Are you a messy planner or a pretty planner? As I was working in my Filofax this morning I chucked at the thought of how perfectly it works to keep me organized, but how someone else might need a decoder ring to make any sense of it, because my planner is very much like my life....messy.
I started planning back in the 1980's. Day planners at that time were thought of as more of a productivity tool or compilation of information, and it never occurred to me to use it as anything else. My first Filofax was essentially a calendar with my schedule and my address book.
Fast forward to today and some of you share beautifully crafted spreads and have handwriting I could only dream of! Seasonal dashboards, pretty velum, pocket deco, sticker kits and the like are all over social media. The term "planning" has evolved to include more creative expression.
"Functional" means different things to different people; some people need more of a pleasing aesthetic in order to feel their planner works for them, others just need some empty space on a page and whatever pen is within reach.
So tell me...is your planner messy or pretty?
Messy! Obviously messy if you knew me at all.
ReplyDeleteI also junk Filofax. By that I mean I probably have a lot in there "just in case" and that space could be better used or just taken out to make it all lighter for transit.
It always amazes me that you see people using their filofaxes in a very busy and potentially productive way, working on several projects and sections in their binders. Then you get me! I have a date crunched diary section because whatever ring size I have I cannot fit in what I think I need to fit in.
So how do you keep your planning and organization compact enough to use say personal or even smaller? Or even A5 at that?!! I have at most 3 months diary / planner section. I have a yearly page for further on and at the end of the 3 months rollign diary section a page where I put in further off events as a kind of future log thing.
I have projects, notes and information (passwords, definitions and standards for work and personal). I have very little else. To me this is all the organisation I can fit in, I would like more but cannot fit it in. Hence my confusion over how others can fit so much more planning and organisation into their often smaller than A54 binder.
Messy and bulky is perhaps what I describe my binder as. No idea how to change that. Perhaps that is how my brain works. Messy in what it remembers and bulky in all the useless info that is held there that might be needed (and indeed sensible to have) but has yet to be used. If you hold that the binder is and extension of your brain then perhaps how the filofax looks is close to how your brain looks. If that makes sense!!
Definitely messy. In fact, in my opinion, mistakes and crossings out make my organiser look like it is being used as originally intended.
ReplyDeleteMessy with a pretty aspiration ha ha. I carry stickers and coloured pens and bought the Bloom inserts from FC this year. Enjoying it though and would never make it without my planner.
ReplyDeleteHello Eve! I hope I'm not being too curious. But the way you write about your Filofax and the photo made me wonder what your setup would be? And how do you use your daily per page inserts? I love daily inserts, but I have a hard time seeing the big picture. So I'm in wo2p right now.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Eve from Massachusetts! I would say my planning system is messy. I first started planning in the very early 90’s and it was mostly like what you refer to in your post. Today my phone is my appt scheduler, and I could not live here without my Google Maps, but EVERYTHING gets listed in my planner. Cross-outs don’t get washi-taped over and spilling info to another date in my pocket week-on-two-pages happens! I love it!
ReplyDeleteWashi tape? I have no crossings out as I use pencil or erasable pen but almost always pencil. Unless I forget and write something when I have a pen in my hand of course!!
ReplyDeleteI started using pencil quite early in my curfrent job as I learnt that just because a meeting is agreed doessn't mean it happens as planned. I often have to rub out something and write it in another date.
I'm "colorfully messy", I guess.
ReplyDeleteWhen I decided to switch back analogue planning on 2016/2017, I did a lot of online research to figure out what system would be best for me at that stage of my life. All the YouTube videos of the decorative planners born confused and scared me. Those often elaborate spreads sometimes housed no more than one appointment or task a day.
How was that "planning" I asked myself?
Because all the accessories - washi tape, paperclips shaped like pineapples, etc. - were new to me, I dabbled a bit. And I admit, it was fun to shop/buy!
My spreads never liked as polished as those I YouTube, though. And I was much more interested in creating a productive day than spending time creating the "perfect" spread.
I had a breakthrough moment that led me to my current "hybrid" style. I was notorious for having 3 or 4 items I wanted to put in my planner in the morning, then running dry. I didn't have the inner calm to just sit with my planner, i guess. I was either running back and forth to it to add really obvious things, or not jotting them down at the risk of forgetting them.
In the meantime I'm "moderately decorative". I have a small collection of (foolproof) decorative items that bring me joy. Sitting over my planner for those few extra minutes each day/week gives my brain enough time to quiet itself. Soon the thoughts, ideas, tasks, intentions, and questions begin to flow.
The final "product" is more robust from a productivity standpoint, as well as being slightly more colorful.
Mine is totally messy. Yesterday I was in a big hurry and wrote a list of a divider page. Badge of honor to remind me to slow down.
ReplyDeleteHonestly the highest utility of my filofax was simply that it keeps everything together. I don't always know where something is inside, but I know it's there. It is messy, but in my mind is also very aethetically appealing.
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