PLANNER? What planner do you all use (for both business and personal)

[iansmommaya]

If I start searching now I might find one by January. Link me?

 

I'm actually thinking of creating my own because none of the ones I've found are even close to right.

[Jcandleattic]

I don't use a planner. They never work for me. I use my own hand written notes in my blank notebook and my spreadsheets. Love me my spreadsheets. 

[TallTayl]

I have tried them all from dayrunner, to Erin condren, to happy planner, to el-cheapo dollar store and always end up back with a bullet journal. 

 

My next iteration will be a Travelers journal that can hold whatever replaceable inserts I want, like a 12 month calendar, the bullet journal and whatever else, like a pocket for receipts. 

 

Fixed spelling.

 

ETA, this little guy will become the travelers notebook. Like $7 on Amazon.

 

It has 5 sections of nice feeling hand made paper. 

 

 

the spine has threaded string trying to hold the paper. I’ll pull that, replace with band to hold the paper inserts so I can replace whichever I need at any time. 

[franu61]

  I am a great one for making lists.  I like to write out what I am doing each day of the week .  On the bottom of the list I write things that need to get done but don't have a specific due date. Sure feels good to cross things off the list   For further in advance,  I pencil  notes on a pocket calendar.  Also a dry erase calendar on the fridge, which is more to let the family know what's going on.  I guess I am just so techno-challenged, it feels like it would take me way longer to put the info into the planner program?? than good ole pencil and paper.

[Quentin]

21 hours ago, iansmommaya said:

I'm actually thinking of creating my own because none of the ones I've found are even close to right.

That's what I would do. Actually that IS what I do. 

[Quentin]

21 hours ago, TallTayl said:

this little guy will become the travelers notebook.

Very nice. At first I thought it was a piece chocolate. I was ready to eat it.

[Quentin]

21 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

I don't use a planner. They never work for me. I use my own hand written notes in my blank notebook and my spreadsheets. Love me my spreadsheets. 

So many times in the past I've tried a "To Do" list. For me, they just keep getting longer and longer.

[TallTayl]

The problem with any planning system is prioritization. Most long to-do lists are daunting, especially if nothing is considered #1. On the other hand (OTOH), I’ve seen to-do lists a mile long on which everything was #1. Bottom line, if everything is a #1, then nothing is a #1 so effectively nothing gets done and we feel bad about ourselves for not doing everything. 

 

If somethig sits on the to-do list for too long it really needs to be moved off of that particular list. To-do, for my lifestyle, is a list of “musts”. I “must” do this and that now. I must pick up my daughter from school. I must deliver an order today... Get those things done, cross items off and move on with life feeling good about actual accomplishments. Free our minds from worrying about things we really never planned to do. 

 

If something is not a “must”, it becomes a “should” or “could”. I should work on a new logo idea. I should reorganize the pantry.  As Tony Robbins says, a long list of “shoulds” leaves us “shouldding” all over ourselves. Put those somewhere on a wish list and keep the to-do’s manageable. 

[Jcandleattic]

16 hours ago, Quentin said:

So many times in the past I've tried a "To Do" list. For me, they just keep getting longer and longer.

To do lists are the ONLY things that work for me, no matter how long they get. 

 

I agree with TT as in once a task is done, take it off and forget it. 

The rest of what she said would probably work for the average person, however, if I ONLY put things I my list that I MUST do, this would be my list: 

Eat 

Drink

Go to work

Pay bills

Pay taxes

Eventually die 

(sorry had to put some tongue in cheek in there)  

 

Everything else is just a should or a want for me.

Now people who have/run their own business - the "go to work/do work" is part of the must. That is not the case for me, which is why a must do list for me would not work in this particular situation. 

[TallTayl]

Not sure I 100% agree, for instance, when you have your own business you have orders to get out. If an order is due today, it is on the to do list with all the things that need to be completed to finish and ship the order. 

 

If taxes are due, that is a to-do must, etc. pay utilities...

