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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Productive Flourishing planners

I recently discovered the Productive Flourishing website by Charlie Gilkey. As I've said before, I do live under a rock so if everyone else already knows about Charlie's website, please forgive me! But if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and go check it out.

Charlie is a productivity guru who also, hang onto yourselves, designs planners! And these aren't just any planners: they are designed to foster maximum productivity for out-of-the-box type people. His planners are designed for people who are freelancers, creatives, and other types of people who work to task rather than to time.

Most planners that I've seen are time-based, meaning the planner gives you the times which the user then fills in with tasks and appointments.

Charlie's planners are different. They are marvelous at getting you to think of your goals/ projects/ big picture, then help you figure out what you need to do in order to achieve or complete those.

He sums it up so well on his website: "You don’t need a system that helps you watch the clock. You need a system that helps you get your stuff done in the time that you have." Man, you can say that again.

I have to admit it took me a couple of days to get my head around these planners because they are like nothing I've seen before. They come from a different angle than traditional planners.

You can get some of these planners for free each month on his Free Planners page. Or, you can buy (for an extremely tiny price for the great planners you get) his complete Premium Planners for the entire year.

There are several different planners to choose from based on your needs, and they are designed to work (beautifully) together or individually:

The Annual Strategic Planner gets you thinking about what you want to accomplish this year and to break it down by monthly benchmarks. Similarly, the Quarterly Objective Planner helps you figure out what needs to be done each quarter to work toward your annual goals. Both of these planners come in the Premium Planner packs.

Each month has a Monthly Action Planner that helps you define your objectives for the month and plan around scheduled events.

There are two types of weekly planner: the Freelancer Workweek and the Weekly Action Planner. You can use them together or individually, depending on your needs.

The Freelancer Workweek lets you see the big picture of your week, all your projects and deadlines. It also helps you get a handle on how much you need to work on each project during the week. It's designed especially for people who need to track billable hours on multiple projects, so if you need to do that then definitely take a look at it.

The Weekly Action Planner is a place where you can capture all of those random tasks that you need to accomplish during the week, then helps you decide when you can get them done.

I think the Daily Action Planner (scroll to pg 2 after you click through) is my favorite. It helps you learn how much you can (or can't) accomplish in one day. But best of all it helps you focus on that day's goals and projects and keeps you from getting sidetracked (which I do all too easily). Each day's page allows you to keep in mind that day's goals/ projects, what tasks you need to do to fulfill them, and when you're going to do it. It even has a space to isolate those unplanned tasks that come up during the day (that are often urgent). Genius. The Daily Action Planners come in the Premium Action Planners pack along with the Weekly, Quarterly and Annual planners.

A technique that the Weekly and Daily Action Planners use is called Heatmapping. Basically you figure out what times of the day, and what days of the week, you are at your most productive and/ or creative. For example, I do my best work from 8:30-10:30 am, so I should schedule my writing during those times. If I tried to compose a blog post at, say, 2pm it would be sheer drudgery because that's my sleepy time.

Speaking of blogs, another wonderful planner he has is the Blog Post Planner and Calendar. The Planner is great for helping you break down your blog ideas by type, so that you have a variety of categories of blog posts throughout the month. And the Calendar lets you schedule those so you can see if you have too many of the same type in one stretch of time. It's great for helping you balance your content and avoid over-scheduling (or the opposite, too-long gaps) in your blogging.

As with any planner system, these have some pitfalls to watch out for. Often (as with most things in life) the good things and the pitfalls are two sides of the same coin:

The Coin: There are so many planner types with views from annual down to quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily.

Heads: This system helps you think about your main goals/ projects for the year, then funnels your energy all the way down to what you need to do TODAY to work toward it.

Tails: So many layers of planning can get overwhelming and redundant if you use more than you need.

Solution: Play with the planners for awhile to see what you need. Maybe you only need a Monthly planner and Daily planners. Maybe Annual, Quarterly and Weekly will do the job for you. Maybe you will benefit from using all the planners together. You decide. Which brings me to:

The Coin: This planner system is very personalize-able.

