Fix the Design

Property of Stormberry

Today, at the monthly Philofaxy Meeting, we discussed a little a small issue I have with the weekly inserts from filofax: the mini calendar. My issue with this calendar is that I don't use it, but I could use the space it is printed on. You won't see it in the picture I've enclosed because I have whited it out and written on top of it with a ballpen. So, you would say that it isn't really a problem, because I have already fixed it: I put white-out on it and wrote over it. Done. Well... yeah... but no.

The Mini Calendar

In this particular insert I'm using - this is the cotton cream week on two pages that came with my planner - the mini calendar is actually the smallest that comes in the weekly inserts offered by filofax, or so it seems to me. This calendar is presented in a vertical format, where each line is a day, so you get from five to seven columns in each little calendar (depending on the number of weeks each month has), while if the calendar had a horizontal format, with each day taking a column (plus a column for the week number) you will invariably have an eight column calendar.

Photo property of Stormberry.
Design by filofax

The calendar takes also the inner part of the page, where writing due to the rings is harder. So, technically, the design is sensible.

The thing is - for me - that I use this space to write up my weekly tasks, and I use two columns: one in black for work related tasks, and one in green or turquoise or some similar color, for tasks related to my studies. Each week I take the page out and migrate my unfinished tasks from the previous week to the new one.

I like writing each week the task list mainly to have a record also about my progress but also to see which tasks are taking longer to complete. It's not so much a productivity tracker as a way to measure the difficulty some tasks take, so that I can plan better for the future. However, my handwriting isn't as small as to be able to fit two lists in the remaining space, which is why the calendar had to be eliminated. The white out was my first option, but as it happens, it doesn't work well with fountainpens or my felt tip pens, nor highlighters. Then I started using post-its cut to size or planner stickers I could write on, but that threatened to add bulk down the road. I could also write over it, but it wasn't as readable as I would have wanted it to be.

I also made a list of the tasks in a separate division, but I was hardly looking at it, and the point of the list was to see it everyday, each time I glance at my planner - which is often - so that I remember what I still have to work on. I have also made post-its with the tasks, that travel forward each week, but they I can't look back to previous weeks to see what I've been working on.

Solutions, solutions

What I've come up, so far, is the realization that, most likely, I'll have to print out my own inserts... as I have been doing for ages. I know the current layout works for me, and I already have templates for it from previous years. However, I want to try out new layouts as well, which is why I have decided to create some adjusted versions of the plotter weekly and two versions of a vertical weekly to try them out. I've printed a test week, as I've been doing with some tests I have been running on other designs previosuly, and I'll see if I can fit my schedule and my requirements in them.

The of "planner peace" is quite an elusive one, and in a world so full of options, everything seems to be working to keep people away from finding their sweet-spot in anything. With planners, things might be a tad trickier because people change and with it their plans and how they plan, and that's ok. This is why I think that taking the time to plan, to be clear with what we need is important. This is also why I love ring binder planners, because I can still use the same binder and add into it the kind of insert that will serve me the best (hopefully) for a while, and I can change it, improve it, as time goes on.

Filling up the Calendar

Property of Stormberry

 I was thinking the other day about comfort zones and why on Earth would anyone willingly seek to abandon their comfort zone. Don't you want to live in a comfortable manner? It does rub me the wrong way when the phrase "comfort zone" is used to refer to a place of destructive, stagnant mediocrity. In my mind, a comfort zone is like that perfect spot in the couch or the sofa, where you like to curl up with a book to read, where the coffee table or the ant table is at that right angle for you to put your glass of wine, your cup of coffee, light a candle and put on a John Coltrane record.

I think that, if you are in a comfort zone, congratulations! A lot of people struggle to find a comfortable, livable life, so don't give up yours.

I am in my personal comfort zone, and I don't plan on leaving it.

However, in my confort zone there are also places that need work and organization. Part of my comfort zone is my studying, which currently is about working on my Master's thesis, so I'm working slowly and surely on that. I'm also trying to add some social activism, because in my comfort zone I also want to be able to do something for my community. Yes, that might not sound as "comfort zone" for some, BUT my concept of comfort zone is about feeling good, being able to relax and enjoy myself, and is not about being lazy. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't condemn being lazy, just as I don't celebrate hyper productivity. Allowing yourself spaces to enjoy laziness, and even have lazy days are something we all need. My comfort zone is about being happy, enjoying life and building a life where I can think that I actually succeed at this "life" thing (and I do!).

Next week starts with a holiday - May 1st, the International Workers' Day - and then I took Thursday off for a Thesis Day. I'll have a meeting with my tutor, so I'm really excited. And on Monday, if all goes well, I plan on joining the Workers' March in order to protest against a bill that would legalize 12 hour work days (12 effective work hours per day, where lunch and rest time won't be deducted from it) in the country. That's my activism, and I intend on seeking ways to get more involved in labour economics' activism.

Since I started my second YouTube Channel, planner and journaling videos have been a weekly task for me, but this weekend and the next are already covered, as I shot, uploaded and programmed the next videos. However, I already planned ideas for videos for the next weeks and up to September. I started already shooting some B-rolls and planning on how to do the rest.

At work I've also been pushing on my tasks and working to keep everything up to speed, and maybe even get ahead of some stuff. Just getting ready with everything. We are finishing April and I have still managed to keep a clean mail inbox, where the only three e-mails are about a seminar in two weeks, an in-person meeting next week and a notificatoion I keep as reminder that someone else has to finish something. And we are nearly in May!

Have I mentioned that we are in Mercury Retrograde?