[Jcandleattic]

4 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Not sure I 100% agree, for instance, when you have your own business you have orders to get out. If an order is due today, it is on the to do list with all the things that need to be completed to finish and ship the order. 

 

That's why I put this addendum as a caveat to what I said - 

 

5 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

Now people who have/run their own business - the "go to work/do work" is part of the must.

 

I don't run my business on a day-to-day business, nor as my sole income, so as I said, my circumstances are different than someone who either runs their own business on a day-to-day basis or at least are much busier with their businesses than I am. 

[Quentin]

On 10/2/2018 at 10:50 AM, Jcandleattic said:

To do lists are the ONLY things that work for me, no matter how long they get. 

 

I agree with TT as in once a task is done, take it off and forget it. 

That's my problem. I don't complete the tasks on a To Do list, so I never have anything to take off.

[Darbla]

This is what I'm working on and was part of the impetus for my post about binders / office supplies.  I have never found a ready-made planner that was exactly what I wanted, so I'm free-wheeling it.  I print out calendar pages off the 'net if I feel I need them, and punch holes in them and other papers to save in the binder.  I keep a spiral bound notebook in the rings of a binder and that's my scratch paper.  If you get ones that are 3"-5" thick then you have room for the accessories such as pen pouches and other pockets.

 

At the organization where I work, I keep a Winword document that I type notes in every single day of what I have going on, emails from people that I copy/paste in there, whatever.   I start a new one each year, and it is MASSIVE by the end of the year.  And also very handily searchable; if Jane Doe emails me and says "remember that file you made for me a few months back" blah blah, I use her name as search words in my document and usually find what I need really quickly.

 

But if I had my own business I'd be doing the binder thing I mentioned above, which is very flexible and easily personalized.  I already use it for finances in general and another for recipes in the kitchen, and I could see an expanded version of that working to keep my day-to-day business ideas and plans organized.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Darbla

[TallTayl]

still disagree... As functioning adults we have things that must be done periodically and routinely....

Pay rent/mortgage, pay utility bills, pay credit cards, etc.

Check bank accounts to make sure there's enough money to cover the bills when due.

If you have a car it needs to be insured, registered, maintained, etc.

If you use public transportation, buy passes.

If you have relatives, note birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals, etc. purchase cards or gifts, or make phone calls as traditional in your family.

If you have children, there's always something that needs to be purchased, turned in, carted around, met with.

If you're involved with any social groups there are meeting dates, action items, etc.

the list of "musts" is pretty long, we just take things or granted, then wonder why we are out of time.

 

if you journal things that are finished versus what needs to be done you'll see an awful lot of your time is eaten up by various things. If you're one who has little free time to relax, figuring out where the time goes is just as important as planning for future time. Time is the only finite resource we have.

[Quentin]

2 hours ago, Darbla said:

At the organization where I work, I keep a Winword document that I type notes in every single day of what I have going on, emails from people that I copy/paste in there, whatever.  

That's wise. That way you've always got a paper trail. If the boss comes up and asks you why this or that hasn't gotten. Pop! You just show him your notes. It's also  known in some circles as C.Y.A., but I never use words like that. 

[Quentin]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

As functioning adults we have things that must be done periodically and routinely....

Pay rent/mortgage, pay utility bills, pay credit cards, etc.

Check bank accounts to make sure there's enough money to cover the bills when due.

If you have a car it needs to be insured, registered, maintained, etc.

As a partially functioning adult (many friends and family even doubt that) that's why I have direct deposit and automatic debits on everything.  But you're right. Even I check in on things from time to time. 

[Quentin]

This is the perfect time for me to drop this question in here. Do any of you operate you're manufacturing process using some sort of Production Schedule like a big factory would do? I've just started to do that. Before, I would just wake up in the morning and say to myself, "Hmm, I think I'll make pillars today. No, on second thought, I'll make containers." By the time I made it out to the shop, I would see something else to do. As a result, very little was getting done. On my first attempts at having a production schedule, I was overloading myself and was over enthusiastic about my real capacity. I must say though, that even if I don't fully make my self imposed deadlines, I do seem to be putting out a little more useful work.

