I'm sure most of us choose the size of organiser based on the diary format we settle for and the rest of the set up is adapted to suit that size of organiser.
This can of course lead to many compromises. If you are trying to lead your life in just one organiser, and that organiser is also your wallet, this might restrict you even further.
Some people choose a day per page or a day on two pages insert because of the number of appointments or tasks they have each day.
However does selecting a day format or a week format have other advantages or disadvantages?
Josh mentioned in one of his recent videos that he found the clutter of a weekly view too distracting. However when I tried a daily layout a couple of years ago, I missed seeing what was happening in the rest of the week, and having to copy so many things each day if I didn't finish things.
So which do you prefer and why, Weekly or Daily? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
I am currently using both weekly and day-in-two pages. I like that I can have an overview of the week at one glance. I also like having the day-in-two pages (FC) because it allows me to put in the details of my tasks and appointments for the day. The note page for the FC inserts is also great for note-taking during meetings.
ReplyDeleteThe only bothersome thing about this set up is that it is bulky - forcing me to just put put in 2 months' worth of both weekly and daily pages.
Next year, I am thinking of using only one set, and I am leaning towards the weekly inserts. The weekly inserts are for tasks, appointments and event notes. I am getting a Hobonichi for my daily journal and I realize that I can take notes via laptop during meetings anyway (and send these notes to my gmail drive and/or dropbox, in case of a computer crash or theft).
I found the combination of fold-out year overview and w2pp too limiting for my planning and infologging needs. My FF journey so far.. ff personal -> ff pocket -> ff personal --> ff compact And finally back to personal with year-foldout + m2pp (one year) + wpp (6months) + dpp (3months). This is the best combi so far and works fine for me. To flip from the overview to the week or day i use a ruler for each section which allows me direct navigation and quick access.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see for me it did not work out in an either or way but a more appropriate combination of 4 layouts. But i totally aggree with Josh's finding of distraction caused by too many infos crammed into the tiny space of a week on two pages within a personal ff.
DeleteI need at least daily (and sometimes my usual day per page stretches out into day on two pages). I'm naturally really really unorganised and my memory is ridiculously bad so I have to write EVERYTHING down, my handwriting is erratic and messy, and I wear lots of different hats, all of which need space on my to do lists. I also recently upsized to FC Classic, and my daily pages are still a massive mess by the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteI'd be too embarrassed to share pics of my dairy pages like some people do ;)
So, yeah, week on two pages did not work for me at all. My boxes were overflowing, I couldn't see the important stuff because it was so crammed and untidy, and it was a nightmare. I couldn't wait for the week to end! Then come Monday, I'd turn the page, and due to forward planning it was just as bad already :(
Forward planning for me now goes on a month on two pages in my Classic, which gets sync'd to a week on two pages in my mini filofax wallet so I have the basics when I leave the house. I don't touch my daily pages till the Sunday of the week before so they stay nice and crisp for as long as possible. I've recently taken to having a post it note on tomorrows page, where I can jot things down I have to do tomorrow and copy them out when I'm less rushed and can focus on keeping my handwriting small and neat.
I'm a mess, seriously ;)
As far as seeing the entire week goes, I've taken to putting a week on one page (handwritten, mostly, sometimes printed) in front of the corresponding daily pages, so I can plan the week out beforehand, and refer to it during.
Yes, yes, yes... This sounds just like me. I use two-pages-per-day in personal size and every day the whole thing is totally filled up. It is messy. As referenced above, I find the day view helps me focus on today without the distractions of everything else. I used weekly views with a tasks page interleaved for about six months of 2013, it worked but I definitely found it limiting; and when I switched back to 2PPD I immediately realized how unfocused I was with the weekly views. I would spend far too much time looking at and worrying about stuff that was not on today's agenda.
DeleteAs an aside, I also NEED to assign tasks to days. If I try to maintain a running weekly list of tasks I won't get most of them done. If I assign all of them to specific days during the week I will get a large majority of them done.
My filo combines my work and personal life which are both very busy. I have had a day on one page to accommodate all of the information as I usually have 5 or 6 meetings a day plus my to-do list on the same page (I also like to decorate weekends and holidays and as I work in a school I do get 13 weeks holiday a year). Because I need to make appointments a long way in advance and book holidays regularly I also like to have my whole year in my filo which has meant, up to now, using a personal zip to get 30mm rings. But recently I have had enough of this and wanted so desperately to have an ochre Malden in personal - so I have just changed my pages to two days on a page. This is because I realised that I wanted the Malden more than I wanted a day to a page - I am just having to write smaller! So far so good - in fact my filo looks tidier than ever which is a bonus.
ReplyDeleteWhen I say decorate above - I mean my pages not my house lol!
DeleteI was using A5 w2pp and found it satisfactory for appointments but not for tasks. I went to the week on one page with notes which was much better. Then I found that I was hauling around a brick in my bag and so I tried Personal size.
