Tick Tock Tuesday/Choosing the Right Planner

One of my all time favorite organizing books is Time Management from the Inside Out. Julie Morgenstern is one of my favorite organizing gurus. I first really dug into the whole topic of organization when I checked out her other book Organizing from the Inside Out at the library. I have always been organized, but it was this book that got me hooked!

For our Tuesday time management theme I want to pull out a chapter from her time management book called “Choosing the Right Planner for You”. It’s basically helping you to see if you are a visual/tactile person or a linear/digital type person. Are you wondering what in the world that means?

If you fall into the visual/tactile group then a paper-based planner is most likely best for you. If you fall into the linear/digital group then you will most likely do very well with an electronic planner.

We probably all have a “planner” of some sort. Yours may be a paper day planner, your laptop calendar or post-it notes stuck everywhere. We all need some sort of planner, even if it is just a calendar on the refrigerator door. Learning to write everything down in one place is a great step in learning to manage your time better. How many times have you had to cancel on someone because you double booked? One thing that Julie (doesn’t she have a great name?) points out is that if you have tried using a planner in the past but abandoned it because it didn’t work, then chances are you were just using the wrong planner. She list these three common mistakes:

1. You didn’t pick a planner that was right for you.
2. You didn’t take the time to master its features and make it yours.
3. You didn’t make it the one and only place to record your appointments and to-dos, so you never came to rely on it.

Here’s another quote from her book that I think is very important:

No matter which planner you use, it’s essential that you apply the “select one” rule: making it the one and only place where you record all your activities, appointments, and things to do.

Now, how do you figure out if you are paper or electronic? Here are a few characteristics of each. See which category seems to best describe you.

Visual/Tactile

You tend to remember where on the page you wrote things down.

Your thinking flows most easily when writing things out, pen on paper.

The act of physically writing things out helps you remember them.

In general, you find computer technology cumbersome and time-consuming.

Linear/Digital

Your thinking flows easily from fingers to keyboard.

You can look at one screen representing a day, pr a week, and get events in perspective.

You think in terms of sequence, priority, and chronology, rather than in terms of association or groupings.

You feel right at home with computers or electronics.

So, which one seems to best describe you? Figuring that out is the first step in having success with using a planner. Then remebering to “write” everything down there is the next step.

If you are really struggling with time management and are looking for some more in depth information, I recommend Julie’s time management book. She is really good at breaking down everything and letting you see the big picture.

Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what category you fall in.