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!
After the hard work we are going to give some fun to our planners (if you like it).
You planner don't must be boring!
You don't like the pure planner pages? Everything black and white, only to do-s, responsibilities.
Lot of pages looks like this in my planner
For me is functionality is on the first place, I think, who reads this series, also. Decorating is only an extra. But, decorating can be also functional, let's see some ideas.
I used here: stamps, stamped stickers, stickers, washi tapes for cover not used space, washi to mark holiday, sticky notes, colored pens...
Color coding
Color coding is funny, nice and practical. What to color code? People in the family. Different types of activities (like work, household, relax). Projects - use colors for the tasklist corresponding to the projects. Key areas in your life. Add a color to all values you stated and write your goals, tasks with that color. It makes keeping balance simpler, only take a look if some colors are missing or dominating.
Color coding for appointments: green - I have to go, pink - work, blue - personal, black - I have to know, but I don't have to do anything (my daughter goes to dentist, alone)
Some people don't use color coding, but uses different color pens only to make the planner more colorful.
Stickers
Lot of people uses stickers to make their planner cute - it is not my strength, I cannot show you pictures concentrated about this topic. Just go to Instagram if you want to see something beautiful. But there are also stickers with functions:
Colored dots
I used these before for color coding, when I used only black pen.
Stickers with icons or words, like to do, important, or a car, cloth, etc.
See in use on the second picture
DIY stickers
My favourites! Combined with stamps - colorful and useful. I should make a tutorial for them... Here can you also use color coding! My out-of-house color is green. I try to stamp such activities on green colored stickers.
See in use at the second picture
Stamps
On the border of functionality. More fun. It takes lot of time to use the clear stamps, I know. But once a week, if I have time for it - I do it. Last week I made my daily layout with stamps.
If you create stamped stickers as I wrote before, you can spare time, and "you can have your stamps with you" - in form of stickers. Bring stamps, acrylic blocks stamp sets with you would be crazy idea.
Washi tape
I love them, but I don't use them too much, because it's complicated to take out, I need a scissor too, I want to write quick and go. But it is so nice to use some washi in different places...
At the bottom of a page.
Highlighting a title:
Orders
Separate a part of the paper (like a border).
Mark more-day-events. - See on the next picture.
Cover not used space:
Dashboards, dividers
I'm obsessed with beautiful papers. I have lot of them, I only should know, why... I try to find some clever way to use them. Like a laminated dashboard. It not only nice, but protects the pages too, and...
I use the back to keep post its on it.
When I use dividers, I make it myself. It could be more sophisticated, some people use more papers, washis, project life cards and other stuff to creating their dividers, I only cut to size and laminate them.
Sticky notes
I mostly use the Super Sticky Post it Notes (see on my dashboard), because they are really long lasting. But I love also these colorful too:
Stickies from Happy Planner
Wow, I didn't thought, that I use so much decoration!
Housework for the next week
Make fun or not. Do what you want :)
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!
This time I will be short, I give your more work! :)
You wrote together, what is important for you, and what roles you have. I hope, you could decide what roles you keep, and where you want to change! Now you should build on these goals.
Braindump
Even if you don't want to work on something from your lot important things, write all ideas on a paper, what you could do to achieve your goal. It will make easier to set your steps later.
Yearly goals
Take the two above mentioned worksheets, and start to figure out what you want to achieve, connected to your important things. Would you like to live a house (long term goal) instead of an apartment, because for you is important to be near to nature (value)? Create a goal to start looking for houses in the next year ("sub goal"). Living healthy is important for you? Set up a goal to live healthier from the next year. Etc.
Quarterly goals
Think about it, what can you do in the next 3 month?
Monthly goals
And what can you do in the next month? Think small, don't wait too much for yourself! Be concrete! Back to living healthier: write such goals, as: learning about healthy meals - for one month. Leave sugar from our meals - another month. Start exercising - another month.