ReplyDeleteLike the three little pigs I had a house built on a month on 2 pages, a house built on w2pp and a house built on day per page. Well the wolf blew and blew and I ended up with a Month on 2 pages with my day per page.
But they were cramped and tiny houses, so I moved back to my beloved A5. Unsurprisingly the same weight and same layout, and I pined for my tiny little Page per Day house again with its space for every thought and note.
You see, after having a one page per day in my Personal, I found after a month or so that I wasn't actually enjoying the A5 or coping at all with notes and tasks and 'thoughts' in my A5 spaces, which surprised me quite a bit.
So back to the Personal and a Month per view and a Page per day. Now I have a space to scribble notes, events and thoughts anytime of the day, and a very satisfying few pages to review each week or so. I'm sorry to say that the Franklin Covey posts convinced me a little as well, but I can't cope with pages sticking out of my Filofax, not even a little bit. I tried the FC pages in a non-Filo binder but the thrill wasn't there. My perfect size comes in a Thai planner which is B6 size but that's a local product it seems and mine is now truly worn out - and besides it's not a Filofax.
I love the A5 size but I might have been won over by the convenience and size of the Personal I think. So I have a collection of A5s keeping my deskbound life organised but my handbag Filofax is now a Personal. (and being a Malden probably has nothing to do with!)
I tried day on 2 pages, the Filofax TM series, but found I was writing tasks endlessly from one day to the next (It never occurred to me to write them on a post-it note, and just move it, till they were all complete!). I then tried week on a page but not enough space for my daily litany of conference calls, meetings, customer appointments and web presentations. Day per page is the only size that has so far suited my needs with my current role. If and when I change roles, I'd definitely consider WO2P again, as DPP takes up so much space. I usually carry 6 weeks, as I always need to know that far ahead, but even 6 weeks takes up a lot of space on the rings.
ReplyDeleteI struggled between weekly and daily for years and YEARS. Like vamp, the daily spaces on my weekly pages overflowed to the point where I couldn't even see what I was supposed to be doing. And I couldn't plan ahead using only daily pages.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago I tried to use both weekly and daily pages, but that quickly failed because I was trying to plan on both. If I didn't synchronize both formats constantly, things fell through the cracks and/ or were double-booked.
Then a few years ago I finally found my solution and have been using it ever since. I use a week + notes format (either vertical or horizontal) for planning and my weekly task lists. Then I use daily pages to map out and record each day. NO planning ahead goes on my daily pages. And I write only what MUST be done that day on the daily page, and when all my must-do tasks are done I look at my week's task list to see what else I can fit in that day.
I did a big post recently on how I use my daily + weekly system, it is here if anyone is interested: http://www.plannerisms.com/2014/03/how-i-use-my-planner-bullet-journal.html I use a bound book for my dailies, but I have seen people successfully use a Filofax for both their weekly planning and daily recording.
Yes! I think it was one of your posts that led me to my current system, though I found I didn't need an entire week on two pages for forward planning (except in my mini, cos that thing's SMALL!) because most of the things I have to do mount up during that day alone. I do put definite gotta-do-it-that-day tasks and events on my daily pages ahead of time - but only a week ahead. I also only keep a week of daily pages in my main binder at a time (oh, for bigger rings!). It's easy enough to grab my archive binder if I need to look back at something.
DeleteI use the personal weekly, always have! In all honesty I'm just not busy enough to fill a daily haha, but also I like being able to see what's coming at the weekend and at a glance be able to see what I need to do over the rest of the week, rather than having to always be flipping pages. I think if I had a smaller planner though I would use a daily so I could fit a little more into the space, but I've always loved my weekly set up so I doubt I'd ever change it. x
ReplyDeleteI think the best set up is MO2P, WO2P, and DO2P. The month for appts, but since I have very few of those anymore I need to see the week with all of my tasks and then sort them onto days or I get a pile up. I tried to work off the weekly view but it was to distracting and I found myself bouncing all over the week and becoming so overwhelmed I would quit all together. By using the DO2P I can see only today, I have a place to journal and make notes. Last fall I used my FC classic MO2P/DO2P with a mocked up planner pad week--heavenly!! I may go back to that for next year.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be able to use a week view effectively but I think you are right - it can be overwhelming and I like to work steadily and methodically so if there is something I need to do to prepare for something later in the week I will put it on my to do list a few days before and I do this when it initially goes in my diary daily pages. I feel much more organised that way and less likely to get stressed. I also really can't be bothered to fill things in more than once so everything is on daily pages (although I do like to use the front sheet of the diary that shows the whole year on one page to highlight school holidays and the main committee meetings I have to report to). It is really interesting how we all have slightly different needs - but that ability to customise is why we all use a Filofax in the first place!
DeleteHaving the weekly/daily seperate eliminated the constant page turning that I hate so much.
ReplyDeleteI have never managed to get MO2P to work for me and have long since abandoned it! I don't tend to have a lot of small things to do, but fewer, bigger things. What works best for me is personal WO2P (lined - Paperchase). I draw a vertical line down the middle of the page and put tasks on one side and appointments on the other. Floating 'to-do' (day-independent) go on a Post-It note if necessary.
