Would you show us your planner? Even just a dummy page to keep your privacy, it would be interesting to see how you do it. Is it electronic or on paper?
-Jan
PAPER. Always paper.
I triiiiiied to like electronic calendars because they are inarguably more sensible in terms of convenience and cost. But I am an abject failure at using them.
It’s like my brain forgets calendars even exist unless they are on paper.
I have a very, very simple planner because as I have mentioned before, my spatial synesthesia makes my brain see days from bottom to top instead of top to bottom (morning is at the bottom in my brain).
(More on spatial synesthesia here.)
So planners with the hours of the day printed are all wrong for me.
aforementioned planning
I like this undated pad of weekly planners from 3-2-1-done. Super affordable, super simple, and it works for me. It’s 50 sheets, so basically one will get you through an entire year.
$17.99 for a year feels seriously affordable to me.
I draw a horizontal line down the middle, and use the top part for scheduling things out. (with the hours going from bottom to top OF COURSE)
I write in the dates up at the top.
And then I use the lower part to put in any necessary tasks for each day.
In the top section, I put in:
- my school schedule (the most essential part) including lecture, lab, clinical, exams, etc.
- my work schedule
- Zoe’s work schedule
I also add in any appointments for me/Zoe.
On days when I work at the hospital, that’s all I write on the page because I do nothing else on those days except eat and sleep. Ha.
Those are all the non-negotiable things on my schedule, so once those are in, then I can see where I have time that is up to me to use.
That’s when I figure out when I will walk and I also plan my gym sessions (which happen at different times every single week due to my school schedule).
The rest of my life is more willy-nilly.
For example, I don’t plan out when I will study, write blog posts or run errands; I just fit those things in between the non-negotiables in my life.
Would my life be more efficient if I planned those things out? I dunno, maybe. But this is working efficiently enough for me right now.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I say. 😉
Monthly Calendars
I usually have six months’ worth of monthly calendar pages printed out, and I always have two months tacked to my bulletin board above my desk.
That way I have a place to write it down when I do something like scheduling an appointment for next month.
You can get printable monthly calendars a million places, but I like the free ones from homeprintables.com.
Scrap Paper To-Do Lists
In addition to the weekly planner, I often do a day or weekend to-do list on a scrap piece of paper. That helps me get random household tasks done and helps me keep track when I have a bunch of school things I need to knock out too.
If you don’t make little check-off squares on your to-do list, what are you even doing with your life??
A satisfying way I get more use out of my planner: when I’m finished with the week’s page, I slice it in half with my paper cutter and use the plain back sides of the paper for my scrap paper to-do lists. 🙂
It’s such nice heavy paper, I like getting a second use out of it.
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An overall thought: I don’t think there’s one right way to plan or one right planner; everyone’s gotta do their own process of trial and error to figure out what works best for them.
As with many things in life (like exercise, for example), the best option for you is one you’ll stick with!
Also: the best option is often not the most complicated one. Something simple will probably work just fine (and will probably be less expensive than something fancy and complicated.)
Selena
Wednesday 30th of October 2024
1982, I remember the year distinctly (besides being the year I got married). Heard the words "paperless society". I laughed then, I am still laughing. Paper will never go away.
Selena
Wednesday 30th of October 2024
Glad you're not going corporate America re: planning. I've been in the same career for 46 years (and still a few to go before Medicare time). I bite my tongue at the latest and greatest "way I should work" BS that emanates from the safe cocoon of the ever changing upper management. Truth be told, I've dealt with all the "methodologies" at least once during my career. To quote Project Runway "one day you're in, one day you're out". I figure out how to make the latest hare brained rules work for me and my team. Flying under the radar is my specialty. So whatever works for you, works for you. And I'm with you - paper. I do live and die by reminders for meetings at work. But IMHO, you can't go wrong with paper. Not dependent on the internet, cell service, software of any kind - aka NO TECH. Generations did just fine thank-you-very-much without digital everything in their lives. The day our microwave that displayed "enjoy your meal" died was a happy day for me lol.
Karen.
Wednesday 30th of October 2024
Time is difficult — I am time challenged (or perhaps time optimistic) and calendar blind. If I can't see it written down, it's not real, even if that just means I'm in the other room from where it IS written down. And in fact if one of my people says to me, "Mom, what are we doing on Friday?" on Tuesday afternoon, my answer is: "I have no idea. I can't see it."
Once typed out, that seems completely ridiculous. But here we are.
I don't operate well with habits or schedules, with the notable exception of Sunday morning, which thankfully happens once a week regardless of everything else swirling around me. Other days of the week I just lose track of. Summer, forget it. No idea what day it is.
Sadly for me, the world still has ... y'know, dates, and times, and things.
Therefore: We have a wall calendar for things like the county fair and VBS week, days off school, medical appointments, ball games and birthdays; we have the school calendar, lunch schedule and things like the acolyte rotation dates on the fridge. The people I live with are expected to make sure I realize these things, lol.
I am wholly committed to to-do lists, though. Sometimes they're also tah-dah lists. The format has a kind of annual churn rate. Right now they're on a (perfect) quarter sheet of blank-back 8½ x 11 and are new nearly daily. I also use whole 8½ x 11 sheets folded in half vertically, preferably things that come from home from school on AstroBright paper with a blank back, for long lists or lists of long-term things.
And on complicated days, like check-in day at the fair or whatever, I will absolutely do a schedule like Kristen's top half (although non-spatial-synesthesia-ly starting with the top as a.m.) so that I don't lose things or people. Because I will.
Sophie in Denmark
Thursday 31st of October 2024
@Karen., please feel free to ignore this, but have you considered being tested for autism or ADHD? Being 'time-blind' is a common trait for both of those. Again, no pressure to reply :)
Meg in SoTX
Wednesday 30th of October 2024
I’ve been using a Google calendar for years; it is a game changer! Most of my commitments are either lessons that I teach on a weekly basis for an indefinite length of time, or rehearsals and performances that are scheduled months in advance. There is no way I could use a paper planner just one week at a time. I also need to reschedule lessons around other commitments often enough that it is very convenient to be able to change them on my phone without ending up with a whole space of scratched out names as I used to in the old days. I absolutely love the “repeat on a weekly basis” feature along with the ability to change an individual appointment without changing all the others.
My husband and I share our Google calendars and it is extremely useful for each of us to be able to see what the other has on any given day, as we both work, and neither of us has a typical 9 to 5 job. My youngest child, in graduate school 1200 miles away, can also see my calendar so she knows not to call me while I am teaching.
Blue Gate Farmgirl
Wednesday 30th of October 2024
We use a combo of digital and paper. We use a magnetic white board at the kitchen desk, a printed out weekly 8x10 and a 16 month calendar on the wall by the landline. When the week is up, a new page goes on the white board and the last week goes in the binder. We've been doing this system for 40 years, it's worked well. The white board also holds the family's wants and wishes for the month. They are so fun to read and plan into the month. Fairs, shows, community events, etc. This is for the whole family (cousins, aunts, uncles). I keep a journal/calendar in my go bag to take to meetings. I use page sized post it notes to write notes in meetings. I also have an old school desk blotter calendar in a leather holder from my Grandpa's desk from the 60's. That is on my desk in the office, where the important tasks are completed.