How work together my paper planners and Google Calendar with my apps?

If you didn't read my last post about how I use Todoist and Evernote - do it now first!
While the apps help keep me on track, with automation, reminders, quick collecting, I also need for planning the paper and pen. When I use them, I think differently, more deeply.
The whole planning system is like a zooming process.

Year

The farthest picture is the year for me.
I filled out the Powersheets - what helped me to crystallize my goals. But I don't really use the monthly sheets, I just read my goals through every months.
For my work I made a yearly plan (you can take a look on it in this video, by about 8 minutes). Both are written.

Month

I made a separate monthly calendar booklet for myself for the year. At the beginning I wasn't sure, if it is a good idea, but I needed more ring space, so monthlys has to be removed. I'm very satisfied with this solution. (For next year - advice for myself: use thicker paper! :)) This calendar is, where every time related things arrive. It lives in my main planner's pocket. I synchronize this with the calendar in my pocket - but only those things are going to my pocket what can influence appointments - "give pocket money for kids" is in A5 but not in pocket. When I'm on the go I bring only the pocket with me. If I have to make an appointment in my pocket, I don't write it on paper (I would forget to copy), I write it on little post it note, and that stays there until I didn't copied (I have a task in my daily review "check pocket".)
For work I have also monthly calendars, where I write deadlines, and plan out on what day on what big thing I will concentrate.

Week

When I do my weekly review, I copy all events to the Google Calendar, because I need reminders. Every new item in Google Calendar goes automatically to Todoist (with IFTTT), so I can see them in more place (sure, what sure). 

Day

The daily focus from the monthly plan goes to the daily page - what I also need to write. Even if I have my little tasks from Todoist... I copy my tasks from Todoist to my daily page! Not all, but most of them. I need to plan out, in which hour I do what. (Not too detailed, but like "daily routine", "write xy pattern", "phone calls", "little things".

It might be a little chaotic... A little summary:

Tasks are collected in Todoist. They are scheduled there according to paper planning. Tasks are copied to paper planner (daily pages).

Other stuff are going to Evernote. (Templates, routines, archive, supporting materials, project infos - no tasks! Pending items)

Appointments are going on paper planner, and are copied to Google Calendar.

Time-related items (my kids have today a sport competition - when, where, what they have to have.... - are going as a photo into Todoist [TICKLER] "project". 

All real planning happens on paper. Almost all information keeping happens on computer.

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More-and-more planning in apps (Todoist and Evernote)

My planning system is a Frankenstein :) I had Evernote since years, but I didn't used it too much. But as I saw a lot Todoist/time management videos, I learned about Evernote too, and started thinking on, how I could use it, how I could organize my stuff in it. I love the idea going paperless: I want to scan all my documents, and toss as much as possible (contracts of course not :)).
How my system works now?

Todoist

Todoist keeps all my to do-s. Every little thing, and big recurring things too. I organize them into big groups, like: work, family, personal, and I have some "extra", like to buy - I shared this with my husband, I write here the shopping list, he can go with his phone shopping and check them out.

I'm not sure yet, what is best for "tickler" stuff - keep them in Todoist, or Evernote. Future events have documents with informations, and I want a reminder for them. Keeping document is better in Evernote, but getting reminders from two places? Not sure I want this.

Evernote

Whatever I can think on, goes to Evernote. Files, archives, ideas, emails forwarded... I have here something "GTD like" organization. Inbox: where everything arrives - if I wouldn't do like this, I would forget tagging stuff. Planner keeps planning tools, like review templates. Projects for 3 main part of my life: work, family, personal. For work I keep two stack: active and inactive projects. Filing cabinet keeps documents, without grouping. Saved recipes, documents, notes, infos saved from the web, etc. Pending is for... pending items :D Like orders (I just forward the email what I get...), and other things I'm waiting for. I check this weekly, and archive what is not any more pending. Archive is for archived projects.

Evernote keeps also my reviews. This is really genial: I can write in the same note to do-s, instructions, place to write, and files. Why I don't keep these todos in Todoist? Because like this I can go through my review in one place! This is my weekly review note:

First the reflection for the past week: I finished these, list of tasks: like process inbox in Todoist and Evernote. That was great, and not so great, and journaling, if I have any thoughts I want to write.