Be aware to want change your life totally! It is the right way to failure! Change only a few things. If you wrote 10 different important thing in your life, you cannot do for all something in the same month! Pick up one, or two!
Every month, when you do your monthly planning, take a look on this sheet, and see, what you thought to make as a step to get nearer to your goals, and if you want to change it. Plan the steps to your monthly (weekly, daily) plan.
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
After the monthly plan we are back on the topic: what are we doing and why? We do things, but really are those things what are supposed to be? This week I will ask to answer the next questions: what roles you have? What are you doing? Do you like it? Is it important? We tend to want too much, what leads to overwhelming, feeling guilt, being tired, and not doing what is really important for us - like playing with our kids or spend enough time with our husband.
For all people is meaningful to thinking about this question, but an ADD person, like me it's extra, because... I WANT IT ALL AND I WANT IT NOW!
I think this step will be the hardest in the series. Be honest with yourself, and take your time to make this exercise! (If you don't want to go so deep in your soul, skip this week, and let's see you next week again!)
Step 1: What are your roles?
Take a piece of paper, big enough, preferable with grids. Start to thinking about, what roles you have in your life? List them, keeping place between it. I think now bigger things, like: mother, working women, friend, evolving personality... Don't forget the not profitable but pleasurable things too (like the phone player, the knitter).
When you finished the big categories, comes the funny part, to find good working word to the subroles. As a mother I'm chauffeur, cook, listener, organizer, teacher, etc. Give a label for all activities you make. Looking into your archive and to do lists might help!
Step 2: Analyze your roles
Now comes the harder part, the decision.
Write somewhere with numbers the next questions: 1. Meets this with my values? 2. Do I like to do this? 3. Am I good in this? 4. Delegetable?
Write 1-4 as a header of a table to the roles. Think about all subroles. Like: cook: I'm good on it, I'm not happy to do it, delegatable, and absolutely meets my values: healthy food is important for us.
Where 1-2-3 got a check mark, you have to keep them. Mark them somehow, maybe with highlighter. Let's take a look on the others. 1. Don't meet with your values - then why are you doing this? Delete. 2. You don't like it. Two options here: have you opportunity outsource it? Hire a cleaning lady? Make cleaning together with the family? Order lunch? Make a "business" with someone: I do it for you, you do that for me? Try to find a solution to delegate this "role". Or a part of it. Not only other persons can help. You can buy a vacuum robot also if you hate vacuum. Be creative! Unfortunately there are some things what you can do and nobody else. You don't like it? C'est la vie. Life is hard :D Learn to live with them. 3. Your are not good in this. Try to delegate also if it is possible. As knitwear designer I have so much roles, where I'm not good... Keep track of things, marketing, administration. I was searching until now someone to delegate these things. It looks like, I found someone! I will have more time to make creative work - what my strength is.
You can share things with others, even if you like it, to spare time. My little daughter and her best friend are going to a gym. One week brings her mother both kids, on the other week I bring them.
Homework for next week
Do this exercise. Find enough time without any distractions. See what roles are good for you, meeting with your values, makes you pleasure, or inevitable. Keep them and try a solution all the other ones.
I plan to make this first alone, then discussing with my husband. I'm so excited! Keep for the next week by hand, when we will working on our 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!
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!
I think planning is going well already in daily basis, isn't it? What are your experiences with the reviews? I hope you don't forget them!
It's time to make a step back and take a look on a larger picture. What is your purpose in life? Why are you doing what you are doing? Are those tasks really those what you should do? Or here would be something else? Hard questions, I know. But if you want to plan your life, you have to answer (for yourself only of course :)).
Do some brain dump
1. Take a piece of paper (large enough) or the Values Worksheet, and try to write values come to your mind, which are important for you. Like these:
Health
Family relationships
Work
Personal development
Independence
etc
Don't care about the order for now!
The most importants
Choose maximum 10 from above, which are the most important. To all of them write 3-5 things you can do get closer to your goal. Every little thing is count! This is braindump, don't take care about silly ideas also! Write it down!
