How to build your perfect planner system? Week 12: Start to thinking in projects!

Until now, we written only tasks to our lists - in fortunet case. But tasks aren't separate things. They are connected with each other. Sometimes is hard to finish something, because you don't know, what to do. "Organize the vacation" - what the hack is that? Such "task" can sit in your planner for a long time, because it is not doable. What is it then if it is not a task? I would call it a Project.

Why to thinking in projects?

If you think on something like a project, it is easier to organize. A project can have a deadline. It has tasks. It needs material. There is also informations connected to this. Organizing a trip is a project. I will explain the whole thing with this fictive project (not really fictive - we are organizing a trip to Paris in October...)

Paris trip project page

How to organize a project?

1. What steps or parts has this project?

Decide: when and where.
How we get there? Buy tickets if necessary.
Where to sleep?  Book hotel.
What to do? Only relax? Sightseeing? What to visit?
What to bring with you?

2. Deadline(s)

Deadlines can be artificial too. Define a deadline for all parts of your project, if you don't have one from outside.

3. Informations

Collect all necessary informations on the same place. Catalogs about hotels, interesting places. Your notes about these. Booking numbers, etc.

Notes about the train - we didn't chosen this

Hotels in Paris. A very messy note page :)

4. "Things"

I didn't found a better word on this. Things you need. For a skiing you need ski. If you flight first time somewhere you might need to buy suitcases. You might need a valid passport.

5. Tasks

The trickiest part. We tend to think on things like tasks, also if they aren't tasks. You cannot only buy flight tickets. Yes, it is a task. But what have you do first time? (David Allen calls it next action.) You have to discuss with your family, when will be the trip. You have to decide you will flight. That can you go and search flight tickets, that can you buy that ticket. You have to analyze your project: ask yourself "what can I do next to achieve this part of my project?" Don't be afraid, you don't have to write all tasks for the whole project at the same time. You can do it step by step.

How it comes together with other planning things we talked before?

Handling 10 projects in monthly/weekly planning is more simpler, as handling 100 tasks. Have a list of your running projects and take a look on it every week.

My current Projects List

Plan projects, or part of the projects in your monthly/weekly planning. Than take out your tasks in the daily planning.

On my monthly planning page:

On my weekly planning page is a little chaotic: sometimes I wrote tasks (buy Disneyland tickets), sometimes stuff (finish bookkeeping).

On my current weekly planner page

Homework for the next week

Take a look on your goals, your tasks from the last week, and try to find out, on what projects are you working on? Write a list!
Take for all a piece of paper and start to organize the projects as written above. As you practise to thinking on things like projects, you will be better in finishing and track things. Let me share a project. My daughter has to go to dentist. It is an appointment. I write it to my planner. Then the doctor tells me, when to come back, how to clean her dent etc, and then I think on it: cannot be "going to dentist with D" a project? It might be an extreme example... If I have for it a project page, I can keep dentist contact, next visit date, gotten informations etc at the same place. Next time I have that all by hand.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!  

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My ideal planner would be...

I think it doesn't exist.
Lets see what I want, and what planner gives me that.

1. Monthly calendar

It has to be big enough. I'm visual, I love to use my stickers to see what's going on. I got this feature perfectly in the Happy Planner. I think A5 Filo would be also enough, I never tried. In personal, too small, hate it.

2. Weekly calendar

I prefer now the vertical layout, but I'm not sure in that, maybe what horisontal I used hasn't enough structure, and that's why I made it chaotic. In A5 Filofax was too much lines on horizontal, and for me was not enough wide by a day to write in. Happy Planner give me the size. Personal size: too small.

3. Monthly planning

It's ok by any planner I used before, I can add my planner pages in any size. I want to see the big rocks, and having place to distribute them to the weeks. It's ok to having it separate from the other stuff, I take a look on it once a week.

4. Weekly planning

I want to see it somehow together but separated from the weekly calendar. I want it together but separated from the daily planning. In Happy Planner it's not perfect. Projects listed on the left column, but I don't have enough space for all todo-s I want to listing. So I added a list paper in the middle, what is disturbing, I would like to see the whole week at a glance. It is the same thing with the page marker. How could I have the page marker and the todo list make at the same time visible and invisible? :D I don't want to flip to my todo list. I want to keep it at the week - see? It seems to be impossible. But I write here, who knows, you can give me a good idea! In personal I had enough place, and made a fold out, what was not bad, but also not good. Somehow I didn't checked the list, I don't know why. It wasn't simple to write on it.

