Planner Thoughts

 

Property of Stormberry

Imagine we are back to these questions. Again. Not that I mind, but after several years of bullet journaling - a system that has worked for me, and which I like and in which I can find my way in - I decided I would like to go back to the regular planner inserts.

In this planner of mine, I have only once used regular inserts. When I first got it - in the end of 2016, so I used it fot 2017 - I ordered the planner with a Month on two Pages extra insert, and I replaced the vertical Week on two Pages it came with with a horizontal Week on two Pages from Saturnus, a brand of planners I found in Budapest, in one of the bookstores I visit (when I'm there). The vertical W2P it came with I gave to my friend Tina, who was the one who convinced me to get myself an A5 Malden.

Since that first time, I did bullet journaling, passing from one type of paper to another, and working on the way I wanted to lay all my spreads out. Going on and on and on, truth is that I ended up drawing all the month in a way that's exactly like a Month on two Pages refill. The daily part does change in size, as some days I have more tasks and others I have less. But then again, sometimes it happens that I have the same tasks, but some days I detail the parts and others I don't. Then it happens that sometimes I feel really like I don't want to do a thing, and so that day doesn't get written in. And then it has happened that I regret it, because later on I need to refer to that day (and I don't journal daily) and so I can't find anything for it.

The thing, though, that has been bugging me the most is the hability to plan ahead and to be able to build on my future plans. Let me explain you how this works for me. In some cases I have tasks and deliverables I know of ahead of time, like tests and papers for my studies. In some cases these can be complex or involve a lot of details. So, for me what I have done in the past was that I wrote the task or delieverable for the due date. That time (or a bit after) I completed my notes with more details. Then, as I've got inspired of heard some tips - or maybe the details of the task changed, I went to the date and added more notes. I didn't have to take care of it every day, I just did it on the days it came to my mind or when I felt like it. And I wouldn't worry, because they day I needed it to pop up, it would, with all the details. That I haven't been able to do with the bullet journal.

For instance, in a regular system, I would write into each day the papers and chapters I need to read for each class. With the bullet journal, I created a segment in my planner for the readings, and I couldn't even write down the papers in the whole detail. I did manage to check each time, and strike them out as I completed them, but it was bothersome. I had to fashion a sort of calendar just for the Uni because it didn't fit in the M2P I keep, and I had no dailies or weeklies in advance for that. It did work mind you, but I keep thinking that I made a whole new section just for this, when I could have had it in my daily or weekly set up, and work it much better.

And so, I've decided to step away from the bullet journal and join back the ranks of the Filofax refills... and all similar refills.

I do have thought of the Day per Page refills, but as reviewed my planner, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to slim my notes and inserts down to zero in order to make it work (specially because I do need my M2P and I need a couple of yearly calendars), so I think I'll go back to the Week on two Pages. The question now is, shall I splurge and buy myself a pretty, pear green A5 Malden or shall I just stay in my old one? And if I stay in the old one, shall I give the vertical W2P a try or shall I go with the good and trusty horizontal?

Decisions, decisions, decisions.