Mind map
Now try to make a sketch as a map - what belongs to each other?
In a few days I will send out my next Newsletter including a worksheet doing this exercise!
Homework for next week:
Make this exercise, we will use it later! Make the next weekly review too. The monthly is also not far away.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!
How was going with planning? Hard to find the best way, isn't it? Don't worry, keep trying other structures. (If you didn't done yet, read the last post here.) Today is time to take a look on what happened on the last week.
What is a review?
Shortly: checking what you accomplished and what not. Decide what you have to do next. You can download my printable review checklists here.
Daily review
You have to make it every day. The ideal way would be to make it at the evening, but some (as I) make it at the morning. Planning takes time. But also save too. Schedule a planning session for every day! 15-30 minutes, you will see how much you need.
What to do?
Take a look into your calendar, what appointment will you have? You might prepare something for it. Block out this times in your daily schedule. If you need to travel, block out the traveling time too! I make it like this:
Out blocked time helps you to decide how much tasks you can plan for the day.
Check yesterday. What tasks aren’t finished? Copy it. You don't have to move them for the next day, decide, when you want or have opportunity to make them.
Higlighted tasks are done, x-d are cancelled, marked with arrow is moved forward.
Check your weekly plan. What tasks are what you want/must do today? Write on your task list.
Clean up your inbox. What should I write here? You know, what to do. If not, read it here!
Make the plan. If you schedule your tasks, make it now. You don’t have write task by task to the schedule, you can write also “bigger” things, as email, work, calls, etc.
Set reminders for appointments. If you tend to forget to leave, use a calendar on your phone (I use Google Calendar), and set reminders. You can set for your working sessions too if you wish.
I took a video once how I did my daily review. Watch it here.
Weekly review
Schedule for it 30-60 minute weekly. When? Friday evening or at the weekend - if you have possibility for concentrate work or Monday morning.
Clean up your inbox if it not cleaned yet.
Check your Friday as by the daily routine.
Check your weekly planner - decide what to do with the unfinished things. Move them, cancel them or move to someday section.
Check your monthly planner. What have you planned for this week?
We didn't talked before recurring tasks (coming soon :)), but it is on the downloadable print out… Write these tasks into your days (like Monday: laundry, Wednesday shopping)
Tracking list: coming soon. :) If something generate a task here, write it to the weekly tasks.
Check your calendar. What deadlines you have? Write appointments to the daily pages. You can do it now, for the whole week, or on daily basis. When you write all at the same time you can better plan your week, you see, on what day you have more time to do your stuff.
I took a video once how I did my weekly review. Watch it here.
If you make it regularly you will never miss a task you wanted but not done.
Homework for next week
Make your first weekly review as soon as possible. Schedule time for the next today. Do your daily reviews from now every day! Don’t forget to schedule time for it. You might write down how much time you need.
Is your Inbox already cleaned? Great job! No? Keep doing! (Missed the last post, how to do it? Read it now!) Long term goal is to empty it every day. I hope you are not frightened about the hundred's of tasks you collected already! It’s time to decide what to do! If you don’t have a plan, you can only react on things coming in. You got an email, you answer on it now. Or maybe you forget it for forever. You are cooking, and notice, there is no sugar at home - you are going to buy some. But what if you would have a note on your planner: “shopping list”, with the item buy sugar - before? And you don't fall into the situation, you don't have sugar at home? You see in your calendar, tomorrow is a deadline for something. It is a nice summer day, would be great to go to the beach with your kids. But you can't because you have to finish that thing. But what if you would have done this task before, and you could decide to go to the beach now? Would be great.
Sorry for the lot pictures! But as you can see I love to experimenting with different layouts, I searched through my archive, and share with you a lot of options I used before.
Divider(s)
First, create a new divider for the planning section. You have lot of dividers already, haven’t you? Did you thinking about what order would be good for that? Your choice! It doesn’t matter! I prefer to keep my planning section in the middle of the planner, because I use it the most, and here disturb me the rings the less.