I'm also amazed at how I have managed to keep my filofax "in line", with all the pages neatly fitting, passing the "ring test". I remove pages as needed, review what I have, what I need to take out, what needs to be included, and so I keep it manageable. I play in my mind with crazy ideas, such as buying a Filofax Heritage in Personal, just to try it out, but I seriously doubt that day will come (this year). I have also thought of getting a Personal Filofax Malden, but I must admit that I really dislike the leather penloops of the Malden's because they catch inside and the folded leather bunches up and makes it hard to use. Maybe I'm getting much into the "Planner+Journaling Content Creator"-mode there in that regard, or maybe my mind if flying ten thousand ways for some reason. Maybe I need to burn mind-energy. But be it as it may, I've been on a planner hype as of late, inspite of the Retrograde.

I write things down, I update my online calendars to make sure all my witchy rituals are in there, so I don't forget auspicious dates and so on, and they also get into my filofax, along with my cleaning schedule. And this is how I opened my filofax to check how my next week will look like, and Holy Mother of the Wenn, it looks full!

Should I take a page from the message of the Retrograde and go inside, introspect a little, retrieve into myself and stop filling my calendar to the brim? After all, in keeping my comfort zones, I also need to enjoy the peace and delight of them, of a life happy, relaxed and sans souci.

Waiting for my new filofax

 

Property of Stormberry
From my shopping cart
at filofax UK

It has taken quite sometime and a lot of luck, but I think my Personal Lockwood Zip Filofax is inching closer to my hands. I ordered this on October 2nd, and it landed on Customs here on October 20th. The tracker page filofax provided me with, showed where it was, because I could never get the tracking number to pop up on Costa Rica's Post Office. So, after a couple of days of no action, I started writing to all available contacts I could find, and on Tuesday, October 25th, I've got a reply to an e-mail I wrote, and got an opening, assuring me that the parcel was in Costa Rica (Yay!), so I had to send the paperwork. They provided a link, but it wasn't working.

That same day, I've got the number of Customer Service, called and got answered really fast. The guy who got my call was wonderful and sent me the paperwork and the address to send the paperwork. So, I printed out the pages, filled them, scanned them and sent it back. But I've got a bit vigilant now, and realized that my e-mail didn't pass through, and the notice was delivered to my spam folder. So I called again, checked and it seems the problem was that I sent some documents on JPG format and not on PDF format. So I printed out the images and rescanned the whole thing, and sent it again. So far, it seems it was gone through.

My purchase could be considered small, in the sense that I didn't order half the shop, with magnetic clips, washi tape, stickers, sticky notes and extra inserts (which I don't really need). For some, it might also seem like I ordered too much, like why order new A-Z coloured tab dividers, when I already have a set, or an extra transparent ruler page marker. For anyone wondering, I ordered those because I know I used them A LOT, like really a lot, so I rather have an extra ruler and an extra set of A-to-Z dividers of the kind I like, for when the ones I'll be using break or tear up beyond repair. And yes, I have also dividers, but those are not black nor colored.

In my personal experience, these products actually last for several years. My problem before was that the personal planners I had weren't made out of leather, so the binders themselves deteriorated before the dividers or the rulers broke (ok, I think I have 3 more personal rulers, but mostly brown or black, and I prefer transparent). My A5 planner is in leather, so I know those binders last so long that the dividers and rulers are gone before the binder ever does.

Unlike what you normally see, I don't plan on making huge set ups. I do plan to print out what I keep currently in my A-to-Z tabs, so I don't need to write it out over and over, and also because in printed version I can reduce the bulk all that info would amount to. I'm still don't want to run amok with inserts and ideas for my new planner before I get it in my hands... but I'm out here planning to get the minimal possible printed out stuff. Which trackers I do want to use, how to fit them in a smaller size and so on.

I plan & hope.

Organizing Thoughts

 

Mind Map created with SimpleMind

Right now I started watching videos on Mind Mapping by Sheng Huang. I was doing my usual rounds on YouTube after work, cheking on planner videos and organization videos, mainly because more and more I'm leaning towards buying a new planner for 2023. You know, the Personal sized, zipped, leather variety of planners. Now it might sound like quite a mental leap to go from checking planners to watching mind map videos, but nobody said YouTube tends to be consistent in their offering of things they think you may like (or even nailing what you were looking for).

Mind maps are graphics you draw where ideas are written in a concentrated, concise form (let's say, fitting a bubble), and then are connected with other ideas through lines or arrows. The connection can mean anything, like a next step or an idea that's born from a previous one, or a relationship betweem two ideas. It's pretty freeform, not like a flowchart, where even the shape of the bubble has a meaning. The point in a mind map is to help you catch an idea you have, develop it in general lines (what comes next, what can be connected with it, what other parts or details it has, and so on), so you can either capture the idea and the review it before putting it to paper definitively. It could also work as a guiding general map for a project, where you can have a birdseye view of the parts of the project and what goes into each part, or how they relate to each other.

As I was watching the video (and after I have spent also some time copying into a word file some info I want to migrate eventually from my A5 Malden to my Personal Lockwood - when the time comes), the idea occured to me, that maybe now a mind map could help me clear out some of the many mixes I had in my head regarding my thesis. Spoiler alert: it didn't. But as I was watching one of the videos, I went into the App Store and typed "mind map" and hit enter. I've got a couple of options - and why is it that the add part of the app is always so fantastic, but then the app itself is not so much. I started tweeking the app, tried it out with the general topic of my thesis, and though I've got some ideas landed on it, it just wasn't working for me. Things were hidden and I couldn't see the whole thing. It didn't feel like something I could actually work my way.

On the videos, the youtuber was working on paper, in a Traveler's Notebook and using two frixion pens, a blue and a red. Though he was constricted in space, his process seemed more clear and more manageable that what the app was doing for me on a space that was supposed to be more flexible. There I've got thinking of my braindump notebooks, which I use haphazardly, and which are the cause of why I lose information (because I forgot I didn't wrote it down in my filofax, but in the current braindump notebook, a spiralbound notebook I would love more if the lines of the pages weren't so bold). I have not tried yet to do the mind map exercise in my current filofax, but I must admit that it did get me thinking: if I start doing mindmaps, would it be sustainable in a personal size planner? I tend to write a lot, and my fountain pens are pretty much M-nibbed. Even my F-nib Lamys write bold like hearty M-nibs. So, shall I rethink my pens or my planner choice?