And tasks for planning the next week:

And take a look on my daily review, here comes the best part - this note contains files too. I created my weekly chart in excel - and the data copies entries into yearly chart automatically! I could delete the "refresh the yearly chart" todo from my weekly review.

And how it works together?

In Todoist I have a task "daily review" - ok, go to Evernote, copy the daily review template, fill out, done. Next please.

In Todoist I have a task: work on project xxx pattern. This can be a little bit complexer. For a project in Evernote I have more notes - one for the whole projects, with informations about timeline, deadlines, and internal links for all related notes, like Pages document, where I write the pattern. I have a note for "supporting files".

And I also have tasks in todoist in that project. This is because I can add a task to Todoist with only one keyboard combination. When I check my test thread and I find a mistake I have to correct, or just have to do: cmd+shift+a - and the task created in Todoist inbox. When I process the Inbox the task goes to the project. For this tasks I don't place a reminder! I have just one for the project. I go to that project tasks list, and working on them.

This post starts to be too long, so I stop here. And maybe next time I write about how comes to picture my planner and Google calendar - because here are also changes...

It might be confusing, please ask if you want to know more about anything (don't ask how to make things in the apps :) I can give you links, ok... :D)

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My love-hate relationship with my planner

Yesterday evening I couldn't fall asleep. I took out two days from my planner. I didn't took any look in it. This not means I didn't done anything. I made the laundry, and I worked a lot on a pattern. I love to work like this. Only one (or two things), for a long time, and not care anything else. But unfortunately my life can't work like this. I need my planner to keep me on track.

I'm obsessed with all planner stuff, planning and time management methods. I'm spending lot of time to read blogs, watching planner videos, making inserts, stickers, dividers for myself.
And on the other hand: I hate everything what is MUST. I feel like my planner want to be my boss and telling me, what I must do. I rebell! I don't want from anyone to tell me, what to do. I want to do what I want to do in the moment. I love to live in the moment. Than I regret it. Because I forget things. Important things for me. Not only I-don't-want-to-do-this like stuff.
Now I have a helper, who comes to me speaking about things how I could do it more better for me (some kind of coaching). She asked me last week, when I talked about my goals: they are really what you must do every day? Yes, exercising is important. But I have maybe 8 goals for this year, work, kids, household, appointments. Stressing myself to do every day something for my goals makes no sense. Sometime I have to concentrate on my work, and leave the morning exercise. Or deciding to playing or go out with the kids, and leaving something from my to do list. It make sense, just... confuse me. I get it, not going to shopping today, I can do it tomorrow. But leaving my daily exercise today: I can't do it tomorrow. I have the daily exercise already for tomorrow. I leave it today. Then tomorrow, then I didn't done it any day.

Using my planner is lot fun. I love paper, pens, washis, stickers. And also a big task to keep everything in hand. With my ADHD planning needs extreme high attention (what I don't have), my perfectionism want me to do things too complicated, so I'm searching always the right way to simplify (what gives me more tasks, haha, but tasks I like to do). You won't believe me, but the weekly review takes me maybe two hours! And I don't decorate!

So let's keep fighting with myself!

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The "Next Week" flyleaf

I have this flyleaf already for months ago in planner. It helps me in weekly planning. This is a laminated piece of paper, where I wrote with pen - Frixion users, attention: never write on a piece of paper you want laminate!!! I didn't wanted to spend too much time to designing an insert for this.

What all function the next week flyleaf has?

1. Keeping the weekly review checklist
Everything I have to do on my weekly review is listed here. I can use whiteboard marker to check the points off.

2. A list about our weekly routine

I didn't wrote this on the paper, because it can be change. It's on a post it note. As you can see some stuff is already added to it. Having the family routine by hand by weekly planning is very useful, I don't have think too much, what everything we have, only write them in. The are also recurring appointments and also tasks I have to do on a specific day on the week. 

3. Place for next week's tasks

Sometimes come something into my mind, and I don't want to add to my actual weekly tasks, because I have enough. I also don't want to write to my next week planning page, because I might use a different format (as before I tried so much options, or I just don't want to make it disorganized. I just jot it done here, and I can add to week, when I make the weekly planning. Sometimes works this post it as a master to do list, when I don't write next week something to my tasks, I just leave it here for later. While I have a page marker on the top, I can reach this place very quickly.

4. Pending items

On the back I keep waiting on stuff on post it's. I review them weekly, if it's finished, or have I something to do with that thing. I have also a don't forget post it here just in case :)

What do you think about this useful tool? Would you use something similar? If yes, what elements would you take?

