Paper orginizers: weekly or daily ?

[Unregistered]

I'm thinking about switching to paper and giving a try to Time/System organizer from http://timedesign.com
They offer two versions: with daily pages an with weekly pages. I'm having difficulties figuring out pros and cons for each one.
If someone has used both please enlighten me.
Also I would appreciate any comments about Time/System in general.

 

[pcbogert]

Personally, I'd spend $25 and get the weekly view Planner Pad from www.plannerpad.com. It costs a bit more if you want looseleaf, but so far it has been great.

 

[Unregistered]

All (un)used planners are created equal...

I've seen fire and I've seen...

Oops, wrong song. ;-D Actually, I've tried 3 PalmPilots, and I've tried about 5 planners.

What I learned is that the "Hipster PDA" approach (see http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/introducing_the.html) works just as well (or just as poorly) as my TimeDesign.

In the quest of seeking the "ultimate system" to organize my life, my life goes whizzing by. It's kind of like missing the forest for the trees...and then the lumberjack comes by and razes the forest.

IMHO, no system was, is, or can ever be the "right one" -- someone will always build a better mousetrap.

Just find, buy, borrow or create something that calls to you and has you in action. All DA's stuff teaches is how to "Get Things Done" -- not which "way" is the right one...just

"Get 'er done".

Just MHO. :-D

 

[rwichmann]

Personally, I'd spend $25 and get the weekly view Planner Pad from www.plannerpad.com. It costs a bit more if you want looseleaf, but so far it has been great.

Wrong web address...

http://www.plannerpads.com

Roger

 

[beyerst]

I started of with the weekly view, switched to daily and now I am back on weekly. (I use filofax, not timedesign, but the remakrs remain valid)

The reason I made the first switch (weekly to daily view) is that the daily view allowed me to enter more details on meetings, next actions, follow up items, ... .
the reason I switched back to weekly view was the overview. I travel a fair bit and I like to have an overview of the week. If I know that I need to get up an hour earlier on Wednesday to catch a flight, then tuesday evening might not be the best moment to meet a friend I haven't seen in a while for drinks. In the daily view, I had to look back and forth continuously to get an idea of my travel plans/work load.

Now I use the weekly view. I have sufficient space to enter time specific entries in the calendar and for the rest I use small post it notes.

Conclusion: it is important for me to have an overview of my travel plans for the week and I do not have a lot of time specific entries. The 'overview' advantage definitely outweighs the 'limited space' disadvantage.

 

[Dawn]

Whatever system you use, unless your days consistently include a lot of appointments and meetings, I would stick to a weekly layout. Less paper is used, there is still plenty of room to note time/date specific events, and it is advantageous to be able to see your entire week as a whole.

 

[Unregistered]

Filofax,etc..

I also agree that the weekly layout is the way to go.
I've been down the experimentation road on paper planners:

1. Franklin Covey- very versatile- tons of different calendar layouts to suit your taste.

2. Planner Pads- best weekly layout that I've seen. Worth checking out if you go to their website.

3. Filofax- British-based company--reputedly the first portable leather planner system. Their binders look to nice (and expensive!!) but the calendar layouts seem to lack compared to other systems.

4. Day Timer- Similar to Franklin Covey but the layouts are a bit more spartan and less pretentious

I never tried the Circa system from Levenger...yet. But it looks really good. Worth checking out their website. It seems that it can be custom built.

I'm currently using the Planner Pad system for over a year with good results but thinking about switching to Filofax. Does anyone recommend Filofax? I'm thinking about going that way.

 

[gunns256]

Use both of them

I print out a week calendar and a two-month calendar on a weekly basis. I keep these in my hipster, and change them each week. I also print out a daily calendar and task list. I assign dates to all of my tasks except for the Someday/maybe tasks, and I filter the taskpad so that it only shows me tasks for the upcoming 4 days in the contexts that I want. This one I keep in my shirt pocket, with a bic mechanical pencil. It's my main planning and input device. I lay out times in the calendar, cross off existing tasks, note the hard-edge appointments, and jot down new inputs on the back.

 

[beyerst]

I'm currently using the Planner Pad system for over a year with good results but thinking about switching to Filofax. Does anyone recommend Filofax? I'm thinking about going that way.