The mind map hype may end up in nothing, but I did got thinking about how different ways of planning and organizing ideas can coexist in different planning systems. I will try out the mindmapping, see if it's something for me or not, and I'll try to keep you posted.

Mid-year filofaxing

 First of all, blessed Litha to all! Today is the longest day of the year, which not everybody celebrates, but still, in the Northern Hemisphere we have the day with more sun light hours of the whole year. In the Northern Hemisphere they have the day with the fewer hours of daylight of the year. However, all in all, we still have - no matter where we are - 24 hours in the day, for us to spend, plan, fill, waste as we desire or as we could.

Property of Stormberry

Each first Sunday, as you may know, there is a Philofaxy Meeting via Skype, were we talk about all sorts of topics, and there´s always something about planners. Not to mention that it also happens that you get the chance to pick the brains of true Filofax Connoisseurs such as Steve Morton (THE Mr. Philofaxy) and Graham Rhind among others. For instance, the other day I was pondering about my current planner, an A5 Filofax Malden Ocher, which you can see in this picture, and which always tends to fatten through the year like a Christmas piglet or a Thanksgiving turkey. You see, as the world continues to change, and I had been going out to coffeeshops in order to work on my thesis - the change of scenary does wonders for my inspiration. However, since I haven´t been going to the office daily as in the pre-pandemic days, each time I go out I have to ensamble my bag, and it is a struggle, not to mention I always forget something. One of my struggles recently was the planner question. My filofax is so big and so heavy, it practically fills my whole bag, and if I add my laptop, and a book, it breaks my back.

Property of Stormberry

So, as I was podering on this question, I started thinking about going back to the Personal Size. But I wanted more. I have old binders in Personal size, which was the first size I tried out with Filofax, but those are ruined. I really "worked them to the bone", so none of them are in... working condition. Now, I do have another one, a Saul Book personal size binder a friend gifted me, but that one is so pretty, so delicate, that I don't have the heart to push it through the kind of treatment I normally give to my planners. So, aditional to a personal size, I was thinking I needed something durable, but also something that can, somehow be compressed. That meant basically a personal size, leather, zippered filofax.

Through the Philofaxy meetings I've got to learn of some of the options I had in that area that fit my requirements, and from then on, I went on researching. In that regard I'm still pondering on my options and what would really work for me, as it sure will end up growing big, and I know I tend to put strain also on the rings themselves, and personal sizes usually don't have rings that go past 23 mm (it was 23 mm, right?). At the same time, I have to consider the reduction in the page size. I know I can work my planning in a Personal size, but when it comes to the pages for note taking, the size is too inconvenient, specially for someone who takes copious notes as me.

I'll probably consider this matter from here to october-november when the time comes to order the new inserts, or the new planner.

Property of Stormberry (the five first diagrams).

Through the meetings, I also had the chance to talk to Graham Rhind, with wnom we have had an interesting conversation regarding planning systems such as the Chronodex and all it's variations. One thing I've seen in his videos (he has a YouTube channel), is how he integrates his version of the Chonodex in his inserts. He calls his version Zirkuluak, and it's basically a ring and a half for a whole of 17 hours of daily planning, from 6 am (or 6.00 hrs) to midnight. It takes a bit more space than a regular chronodex, a spirodex or my simple concentric rings, both in 24 hour options and the one I use starting at 4 am (4:00 hrs) and ending at midnight.

I made these "chronodexes" in 2,5 cm and 3 cm size in order have a stamp made out of it. That's the one you can see in blue stamping ink in my filofax pages.

When talking to Graham Rhind, he mentioned that something he doesn't like is the difference in size in the hour slots between the inner and the outer rings. It does make sense if you are trying to mark or section quarter or half hours. The way I use it is less precise, and rather more of a coloring of the our blocks. I used to use arrows and lines to connect the colored sections with the detail of the meeting or the appointment. Then, actually seeing how Mr Rhind arranges his Zirkuluak in the pages, I thought of another way of working: putting the chronodex in a side of the day space, coloring the hour blocks corresponding to the appointment, and then writing down the appointment detail and coloring the first line of it to make the connection and helping explain the different blocks.

I'm still working on this new way of planning, so I'll probably keep you posted on how my new planning journey progresses.

Morning Coffee

Property of
Stormberry

It's still early and the coffee I brewed maybe two hours ago stays still warm in my thermos. Another day working from home, from the couch, as I'm still carefully nursing my sprint ankle. Oh boy, will the days when I could walk normally again ever come back? Yes, those silly questions you pose yourself when a particularly inconvenient ailment afflicts you.

It's quiet. The cats are still not entirely used to their life outdoors, or at least Bonnie isn't, which annoys me to hell, with her incesant attempts to sneak back into the house. Not that I can afford it now! I finally uncovered my puzzle "in progress", and I can't have cats running around it or borrowing pieces to chew on. I want my Degas as intact as possible, thank you.

I'm making progress in the different tasks I have, and feeling good about it. I'm rethingking again and again my planner plans, what to do, how to fit the inserts, and whether should I and could I actually go for the coveted pear green A5 Malden Filofax. (I think not, I don't really need another binder).

I'll put on some soft, instrumental Jazz, sip my coffee and go back to work. After a bathroom break of course. An a short tour to the kitchen for some mixed nuts (no almonds, macadamias nor pecans!), maybe a kiwi, perhaps some yoghurt, and then back to the couch, the laptop and the ever present, life-infusing coffee.

Life is good.

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.