ReplyDeleteIf life gets much busier, I use the same set-up but also have a week of DPP in. At the start of the week, I transfer any appointments to the DPP sheets. Any new appointments for that week go straight into the DPP pages, anything further ahead go into the WO2P sheets; tasks get allocated each morning onto the DPP sheets. Since I need these so rarely, these are no more glorious than a sheet of paper with the date written on the top! The most I have in is a week of DPP, but I do carry a whole year of WO2P.
I agree about the Mo2P Amanda - I have tried a couple of times thinking it would be nice to have an overview, but find that (even in A5) I have to write so tiny it becomes pointless. Plus it's all on my 'normal' diary pages too, so seems just pointless replication.
DeleteI have struggled for ages with this. I used a pocket day-per-page for about 3 years, very happily. Then I had 3 children in 4.5 years and suddenly my schedule got a LOT busier! I used a week to view in personal and a page per day in personal but always struggled with either not seeing the whole week with dailies, or not having enough space in the boxes on a weekly view. I decided to try A5 week to view and found my perfect layout - A5 vertical week on 2 pages - which came with the bargain Chameleon I got in TK Maxx. BUT - I just couldn't carry it around, which defeated the point. I then tried an A5 ARC from staples ( a disc-bound planner - pros and cons) which reduced the weight a bit, but was still a bit bulky (I had a leather cover) and certainly felt less secure than a Filofax. So I went back to personal week to view plus a weeks worth of dailies, but stuff was falling through the cracks. I just couldn't keep them synchronised.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I called my local WH Smiths and they had the new A5 Filofax Clipbooks in stock so I picked up a blue one, and have set it up with my favourite A5 diary pages (plus a good few of my ARC accessories repunched to fit). So far it certainly seems to be solving the problem of A5 being too heavy and bulky - it fits very neatly in my (small) handbag and weighs barely more than the papers inside it. And I am SOOO enjoying having the space of my beloved A5 week to view vertical pages! It is certainly the best layout for me - and I may just have found a way of making it portable! After 3 days I have not (yet) found a downside for the Clipbook. I don't think everyone will like it (no closure, no pockets) but it is ticking all my boxes so far.
I use Franklin Covey 2pp. per day, Classic/A5 size. This is working so well for me I can hardly believe it. I have a personal size binder for my work stuff which is adequate for that but would be too small for my real life.
ReplyDeleteWow, A5 2ppd is a huge amount of space - do you journal on there as well? How do you manage advance planning - presumably you can't fit too many months worth in your binder?
Delete1.5" rings can hold 12 MO2P, 3 months of DO2P plus the rest of your life behind it. "My life all in one place."
DeleteLet's see, my binder has 1 1/2 inch rings, and I usually carry one or two months worth of DO2P in it--the rest is a variety of other forms. I don't journal, though I keep intending to. Advance planning beyond 60 days, I keep those upcoming pp. in a storage binder until I need them. DO2P in Classic size is probably a little more space than I need, but I know full well that if I were to downsize to personal size I'd feel cramped.
ReplyDeleteI use the Filofax Cotton Cream WO2P diary with equal space for every day, and the Filofax MO2P for a more general monthly overview. This suits me perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI've used 2 pages per day for over 20 years. I never even considered using weekly because I have way too much to write down. Sometimes, though, if I have a particularly busy week, I will print out a weekly schedule and use it to plan the week. It helps me see when I need to do things and when I CAN do things. Once I make it all fit (like a puzzle), then I transfer it to my daily pages. I rarely look at the sheet again.
ReplyDeleteI find wo2p to fit me perfectly as I have a kid (+ another one shortly arriving) to keep track of + I like to keep my husbands appoinments in my filo as well. wo2p is more than enough for me as I color code and the kids aren't old enough to have hundreds of activities they participate in yet. If I need extra space to write something down I'll pop in a post-it or blank note paper in between to keep all the details. When the kids get older I might have to rethink the idea, but so far I'm good with the space and clear view of the week I get in wo2p.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing wonderfully with a combination of Mo2P and Wo2P in Personal size. Ideally, I'd be using Filofax Cotton Cream inserts, but this year, I have Collins Debden ones instead. I'm thinking of going back to the FF refills for next year, though, or, potentially, Paws.Plan.Create pages. I like how the Collins inserts are cheap and easy to find, but I prefer a simpler layout, without three monthly calendars cluttering up my weekly pages.
ReplyDeleteEver since I started using my filofax again I've been more than happy with wo2p, but now that I have a toddler, a baby who'll be here within a few weeks and a husband to keep track of on top of my own appoinments and tasks I feel the wo2p personal size is getting very cramped. I don't want to carry around an A5, it's simply to big and heavy (and won't fit in the diaper bag) so I've been trying out day per page and honestly I'm not sure which I prefer. There are pros and cons of either layout and I don't think there will ever be a perfect set up for me, but a works well for now version.
ReplyDelete