Heads: You make it what you need it to be. A certain box on the page doesn't fit your needs? No big whoop. Adapt it to whatever you need it to be. Or ignore it. It's all up to you.

Tails: People (or maybe just "I" but I think people in general) have a tendency to make personalized systems overly complicated.

Solution: Take a deep breath, and think about what you really need to see on your page and what is extraneous.

Because these planners are so flexible and can bend themselves to many different uses, give yourself some time to play with them and decide how they can best work for you. And the best part is, maybe you need to use them one way this week/month/ quarter, and a different way the next. You can do that easily.

Charlie's website has a ton of content on productivity, time management (more like sanity management for some of us!) and loads of great advice. When you have time you should look around and get some inspiration.

And coming soon: an interview with Charlie himself! Stay tuned!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Moleskine Planners 2011

Yes I know it's only February, but I'm already chomping at the bit for next year's planner designs!

Last night I googled, and found, the Moleskine Planners 2011 catalogue. There is some really exciting stuff in there!

First let me say I was exceedingly underwhelmed by many of their new products this year: the seemingly useless page per day desk calendar and one book per month daily planner set spring to mind. There were also some products that are good but just slightly miss the mark: for example the Panoramic Planner is an excellent design, but the pocket size seems too tiny to be very useful. This format in the large size would be much more effective.

But unlike the 2010 products, the new items coming out in 2011 have really wowed me, bigtime. There are new sizes, colors and formats in the ever-growing Moleskine lineup that I'm finding really interesting and I'd like to go on about now.

The first thing that caught my eye is that there are colors! Specifically, their new Extra Small daily and weekly planners have hard covers in colors like lime green, sky blue, and dark pink, among others. You can see the daily planners on page 14 of the catalogue and the weekly ones on pg 19. The Extra Small size is 2 1/2 by 4 inches. For comparison, their Pocket size is 3 1/2 by 5 1/2. (Check out the size chart on pg 7 of the catalogue.) And especially interesting to me is that the tiny, colorful day per page planners have blank pages. No lines. Just the day and date at the top of the page, and you fill in the blank page however you want. I absolutely must have one, and have pre-ordered it already on Amazon to make sure I don't miss out!

Another new size of planners for next year is the A4 size. For reference, American standard-size paper is 8 1/2 x 11 inches. A4 is European standard size office paper, and it's slightly narrower (8 inches) and taller (12 inches). Which means the A4 Moleskine planners are huge. Check out page 13 of the catalogue to see the A4 daily planner! It has an enormous page for each day. I have seen this size of daily book used in offices and businesses as record-keeping books, which they seem excellent for. I can't imagine being so busy as to need to use an A4 page each day as my daily planner, but I'm sure there are people in this world who are that busy.

Another exciting A4 size planner is the weekly planner on pg 18 of the catalogue. Each day has its own full-size column, even Sunday. There is space to record appointments every 15 minutes. And, there is an extra column for notes and lists. This is a fantastic format--I'm always searching for a planner with all 7 days as full-size columns. And in the huge A4 size, it's great for very busy people. The only problem is portability: for a planner that will go from workday to weekend, it needs to be small enough to carry everywhere. I'd love to see this format in the more-portable Large size.

So those are some of the fun new things from Moleskine we can pine for (I mean look forward to!) for next year!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio

Here is my awesome and wonderful Moleskine folio from Rickshaw Bagworks!! This is one of the goodies I bought myself for Christmas, along with my fantastic Mini Zero Bag which I will tell you all about in a future post.

From Rickshaw's huge selection of fabrics and colors I chose the purple faux suede fabric (which comes in several colors), because I like fuzzy-feeling fabric and (as we all know) I love purple. I chose the pink edge binder for contrast, but you can choose whatever color you want for the edge binder.