Thoughts About Bullet Journaling

Source: property of Stormberry

I'm slowly reaching the point where I've been bullet journaling for some two or three years in a row, and the time has come to evaluate how to I feel with this system. Like everything, it has had its ups and its downs, and I've been adapting to its many twists and turns. It has been funny and I've liked some of it's features. So let's see how the system fares for me:

Pros

1. I get lots and lots of space for notes and random jots.

2. It's fairly adaptable, so I don't have to commit to a single format of spread or tracker for the rest of the year.

3. I can use a notebook or a filofax planner. It works either way.

Cons

1. I have to write down every single day the date and the appointments. It doesn't really let me plan some tasks - tasks, not appointments - in a way that when I get to THAT day I don't have to write it down.

2. I have to prepare every single spread each time I need it. Every month I have to make a monthly and a tracker.

3. It all ended up just as bulky as the filofax was, so there is no improvement there.

4. I've found it hard to create sections, which I've got used to with the filofax, and which I love, but then it kind of takes away from the idea of the bullet journal.

Then there are these things that I have noticed about myself:

1. I don't really use the index. I have used it, but it's very seldom.

2. Though I know I can fix a lot of things that bother me with post its, I don't use nearly that many post its. I have found it bothers me when post its pile on top of post its for tasks or appointments. It also bothers me when a post it has been moved around a lot and they curl up, get dirty or  stop being sticky enough.

In general, I would really, really like to be a one-notebook kind of person, specially if I manage to get into the Masters program I'm aiming for next year. I often carry books and notebooks with me, and a leaner planner would be a real life saver - specially since I don't really like having my stuff on my phone or my laptop. However, I'm sort of a paper hoarder, and I like to keep printed out lists and programs in my calendar for reference.

The filofax gave me a place to park all of that, and it did grew thick in no time. I know some of my friends liked to look at it and page through it because it gets so juicy, so nice and fat, but I didn't like it all that much because that added bulk and weight to my already big, heavy bag. I would have thought the notebook my friend Arjen gave me would be the answer to my prayers, but I ended up having made a cover to be able to carry it all in one piece. The notebook is currently as fat as my filofax was last year.

So, with enough time to plan ahead, I'm thinking about going back to my filofax (notebooks will be reserved to be used as personal journals, as it should), and start working on a crossover between both systems. I'm thinking about designing and printing out a series of monthly calendar spreads and yearly trackers. With the monthly calendars already printed out, there would be no need for a future log, as I could keep the monthlies on the back and intersperse the pages for the daily activity as it is needed.

My plans currently don't fix all the cons I've noticed with the bullet journal, but I think I'll get there in time. Maybe I'll end up back in the folds of the filofax, and using my trusty Chronodex again. 

We shall see how things progress in time, and you can be sure I'll be keeping you posted.

Filofax Size

Browing through Philofaxy's posts through my Blogger Reading list (I totally love that feature), I've found a post about the benefits of an A4 sized filofax. Lets all take a second to imagine that. Yeah, that ain't not going to happen to me. 

My Filofax Journey

My first filofax: a Personal size Sketch in Chocolate
property of Stormberry.

In previous posts - if you dig long enough - you might get to the process I went through to pick the right filofax for me. After years of using regular planners (one book per year) and getting tired of copying each year the back of it (addresses and such), I decided that I had to move into a filofax, a planner system that I have loved and longed for years and years before I had one, even before I knew of the brand!

Before my current filofax I had two filofaxes, both of them from the more budget oriented lines and both in Personal size (I'm referencing here posts of Philofaxy that can help you picture sizes or understand specifications). 

The first filofax I had was the most beautiful one I ever had. It was a Sketch, which one elasticized penloop, and a handy back pocket in the outside of the back flap. The color was also rich and amazing. Sadly, however, the clasp of it broke at the root quite fast, which meant that after one year I had to replace it. FilofaxUSA, from where I bought it, couldn't replace it to me (unless I went with a burgundy planner, not my beloved Chocolate), so yes, I had to file away this one and go for a new binder.

My first layout
property of Stormberry

One thing worth noting was that when I've got this planner, I had bought a Day-per-Page insert that I ended up not using because I had not enough space to put it in AND add all the sections I wanted to include. After using an A5 planner book with Day-per-Page (or PPD, Page per Day) setting, moving into a smaller size with a Week-on-two-Pages layout was hard.

It took time but I've got used to it, so when it came the time to replace the binder, I had found my way around the Personal size, and so my second binder - an Identity, purchased from filofax.com, the UK site - I choose it again on that size.

Identity
property of Stormberry

This second one was functional, cushy and nice. I loved that it had two elasticized penloop, but if I must be honest, it wasn't as pretty in my eyes as my Sketch. It was sturdy, though, and it took a lot of tear and wear, and lasted me for around three years, and held up quite well.

It was in this planner that I started doing my first inserts and settled more into what I really want and need from a planner. I also realized that there were things I really disliked, like the need to CUT paper to size, or buy expensive filofax blank paper to print my inserts on it, and PRAY the printer wouldn't eat the pages, because they took time and costed more than what I was comfortable wasting. But lived with it and learned to go around it... including adding pages for keeping data and origami-ing it into a fitting size.

All was good with Identity until it started showing serious signs of wear. It would have not bothered me so much except that the cardboard that fills the binder started showing and the cover's plastic covering peeled off showing the white stuff under it. Yep, it's made of some sort of vinyl.

So I went again on a quest for a new planner. I started flirting with the idea of getting a Malden, because I decided I wanted something more durable, but that aged well and took nicely to signs od wear, and what better to that than leather? I'm not an excesively careful user, and I don't really like the pristine look of some things. So, I wanted leather. I'm still wasn't entirely sold on Malden, until I visited a friend in Germany and she showed me her (many) Maldens. I pondered it, caressed it, thought about it, and when I was on the verge of going for a Personal Malden, she asked me:

"Why don't you go for an A5?"

