Now that we are more than a week into 2014 and at the end of the first full workweek, you have an idea of how well your planner is working for you. What's the verdict? Is it working well? Does it need some tweaking? Or have you realized it's not working well at all and needs replacing?
And as always on Fridays, feel free to discuss/ ask anything planner related!
I have been using the Bullet Journal method and for some reason, it just isn't to my liking but I haven't quite figured out why!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. I'm using a modified bullet journal/ notebook method and it's not structured enough for me. Still trying to figure out what to do, I'm feeling a bit lost in space.
DeleteYou will be glad to know that the plannerisms planner is going very well so far. I have found that as I am at home for most of the time at the moment I have turned it into an 'a5 filofax' in terms of size and weight by putting it in a cover with pockets. However I have organised it so that when I do need to take it out of the house (only twice so far- still need that job!) I can take the planner out and I still have everything I need with me. The rest of it is just non essential frills.
ReplyDeleteSydney I'm so glad you are enjoying your Plannerisms planner! Do you mind telling us what cover you are using on it? I get lots of questions from people asking what covers fit it.
DeleteMine is just functional. Not pretty. I have used a flex cover and attached the plannerisms planner with a midori style elastic method. Wasn't sure it would work but has been very secure so far, is easy to take out if I need to and gives me plenty of pockets to put paperwork and the suchlike. Initially thought this would be a fill in until I find something better but I am pretty happy with it so will probably carry on with it. I am planning a blog post soon if this isn't clear.
DeleteThanks Sydney! I've had lots of people ask if the Plannerisms planner fits in the Flex cover, which it doesn't because the Flex is designed for A5 size books and the Plannerisms planner is just slightly taller at 8 1/2 inches. But that is a great idea to attach it with an elastic! I'd love to see photos, please do let me know when your blog post is up. :)
DeleteDecided there was no time like the present. Like I said, it's not particularly pretty...
Deletehttp://thinkingversusdoing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/my-more-compact-than-a5-filofax-planner.html
Awesome! Now when people ask me about the Plannerisms planner and a Flex cover I'll direct them to your post. :)
DeleteDIYfish v2 I am loving it except the page flipping and I absolutely hate cutting out the personal size pages :) learning to write small. But it works for me.
ReplyDeleteCassandra I'm glad your new system is working for you! I hear you about flipping pages, I guess that's the downside of having everything in one book. I like using my bullet journal along with my Plannerisms planner because they can be open next to each other. Although I may put them both into a cover together to have everything within one grab-and-go cover.
DeleteI went back to using a Planner Pad again, and am loving it. Lists, lists, lists! I start school full time next week, while maintaining my full time job and my family, so that will be the true test.
ReplyDeleteI went back to using a Planner Pad again, and am loving it. Lists, lists, lists! I start school full time next week, while maintaining my full time job and my family, so that will be the true test.
ReplyDeleteLOVING my planner right now. I'm using my DIY planner, and I haven't been tempted to change once. I know we're only 10 days in, but that's saying a lot for me!
ReplyDeleteMy Quo Vadis Note 15 started at the end of November, so I stuck with it for six weeks. It is beautiful, elegant, and really, really tiny. So I am back in my medium Personal Planner (which is July 2013 through June 2014), used with the Quo Vadis journal I haven't quite finished.
ReplyDeleteAw, sorry to hear your Note 15 was too small for you, I know you were really excited about it.
DeleteThe beginning of the year is always totally manic for me as I have to get the year end accounts done at work. As a result of this I always feel like I'm not bonding with my planning system - but I know that the only reason for this is that I just simply don't look at it at all. For standard monthend and yearend tasks I have a shared Excel sheet where we have to mark everything off, so I never enter these things in my Filofax, but as we are so busy with these tasks there is no time to even consider doing anything else. This weekend I will be sitting down with my Filofax and my Plannerisms planner to get myself all sorted for the coming week (in between trying to catch up on all the stuff that didn't get done over Christmas and New Year as we had visitors) :-)
ReplyDeleteBetter than in past years. I got a desktop calendar -- one of those spiral bound ones with lots of different pictures. I've come to realize I don't like a lot of planners simply because they look too office-like, and I want to get away from the office, not just take it home! I want pretty, and not just a pretty cover and office-like pages inside. I also find that simple and relatively unstructured works better for me, and most planners are too structured -- like drawing lines for the day, adding the word "notes" to explain to me this section is for notes. The latter REALLY annoys me.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm also not a big list maker. In fact, I'll lose track of something because it's on a list (that's a right-brained trait). I just write down a few goals for the week -- no more than five, so it's like "Finish one short story" or "Submit one short story." Two are harder and more time consuming, and the rest are easier.
