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Mar
18
today i took a little trip down memory lane.
while trying to make more room in my jeannedom closet, i rediscovered my rather impressive-if-i-do-say-so-myself assortment of day planners. daily organizers. calendars-and-more-in-a-notebook.
if there’s a group out there for recovering accomplishment-oriented people and lovers of day planning/organizing systems, i’d sure like to know about it.
you know, i have day planners in every paper size, binder ring size, hue, and style of closure. i have entries from day planners, daytimers, franklin covey, season of the witch, filofax, 2 that are homemade, and some that have no particular brand name at all. i have ring bound varieties and spiral bound varieties. i have leather, cloth, and the type with the disc circles that come with the paper with the square holes and convenient slits at each hole to allow for ease of relocation of pages. i have some that are small enough to go in a coat pocket, and i have some that really do need wheels.
yes, day planners are a problem for me. see, i’ve always been an accomplishment-oriented kind of gal. i just enjoy making a list, and i enjoy even more marking things off lists. i do. the problem is what to make the lists on and what to keep the aforementioned lists in. i have never been able to find The Perfect System. these days i keep my lists in my computer and synchronize with my little ole’ cell phone - have been doing that for years. but i do admit to still having the occasional withdrawal symptoms for the comfortable, familiar pen and paper. i just don’t like carrying it around, that’s the thing.
now i’ve pretty much moved past the days when i had so many things to do i needed to write them down to remember everything. i try to keep my to do list to a minimum, short enough to fit comfortably on the teensiest of sticky note paper. and i no longer feel compelled to chronicle my days by how much i accomplished.
i do, however, like to keep a journal for my creative projects: a separate journal for each individual project. hand written entries, some with rudimentary sketches (rudimentary because that’s the only kind of sketching i know how to do.) i date each entry, and i don’t worry a nano if several days elapse between entries. i include pictures and ideas that bubble up as i work. i’ve even been known to toss in contextual comments about what’s going on in various circles around me, not that there’s any direct correlation between happenings and work being done on the particular project, but hey. grocery lists and the occasional to do list entry have managed to sneak into the project journal, and again i say but hey.
if you’re wondering what i did with those daily organizer systems, well, i just tucked them right back in their spot in the closet. i don’t need the room that bad.
at least not yet.
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I completely understand!!! I still can’t walk past a day planner without a pang of regret that I’m using a Palm Organizer and have been for about 5 years instead of paper. I still make the occasional lists, but it’s not the same. I still have a little love affair with small-ish binders and notepad holders! DH gets them at his conventions and knows to save them for me. I have a little collection in the studio… I’m sure there’s a better use for that space!
i try to have planners, doesn’t work, i always forget where i put them and start a new one. i have half made lists everywhere. i use them like a treasure hunt, never know which i will get to when. oh well.
I chuckled as I read along…
Organizers make such sense when you see their beautiful covers and clean sheets. The thought of order, ever so appealing! Then you forget one entry and then another, then you totally loose sight of the darn thing and go out and buy another one to take charge of your chaotic life.
Sounds all too familiar! And tossing them out? That is sacriliges! LOL
You never know when those could come in handy again! NO?!
fran, don’t get me started on notepapers! was thinking yesterday about all the pretty note paper i have that’s going to be like aunt lucy’s gorgeous silk lingerie: she lived to be 95 years old, and these gorgeous satin and silk pieces are still wrapped in tissue paper. tissue paper that had turned back into a tree, but . . .
jude, i like your system. treasure hunt. ha. too funny.
enzie, you’re right: it’s an order thing. and a portable file cabinet the way i used them.
I start out with good intentions but my day planners always de-volve into keeping intense track of every plant & new flower I encounter but not what I do/am hoping to achieve with my time. I need a variety of wall calenders for that - one for family, one for professional stuff and one for the huge variety of personal goals and intentions. Then I need an assortment of spiral notebooks to keep track of the details and various random “asides”. I also need a reserve of notebooks to sit patiently waiting for the day when I need them (and then need to get more to sit patiently lest I freak out that I don’t have “enough” blank paper on hand…)
Partway through last fall I had a sudden revolt against to-do lists. But I do make compulsive lists of all kinds of other things - usually on recycled paper scraps or the back of old envelopes. I get post-its periodically but they always wind up in my sewing box to help me thread “unusual” things into the needles eye…
acey, i tend to keep an ample supply of blank notebooks within reach myself. i just don’t think a creative girl can have enough blank paper.