A5 Malden. Layout: Bullet Journal
property of Stormberry

The idea was preposterous because it was so big! But then, as I handled it, it seemed perfect. So after some lenghty thought, I went for the A5 Ochre filofax Malden. When I received it, the first thing I though was:

"Fuck, this is BIGGER than I thought!"

I had to adjust, but I was quickly in love with the space it gave me. Also, the absolute flexibility of having it easier with the paper as I only have to fold A4 pages in half, but even if I go with a half Letter sized page I can make do. Maybe filofax doesn't have many inserts for it, but other brands cater a wide arrange of it. Also, who needs inserts when you can easily repurpose reused pages, stationery and so on? At work and at school, I found it much easier to fold leaflets in half and keep them there, clip them to the page of day when I would need them and so on. Much, much easier than with a Personal sized planner.

Current Observations of Size

This year - after about two years in my Malden - I decided forgo the inserts and instead cut in half a bunch of leftover grid pages of the kind I use to study, and go #bulletjournaling. This year I haven't spent a dime on inserts and I'm happy like a clam. :-D

However, an A5 has a disadvantage: it's heavy. Not only I had to rethink my bags and purses because many no longer fit my planner, but the weight of it is significant. Yesterday I went to German classes and I bag was very heavy. When I travel, my backpack - which normally include my planner, my laptop, liquids, cosmetic bag, my Kindle (I try and make sure to finish my paper books before a trip, but if I must travel with a paper book, that goes into my hand luggage), and a tin box with phone cables, earbuds and a power bank, and an external memory. Last time I weighed this, it was 9 Kg.

On daily basis I don't carry my laptop, but I do carry paper books and other knickknacks, so my bag normally weights around 7 Kg. It has always been heavy, but with my big filofax, it is now really heavy. So, when I consider the comfort I already get from this size, and the weight it puts on my shoulders, I really don't see the point of a larger size. If you think you need a planner that large, you may also have to carry a whole range of other things, and that means it will add even more weight than the A5.

I can imagine the A4 a size suitable more for a project binder or a work binder, where you keep spreads, notes and such, but not like an organizer. As a teacher, or a professor, it could work wonderfully to keep in class lists, plans and grades, carry graded papers and exams, along with notes for the class and such, but for a planner it is - in my view - somewhat excesive.

Then again, for a binder, it is quite expensive. Do you need it really?

:: as I composed this post, I listened to: Radio Köln.:: 

New Year and New Resolutions

I disappear from here some... three months and the whole thing changes! Wow, maybe this is a sign that I should be around here more often. Hn... nah. 😉Forcing  writing is never a good idea. Writing is a delicate process where if you force the inspiration then you ruin the thoughts. Do keep that in mind.

Through Google.com taken from
http://hallodeutschschule.ch/
wp-content/uploads/2015/10/
HalloDtschDues.png

Like for many people, 2016 was a mixed year for me. There were positives and negatives, but I think I'll decide to keep the good and learn from the bad. On the plus side, I started learning German, and I've gotten some advance. I get good grades, but my recent trips to Germany and Austria prove that grades don't really show what you can actually produce in real life, when facing real situations... like asking in a restaurant for a take away. I do have been able to understand more and speak more, but after a year, I still feel like my communication skills in this language still have loads of room to grow.

I also got my diploma in Accounting and got into the... well, I don't really know how to explain this, but like into the Association that allows me to practice Accounting. I also finished all the subjects I need to take for Finance, so this year I'll submit my project for my thesis. Yay!! So excited!!

I read about 36 books, which was over the goal of 24 books I had set at the begining of the year, and then I had this FABULOUS idea about reclaiming my time with myself and do the Letter Writing Monday Project, which I fully intend to carry on for 2017. As result of this fabulous thing, I finally worked through my pile of letters and replied to all of my penpals. :-) It felt amazing!

I kept going to the nutritionist and basically I've kept my weight all year with just minimal fluctuations, but all within the range of my ideal weight.

On the learning side, I learned more about my friends, people I consider my friends, and also about myself. I rediscovered the importance of giving yourself your place, and not to be afraid of claiming it back. Respect starts with you, and if you don't respect yourself you can't expect others to respect you. Don't push yourself to the side, don't be always accomodating to others, because if you give up so easily your requests, nobody will ever fulfill them. What do I mean? Things as simple as actually standing up and enforcing your right also be considered in the decision making, your choices and preferences also taken in account, and from time to time, others to accomodate to them, not always you accomodating to others. 2016 taught me that even I have to take stock of what I want and what I allow to happen.

I made so little to no exercise, that I also learned that, as I made time for Letter Writing and German, I must make time to do some exercise. This year I went, for the first time in my life, to skating. It didn't go very well. Well, it just didn't go. At all. BUT I made the effort and I want to keep trying. So I think I'll try and get myself a pair of rollerblades and practice some at home to get better stability - though ice skating and rollerblading are so different! - and then come back by the end of the year and give it another try. And  this time ask before hand if the "trainers rink" is open, because the regular one is one hell of a rink! >_<

I'd like to add yoga back into my routine and go back to the gym, maybe even go back to Archery, though I really have to find a way to fit all that into my available time.

I went quite well for the tracking of my finances, until the last... six weeks? Then it got off the wagon. The controlling of the budget was much more difficult, BUT that means I still have room for improvement.

Spiritually, I didn't do much, let go of my Pagan studies and practices, which have given me much solace, truth to be told. I haven't felt particularly Christian either, though that's the faith I identify with the most. I'm considering the possibility of trying out my Pagan side this year, maybe do a test, a Year and a Day of studying, as if to convert to Paganism, and see how I feel about it, how my relationship with God matures through the process and experiment how I feel as a Pagan. Solitary Witchcraft is an option, and though the Church excludes the possibility of multi-religiousness, this is something I feel as being part of myself. 

I learned also to be more watchful about my health, which I'll try and be better at this year, though that's something that scares me a little, but then, we are all like that with it, don't we?

