refer to that list of trainings. If I'd kept that list on my computer at work, it would have been lost when I left that job.
Some people use a diary/ planner book mainly for recording daily activities. An example of this is Diane B's daily book where she records what she did at work each day, to make it easier to write up her monthly reports (which I think is a fantastic idea, and I have linked to her post before).
Those of you who have been reading Plannerisms for awhile will notice this is a theme I contemplate often. What works best for me as a planner (weekly view) is different from the type of planner I like to keep records in (day per page bound book). Sometimes I wonder which is more important, a planner that's easier to plan ahead with, or a better record of my life?
What about you? Do you use your planner as a planning tool only (forward-looking)? Or do you also (or mainly) use it as a record of events to refer to later?
I use mine primarily as a planner (as you know I use a Filofax). I keep records of life & accomplishments in my journal, which is a bound book (Moleskine).
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of using my planner as a record of events, but I never seem to actually do it.
ReplyDeleteFor me, my planner is primarily for record keeping. At work we use Exchange, and so my iPhone is my forward-looking device for scheduled events while my planner is my backward-looking record. I use week on a page, and short trimmed pages inserted into those week pages to record stuff that happens at work. I keep a separate journal for personal journaling.
ReplyDeleteI use my Filofax for both. Unfortunately, I am not very busy, so I can get away with planning ahead, and recording some daily happenings in my Wo2P view.
ReplyDeleteMy only concern will be at the end of this year- I have only had one other binder (a FC) and didn't like it so that year stayed put. This is perfect for looking back on what I did that year. I have to decide how to archive this year when I pull it out of the Filofax- I am thinking maybe getting those metal rings from the office supply store?
Hmmmm, now you've got me thinking...
I also use my filofax for both. I find it useful to go back when I am putting in travel expenses. Also when I am updating my CV I look to see the dates of certain training events, workshops and conferences or else I would never remember.
ReplyDeleteFor my PhD planner I definitely want to use it to record my daily and weekly work schedule, as it will help when I want to reference emails etc as well as plan ahead for what I need to do.
I use my filofax for planning ahead and appointments, and I write my day up in an A5 Ciak diary (bought from The Journal Shop - now sold out, but still available from their eBay shop). I've bought the Ciak diaries for years now and they are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI keep the appointments diaries (they were A5 WO2P desk diaries before the filofax) so I can see what I did and if I need to find more detail on something, I can look it up in my Ciak diary.
I also like to read through my Ciak diaries sometimes to relive good times.
Dunno if that helps or not!
I use my Filofax for both. The monthly and weekly pages are mainly used for future planning and the daily pages are more like a record of what happened, though they also include any appointments and to-dos for the day. This seems to be the best of both worlds in one place. Also, I write in a journal for more in-depth analysis of things that have happened.
ReplyDelete