I adopted a new planning system this past November – a Bullet Journal. (“Bujo”) I have been using a daily based Franklin Planner since 1992. That is a lot of ringed binders in “storage” … The principle there, as with any true planning system, is to identify key goals and to align activities and tasks to reaching those goals, set priorities including professional and personal goals/tasks, determine any obstacles along the way, and track of progress, additions and deletions from day to day and month to month. [Franklin Covey has a number of publications and courses targeting the system for personal effectiveness and achievement – Franklin Covey. I am not affiliated with any of these links; it is just a system with which I am familiar.]
Today’s Setup and “System”
I post pictures and discuss the use of the Bullet Journal planning tool with Instagram, @LizzardLaw, with a large group of folks – try searching for the tags #bulletjournal and #planwithmechallenge to start.
Specifically I use a couple of tools for my planning. I keep my calendar electronically through Outlook (work) and Google (personal), so I do not try to recapture all those details in my Bujo. My primary planning tool, my Bujo, is in a Leuchttrum 1917 – A5, with dot grids. I really like the paper and the size of this book. Through the years my journals have been hard-bound blank books – so the feel of this bound note book works for me. Also I use fountain pens, archival ink pens and highlighters, none of which “shadow” through too much in the Leuchttrum. My other tool is for personal “to dos” and is a small, soft-bound Moleskine, which fits in my purse or a pocket. I also keep my grocery and errand lists electronically on Google’s Keep.
For the most part I follow the Bullet Journal’s creator’s original plan – he calls these “modules:”
- Index
- Future Planning (6 month view)
- Monthly Logs (one month at-a-glance with tasks)
- Daily Logs (average is a week on a spread)
- Collections (brain dumps and detailed project lists)
LizzardLaw 