Rickshaw has an astounding selection of fabrics and colors. They have super-tough waterproof fabrics, fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles, solids, patterns, even tweed. They will custom-make your folio using any of the fabrics they have.

Or, if you have a fabric you love, contact them because you can send it to them (ask them for dimensions) and they will cover your folio with it. Take a look at their video explaining more about the fabric possibilities. Each cover is custom made to order to your specifications!

The Rickshaw folios are specifically sized for the Large Moleskines, which are 8 1/4 inches tall by 5 1/8 inches wide. My folio is the Original, which holds a large Moleskine notebook, sketchbook, weekly planner, or 18 month weekly notebook (which is what I have in my folio). Recently they came out with an additional version that accommodates the thicker Moleskine Daily Planner, and also a version with a pocket for your smartphone or other electronic device! Just specify which version you need in the comments at checkout.

Here is the inside of my folio. This thing is genius. It holds my pens inside the front cover (Those are Sakura Microns for you pen geeks out there). The pen pockets are generously sized to accommodate G2s. Also inside the front cover there is a zip pocket to hold money, your passport, stamps or whatever else. Just above the pen pockets there is a clear window for your ID. There is a padded flap between your pens and your Moleskine's cover, so the pens don't dent or scratch the cover of your book.
Below you can see how the Moleskine fits into the back cover of the folio, leaving the Mole's front cover visible so you can still label or decorate it however you want (although my cover is boringly blank):


I took my Mole out so you could see the details of the inside of the back cover of the folio. The back cover of the Mole slides into the fitted slot to hold the book securely inside the folio. There is a clear pocket to hold papers or whatever else, allowing you to see what's in there. Then when you are finished with your book, you can archive those items inside the Moleskine's back pocket.

Rickshaw has a Flickr photostream of their folios and other products. They also have a great video of Mark (founder of Rickshaw Bagworks, Moleskine fan and designer of the folios) showing the features of the folio, which is fun to watch and very informative. (While you're on their videos page, don't miss the tour of their factory, and vids of their other products' features too.)

Another really fun video to watch is Mark at Macworld, telling us how he's using his folio. It's a great view of the folio in action.

The only thing that I would change about the folio, if I could, is to have the zippers zip closed in the up position. The way the folio is configured, the inside pocket zipper and the exterior zipper both zip closed in the down position. It would work better for me if the inside pocket zipped closed up so that my coins and small things don't spill out the bottom when I unzip.

More importantly, I would love it if the external zip-around would zip closed in the up position, so that when I put airline tickets, long envelopes or tall papers into the back pocket I could zip the bottom and side closed and leave the top unzipped to let them stick out the top of the folio . To change the zippers like this would require a reconfiguration of the folio design. Maybe something to consider for future incarnations of the folio? **Edited to add: see Mark's reply in the comments. He designed the external zipper to zip down so it doesn't catch on the ribbon placemarker. He's really thought this through, obviously!

Rickshaw Bagworks is a very cool company in San Francisco that is very socially aware and does tons of great work locally. They custom-make messenger bags, commuter bags, baby bags, bike accessories, these great folios, and more. They also really listen to their customers and respond to their needs. I really respect them as a company. You're awesome, Rickshaw!

So if you use any kind of large Moleskine notebook or planner, check out their folios. They are a great way to personalize your book and carry your pens and other things with you everywhere you go. I love that it can be all-in-one: you have your Mole, your pens, your cards and money (and even your passport!) all held securely in its zip-around goodness. Grab your folio and you're ready to go to work, on your long weekend, or trekking in the Himalayas.

Huge WIN! Thank you Rickshaw!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Coming soon on Plannerisms!

Hey everybody, I have a backlog of reviews to do. Several people have been extremely generous in sending me products and I want to give them all the attention they deserve. And, I also got a little spendy around the holidays and got some goodies for myself that I want to tell you all about too. Here's what's coming up in the next few weeks, not necessarily in this order:

Quo Vadis Monthly 4 is an 18 month, monthly planner with excellent organizational features.

