Planner suggestions

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pbs

Guest
Does anyone have suggestions on a refill for paper planners? I've been using Franklin Covey 2-pages-per-day, but not very effectively--it seems like such a waste of paper sometime. Any favorite brands and formats?
 
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Tornado

Guest
pbs,

I've used a huge number of things, and I doubt you will find a paper planner that is much better than Franklin Covey in terms of wasting paper. If I were still using paper-based planning, I'd just implement the DA system with a weekly calender, address book and plain white paper.

My honest suggestion though is to realize that there are a number of easy paper-saving ways to implement GTD if you have access to a computer and can buy an inexpensive Palm (expensive ones make nice toys, but I don't use all the extra features much) to synchronize with it. In addition to saving paper, the Palm is easier to carry, and you can set an alarm when you need a reminder.

In my case, my high-level thinking still happens on plain white paper that ends up in project support folders, and I still print out a lot of check lists. Those things satify my brain's need for more tactile planning, while the computer & PDA contain most of the rest of the system in a compact, easily edited manner.

David
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Planner suggestion

I bought a 3 ring leather binder made by Cambridge. It has a snap closure. It came with "At-A-Glance" brand paper filler. Its monthly calendars, daily pages and note pages. Of course the A-Z contacts as well. It has proved to be very useful. I tried covey and daytimer as well with no luck. I have just discovered that I can use the A-Z tabs to file projects by alph-order instead of contacts that i rarely use.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Plain white A5 paper is my choice. Together with a hole punch, old Time Design folder from eBay and check lists these give maximum versatility and the lowest cost solution.
 

jrdouce

Registered
Palm caution

I've been using a Palm for years. It's great for keeping a work and home PC in sync. Be aware that you need a Palm with the 5.2 OS if you have contacts with multiple addresses (work & home). Most of the low end Palms do not support that OS.

The older Chapura Outlook conduit software, that ships with Palms, used to automatically sync additional addresses in a user defined field, the current version does not. I had to spend an additional $50 for KeySuites.

Palm is great, but expensive! I have no experience with Pocket PC.
 

TesTeq

Registered
Palm multiple address contacts

In older versions of PalmOS you could use user-definable fields for storing home address and other contact info (for example anniversaries).
In my opinion the major problem with built-in applications is "no more than 16 categories per application" limit and inability to sort tasks alphabetically.
They haven't fix it even in PalmOS 5.2 applications.
TesTeq
 
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andmor

Guest
Re: Palm multiple address contacts

TesTeq said:
In my opinion the major problem with built-in applications is "no more than 16 categories per application" limit

I read somewhere that psychologists generally agree that 7 major categories are about the most that the average person can cope with before his focus becomes too disaggregated and (his system becomes) counterproductive. This presumably applies to Roles, Goals, Contexts, etc. The logical next step is that if you really believe that you need more than 7 Categories, perhaps a Contact Manager or a search-based discrete data system, such as MemoLeaf or Bonsai with Keywords, would be a more appropriate system. The last thing I want is to have to spend time deciding which of many possible Contexts a certain Next Action belongs to.

Jason Womack has written some interesting comments on this subject. Apparently "Home" for him includes professional work that is physically done in his home. I don't think it matters where you decide for yourself to put the hard edges between Contexts as long as you know where the hard edges are and use them consistently until the allocation of Next Actions to Contexts become (habitually) automatic. I guess that's why they call it a system.

Andrew
 

jrdouce

Registered
Re: Palm multiple address contacts

In the older Palm app, the Chapura conduit software would sync the user defined fields in both directions - and would automatically map additional addresses to UDF's. When I bought my Tungsten, I had to manually map the second address to the UDF and it would only sync from Outlook to Palm. Apparently, Chapura saw opportunity for profit in charging to overcome Palms single address limitation.

I've never had an issue with 16 categories. The most I have for any application is 12. However, it would be nice to assign multiple categories to a task. There are several communications that could be handled as @Call or Computer (email), or purchases that could be in Errands or Computer (to buy on-line)

But to restate my original reply, Palm is a good way to implement GTD, and it allows you to keep multiple computers in sync, but you need the higher end Palms to get full functionality. Anything without OS 5.2 is a technological cul-de-sac. Older versions, including 5.0 are not upgradable.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Where to get A5 paper??

Anonymous said:
Plain white A5 paper is my choice. Together with a hole punch, old Time Design folder from eBay and check lists these give maximum versatility and the lowest cost solution.
Would like to print out to a 8.5 x 5.5 paper to place in binder. What is the most economical way to do this?
Thanks
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I am a long-time PDA user but still keep a daily journal and some lists using the Time Design Business system. Great leather binder, daily pages, Databank section for my key Areas of Focus, +++.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
A new low-end PDA is definitely worth a try.

I say "a try", because you can get a Palm Zire 21 for about $60 on ebay, and if you get used to it, you don't have to buy any other planners. I you don't use it for NA, you can still have the contacts in there. Or, sell it on ebay and make something back.
 

jrdouce

Registered
Beware low end Palms

Do not buy a Palm with less than OS 5.2. 5.0 can only hold 1 address per contact, and it's not upgradable. Palm really screwed anyone who bought the Tugnsten T. That said, the Zire 21 does currently ship with OS 5.2, and it looks like a good basic handheld.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Paper planners

I have used Filofax and Franklin Planner. I find the paper quality of the Franklin Planner to be far superior. I am puzzled by people who are concerned by the paper useage associated with a planner. I use the planner for all of my notes, journal, ideas, dreams etc. I do not use another notebook or other paper sources. I would bet my annual paper useage is less than a person using a plain paper notebook and the print outs of schedules and tasks that many do out of Outlook and other electronic tools. Paper systems seem to be a bit on the 'outer' at this time, however as a person who has been through countless PDAs and reliance on Outlook I have returned to the paper planner as a 'life book' that captures everything.
 

TesTeq

Registered
Paper is not searchable.

Paper is OK but it has the main drawback - it is not searchable. If you
use the planner for all of my notes, journal, ideas, dreams etc.
it is not easy to find them after several months. In Palm PDA you have a global lookup function that lists all the items containing the specified phrase. So you can enter "dog" and you have a list of all calendar, address, todo, memo, and other items you have ever entered about your dog (possibly about other dogs too). It is a real time-saver for me. It was always big problem for me to be "lost in paper" desperately looking for information that I knew I had put in my calendar some time ago.
TesTeq
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Paper planners

I came to the conclusion the monarch and classic size Franklin cover 2 pages per day was too much paper waste also. I have decided on using the compact size FC. My other suggestion would be to get the one page per day refills or the one/two page per week- but then get accessory pages for the potential overflow of notes for each day- and use prn (as needed). Depending on my experience with the compact size- I may implement one of these other options. That would give much more room in the planner for other items.
I have also found I need at least 1.25 size rings in the planner in order for it to be functional.
If you have't already done so- I suggest either going to your nearest office supply store or - and looking over all the various refill brands. I am not loyal to a brand persay- I use what works best for me. Now of course the hole punches could become an issue- so be aware of the differences.

~ kross
The FC classic size seems to be the most compatable with its competitor's products (ie hole punches and paper size)
If you have MS Outloook- it is also worth exploring as you can set up the pages to print in numerous styles while still keeping your electronic calender/planner in the format of you choice.
 
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