Spiral Findings

learn, share, grow

Day Designer Planners

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Earlier this summer I picked up two new Day Designer planners from Target (photos here & here).  I was introduced to them from SeaweedKisses webpage and YouTube videos and just had to have one of my own!  Well, I wasn’t sure what I was going to use either of them for when I bought them.

I prefer the monthly & weekly view versus a daily view so I picked up a small version and a large version.  Daily planners are just too much planning so I don’t end up using them regularly and days get missed.

Ultimately I thought I would turn one into a personal planner and the larger one into a work planner.  I thought I might use it in place of my compact-size passion planner for a while and see how I like them.

Both planners started in July so I just kicked off using them last week after the 4th of July holiday weekend.  There are some subtle differences in the planners, aside from size.

  • The larger planner has a gratitude box every week and a to do section on the weekly page.  This is something I definitely appreciated.
  • In general, the blocks on the larger version were good sized to enter information into, but I didn’t particularly care for the fact that the times were not broken up by 1/2 hours.  I didn’t know how much I appreciated that time delineation that the passion planner has until I tried this version.
  • The smaller version doesn’t seem to have good page turn-ability.  The pages seem to get stuck.
  • The binding rings sit between the plastic and the paper cover, which almost seems out of place, and as if it was made incorrectly.  Both versions I have are like that so I don’t believe it’s a mistake.

At the end of the day, I like the design and the format of the inside pages, especially of the larger version.  I’m not sure I need a different personal and work planner, and I do kind of miss the simplicity and structure of the passion planner.  I’ll probably give it a go for a few more weeks and see how I like it.

Hope you have a great week!

Talk to Yourself

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Have you ever found yourself talking to yourself?  Why did you start doing this and what were you doing when you started it?

For me, this sometimes happens when I’m trying to walk through everything I need to pack up before I go on a trip…clothes, check, computer, check, shoes, check, passport, check, jacket, check.  I even have a pre-travel checklist to make sure I don’t forget my toothbrush again 🙂

I’ve found other reasons to consider talking to myself, or journaling with myself as Andrea Schroeder talks about on her most recent blog post about self doubt.  Sometimes when you write something down, or talk it out, it brings clarity to the discussion.

Have you ever had the experience of how the act of simply talking about something gave you clarity about the path forward?  What current project or problem are you working on that could use a little talking through or journaling out?

Speed Reading

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I had a friend lend me a couple fun books this week, which was nice and got me out of my comfort zone of reading the same type of content day after day.  This week I flipped through this book called Remember Everything You Read by Stanley D. Frank.
The first thing I noticed when getting the book was an intense resistance to reading it. This was mostly because I’ve been trying to adopt a more minimalist philosophy and speed reading seems like the opposite of slowing down and being more mindful of what is capturing my attention.  Thankfully, my friend said I probably only have to read the first chapter or so of the book so I figured what the heck if I don’t like it I’ve only read 25 pages.
The two other takeaways I had from the book were my current reading speed based on the test reading and a different way to take notes.   Although the book seems more geared to students in school, I definitely can see some application in my daily life when I’m reading complex documents or I want to note some information that I’ve been reading in a more intuitive way for comprehension.
I’m glad I gave the book a shot.  I learned some things about myself and a few new reading tricks.  Sometimes it’s good to get out of your reading comfort zone.
What book have you read that challenged you or was out of your comfort zone? 

Chronodex

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When I started using a Midori traveler’s notebook, I found a huge community of Midori users and that is where I first learned about the Chronodex system created by Patrick Ng.  I printed it out his templates and made my own insert for my regular sized Midori notebook.

Chronodex Insert

My primary interest in using the Chronodex was to track things like sleep and exercise.

Three days into using the Chronodex system, I ended up abandoning it.  My fitness tracker was more effective for tracking what I wanted to track, because it was automatic and didn’t need my involvement to do that tracking.  I agree that there is an element of being deliberate when putting pen to paper and I think the Chronodex may be good tool for that.  Personally, I found that I preferred the automatic tracking of things like steps taken and hours sleep rather than the manual process.  I definitely see the value of doing a day or week or even a 30 day project of tracking to see how you are spending your time or to focus on one specific item to track, but tracking everything I did would be too cumbersome for me and I don’t think it has longer term sustainability for anything beyond 30 days.

As an aside, I really like Patrick’s approach to sharing his development of the Chronodex systems with people.  He gives it away for free, and simply asks for those who download it to send positive energy and prayers for his a member of his family.

Communities like this of notebook/organizer people (Midori, Filofax, & beyond) make me happy because there are others who love paper and pens as much as I do and I’m so glad they share their gifts with the world! 🙂

Bullet Journal

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One of the best note taking tools I have started using recently is the the bullet journal.  It’s a nice way to manage my life events and tasks in monthly blocks.  I use it primarily for work, and I love that I am not limited by pages.  If one day’s worth of notes takes up to four pages, then so be it.  Also, I think this system is great because you can customize it to how you take notes.

For me, the bullet journal helps me use the Getting things Done framework because it provides a home for my tasks.  I fell off the wagon a bit with that process, and this is helping me get back into it.  I am still working on how to sync up the bullet journal with Toodledo, which I previously used for managing all my tasks.

The best idea I got from the bullet journal is the concept of an index – it’s such a simple idea but it’s super useful and I’m planning on using it other notebooks as well.

I encourage you to give bullet journaling a try if you are interested in experimenting with a new note taking system.