I have not really made my New Year Resolutions, and many of m last year's resolutions went unfulfilled, basically because as the year went on, those were not the top priorities, so there's another thing to learn: how to plan for the year. I have a new planner this year, a new filofax, in a new size and with new possibilities. :-) Let's see what can I get out of it for 2017, shall we?

Bullet Journal: First Days into the Experiment

It's kind of late for me to be at the office, and I'm already feeling a bit tired, though that might also be because I'm on the Second Day of the period and all that chunky blood loss does make me a bit zombie-ish. It's still quite a nice day, though, except that I was a tad late today and didn't get a parking spot at the closest parking lot at the office, but had to go to the one further away, AND on the way I realized I had plate restriction (I blame that bout of forgetfulness on the blood loss due to the period, because, really, the period should be good for something, other than tell you that you are not pregnant), thus I decided to wait until 7 p.m. before leaving. I'm not chancing a ticket.

The extra time I used wisely by actually studying for one of my University subjects: Service Costs. Nice, huh? And now, in the last few minutes - as my mind desperately races thinking of the lunches I have to make for tomorrow and Friday (I'll do zuccini, it's the easiest, and I love zuccini) - and the German homework I have for tomorrow - I decided to let you know how the Bullet Journal Project is going.

If you recall, in my last post I talked about the Bullet Journal, how it wasn't for me and what I have found as criticism on the Internet while I was researching the matter. Then, by the end of the post, I was actually considering the possibility of keeping an experimental bullet journal, just to see if it really was for me or not. And so the Experiment was born.

I started by fishing out an old blank notebook a friend had given me a long while ago, and which I actually couldn't really put to proper use.

Bullet Journal Project: Starting Page

This notebook is a spiral bond, blank page notebook with plastic covers. I had started using it in the past as a Book of Shadows until I moved into a larger book - also blank paged - with hard covers. so what better than this, right?

For the project I checked once again Ryder's site and introductory video making all the necessary notes for it, and then started making an Index page, a Yearly Spread - which in my case was a seven-month spread, and the first Monthly Spread, which was for June.

Here's the Index

The "Yearly Spread"

Monthly Spread

First off, the paper turned out not to be so good for this sort of experiment, as it bleeds through quite a lot. I tried first a fountain pen, but it went right through it. So the pilot pens. And the highlighters. It doesn't really bother me so much, but I put a limit at the point where the bleeding ink renders unreadable the other page.

Up blank, the pages look nice, but when on use, they look a bit... cramped.

This yearly spread can't take more... sadly.

Getting packed...

At one point I started using post-its to supply for the lack of space, but really, it didn't really do the job. Of course, this could simply mean that I would need to make my yearly spread in more pages, like a spread per quarter or per each four months... or try and make my handwriting smaller, but as it is, with just my University MAIN appointments it got all filled out. No space for my German classes, or my other notations.

I did created a spread for tracking birthdays and important gifting/card-sending holidays, which is currently only Halloween and Christmas, and indexed it, but then I thought of all the tracking lists and systems I already cram in my filofax, and the idea of transfering them by hand into my project was beyond daunting. Yes, I could print out a template and glue it into the bullet journal if I decide to keep the system, but not now.

For the journaling part itself, the idea of checking every night your day and plan the next day is lovely and nearly romantic, but very inconvenient when you get home late or tired. I really don't want to journal and write down stuff when all I want to do is curl up in bed and read a little of whatever I'm reading (currently a book on the Salem witch trials, because, really, I'm still obssessed with the topic and the city). I also developped a system for my tasks, where I use a post-it with a sort of on-going task list with things I need to get done but still don't need to be done a given day. This is easier for me than to copy every day the tasks I didn't finish, even though I just wrote them down to keep them in mind, not to have them finished that day.

filofax and bullet journal side by side.

So far, though I do enjoy the novelty and the space and the flexibility of the bullet journal, the system that still makes it the best for me is the filofax. Yes, I love the space of the bullet journal, but I love the structure of the filofax, and so far I feel like that's a lifesaver for me.

But I'll continue, at least until I fill this notebook, or get to the end of the year - whatever happens first. And you, Dear Anonymous Reader, will be able to keep track of the developing of this project, if you desire so, by the post I'll keep making on the subject.

Bullet Journaling and Planning

:: HELLO, IT'S BEEN A WHILE AND I'M SORRY, THIS POST CAME OUT WAAAY TOO LONG::

Recently I finished my second intensive course of German, earning myself the completition of the A1 level, which amounts to something like "Survival Language Skills", which is UNDER the "Beginners' Level" (which would be the A2 level). Before we go any further... I did tell you I was learning German, right? I think I did. If I didn't, yes, I started learning German (for real this time) in... was it February? I think it was in February. I'm learning with the Goethe Zentrum, and they have six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), and each level is divided in three or four courses. If you do all the thing on regular lessons (once a week), you finish in six years... or more. If you do the intensive (twice a week), you can finish in about three years.

I started with my sister-in-law, Yul, and we both finished the first course, but in the second she didn't pass. This made her - understandably - very sad. I did pass - as expected - but felt so very bad because she didn't. We did met to study a couple of times, but we don't go at it the same way. Basically because I just don't study when it comes to languages - for some reason I don't need it, I'm good at it - so I was doing homework at top speed, while she was slowly struggling, trying to organize herself while attending the demands of her kids. When the last test was do - with was one of those oral tests, where you actually HAVE to reply to questions by SPEAKING the language you are learning - we practiced. Our teacher told us before hand the topics we would have to talk about, so we prepared a monologue and a dialogue. Before the test Yul was quite good, and we wrote out a sound dialogue for all the possible choices we had. Yul was actually being too ambitious, composing long sentences, which I cut to smaller ones so we would remember them easier. However, at the test itself it was like her whole brain blanked out, and she couldn't say a single properly worded sentence.

