Choosing the right planner - calendar for you

Using a calendar / planner is critical to getting things done in a productive way.  Mike St. Pierre is writing a series on choosing a planner. He interviewed me by email for some tips!  Here is what I wrote him...

I find that choosing an organizer / planner is very dependent on a person's style and how much effort they are willing to put into it.

Myself, I'm pretty techy, so I use Outlook. I customized a template to suit my needs, print it out 3 months at a time and keep it in a binder to take it with me. When a page gets messy I reprint it! I program all my regular appts and reminders like birthdays in it. I can also use it to send appt's to my husband and colleagues who are also on Outlook. It's perfect for me.

I used to use www.PlannerPads.com which is excellent. Everyone I know who has used them loves them. It is great for people who want a simple and flexible system with a week at a glance. Another new and innovative calendar that a lot of moms like is at www.BusyBodyBook.com Also see www.thinkbin.com

Tips for Staying Organized

#1 Avoid having more than 1 calendar! Put everything on one.

#2 Use your calendar mainly for events and appointments. Avoid using it as a To Do list unless there is a special section for the To Dos. Just block out time to work on your To Dos!

#3 Keep a Master To Do / Project list and only have 5-10 things on your daily To Do list so you don't have to keep re-writing them. Keeping a To Do or Action Notebook is a great way to avoid having to re-write your To Do's and never lose those little pieces of paper. You can stick your post-its right in the book!

#4 Take 10 minutes to review your calendar and updates To Do's in the evening. Check your calendar several times a day.

Read other entries in his series here. 

Comments

[gr8face]

This is a problem I have every year. I never seem to find just the right calendar.

[sharon]

Hi, my first post. yippee. but i'm sorry it is not so much about the calendar article, which looked great, but about the sponsor next to the article. With such a large blink, it was hard to stay focused on the article. It's good that adds get attention, but not at the expense of the article.

looking forward to reading more!

[sharon]

ah ha! Your screen lets me squeeze out the moving parts (sponsors) while I'm reading. I just grab the corner of my screen and pull it over. excellent.

[Ariane Benefit]

Okay!!! I'll see what I can do about getting non-blinking sponsor graphics. Thanks for the feedback!

Best,
Ariane