Don’t react, have a plan!
If you don’t have a plan, you are floating and important things can be fall off. If you plan you make the incoming emergency tasks and all others you schedule. You can decide: when to do it? This decreases the stress level.
Plan your week!
Take a look into your calendar: what have you do this week? What appointments do you have? If you have a lot, you can plan less tasks for this week. What deadlines you have? You should check not only the current week, but the next weeks too! (Later you will have make monthly planning too, than will be more simpler to decide, what to do.) Write your tasks on a note paper, called “Weekly plan”, or something like this :) You don’t need to write here action steps, the “big picture” enough. Write “organise summer trip”, “continue bookkeeping” - you will write subtasks to the daily planner pages!
This is the first time I offer you options, try out what works for you!
Must and should
You are not sure how many things you can achieve? Make two column, one for tasks you must do this week. Really must! In the other column anything you want, and hope you will do. Do not schedule the days now, make it every morning.
What you need and where you will be?
Group things what you can do with something - as your computer or somewhere - as home or away from home, office, etc.
Schedule all tasks for the whole week or not?
When your life is predictable, and you know how much time a task will need to accomplish, you can schedule your whole week in one planning session. Take into account, on which day how much appointments you have!
Half scheduled - half open
Write tasks you must do on a certain day only on the daily page, and list all others to the weekly page.
Weekly must do-s on fold out, and only a few tasks on the daily plan.
After weekly planning: plan your day!
Take one daily planner page for all days. You can choose do1p or do2p (day on one or two pages). If you use 2 pages for a day, use one for planning, and the other for notes, extra informations, journaling...
Some options:
List everything what you want to do
You might write this way too much, what can be frustrating. Hard to prioritise. Benefit: if there is nothing very urgent and extremely important, you can choose task matching your mood. What you didn’t done today, you will make tomorrow. One more contra: you have to rewrite the undone tasks.
Schedule
If you are good in predicting how much time you need for a task: make a timeline, and write the tasks in your timeline. Do not forget to schedule breaks! This is a very effective way to planning, but it’s hard. Who knows how much time need finish something? :)
Here I scheduled only that hours, when it is possible to work.
Here I scheduled the whole day.
Plan blocks
If you are working home, is more important, as you are working in office. Plan concrete timeframes for “housework” “kids” “work”, but for work can you define also sections, as “daily routine” (read emails, write blog, etc), “planning”, a big project, deal with little tasks, calls, etc. Make it visual! Have places on your page for this things. Or: use color coding. If you use this sections plus a timeline also - block out your time!
3 lists: work, chores/kids and calls. In schedule the blue is for personal/family time.
Here I used color coding to tell apart the different things. Orange is family, pink is work, blue is social media.
Block tasks for morning and afternoon.
Make two list for must and should
I wrote To Do instead of should, I don't know why
Extra picture:
Left side my weekly plan with must and should, right side the daily, with blocks on post its, scheduled with the same color on the timeline. The daily plan is designed that way you can punch both side, so next day you will have the daily plan on the right side again. When you used both side, remove it, than the actual daily plan will be again next to the weekly plan.
Homework for next week(s)
Make your first weekly plan. Start to experiencing with the weekly and daily planning ideas! The best you take grid paper now and use your liner. Try out, what works best for you? Choose which calls you, use it for a week, and change if you think. Combine the ideas, what I wrote, or find new one - share your ideas with us! You know already what you need? Browse on internet for more daily inserts!
You feel that a daily page is too much for your needs? Do not care about it NOW, make it. Later you will have the opportunity to leave it.
How much from the weekly and daily pages should you have in your planner?
Two-four from weeklies, and one or two weeks from dailies. You can remove the whole week after you done your weekly review (later post), and place a new week. This way you won’t have too much planning pages in your planner.
Next week you will do your first reviews (weekly and daily)!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!