Concerned about that, and looking to help her, I started thinking on ways I could be of assistance. I haven't offered her anything for sure yet, as I'm waiting to see whether she will retake the class or not, but for once, I thought about helping her once a week with the kids, so she can have a few hours for herself to study. That brought me to thinking about sharing with her study tips, so I researched a little about Test Anxiety, about which I found a couple of quite good articles. One of them is "Freezing on Exams - 5 Tips", by oxfordlearning.com. This took me to start checking on studying skills and packing up my tumblr, my youtube channel and just about everything with this topic. After all, I'm a college student too, and while I'm very good at learning languages, I really need to put some serious elbow grease into Finance, so why not see what good tips the world has to offer? And THIS brought be back to the world of planning. Now, this isn't a post on my learning techniques - I might do one of those later on, but not now - but it must be said that effective learning, like effective working, can't be done without planning, and planning requires a planning system that works with you.

taken from bulletjournal.com

If you are on tumblr or youtube - and probably many other social networks - you may have noticed the fashion in the studying communities and planner communities about the Bullet Journal.

What is a Bullet Journal?

This is a planning and recording system that's rather flexible and is based on lists. It was developped by Ryder Carroll, who also made it free for anyone to use. The whole system relies on a notebook - any notebook, really - in which you will have an index page, a future log page, a yearly (or semestral spread), a monthly spread and then your daily logs. Each item is written down as a task, or a bullet list - you know them, you've seen them in Power Point presentations - with different markers to signal whether it's an appointment, a task, a task with a deadline, and so on.

You don't have to do all the parts of it, or you can add more, and you can put in your journal other stuff, like lists of whatever thing you need  lists for, notations, ideas... and then just reference them in the index. You can reference whatever you want to reference in your index. It works with You. It does what you want it to do.

taken from filofax.co.uk

For a moment I caught the fever - specially seeing all those cute pictures of working bullet journals - and so I gave it a thought. Just imagine NOT getting any inserts next year for my filofax, but go bullet journaling with a pack of graph paper! I'm a kinetic person, so yes, the idea of that was exciting. Except that the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the system wasn't really for me. Why? Because:

1. I do a lot of future planning, and a lot of my plans are very specific. This is mostly because of the University, where I have the whole period (three to four months) planned ahead with specific times for tests, classes, deadlines for projects and homework, and I tend to use a lot of space (if I can) writing down all I need to know about the given appointment, like chapters, tutors, location and so on. 

Normally, with my current planner, when I get my program, I spend a couple of days copying all in my planner, in the monthly and weekly calendars, and then in my witchy calendar, and now also in my U-calendar. Sometimes I even take the time to copy them down in my Google Calendar. Sometimes. Why so many? This is my system, so I always have these important appointments at sight and can prepare for them.

Before I go further, what's a U-calendar? Simple. I printed out a monthly calendar for the months of the period in a month-on-two-pages (MO2P) format, in letter-sized paper, punched it and put it in my notes binder, right at the begining. It holds ONLY my university appointments.

original picture

2. Though I do have quite some calendars, they all work in a given system: my main calendar is my Filofax. In it, my main reference is my weekly calendar, where all my tasks and appointments are noted down in as much detail as I can squeeze into them. 

I don't use the monthly so much, but it also has a function as to offer me a broader view of how my time is planned out. This allows me to better see how much time I have alotted for completing projects and homework, or how far am I from deadlines and tests. This is my panoramic view, and in which only the most important appointments are noted. 

taken from www.themagickalcat.com

The witch calendar includes notes on my tasks and activities that are not work related, so they give me a clear view of my personal life, and then the calendars, and wall planners offer a quick glance. I even have one of those Post-It undated weekly planner calendars mounted over my desk, so as I study I always can look at it. 

However, all of them put all of my days together, and I have the same space in each day slot. At once glance I see always the same amount of time: a week. As days go by, I usually have to fill in my weeks with notations for this day and that, appointments get crammed in, moved around... and my Chronodex stamp really works miracles for me there! With a bullet journal, how would I manage?

Getting a bullet journal and parceling it all down to equal slots, for a whole year, well, it would defeat the whole purpose of a bullet journal, wouldn't it? Not to mention that I really like the Chronodex, and on the days I don't want to use my stamp for whatever reason, I make my notations in a system I already use of appointments to the left and tasks to the right.

I still did some research, continued looking for it, and was trying to find a case of someone with needs similar to mine that could make their bullet journal work, but most of the cases I saw were those of people who only need to plan, maximum a month ahead. Then, through my research, I started finding a few people that didn't like the system, or who tried it and left it after a while. Those posts sounded interesting, so I checked them, but soon found out that often the case wasn't mine either. Two of the articles I found listed as cons situations that are very subjective or personal, and which shouldn't be a general reason to abandon the system. Those articles are "The Bullet Journal: why analog task management doesn't work", by Alina Vrabie, and "Bullet Journal Didn't Work for Me", by Josh Medeski.

Some of the things these articles mentioned were the following:

1. The Bullet Journal Isn't Flexible (Vrabie): while in my case it isn't flexible for the reasons afore mentioned, Vrabie means the physical nature of the bullet journal, since you only have the actual, physical space of the paper as the reason for the lack of flexibility.

This is quite curious because actually I prefer paper over digital because for me paper gives me more flexibility. In paper I can use as many colors as I want, highlight, stick stickers, post-its, draw, stamp, write in any language, add my icons... you name it. Some calendar apps give you that option, but not all of them.

2. Legibility (Medeski): this goes on the same line. Medeski here notes that his handwriting isn't very neat, so the bullet journal (or any other paper system, for that matter) doesn't work for him. My first thought here is, really, if his handwriting is so bad, why would he ever bother writing anything by hand at all? And, how come he even tried the system? He wasn't aware of how bad his handwriting was? My handwriting can be very bad in some cases, but then again, I don't usually write on a rush, so my filofax doesn't always see the bad side of my handwriting. Vrabie also mentions that, which makes you think about the future of hanwriting.

