Experienced User - Kendra

This week I would like to thank Kendra for sharing with us how she uses her organisers.

Hi! I'm Kendra. I'm a CFO and owner of a property management company in Southern California, and I spend a lot of time volunteering for the local and national apartment associations.

The time I have left over is occupied with sewing, knitting, photography, DJing, dancing...and, of course, using my planners to keep it all straight!

You can follow my planning adventures on Instagram  or on YouTube, where I post videos on functional planning.

1. When did you start using an organiser?

I've always loved organizers. Initially I used a Franklin Covey planner and system, then switched to mainly digital planning when we started our company in 2006.

In 2015, I rediscovered paper planners when I bought an Erin Condren spiral-bound planner and haven't looked back since. I now merge digital and analog so that it works for me, but my planning is mainly done on paper as I feel as if I think better when I'm putting my thoughts down with pen and paper.

2. How has your use of an organiser changed over the years?

I just used the calendar portion of the organizer for many years. Reading Getting Things Done by David Allen fairly soon after graduating from college opened my eyes to tracking tasks and a more finessed version of project planning.

In the last couple of years, I've become more interested in planning and goal setting based on my core values and my job description (mainly for work).

3. Which diary format works best for you and why?

In my personal/home planner I used a daily page format that I created myself with a month spread as reference for major events.

For work, I recently switched to a bullet journal system. Previously, I found myself either wasting a page when I had mostly meetings or was traveling for work...or running out of room when I had a busy day and a lot of things to do.

The bullet journal solved that problem for me; I just pick up wherever I left off when I start the next day's schedule and task list.

I do keep work and personal separate as I prefer not to think about work when I'm at home, so I just leave the bullet journal at the office. (This was a hard-won battle as a business owner, but I'm much less stressed when I follow my rule.)

4. What other information do you keep and maintain in your organiser.

My personal/home planner sections are:

• goals (vision board, master goals list, individual goals broken down)
• calendar (monthly and daily pages)
• to dos (tasks broken down by personal tasks and house tasks)
• youtube (list of video ideas, video planning pages)
• lists (current workout schedule, books to read, series/movies to watch, budget template, phone list for the office staff, pets insert). I also have a travel section for an upcoming trip, but that will be removed when the trip is over.

I also use a Momentum Planner for goal setting and project planning, which as it is letter sized, resides in its own disc-bound system.

5. Do you use a 'system' of organisation, and how does it work in your Filofax?

For my personal planner, I use a combination of Getting Things Done for tasks, and Flylady for home routines. For my work planner, I use the bullet journal method.

For both, I use a modified Strikethru method for tracking tasks because I like the reference system (page number-dot-item number).

In the ring binder, they are loose-leaf pages that are numbered. In the bullet journal, I started the task list pages from the back of the notebook.

6. What routines and structures do you use?

I have daily and weekly routine tasks that form the structure or "hardscape" of my days. My house is broken down into zones for cleaning tasks or decluttering, the latter of which is one of my goals for the year.

I also have lists for periodic reviews of what I have going on as well as my planner and its contents so that everything stays up to date.

7. Do you use one binder or several, and if several, how do you use them?

While I have many different binders and traveler's notebook covers that I have collected over the years, I have one main binder for my personal planning that I adore and use constantly, a custom Van Der Spek in Tortora croco and barbie nappa.

For work, I use an emerald Leuchtturm1917 notebook.

My favorite TN covers are from Chic Sparrow, especially the Outlander Time Traveler, which is a lovely deep blue.

When I get the urge to use a traveler's notebook, this is the one I reach for. In fact, I love it so much, I bought it in both pocket and personal sizes.

Thank you Kendra,

If you would like to take part in this series please email steve@philofaxy.com and mark your email 'Experienced Filofax User'