Ok; I left a long comment on Friday and it went poof when I tried to submit/publish it. Took a couple of days to get back in the groove to write it up again.
ReplyDeleteI am THRILLED with how my planning system is working so far. It is much more complicated than I usually like but I am really plugging away with it and things are gelling really nicely. I have my personal filofax, which is decked out with three different diaries; it is working extraordinarily well and I really like it. I think the key, for me, is that they all have a distinct purpose.
-Filofax week-on-two-pages with lines (one year's worth in binder). This is my master diary/agenda. All future planning, scheduling, ticklers go straight onto these pages. I basically write in in two columns, the left hand for scheduling (which I try hard to keep chronological) and the right hand for tasks/ticklers.
-Daytimer month-per-page tabbed (for the coming six months). I inserted these, which have the month laid out in a typical grid on the front and a monthly to-do list on the back, primarily to help me flip quickly month-to-month. They are inserted in between the page spread of the weekly diary pages for the start of the month, as near as I can get it. Once in, I plotted out paydates and Juan's weekend work schedule, all day events, along with time off for easy reference. I like to look at these when thinking about project scheduling. Daily boxes are much too small to write in appointments but you can put dots or a few letters to represent what you want to say.
-Daytimer two-pages-per-day (one week's worth in the binder at a time). These are the meat of my system and where most of the work gets done. During the weekly review, I fill in all appointments, deadlines, ticklers, and such, along with the daily work schedule. I had a custom stamp run up with a checklist for my daily routines which I use to stamp the notes page of each daily spread. I consult my goals planner (Plannerisms!) and copy in any projects or tasks from that which need to be done on various days. I review the prior week for any unfinished business. I have a DT storage binder, the future pages are in there, and I transfer the spent week's pages in during the weekly review.
This setup is working really well. Each day, I do a brief review, pushing forward any unfinished tasks, reviewing notes, and taking some notes on how the day went. I also use the Plannerisms planner to rank myself on my progress towards my resolutions/goals/aspirations.
Leaving out most of the reference info, lists, and notes to be added back as needed has demonstrated to large extent that most of that information was not really necessary, provided that I use some forethought. If I see this evening that I have an appointment tomorrow, I will look up the address and copy it onto the day page. If I bought something online during the day, I write the amount spent on the day page and during the daily review transfer the figure into the ledger at home. It works fine. It is slightly more work but saves me needing to carry around a gigantic, cumbersome planner. I also feel somewhat more secure that I am much less likely to lose all this info, as it is basically in two places.
In addition to the personal filo, the gigantic reference book (a Franklin Quest), and the Plannerisms, I also tote around a small Clairefontaine staple bound notebook for notes and lists. This booklet has a page size exactly the same height as the personal size filofax page and is slightly wider. The pages can be cut out of the notebook, punched, and transferred into the filofax if desired (in fact, I usually cut up these notebooks to serve as notepaper in my filofax!). The Franklin and the Plannerisms stay at home. The Clairefontaine notebook and the Filofax travel about with me.
So far so good... and I decided to do a blog post of how mine's set up (since a friend asked to see it). http://measi.net/measiblog/2014/01/12/my-planner-my-binkie/
ReplyDeleteMy planning system (Mo2P/Wo2P) going great so far. I'd prefer to use FF Personal inserts over the Collins Debden ones that are currently in Mr Malden, but the Debden papers were significantly cheaper and I didn't have to wait to have them shipped from overseas, so I got a significant head start on my 2014 planning.
ReplyDeleteI'm struggling. I have so many court hearings and meetings every day, i need tons of room. So i usually use a Week-at-a-glance spiral. But i want room for projects and tasks. I'm in a 2PPD daytimer now, and it still doesn't have room for all the scheduled stuff.I'm afraid I'm going to have to use a gargantuan Monarch size book.
ReplyDeleteLee you might not want all of that in your planner. I see people have Planner Fail often because they try to keep work notes and projects in their planner, and find they don't have enough room for everything. This post might help you: http://www.plannerisms.com/2011/05/how-many-notebooks-planners-do-you-need.html
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