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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Preparing myself for 2016

I don’t write too much, because we are were visiting friends, family, I’m were never alone! It’s amazing and horrible in the same time :) I got my Agendio planner in PDF in email (as a reward for sharing it), and I want to try it out. Even if I decided before to go with monthly and daily pages only. The advantage of having my weekly/monthly routines printed out is huge. 

Having both monthlies and weeklies is not a good option, as I found (too much copying), I needed to remove the monthlies, and making place for my weeklies. I took a deep breath, and removed the a-z dividers also (lot of width), and left only the most important-always have to be with me- type infos in the planner. I will place the rest (they are also very important :P) in an other planner, which will be stay at home. Now I have a Barbie-thin planner :D

I can’t wait to get home and print my weeklies! (Ok, done.) What is left?

The new 2016 main planner setup

1. Landing section

Flyleaf with sticky notes, Inbox, and note papers after the inbox.

2. Tasks 

Lot of master to do lists of creative, declutter, home, etc stuff. (I should do them one day.)

3. Ideas

I use the divider as a container, I removed all of the paper after this, because I will store my ideas in an other planner, I need the space here. That's why are they on sticky notes, I can remove them. 

4. Projects

First the index of the projects, than the project pages with page flags.

5. Calendar

As mentioned, I removed the monthlies, I have here my weeks, not on 2 pages but on 4 pages. I keep a daily insert between the two half of the week (as usual, double punched). This way I don't have to copy my schedule to my daily insert.

I designed a new (100. version…) weekly planner, what I can print on the back of the Agendio pages. (See, Agendio, one more argument for selling the planners in digital form!) At the front: weekly planning, but here I will concentrate first on goals and projects, only after than the tasks. I hope, this way won’t be so overwhelming the lot of tasks. (I've forgot to take a pic in use, so a printscreen here :D)

On the last page I have the weekly review, with my usual checklist, and an opportunity for myself to write done, what I did for my goals, that I can concentrate better on my successes instead on not finished tasks.

6. Infos, notes, etc

That's left:

I miss a little bit my monthly pages, I hope I will be happy without them. I filmed also more about this setup, I will publish it in couple of days.

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Rethinking my life

It's the last month of the year. I started preparing my planning system for the next year:
- printing?
- buying?
- planner inserts?
- planners?

My planned planning system for the next year looks like

1. my main planner will stay my purple A5 Filofax Malden, with monthly pages. I'm not sure in weeklies. I want them, but weekly and monthly is too much. Because a whole year weekly has no place in my planner, I need the monthlies for future planning. I have to figure it out. Plus in this planner: ideas, tasks (they are also ideas, like what I can do if I don't have too much energy), projects and informations.
2. I ordered a month daily planner booklet, I love it so far, and don't disturbs me, that it is separate. Why I ordered this? Because I don't want to use my time for printing and I didn't found any daily insert I would like to have. I also ordered a year day planner spiral notebook, what I got last week and it is only four month. Hahh, you should read first :D I think I will go with the one month dailies after I ran out from the 4 months, it fits into the back pocket of my Filofax. If I start to hate, that it is not an insert, I can cut it out and punch.
3. Business planner: A5 Filofax Malden. Monthly and weekly. Monthlies are not for appointments (because I don't have business appointments :)), but deadlines, planning working times, projects. Statistics, infos, etc in this planner.
4. Your best year 2016 Creative Business Planner. I started to read and fill out this planner for goal setting in my business. I placed the pages into my Filofax Clipbook, without it's monthly and weekly planning pages, I printed out my own monthlies. I can move the actual month always to the Malden.
5. My mental health is important, I will order the Powersheets, whatever it costs to me...
6. Daily Greatness Business Planner

Decisions

Last times I'm lost, what I should do, how my time should be organized. I'm a lot angry with my kids, I'm impatient. I decided, I work in December as few as possible, and spend more time with the kids and finding out what I want and at the end of course, I plan my next year. One question is if I want to write this blog and filming youtube further? On which level? As I see, I can't and want to be a "professional" planner. Too much planning in blogging is not for me, I'm more emotional. If I want write, I write, sometimes to find/make a nice picture for a blog post would be a setback in the way, so I have decide: will be a not so perfect blogpost, or there will be no? I say yes for the notsoperfect :) I hope you too!
I leave at the end, why I started to write this post at all. I got a comment here on the blog, where someone says thanks for me, and I got also a comment on YouTube on a video of mine. You might laugh: two comments can make you happy? And yes, from comments I know, writing this blog makes sense!