A Filofax is not cheap, but it lasts forever (if you like buying a new planner regularly, filofax is not your best choice ).
I think it is worthwhile the investment if you take the time to customise the set up to make sure it fits all your GTD needs. Buying it just as a calendar would be pity. It would be cool, but it would probably not be worth the money.
I customised mine based in Davids advise for setting up a paper planner, and it works nice.

As for the filofax forms/calendar layouts: they are maybe not the best around, I agree. I do use the Filofax calendar, but all other forms I print myself. I have been thinking about creating a layout similar to the planner pad for my filofax. I haven't had the courage to start.
(okay, i just put on my Someday/Maybe list to get it out of my system)

Summary: filofax is cool. With some customising it can be a great GTD-tool.
br,
beyerst

 

[Unregistered]

I do use the Filofax calendar, but all other forms I print myself. I have been thinking about creating a layout similar to the planner pad for my filofax. I haven't had the courage to start. (okay, i just put on my Someday/Maybe list to get it out of my system)
beyerst[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your sentiment on Filofax. I do beleive there is a certain pride in having one of those binders..especially matched with a nice writing instrument.

How did you customize your filofax using GTD?

Good idea of fusing the planner pad layout with the filofax binder. How would you do that? Go to a printer and have the Planner pad layout reduced and cut to filofax size?

Also, I'm thinking about sectioning it off and using it as a daily journal to jot down diary log entries. I think it would be best to keep everything in a single binder for convenience and portability. Hope that works out--don't know if anyone has gotten success from doing journaling in their planner system.

 

[Dawn]

Also, I'm thinking about sectioning it off and using it as a daily journal to jot down diary log entries. I think it would be best to keep everything in a single binder for convenience and portability. Hope that works out--don't know if anyone has gotten success from doing journaling in their planner system.

I do this. Sometimes I simply write or draw in the calendar block for that day, and sometimes I write on blank pages in a separate planner section. I enjoy having one completely integrated notebook for my life. I have separate storage binders to which I transfer pages that I no longer need to carry around in my working notebook. At the end of the year, it's a very nice record of my daily life, thoughts, observations, and random sketches. Try it! A planner is a natural format for keeping a journal or diary.

 

[beyerst]

Thanks for your sentiment on Filofax. I do beleive there is a certain pride in having one of those binders..especially matched with a nice writing instrument.

I use a Pelikan M600 fountain pen

How did you customize your filofax using GTD?

I followed davids set up of a paper planner almost 100%. The description is here: http://www.davidco.com/tips_tools/tip25.html

Good idea of fusing the planner pad layout with the filofax binder. How would you do that? Go to a printer and have the Planner pad layout reduced and cut to filofax size?

I would try to mirror the layout in Excel/word/... and then print. The tricky part would be the double sided printing and keeping the dates in good order at the same time. My handwriting is not very neat and if I have to write the dates by hand, it would get messy soon.
A disadvantage of own printed forms is that normal printer paper is much thicker than the paper that filofax uses. So things get bulky pretty quickly. And that requires some discipline about what you put in the filofax. Which is not bad.

Also, I'm thinking about sectioning it off and using it as a daily journal to jot down diary log entries. I think it would be best to keep everything in a single binder for convenience and portability. Hope that works out--don't know if anyone has gotten success from doing journaling in their planner system.

I did that for a while, but I switched back to a separate notebook for that. My filofax could not take a whole lot of paper in the 'journal/notes' section. I travel a lot and it did not find it convenient to carry a binder with old notes. The notebook I have now lasts for 3 to 4 months, so on average I have 1,5 to 2 months of history with me. It might come in handy to check some notes I took during a meeting, ... . If you do not travel too much, that might not be an issue. And you would have a notebook less to carry around.

br,
beyerst

 

[Unregistered]

I've seen fire and I've seen...

Oops, wrong song. ;-D Actually, I've tried 3 PalmPilots, and I've tried about 5 planners.

 

[Unregistered]

This is a subject near and dear to my heart because I have desperately tried several PDAs over the years. I spent several hundreds of dollars. But I kept coming back to paper-based systems. I don't know if anyone else has had these experiences but here's some reasons that I went back paper-based systems:

1) After staring into a computer screen all day, the last thing I wanted was to squint into a handheld device.