5. Daily planning

I want to keep it together with my weekly planning and calendar. Mission impossible (or I didn't found the way). When I have do2p in personal I felt it so separate, I have seen only that day. But what I do today is influenced what I will have tomorrow...
What I need here: place for time schedule, visual! To do list, notes. But I don't want to copy events always from the weekly calendar, it is wasting time. I don't want to write tasks to the schedule, but I hate leave unused space on the schedule it is paper wasting. I need different amount of space every day for notes. When I had do2p in personal size, I often left the whole note page clear. Wasting paper and place in my planner. I need something more flexible. No idea.
Size: personal was for daily's perfect, A5 was too much, also do1p, in Happy Planner: no way a whole page for a day, would be crazy. I'm experimenting now, how to use the weekly layout for daily planning too. I would be happy for pictures in my Facebook group how everyone use a system similar to Happy Planner. Not nice decorated ones, they distracts my attention. Functional ones. I'm hesitating to create Chronodex stickers for the schedule, they would be left me enough space for planning, but it might be too small. Notes aren't solved in Happy Planner. Maybe Post its. But where to keep them?

6. Notes, infos, tracking

Is not a big deal, I can solve it in any planner.

7. Size

I want to keep all stuff together. What exactly? Minimum my calendar to bring with me, giving the opportunity to make appointments. Have place to take notes, and some very important informations always with me (as insurance numbers). I used for a while for this reason my Filofax Pennybridge as a wallet plus monthly, weekly calendars and note papers. But I didn't liked to have that separate my "planner planner" :D So adding to the minimum: weekly, monthly planning and more infos, tracking items. I make lot of notes and I love to keep lot of informations with me. What makes my planner bulky. That's why I bought the Kikki K medium, which has 30mm rings. Too bulky. Why have all planners soooo bulky covers??? Paper is already enough bulky. Plus point to the Happy Planner: no cover only that laminated paper. If I could solve everything in the personal size - or pocket... hmmmm, I would be so happy! The Happy Planner is too big always to bring with me! Also the A5 Filofax - it seems to be bigger because of the cover. I might try again the Domino... It has no pockets.

8. Bound

I love much more the rings as the disks! I'm thinking sometimes about the Traveller's Notebook, but that I can't give anywhere an extra sheet held me back. Plus it is also small, isn't it? And laying flat is a must. I keep my planner always open next to me.

Conclusion

I think, I covered all things here.
My ideal planner would be a Filofax Finsbury Pocket,
which can keep a lot of paper without turning too bulky
with a Happy Planner size monthly planner
with some magic a big weekly and daily view together.

OK. If you see somewhere my ideal planner do not hesitate to share with me! :D

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How to build your perfect planner system? Week 8: Monthly planning

Did you finished the exercise from last time? We will not continue with that this week, because it's time to make the first monthly plan. But we will work on goals next time.

What to do?

I don't need to say too much, you should know quite well what planning means. Take a piece of paper and your monthly calendar (or weekly, if you have only that).

Take a look into it, what you have up to? Trips? Deadlines? That will give you the frame in you can plan. Start listing the running projects you want to working on the next month. Think about those things you have to do every month. When? If you have deadlines in that month, what do you need to finish? To the projects/tasks have deadline it worth to write the deadline too. After this mixed list, prepare 4-5 part on your paper for 4-5 weeks. It's depends on how you want to think on a month. I don't like to plan for 1-30(31) days of a month, I plan for whole weeks. My August starts on 3th. Where to place half weeks? Decide! So, for August I have only 4 weeks. I wrote to the weeks some important things I have to remember - only that what influences how much time I will have to deal with my stuff. Like: trips, important events (school starts!). Now portion out to the weeks your task taking into account your framing events. Do not plan too much if you will be away from home... 

This skeleton will help a lot by the weekly plans!

Homework for next week

Make your monthly plan for the next month. Try to stay realistic! I would be happy to see your plans in the From Chaos to Order Facebook group! Keep planning the week and the days too.

Next week we will continue with the goals.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!  

Find here the whole series.

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