Organizational Tools: Little Helpers or Little Devils

My boyfriend doesn't really enjoy the posts about filofaxes. And you know something? He might have one! We can't decide about it, because he has it stashed somewhere where nobody can find it. Ah, that's my darling boyfriend ^_^. Well, indeed gaping so much about planners and organizational tools isn't everybody's cup of tea, but for those of us for whom it is, isn't it something delicious? ^_^

Well, I don't want to bore my darling too much with this topic - promise I'll post about something else soon enough (I have been rolling around a topic where I go ranting again against the Social Plan, which includes the Expected Cycles of life of getting married and having children. Yeah, you know me, actively fighting for the recognition of unmarried and childfree lifestyles as normal, ok, and "get off my back! Just because your life sucks you don't have to ruin mine too!"). However I've heard something recently that got me thinking about these organizational tools. After mentioning planners to someone - and how I tend to write down just about everything or I'll forget it - this person said to me that they avoided using planners as much as they could, so that way they forced their memory to keep working by having to remember everything - or most things. Personally I was surprised. Granted, this person is very organized and does manage to keep on top of every important thing. I, on the other hand, have to write down even the schedule of my flights just in case I forget the printed out reservation, and also to have a clear view of my on-land time in case I want to go out in between flights and explore the city (yes, I do that. How do you think I've gone to visit Paris?).

So I was wondering, do planners and organizational tools make our brains lazier and diminish our capabilities, or are they the little helpers we believe them to be and for which they were intended to be? Is there a point after which the planner does more damage than the benefit we pull from it? Like the famous "Mother's Little Helpers" that were supposed to keep women happy and in control of themselves while dealing with a chaotic household (and if you have ever taken any of them - I believe they were all from the benzodiazepam familiy - then you can say, that oh lord, do they make your life all pink and fluffy again!), but all that goodness turned out to be harming in the long term.

In my personal opinion, planners aren't such a brain-muddling, brain-slacking tool, as in order to used them you need to develop a personal discipline. Check them ever so often, remember to note everything, keep your codes in mind, remember that's not only writing stuff down, but later doing somethig about it, making decisions... Planners could pretty much act like "thought warehouses" where you unload small bits of information in order for you to have room and energy enough to deal with other things. Say you have to finish this project, or pick a gift for someone you love, maybe help Suzie with her homework. Well, you'll need your mind on it, and not keeping there that you have to go for your car to the mechanic tomorrow or in three days. Park down your mechanic appointment on your planner, and then sit down and put your whole attention to that project, gift or homework.

Then again, maybe that's a simplistic point of view. Maybe the brain is able to remember everything without thoughts using up energy and getting in the way when you don't need them. Maybe. Maybe our brains do have a build in Brain Outlook or something we have neglected, but does it worth kicking up a working system and risking forgetting important appointments just to try and get your memory working as it should? And when your memory starts failing due to age or you being tired, does it worth risking missing things because you rather exercise your brain than keep a record of things?

It's a hard question.