18 April 2016

Long term planning

As part of our discussion on the next podcast we discussed planning in to the future.

How far ahead do you plan in your organiser? And what do you use?

Let us know in the comments.

12 comments:

  1. My work generally has us calendaring things, such as hearings anywhere from a few weeks to about a year out. Other things that arise less than annually, like the need to renew a driver's license, notary commission, get put on Google calendar or noted in the future planning pages at the end of this year's planner.
    That being said, you raise an excellent issue: how to make, and continue to monitor, longer range goals. Am very much enjoying your (and Karina (?)'s) podcast and will listen to this topic with interest!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My work generally has us calendaring things, such as hearings anywhere from a few weeks to about a year out. Other things that arise less than annually, like the need to renew a driver's license, notary commission, get put on Google calendar or noted in the future planning pages at the end of this year's planner.
    That being said, you raise an excellent issue: how to make, and continue to monitor, longer range goals. Am very much enjoying your (and Karina (?)'s) podcast and will listen to this topic with interest!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have two years of monthly calendars in my Filofax. They are not printed back to back, so I can put pages between months. This is where I have a page each month for things that recur that month every year like birthdays, insurance renewals, when the dog is due for vaccines, etc. When the month is over, I move the page forward to that month next year so the information is in front of me when I need it. This way I don't have to rewrite these events every year, because rewriting inevitably leads to things falling through the cracks.

    After the two years of monthlies, I have a piece of paper for every year for the next 20 years. That sounds insane, but it's because we are expats and I need to keep track of visa renewals, passport renewals (our passports all expire in different years), when we are due for which vaccines (since we've had vaccs in different countries, the doc here is not aware of when we are due for boosters), etc.

    I wrote a post with photos and details of my system here: http://www.plannerisms.com/2014/10/back-from-iceland-and-back-to-filofax.html In that post I was using Personal size. I have since moved up to A5, but the system is the same.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The "hard landscape" of my calendar is currently planned right through to December of this year, and when we get to August or September I will start scheduling the first half of next year. A lot of this is due to the way I work, where I mostly work from home but visit the London office for 2 or more days every two weeks. I have hotels already booked right up to the middle of December. I also tend to plan and request my entire year of fixed annual leave within the first week of January each year, leaving maybe a week uncommitted to allow for emergencies. Stuff like yoga classes, dinners out, travel plans etc are generally firmed up around the hard landscape working a fortnight to a month ahead. I find it much easier to relax when I have the rails already in place on which everything can then run smoothly.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I have 4 years of the Philofaxy year planners in my Filo, only this year and some of early next year are really planned in. I have bank holidays in my usual countries marked (in different colours), plus my university term dates penciled in. For each semester I have a post-it of which courses I plan to take in that semester stuck on. Additionally on the back I have notes of likely work contract dates for various companies I work for. Finally I also keep track of important things that will need to be done that year - renewing passports/driving licences, buying annual travel cards, etc. (these are those tab post-its stuck in about the right place on the month).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *By really planned in I meant writing on the actual print out, as you can see from the rest of the comment I have a lot on the rest, but it's all adjustable ;)

      Delete
  6. Like Laurie above I tend to have 24 months of monthlies in my calendar, with note pages for dates beyond. We are also expats and there is no central repository for information on passport renewals, visa extensions, vaccines, etc. but me. I also have to think far in advance for school, school vacations, travel to see relatives both near and far. I'm already mentally in the next school year and what that means in terms of shopping this summer while in the US and setting up activities for summer and fall.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like having a few year's worth of monthlies to do future planning. I won't start worrying about 2017 until October.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Because my Focus and Centering section and A-Z files are permanent fixtures, I keep a yearly foldout (thank you Philofaxy) and 3 months worth of monthlies and weeklies. To handle anything more than a month out, I have a “Future” page that looks more like a running list.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I usually need 1-1,5 years of planning place from the date which I am living. So I usually end up with 24 months on my planner.
    Which is why I would dare to ask politely if The Nice Gents of Philofaxy would find it in their schedule to publish monthlies for 2017 as soon as they are possible.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have a couple of goals or events to plan for that are further ahead than a year, for example hosting an international conference every 2 years - and these steps roll over the full 2 year period (website, decision about theme, who to invite, who will chair panels, writing programme, travel arrangements for keynote speakers, scholarship scheme for students, publication of proceedings), then I have a research sabbatical every 7 years that I have to apply for 1,5 years in advance (so by then, decisions on where to spend it and what the project will be have to be made, which all involve planning even of different scenarios - hence this is optimally done in a ring system, where pages can be eliminated easily without destroying the integrity of a notebook). Other than that I plan a year ahead in terms of monthly goals, events, and project progress - and on Sundays I work at my weekly schedule (i.e.dedicate time to tasks which is not already blocked by events, appointments and regular activities.

    ReplyDelete
  11. As an Advisory Teacher, I need to start entering dates for the next year from April.

    ReplyDelete