I'm say Hello for you. Do you hear me? Do you want me to continue?

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Highly customizable planners: Agendio

For couple of days shared people in Facebook planner groups the Agendio website. I checked it immediately, and was amazed. From 28 November will be available as planner refill.

You can 

- choose from different layouts (monthly, weekly vertical, weekly horizontal)

- give your labels for sections

- customize the sections: checkboxes, lines, etc

- divide your sections into more

- in the vertical weekly layout you can choose if you want a schedule, and if, what time span, add section(s) for tasks

- week start

- choose from different looks of the dates, fonts, colors

This is not bad, but what bought me:

I can add tasks and events, what happens always on a day of the week, or a day of a month, etc. It would spare me a lot of time to writing them in my planner again and again. 

(See here all of the features.)

I already started to working on my version. I need a vertical weekly, I'm living without it for a long time, but I'm missing it! (I just placed couple of original Filofax inserts today to my planner...)

I will go with something like this:

Let's go and try the builder! If you would like also a planner, don't forget to check the promotions here. If you don't find what you want, you can also write to the team!

All images copyright Agendio. 

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How to organize a Christmas Trip?

Yes, yes, a trip. We are living far away from our birth country. This year Christmas days are in the middle of the school holiday and we decided to travel home at the beginning of the holiday and spending Christmas with the bigger family.

1. Create a project page

As so often I was lazy to print out a "real" project planner insert, I just took a notepaper. To write things done.

2. Brainstorming, and decision making

The first step was before the decision, here you can see our brainstorming. We have family meetings every weekend, when we can discuss all family related stuff. We listed here every ideas, what we can do (like: we don't travel home, we celebrate Christmas here, then we travel, etc.), what is the positiv and negativ side of this, then we voted.

3. What we have to organize here?

- Who we want to meet?
- What we want to make?

- When where with/by whom?

- Christmas gifts

4. Than come the tasks

- Create a list about who you want to buy a gift

- Ideas about gifts

- Buy the gifts

- Create a list, what things we have to take with us to others? 

I started this already in summer, I have a notepaper by all month where I can make misc notes. When I was by my friend I promised here that I will give all of my homeopathic meds, because I don't use them, I wrote that to December.

- Find someone who cares about our rats. (done)

- Write everyone, when we come, and when they have time for us.

- Ask appointment to dentist.

- Create a timeline - when-where. For this I just drawn out the whole school holiday time. I don't think it would be worth to plan this in the "normal" monthly calendar. I will copy the outcome to there. Important note: leave time to pack in and out (and recover :D)! Driving a whole day and going to work next day is not a good choice. 

- Book hotel 

- Packing list - ok it is not so urgent, I can do this on the last week.

As you can see, I didn't written so much tasks here, I just know most of it. And I have the task in my planner: review "Christmas Project", when it is coming, I go to the project page, and find out what else I have to do, and write to the weekly page. 

Most of the gifts are bought, other has to, they are listed to my weekly todo list, and some are not found yet, they will be under thinking at the next review :D

This is, how I organize our trip in December. If you have any question or tip, what else I could do, write me a comment (or you know: write me a comment, only because I want to know, someone is reading! :D)

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How to build your perfect planner system? Week 17: Weekly calendars/planner pages

Last week I wrote about the monthly calendars. You had to decide, if you need that and which format. This week's post is about the weeklies.

Do I need a weekly calendar?

You might have only a few appointments - in this case for you can be enough only a monthly calendar. What if you have a lot tasks to do? You can have monthly calendar with appointments, deadlines plus daily planner pages. But if you have more time sensitive stuff to remember, as appointments, deadlines, time-related stuff, or you want to write about a thing more details in your calendar, you will need the weekly calendar too. 

How it works together with the monthly calendar?