 

  

[iansmommaya]

23 minutes ago, Quentin said:

This is the perfect time for me to drop this question in here. Do any of you operate you're manufacturing process using some sort of Production Schedule like a big factory would do? I've just started to do that. Before, I would just wake up in the morning and say to myself, "Hmm, I think I'll make pillars today. No, on second thought, I'll make containers." By the time I made it out to the shop, I would see something else to do. As a result, very little was getting done. On my first attempts at having a production schedule, I was overloading myself and was over enthusiastic about my real capacity. I must say though, that even if I don't fully make my self imposed deadlines, I do seem to be putting out a little more useful work.

 

  

 

Sort of? When I'm running low on patchouli soap I make more. When someone says, "Hey make me a special order of that nerve pain salve>" I make a whole batch (10 ounces?) so I have some made up. So I guess so.

[Echap77]

I like the disc bound planning systems. I made a disc bound notebook for my candle 

Info as well. I'm so scatterbrained i like that i can move pages around to an order that makes sense. Plus I am able to customize pages as needed or just punch regular pages (like candle test sheets 😁 and FO charts 🤗), punch and insert.

 

[Darbla]

One thing I didn't note in my post above:  when keeping up with paper like this in a planner, after a period of time I'll scan them as e-documents and save them on my computer.  But for some reason it's just easier to keep everything in the forefront of my mind that I need to when it's on paper and I can flip through my binder book.  But 2 years is probably enough of keeping that on hardcopy and then it's time to store it away.

[TallTayl]

18 hours ago, Echap77 said:

I like the disc bound planning systems. I made a disc bound notebook for my candle 

Info as well. I'm so scatterbrained i like that i can move pages around to an order that makes sense. Plus I am able to customize pages as needed or just punch regular pages (like candle test sheets 😁 and FO charts 🤗), punch and insert.

 

I was so in love with that at first.  Bought all the things to make disc bound everything. It did not take long to fall out of love with it though, as the discs are not practical for carrying those around, like in a book bag or purse. Changing sizes of discs (since I never choose the right size to begin with) ruined pages. Pages wore out and fell out with any sort of use 😢. I wanted it to work so badly. 

 

I do prefer paper for finding things quickly.

[gls]

I use Onenote and sync it with phone, iPad and desk top.  It is setup like a binder and is very easy to use. I used it when I worked full time to manage multiple engineering projects.  Some of my coworkers thought it was too simplistic for use on multimillion dollar projects but it worked great.   I like to record voice notes while I’m driving. The recording can be put in the notes anywhere you want.  It also allows for tags on notes that can be ranked with importance, checked off and also searched.  It can be synced with outlook and pages can be printed.  It works really well for candle testing notes and web research.

 

I have my entire life in my onenote and can access anytime...without it I might as well just stay in bed!💤

 

[Echap77]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

I was so in love with that at first.  Bought all the things to make disc bound everything. It did not take long to fall out of love with it though, as the discs are not practical for carrying those around, like in a book bag or purse. Changing sizes of discs (since I never choose the right size to begin with) ruined pages. Pages wore out and fell out with any sort of use 😢. I wanted it to work so badly. 

 

I do prefer paper for finding things quickly.

Awe that stinks. I have a mini one in cover for my purse that works well so far.

[Echap77]

Oh and another thing... I like using heavier weight paper bc the gel pens I so love don't bleed through so that helps. Not always but a lot. Plus, since I'm a fool for Washi tape (or maybe just a fool lol) I like to decorate my pages with it. So I like to take a strip along the edges  and or along the side that I'm going to punch and that also has served to reinforce the tabs. Takes a second and makes me happy 😋 I guess these are 2 reasons I haven't had trouble with the pages so far. 

[iansmommaya]

So far the best that I've come up with is Wunderlist (goes on my computer and phone) and printing and binding at my local print place. I really try not to use plastic so I'm having stuff bound instead.