3. Future Log (Vrabie): this I can't argue with.  Vrabie mentions the difficulties that can arise when trying to log future appointments, when the daily part must be prepared... daily. I know that actually you can do this with the monthly spread, so each day at night you prepare next day's daily with the notes of the monthly spread, BUT then again, the monthly spread could not be as spacious as you need it. Not like - I'm suddenly thinking - you couldn't fix that with writing details in post-its...

Look, probably there is a way if you look at it, and think for a while on a solution that works for you, BUT, in here I agree with Vrabie, that some people don't really want to be bothered with taking 20 minutes of their time every day to fix up the next day's agenda.

original picture

However, the bullet journal would combine daily logs and notes and lists... sort of like the way my current notebook (a notebook I carry around to jot down stuff), and though that might be good and liberating for a notebook where all thoughts collide and things don't get revisited much, it might not work the same for a planner. Yes, you do have an index, but maybe for some people that's not the feel they are looking for. Not like you couldn't do your notes and lists from the back forwards, though then again... how do you make sure you can plan all the way to the end of the year? And what if the second half of the year has to go in another notebook? How much do you copy? How do you keep notes and lists? (See why I prefer filofaxes?)

4. No Prioritizing (Vrabie): this I didn't really get. Vrabie argues that priorities change through the day, and bullet journaling don't help you prioritize unless you know your priorities BEFORE HAND, not to mention that the markers used might means something else to you entirely. Yeah, I just... blink stupidly here. I mean, I KNOW that studying for my tests has priority over stuff I can do other days or take less time to complete. Deadlines have priority. And the markers aren't set in stone! They are suggestions! For instance, if I were to bullet journal, I wouldn't put a star or an asterisc (*) next to the given appointment or task, I would highlighted. I really doubt the Bullet Journal Police would come searching for me for it. And if your priorities change... do your bullet journal in pencil, or with frixion pens. There are frixion highlighters also, so there you go, your priorities can change.

I really tried to understand that, I really did, but I couldn't.

5. Lack of Speed (Vrabie and Medeski): both said that the bullet journal isn't as fast as typing. This is very, very personal. Recently I switched to a Microsoft Lumia, and the touch pad, the intuitive keyboard and all that are killing me. I'm better at typing on my laptop than on a phone. Specially when it tries to change all my English and Spanish words to Hungarian. Not funny. I'm however, good at handwriting, so I'm faster with a pen than with the phone.

Also, they mention (or one of them), that it's so complicated to pull a notebook out of your bag and a pen and write with something that needs both hands rather than flipping out your phone and doing the logging with one hand. One: this is a matter of skill, which not everybody has, and Two: maybe not where they live, but where I live I won't expose myself to being robbed for flashing out a notepad and a pencil, while flashing out a phone might.

Then, this isn't a problem of the bullet journaling, it's an issue they have with any paper system. I mean, if I weren't worried about betting robbed, and I'm travelling in a packed train, I could pull out my phone, and make a note with the voice recorder. THEN get home, listen to it and nicely log it in my bullet journal, and maybe even DEVELOP the idea further more.

Both Vrabie and Medeski also note that the whole writing and re-writing takes time, diminishing the speed of the journal. It does. Now, compared with a digital system where you log ONCE and the you have all the views - daily, weekly, monthly, yearly - updated, it does take time to copy over and over all the tasks. And what if you miss a task or an appointment? Technically, your system works for you, so unless you slack at it, you are not supposed to miss it. I mean, if you do it DAILY, how hard can it be to copy the tasks left from the day before, and those previously jotted down in your yearly and monthly spreads? Here's a trick - which works better if you are right handed:

1. Place a finger of each of your non-dominant hand (left, in my case), on each spread or page where you have tasks and appointments to migrate.

2. Use your dominant hand to write (right, in my case).

3. The fingers of your non-dominant hand will be like bookmarkers.

4. Using ONLY the fingers of your non-dominant hand, flip through the spreads and the current page where you are doing your daily log.

5. Remore the fingers FROM BETWEEN THE PAGES, NOT FROM THE HAND! when you have copied what needed to be copied or "migrated".

I'll be happy to provide a video of this trick, if required.

All other problems and cons listed were really a matter of not liking paper systems, or clearly prefering digital systems, or a particular system. Stuff like being deep into GTD (Getting Things Done), or not being able to colaborate, or the search system not being good enough (old school people like me, actually are faster with paper indexes and paper dictionaries than with digital search options), or requiring too much discipline... are personal stuff, personal issues, not a flaw of the system itself regarding it working for one type of planning or the other.

taken from
http://scription.typepad.com/

Vrabie does mention - without developping - how your notes and tasks can end up lost in the bullet journal, never read again. I can't argue with that, honestly, specially considering the case I made before about the moment when you switch notebooks. However, systems like the Midori could help there if you keep one notebook (indexed, for instance) for notes and lists (or one for notes and one for lists) and then another for the daily logging and calendars. There are ways in which you could do it, and then again, it's all about what you really need. Are you really looking for and reading to-do lists from two years ago? Do you need little scraps of ideas jotted down a year ago?

The thing is that the digital solutions can be messy too, and they also clutter up. Paper solutions make clutter evident and force you to clean and neat up, and depending on your skills, might even be easier. I do find it easier to order my paper files and pictures than my digital ones, for once. But that's me.

I think it's important to get both sides of the situation and consider first and foremost what YOU need and what YOU want, and what works for you. Hardly any system will work for you at once, all of them need a time to adjust and need to be adjusted to your needs. And before you spend any money on them, THINK whether it will really is what you need. Don't move from something that workd for you just for the fashion of it.

Through writing this post, I became more curious about the system, so I decided to make a pilot - draft up a bullet journal along my regular planner, in one of my many unused notebooks, see how it goes. If I do, I'll probably tell you about the experience. :-D