The on-going discussion about the pros and cons of using analogue or digital will continue for ever... well as long the lights don't go out and your digital device doesn't run out of electrons to power it!
I like to think I'm not in either camp, I use both, using the strengths of either system to overcome the weaknesses of the other. The 'best of both worlds' as it were.
I try not to duplicate a complete planning system in both although as you will see if you are using both it's hard to avoid that.
If you are a 'purist' you might be only using digital apps for all your planning and task reminders, but you are very unlikely to be reading this blog post?
Or may be you only use paper planners for all of your planning and task reminders and note taking... and we love you for accepting that method as the only way of doing things. Why not!
Going exclusive or only partial digital isn't as straight forward as you might think, there are host of different apps for different aspects of your digital planning needs, calendars, note taking apps, task reminders, project planning, etc. etc. and the outputs of these can be private to just you or shareable in some way or form with your partner assuming they are using a similar app.
The sharing with others seems to me to be the main reason for retaining a digital calendar. It's often a requirement of some work places that you share your calendar with your team/line manager as it makes booking meetings easier.
Alison and I have access to each others main calendars without getting out of our office chairs or speaking to each other! It helps avoiding clashes of dates when booking things etc. We both have additional calendars as I'm sure Alison doesn't need to know about the schedule for Free for All Friday posts on Philofaxy, and I don't need to know about her book blogging schedule!
As I'm sure I've mentioned before I do use Apple Reminders for routine tasks that are repeating in nature in either regular or irregular intervals. The advantage of this is that when you tick off a task as being completed, the system will automatically reset itself for the next time and you don't have to work out the date in 9 weeks time or what ever it is.
However, I do bring together in my organiser these routine tasks and my many 'one off's' that don't get put on my digital app. That way I have all of my tasks for the next week or two in 'one place' on my paper organiser diary insert. Noted down on their appropriate days.
At least once a week I look at the schedule list of my reminders and I transfer them across to my paper insert.
I also cross-check my appointments at the same time so that those are in-sync between the digital and paper world.
I only have one paper diary to keep up to date. It is too easy for multiple planners to get out of sync if you using more than one (as I used to do!)
There are plenty of You Tube videos discussing 'Analog vs Digital' take a look.
Which camp are you in?
At the moment i am trying some digital planning and journaling. I use a philofaxy insert saved as a pdf and opened in GoodNotes. Here I note todos and ideas and sometimes I add some fotos or interesting notes. That is very nice and easy. I can do this with the iPad and also with my phone and it syncs. But i am missing my paper planner, missing the feeling of paper.
ReplyDeleteBest of both systems at the moment!
ReplyDeleteFamily calendar on the wall, personal calendar in my Filofax Flex with my bullet journal, Tody app on my phone for recurring household tasks, and Notion for storing all the digital odds and ends I might wish to refer back to or investigate later.
Switched back to some paper planning on weekly intervsls for the first time in years.i plan out the week and set up pages on the planner for only the upcoming week. It makes my load feel a lot lighter to be able to just focus on one week at a time. I have been so lost and had no idea why until last month when I began tbis. I still have a very well designed project tracking database for client services (I'm an accountant/ consultant). And it's more of my catch-all / project planning / back up system. I refer to it as I do my weekly review to set up my paper planner. My paper systen is the travelers notebook style and that is wonderful because I get bored with huge notebooks with lots of paper and like the idea of switching the TN inseets out while still maintaining the same system. I'm in happy land. I'd been a paper planner for years. All 5jr back to high school with Cambridge planners and then Franklin Planners (before they were Franklin Covey)in college. I never realized that I could find efficiency rather than duplicity in merging the two styles. I thought it would be overkill. Not at all.
ReplyDeleteI try to keep it analogue. If I pick up my phone to check my schedule, I’ll probably feel inspired to look at Wikipedia or something. Then I forget what I was looking for in the first place. My schedule, tasks and notes are all on paper for that reason. (I spend a lot of time reading about planners online, but at least I pick up my device intentionally in that case.) I do use a food diary app. That works well because of the calorie information and barcode function.
ReplyDeleteThe downside of paper is that my husband can’t see my schedule. We have to talk to each other and that only works sometimes. Before lockdown I kept a summary of my week on a sheet of paper at home, and perhaps it’s time to reinstate that tradition.
I've tried to use my phone and various apps, but unfortunately, a digital to-do list turns into a black hole for me and I don't remember anything I wrote.
ReplyDeleteTasks get simply lost... don't know why.
I use three paper planners, that's how I roll, or maybe I should say, 'I stay afloat'.