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Monday, April 7, 2014

Roll call! Which planner format(s) are you using now?

I can't keep track of who's using what. Heck, sometimes I can't keep track of what I'm using myself! I know I must have a weekly planner, but I'm still on the fence as to whether to stay with my notebook as my daily record, or go back to a dated day per page diary to record each day. I like both, for opposite reasons.

What are you using now? And is it the same format as what you started this year with?

25 comments:

  1. I have just bought a monthly calendar. Hey, it's only April, right?

    I have been using a Moleskine Weekly +Notes and a blank notebook, but I want to do away with the weekly in order to downsize.

    Of course, right now I am carrying all three because I am afraid I will miss something in the weekly.

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  2. my work filo has stayed the same wo2p .... my home/ personal I have moved into the dodo pad

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  3. I plan with a filofax flex A5 weekly & a Quo Vadis Trinote.
    I record with a manual as it goes work log (somewhat similar to the bullet journal system. sometimes it's a page-per-day, sometimes more, sometimes less) and a Mokeskine weekly diary.
    This works for me and is the first time I've made it into Q2 with the same system with no significant modifications.

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  4. For my personal life, I'm still using the Organized Mum inserts, which, after a recent tweak, are working well. Though I'm not sure if they will be available next year so I may have to look into other options.

    For work, I'm using a Quo Vadis Journal 21, which has been perfect for my needs and a joy to use!

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    1. Is your handwriting naturally small? I really wanted to use the Journal 21, but I just couldn't adjust to the line spacing with my oversize handwriting.

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  5. As of two weeks ago, I started using an A5 Filofax with Day per Page. I can't find the FF A5 Monthly pages in the US right now, so this weekend I added a At-A-Glance Plan.Write.Remember monthly/weekly planner for forward planning, similar to how you use your Plannerisms planner. I just wrote about the Plan.Write.Remember planners I have on my blog.

    I started off 2014 with handmade 5x7 day per page in a Personal size binder, but 3 weeks of tattered pages ended that.

    Then I used a Day on 2 Pages that I printed myself, but cut the same as Franklin Covey Compact 4.25x6.75. The pages worked really well for over two months, and I had finally settled into a 12 year old Kate Spade Personal that I love the feel and layout of. But life at work blew up even worse than before ( still have one staffer finishing up a partial health leave, but the kicker was that the other decided not to come back from maternity leave. Got an email resignation the night before she was due back). So any hope I had of catching up got blown out of the water. All those things I pushed to when she was back are now overdue, AND I have to try and find time to interview, hire and train a replacement.

    I really missed my monthly and weekly views, so I'm hoping adding the separate monthly/weekly will make it easier to stomach the monstrously huge A5 binder I'm lugging back and forth to work every day. And I'm kind of hoping the A5 is only temporary, too, although the Ascot is amazing. I have never wanted to touch leather as much as I want to touch this thing.

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  6. DIYfish since mid November in personal. Will stay in it until end of year and then make a change.

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  7. Portable daytimer with week-to-view inserts I printed myself, and an A5 wirebound for more personal things. Really tempted to shift into A5 binder and have it all in one place, but the extra weight is holding me back (this week, anyway).

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  8. I started with the Quo Vadis Note 15, but that was too tiny. Then a brief fling with the Quo Vadis ABP2--I loved the format but there is no yearly or monthly overview and no note pages. Next I went back to a pocket Filofax, with beautifully crafted two day per page inserts from 21kittens on Etsy, but not enough space each day. Made me sad as I love my little pocket Tejus and the pages were so nice. But I ordered a Hobonichi Planner and recopied my info and it is working well. I can make it the same format as the ABP2 by drawing a vertical line on the day space, it has both yearly and monthly overviews. and lots of note pages. It is also very lightweight. This is for personal stuff. All year I have been using a Leuchtturm 1917 weekly planner & notebook for work quite successfully. Hope I have personal settled down now too.

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  9. On March 1, I started a bullet journal in a Clairefontaine notebook (added a Filofax 4 Year Planner), bound Midori-style with a DIY address book and a second Clairefontaine "reference" book where I keep random info that's good to have on hand, like my nephew's clothing sizes, etc. So far it's working pretty well. After using a Slimline Filofax for several years, it was time to make a switch.

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  10. Personal filofax with DIYFish's Life Mapping Inserts v2.01, plus project planner pages using GTD systems on plain old lined paper.

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    1. How did the DIY Fish inserts work with GTD? That's what I'm planning on using for 2016.

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    2. Hi,I never really used GTD on my DIYFish pages. I mean, that had been my intention but I rapidly realised it wasn't practical. I can plan my days as much as I like but they rarely go to plan. I keep my GTD-style project pages on squared or lined paper these days (mostly one page per project), and once a week (at least) I review those to try and make sure at least one action from each project gets done be each week. The DIYFish pages I used both to plan ahead and to log/record things from my days. Although sadly the folding out aspect really didn't agree with me (very sad! I really wanted to make it work!) and I'm now using Franklin Covey 2ppd. I have few enough appointments and my writing is tiny enough that I can fit them on the mo2p spreads.

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  11. I tried to do a divided planner system of work and personal, after one week I realized (yet again) that this just does NOT work for me. I was massively frustrated with myself and with other people for making myself feel like bifurcated planning is the better/best/preferred/only way to do things.

