How to Plan Your Day

It's been a while.

I love my planner and use it every day, but between work, a special needs kid, and just life, I don't blog about it enough.

But I should because...

www.GiftieEtcetera.com

Tiny Tweaks That Change How To Use a Planner

If you follow my planner posts, you know I constantly make changes to the planner (but not to The System) to make my planner work better for me!

Maximizing the Power of the Middle of the Planner

***This post may contain affiliate links. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

When you open your planner, does it serve you? Is the information that is most important right there, in front of your eyes?

Trying a Traditional Day on Two Pages Approach to Planning

***This post may contain affiliate links. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

There is a reason that traditional planner producers, like Franklin Covey, produce certain planner page layouts.

10 Tips to Completely Transform How You Use Your Day Planner

***This post may contain affiliate links. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

On Sundays, I remind you of a classic Giftie post that you might have missed.

I Bought a Planner...Now What Do I Do?

***This post may contain affiliate links. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

A new planner comes with infinite possibilities, but it also comes with infinite questions and decisions to make.

3 Easy Ways to Use Blank Paper in a Planner

***This post may contain affiliate links. These links help you find the items that I use in my planner and financially support this blog. See my "Disclaimer" link for additional details.***

KerrieLynn from SparkleFrogs asked me do a post for her Facebook group about planner inserts and how I use them. 

I'm sure most people are talking about how they use Franklin Covey or DIY Fish inserts, but I instantly thought that I wanted to talk about blank pieces of paper.

Of course, any paper can be cut and used in a planner, but for my 4 1/4 x 6 3/4 Franklin Covey compact binder, I choose some cheap 4 x 6 notepaper.

TIP: 4 x 6 index cards would work well, too!

I use my blank paper in so many ways. That's the wonderful thing about blank paper. It works for any purpose.

*Menus

*Grocery Lists

*To Do Lists (Day or Project Specific)

*Codes or Indexes

*Brainstorming 

*Doodling

*Meeting Notes

*Logs

It just makes sense to use cheap paper for these short-term purposes. By using unlined paper, I leave open so many possibilities for how I might use the paper.

TIP: Hole punch both edges of the paper, so it can fit on the left or right side of your planner as needed.

How do you use blank paper?

Etcetera.

Flashback: Planning - It's in the Details

Today's Sunday flashback isn't to one of my most popular posts, but it is a post that I particularly enjoyed and still use in my real life.

Click Planning - It's in the Details to read this classic Giftie post.

A couple of years later, and these planner tips have been tested and hold up over time. I no longer write FYIs in a highlighter color (as I just mark them FYI and use highlighters to cross out). I still circle most repeating tasks, but use repeating task tabs for some of them instead. Otherwise, though, everything is the same.

That means these planner tricks work!

Which of these do you plan to adopt in your planning or notetaking?

Etcetera.

New Ways to Write in a Planner: A Flashback Post

Loyal Readers will recall this Sunday Flashback Post, but the rest of you should really check it out.

As usual, I went back to look at things that have changed since the original post.

I do most of the writing in my planner just like I did back in 2013! But some things have changed.

Now, I highlight to scratch things out. And when I use a line to take notes, I add the symbol for a task (an O) before the context code.

See? Very little changed! That's why this classic post is worth reading. It works!

Etcetera.

Planning: It's In The Details

Tiny changes in how and what you write in your planner can make a planner work for you.

Beyond The Usual: New Ways To Write In Your Planner

Some of my favorite planner tricks and tips are totally stolen (long ago, so I shamefully have no sources). As a ethical thief, I must share the wealth with my fellow Planner'ds. 

Others are completely my own ideas. 

Some of these planner hacks have been mentioned before on the Giftie Etcetera blog, but are worth repeating.  

I use all of these regularly in my day-to-day planning.

UPDATE: This post was written before I got around to more professional images, so the images are shadowed, amateurish, and sometimes creepy. No matter! The content is worth reviewing. Now, carry on.

The Box:

Perhaps the best filing trick I've ever encountered is to simply put a box in the upper right hand corner of the page with the key word for the Project or Note in the box. It only takes a second and it will make your papers much easier to file away and retrieve. I do the same thing for papers that I am filing at home instead of in my planner, though for important originals, I use a post-it note as the box.

The Index:

Always make an index of what is in your planner. It doesn't need to be in any particular order, but it will help you decide where to file your Projects or Notes and when to start a new Project or Note instead.

The Chart:

Using graph paper, you can quickly and easily draw a little check off goals chart for any month.

This one is intended for National Novel Writing Month, but you can do the same for workouts, calorie counting, or whether you remembered to take your daily medicines. If you want it to become a habit and want to track your progress, the chart is a great tool.

(Ignore the ominous shadows. I think there was a ghost from the 1980s admiring my planner.)

The Checkbook:

I use my planner as a checkbook/credit card log, as I have shown here before when talking about budgeting. But you can do the same with writing goals (shown here: me trying to write 50,000 words of a novel in November, subtracting as I approach my goal), calories for the day or week, spending, or any other number that you want to track.

The Highlight:

I don't actually use a highlighter to highlight. Instead, I use a red or pink Frixion pen. But if something needs to be separate or merits special attention, highlight it and it will pop out at you. In this picture, it's my 2nd grader's homework in the bottom left hand corner of each weekly entry.

The Underline:

I underline due dates, twice. Note my other hidden trick: I write the due date on the day BEFORE the library books (or other deadline) are due.

The Line:

Whenever I take notes, whether at a meeting or for myself, I draw a vertical line about 1/4 into the page. I take notes to the right of the line, but on the left, I make notations of anything that I need to follow up on. Students can also use this technique to note definition terms or test questions to the left.

In the example below, I need to email parents to find two substitute teaches for the Christmas party by December 10th. I also need to email parents about a gift card and purchase it by the end of November. 

The Code:

In the picture above, I used the code C for things that can be done only at my computer. Other useful codes include:

@ [name/date/action] = after someone else does their part or a certain date passes or I do part one of the task, I need to take the next action.

E = errands

Ph = phone calls/text messages

H = home

A = anywhere

My advice? Keep a list of codes that mean something to you in your Notes section of your planner and use them to save space and group like actions together.

Now, go forth in peace and upgrade your planner to incorporate the best of these ideas!

Etcetera.