Rickshaw Bagworks
Moleskine Folio (which now comes in 3 different adaptations: Original (which accommodates a Moleskine notebook, sketchbook, or weekly planner), Daily (which is bigger to hold the Moleskine Day-per-page planner) and Smartphone (which has a pocket for your electronic device of choice!). These things are absolutely awesome, and I can't even say that enough. Seriously, you guys. There's an enormous selection of fabrics and colors to choose from. I'll be going on and on about mine, but here is the website if you want to go ahead and check it out:

http://www.rickshawbags.com/#/products/moleskine_folio/


Rickshaw Bagworks Mini Zero Bag: mine is awesome, and I'll tell you all about it. In the meantime:

http://www.rickshawbags.com/#/products/mini_zero/

Plan It brand student planners, which are full of excellent local information, contacts (a Yellow Pages right in the book!!), and money-saving coupons. These are a must-have for any university student!

And the rest of the Daycraft diaries and notebooks that were sent to me as samples to review, which are:

Chromatic Days diary

Make My Day diary

Cantoon notebook

The Creative Exit D-sign notebook

And the stunningly beautiful Signature sketchbook

And of course my usual planner pontifications, questions, musings and functionality reports.

Whew! That's a lot of fun plannering to look forward to! So stay tuned, Plannerisms readers, for lots to come!


Friday, February 5, 2010

Daycraft Strawberry notebook winner!!

Congratulations to Sara! You've won the Daycraft Strawberry Notebook!! I think you're going to love it. Below is the Random.org generator showing the winning number:Thanks to everyone for participating in the giveaways, and congratulations again to the winners. This was fun! I may have more giveaways in the future, so stay tuned...

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

How is your planner working for you?

Now that we are more than a month into 2010, you've had time to evaluate how your planner is working for you.

I know there are some of you out there who are Calling The Dog between planner formats and/ or sizes. Have you made a decision yet about which is working better for you?

Especially those of you who are using a new planner system (or the opposite, whose lives are significantly different now than they were last year) may have needed an adjustment period to get the hang of your new planner situation.

So how is it going? Is your planner working well for you? Or are there gaps in its performance? Maybe it works well for you at work, but falls flat on personal organization. Or vice-versa. Let us know what's working, what's not working, what's okay but could be better, and what's a total planner FAIL.

(And for those of you who are experiencing planner frustration, hang on. Next week I will discuss a planner system that could be a solution for you!)

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Daycraft Strawberry notebook giveaway!

Congratulations to the winner of the Daycraft Vogue diary! (Look down at the post below to see who won!)

Here is the third in my series of Daycraft giveaways: the Strawberry notebook from the Juicy Notebook collection!

This cute little notebook with the soft, strawberry-design cover is a sure conversation-starter wherever you go. The book measures approximately 5 3/4 inches tall by 4 1/4 inches wide, so it's bigger than pocket size but small enough to easily fit into any bag. There are 128 lined pages.

The strawberry design is cute and fun, but the construction of the book is serious quality. The cream-colored paper is smooth, thick (118 gsm!), acid-free and chlorine free. The flexible cover has a soft feel. There is a matching red ribbon placemarker.


There is also a green felt bookmark that makes the "top" of the strawberry when the book is closed.
On the back cover, Daycraft is subtly embossed.Daycraft is the #1 seller of planners and notebooks in Hong Kong, but they don't have a US distributor yet. So you could be the only person in the US to have this notebook! Cool!

To enter the giveaway, make a comment on this post. Only one entry per person will be counted. You have until midnight EST Thursday February 4 to place your entry. On Friday February 5 I will select the winner by random number generation--your number will be the order in which your entry was received in the comments. The winner's name will be posted on Plannerisms Friday February 5! The winner needs to send me an email with your mailing address. Remember, US people only, no P.O. Boxes. The diary will be mailed via USPS to a US address only (due to my mailing restrictions where I live, sorry.)

So place your comment now for the chance to win this beautiful notebook! Good luck!