    Anyway, I realized that the extra space of a larger planner is very welcome so I have put my life back together, this time into my A5 size Van der Spek organizer. And I'm running off of Daytimer "reference" two pages per day, in "desk" size (5.5x8.5). Plus a week to view diary for future planning beyond the scope of the daily pages. It's working splendidly.

    I have been trying to pilot DIYFish's Life Mapping Inserts v.2.01. But for the moment am just too busy to deal with trying to implement new tools. So tried and true takes the day.

    I need to STOP trying to divide work and personal. I don't know if my brain is defective or what, but it just doesn't work for me at all. Just leads to massive confusion and overwhelm. Too many moving parts, too many places to look, too many distractions.

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    Replies
    1. Josh - I've noticed from your videos that you work two different shifts, depending on the day. So even though home and work are discrete concepts, they aren't discretely a set of times. I feel that shifting between different sets of hours messes with the brain. Although you develop certain habits to cope, you never really get into a time rhythm. I say this as someone who technically works 9-5:30 M-F, but as many as 12 days a month I have to work 2-4 extra hours, weekdays or weekends.

      I also think you're a little hard on yourself. Library work is particularly taxing, as it requires a combination of high-energy patron service, and research/organization/detail skills. Switching between the two, multiple times per day, is a lot of work. I left the library world for fundraising, but they have a lot in common!

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  12. As of ten minutes ago:
    For personal and forward-planning - Hobonichi Techo
    For work only - FF Original personal size with Action Day weeklies and GTD sections
    Let's see how long this lasts....

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  13. Despite having experimented with a variety of set-ups (usually short-lived) since January, I'm still in my Filofax Personal Hampstead with ten-part divider set and a very substantially GTD based set-up. Although I'm always on the lookout for improvements, all forays into A5 have immediately failed on grounds of portability (I have to have the binder in my hand whenever I leave the house), and all attempts to simplify the ten-part set-up on the grounds that it then becomes difficult to find the information I want, when I want it. I'm currently in the process of adding more routine-based schedules and due date tracker lists, and I've gone back from cotton cream to standard paper to increase capacity. Now that I've been introduced to the wonderful Davinci inserts (printed on the legendary Tomoe River paper) I can think about increasing capacity even more, and maybe starting to regularly use fountain pen again, although I'll continue to use only pencil in my diary. It seems I've reached set-up nirvana - at least for now - but that won't stop me trying to improve on it, I'm sure!

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  14. Still in my personal, but I'm thinking of doing an extra copy in a compact for when I'm using a smaller handbag or the diaper bag. I have an extra set of 2014 calendar so why not use them for something right?!

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  15. I'm in Planner Zen at the moment, which feels strange, as I've never felt that before. Currently using a Moleskine DPP and a $10 Target Greenroom Planner for weekly/monthly planning. For 2015, I plan to switch to the Hobonichi Cousin and will decide if I want to have my weekly planning go mobile.

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  16. I'm using a Rhodia Reverse book with grids for my Bullet Journal. It's on it's second incarnation because I'm constantly perfecting it but it's working pretty well. Although the grid lines are darker than I would like, I like that I can tear out pages if I want and it's SO much lighter than carrying around a Moleskine (HATE the paper) or a Leuchtterm (which is ridiculously heavy). I LOVE the bright white Rhodia paper, too. I have been eyeing a Baron Fig because I like the dots more than the grids but I'm just afraid it will be too heavy and I won't like the paper. I'm happy with what I have...for now! :)

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  17. You've created a monster!!! Since discovering your blog, my ADHD has now locked its hyperfocus skillz on MAKING THE BEST PLANNER EVERY OF ALL TIME. But I really appreciate all of your info, because it's given me some good ideas.

    I just got an At-A-Glance Weekly/Monthly spiral bound planner for work (it matches the big on-desk calendar, which is now a little redundant, but it's good to have extra space to write). I like it because there is TONS of room for notes and lists. So I've worked out a colour code (work, farm, online, house, LOL) and am experimenting with different things, like blocking out chunks of time at work so it's not one giant overwhelming day that I have to make productive.

    I need to make some sturdier tabs, but the binder clip keeps the master list at hand! Am also working on designs on pages I could add. It is spiral-bound, which makes that trickier, but a requirement, since I am left-handed, ring binders are my nemesis. I wish more companies would offer spiral versions! I've also discovered a blog about the Arc planner system (omg, more evil tempting!) from Staples, which has some awesome ideas and inspirations.

    Now I will do all of this in my spare time, b/c I love art and decorating. As soon as I am done with my full-time plus job plus running the farm by myself plus keeping the horses in training plus keeping my own blog up plus remembering why I walked in the room. Easy, right???

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  18. PS THANK YOU for the Bullet Journal idea, I started that too and keep it by the bed, it is AWESOME.

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  19. Right this minute I am using a letter size planner pad for planning and tracking activities such as webinars and regularly scheduled meetings. I have a Staples letter size Arc to track my reading and a pink plannerism to track my online classes. I also have the Hobonichi Techno 2014 experimenting with and a FF Metropol personal that I have no idea what to do with - it is so darn small!

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