Keep a whole year of monthly calendars in your planner (nowadays you can already thinking on buy/print one for the next year, and you might take out some months from the beginning of the year), and only couple of weeks from the weeklies. Depending on, how much place you have in your planner, and how much you plan for the future. I recommend to write to the monthly planner very shortly, without any details, you can keep those informations somewhere else. When the time is near, copy the appointments to the weekly, and write there (or to daily page, if you will use one) the details. Where, with whom, telefon number, what you have to bring with you, etc. If you have a monthly planner for an overview, never, never ever organize an appointment direct to a weekly. You might miss that info from the monthly and get trouble. Even if it is the current week, write that appointment into the monthly.

Weekly calendar layouts

There are so many!

Vertical layouts: Timeline or not?

Having a timeline gives you the opportunity to have a visual reference how you spend your time. (I wrote about by daily planning about time schedule here.) Even if you don't write the tasks to the weekly calendar, you can block out your time for "project 1", "client B", "work by computer" etc. 

1. Let's start with the classic Filofax vertical wo2p. This format can be very helpful, if you work busy, and your work is time sensitive. Appointments, meetings, etc. You can schedule your whole day here. But where to write tasks? Hard this way. You might need to add a daily page or a todo list. as you can see, you have 5 columns for working days, and 2 for Saturday-Sunday, lot of people don't like it, but maybe you don't want to plan anything for the weekend, then why not? This way you have more place horizontally as in the next example.

Original Filofax wo2p insert

2. Vertical wo2p with timeline and tasks. Here you have the same place for each day, plus an extra column for - tasks, thoughts, notes, trackers, etc. But you have less space for a day.  If you have not too much tasks per day, you might prefer something like this instead of using a daily planner.

Source: http://philofaxy.com with permission

You can find this here.

3. Vertical wo2p. I chose here an other format without time, here you have sections for the day. You can find from this format in very very different variations! But. This is not really a calendar! Here you don't have place for appointments! But you can use such format as an addition to the monthly calendar as a weekly planning page. Yes-yes, calendar and planner pages starting to mixing with each other. No problem, you only have to keep in your mind: what is what.

This insert is a free download from MsWenduhh. 

Horizontal layouts

There can be some with more or less structure.

4. The simplest is if you have only the days here, like here:

wo2p horizontal from Filofax

This layout don't give you too much clue where to write what. By this inserts can you also find where you have the same place for all days, or less space for the weekends.

5. Horizontal wo2p with some structure. You might write your appointments to one column, and the tasks to the other.

Weekly calendar/planner from Plannerfun

You can download this insert from Plannerfun for free. 

6. I really like this insert from Filofax Clipbook. Here you have all the days in one side, and 3 columns on the right, where you can add sections, what you want. I used this before for menu planning, social media planning and for misc tasks.

7. If you don't have too much to write (I can't imagine this! :)), you might need only one page per week, like this:

This is a free insert from Xoxojinny.

Unusual formats

8. Here you have boxes for the days:

Free download from Scatteredsquirell.

9. 5 days on one side, weekend on the other side (this is my own insert, not available yet). I like this format, because I can keep my daily insert always on the right side, and I can see all of my working days at the same time.

10. I have seen a wo4p insert in vertical format, with 5 days plus a task list on two page, and on the next page was the weekend, plus maybe notes, unfortunately I don't find it. It was maybe on Facebook or Instagram?

I would be happy to read in my Facebook group, what you chose and why?

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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The greatest menu planner you have ever seen in Filofax - includes recipes

As every family, we have also usual meals. But sometimes we forget them. We also have recipe book - what is hard to use. 

When I wanted to try out a personal size planner, I bought a cheap used Filofax Domino, then I moved out to another planner, and this one stand on the shelf. Why couldn't be this one my recipe book combined with menu planner?

Purple Filofax Domino, personal size

Recipe book

I placed a-z dividers to the planner and I place recipes in this order. 

No categories, only first letter. I think this way is simpler to find the right one.

Menu planner

This is more interesting! I have here month on two pages "calendar". 

Page marker of course kitchen themed :)

And some laminated craft paper, with the names of the dishes. Here I use categories: the color of the flags means: meal, sweet, soup, vegetarian, etc. The dashboards are: quick dishes, complicated dishes, desserts, etc. 

Quick dishes for workdays

Time consuming recipes for the weekends

And we have also a wishlist dashboard, all family member can move here a flag he/she want to eat. It makes me also simpler to choose, first I go here! At Friday I plan for the whole next week and write a shopping list. I have some rules, what also helps, like we eat noodle on Wednesday, we eat chicken at Thursday... I leave the flags on their place for a month or longer for we eat variously enough.

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