2) Input was too slow and restricted. Paper is maleable. You can draw, doodle, sketch, etc. You can record ideas quickly. You can journal.
3) I found that opening a quality leather planner gives time to pause to reflect and take out a fine pen to input thoughts and actions of the day.

4) Scraps of notes, papers, etc can be stored in the binder...you can load it with your daily ballast of tasks and then record them into action lists.

5) The battery never dies on you.

 

[niall]

paper or not...

Topic close to my heart having tried everything from old Ataria portfolio's, HP100, Psion's, Palms, PocketPC, Smartphone, digital pens and tablets (hopelessly addicted to technology I know!) - I have finally reverted to paper..a moleskin pocket journal to be precise. Whilst most of the processing is done on laptop/email etc I have (personally) found the capture and list tracking to be easier and productive on paper - I end up thinking more about what I do and am more likely to action something I have written rather than perusing an electronic list.

Using mindmaps as the prime note taking method works well for me.

Niall

 

[Unregistered]

Niall,
Does mind-mapping help you in note taking and taking actions?

I found mind mapping interesting...I even bought a mind-mapping book on amazon. The radial method of notes looked intriguing.

But I've never been able to consistenly use it..I just kept reverting back to the old habit of making vertical lists.

 

[Jamie Elis]

weekly view with monthly view

Ask yourself, when, where, and how will you will enter and extract information, and what kind of information (do you schedule or record at 5 minute intervals pr by the hour or segment of the day?). If you are mainly doing it at your desk, use whatever you like, but if you go from meeting to meeting, or place to place, you may find it easier to enter new dates and determine what is free iwth a weekly view or even a monthly view. To me paper is best if you have do to a lot of swapping times around and recording on the fly, so the dame reasons you find paper advantagoeus may be the same reasons that you want a weekly view, that is, being able to open to a whole week is a huge time saver. But, if your day and work requires many details and you follow a very specific schedule, you may need a whole page for a day. In either case a monthy view is great as a supplement so you have the highpoints of the year at hand at all times but are not carrying a ton of paper. As someone who ended up with aches and pains from carrying a big ol' planner I would suggest that you think about using a PDA for reference info like phone numbers, outlines you might make at desk top or lap top, and mainly use the paper for the calendar and taking notes in situations away from cimputer. I am finding that taking out the PDA, finding my glasses etc is such an impediment to working on the fly ) that I am printing out the monthly, weekly, and context lists. The searchability of the PDA is invaluable but entering unless you are at a computer iit s trying.

 

[Unregistered]

Paper-based

Yes, the paper weekly view is great to have but I also benefited by having a month per page layout in the planner. It's useful to quickly flip to the month at a glance. After I loaded my full-sized 8.5"x11" planner and tabbed it with Dave Allen's GTD recommendations, it got kind of bulky. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Believe me, I've tried several PDAs and smaller paper-based planner systems out there. When I got to the point where I could accept the pain of lugging the full-sized three-ring binder around, I really benefited by this system. You can load everything in it, scraps of paper, and just about everything but the kitchen sink. It accepts full letter sized paper inserts. To keep the weight down, I purge it regularly and shove the old stuff in another binder.

You just can't beat the versatilty of paper-based systems--they're 100% maleable.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but my paper planner is like throwing your whole life into one concentrated spot...tasks get done, you stay on track and and all mission planning emanates from it. I really can't imagine how anyone can function without something like this.

 

[niall]

Niall,
Does mind-mapping help you in note taking and taking actions?

I found mind mapping interesting...I even bought a mind-mapping book on amazon. The radial method of notes looked intriguing.

But I've never been able to consistenly use it..I just kept reverting back to the old habit of making vertical lists.

Hi,

Yes I use mindmapping for meeting notes, project planning (supported on pc by mindgenius), general ideas thoughts etc. I tend to use icons to determine next actions - which get put onto the relevant list every day in a daily sweep - undertaken on the daily commute!

Niall

 

[Unregistered]

Used Filofax for years

I used Filofax for 15-20 years and loved it (only bought one leather binder that is still in great shape). Switched for a PDA which allowed me to keep only one calendar, rolodex, and phone book because I linked with my computer.