Aug
27
The Planner Pad Organizer
Posted under Productivity
In the mail yesterday, I found a direct mail piece promising an extra hour of free time each day if you used the product. Normally, I would throw out this as “junk mail”, but since I am in the business, I went ahead and opened it to see what it was.
Turns out it is a new (to me) paper planner called the Planner Pad Organizer.
I have used nearly every other different paper planner from Franklin, Day Runner, Filofax and Day-Timer. However, I have never heard of this product.
It does have a unique way of planning in that your view is Top-Down and a full week at a time. You begin planning your entire week by listing out the categories you’ll be working. For instance, you’d have a work projects, self-dev., family, and so on. Underneath those headers you’d write down what you want to perform in the period of a week.
Once you finish working in your categories, you’d list your tasks to do for each day. You’d create simple to-do lists.
Finally, you’d move down into the calendar area and make your appointments. The company calls their planning method as a way to “Funnel” your work into more productivity.
To me, it looks like it would be a good spin on the old paper planner methods.
I find it a little strange their mailer didn’t have a business website listed. A simple Google search did reveal they do have one. But it seems like a planner company would be losing a lot of business by not listing their website in their mailers. No?
It seems unique enough I am curious. So if you use or have tried the planner Pad organizer, drop a line and let me know what you think of it. :)
Technorati Tags: productivity, planning, to do, calendar
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Comments
This is a great tool that I used several years ago. It works! Drawbacks are its unique size, lack of goal development sheets (though there are blank pages for you to post your goals), and inability to insert paper (on the spiral bound versions). Advantages are you never lose sight of WIN (whats important now), you think on paper and only once-no transfering notes to your planner, and finally your sense of accomplishment rises as the week goes by- end of week evaluation is a breeze/
It does sound like a good system, one question about the notes.. I take a ton of notes and it doesn’t look like there is alot of room in the notes field. Is there more note areas elsewhere?
Thanks for dropping by and posting :)
Yes in the back are a half dozen or so heavier bond pages. The notebook version might be better though.
Is it possible that this planner advocates a system that plans your life a little TOO much?
I’m vehemently against planning out a daily to-do list more than a day in advance. The odds are too great that, in a flurry of unplanned activity on Monday, the rest of the week will hit the fan and you’ll be turning to liquid paper to correct the misplanned actions of your life.
I’m going to be doing a roundup of a number of different systems later this week on my blog, and I think I’m going to include this little tidbit. Good catch!
Dustin, good point, I usually don’t list tasks until the night before or day of. Worst case scenario, I list them after I accomplish them just so I can check em off.
I use PlannerPad, and love it. I tend to manually reformat the space on the page, as I don’t have a lot of daily appointments– I make my own lists there, but I find the top, where you write out your goals by area: (or Next Actions, if you’re a gtd type) Pure Gold. I use the smaller size and it’s just right.
My Headings are 80% (the stuff that just has to get done), Waiting For, Office Other, Home, Town (stuff to buy) and Garden.
Diane, sounds like you have a good system going with it. Thanks for stopping by and posting your experience. Anyone else?
I love my planner pad! I used to have so much on my mind I couldnt remember everything but now the second I think I have to remember something I jot at the top of my planner pad and then whenever I am planning my week I then take whatever’s important from the top lists and allocate it into a day of the week (next bit down). I rarely use the appointments bit though at the bottom.
I wrote a blog on this a while ago myself - artcascade.com
I have the planner pad & have been using it for about a year - I am in a creative field, so It’s hard sometimes to harness ideas and put them into action. This planner helps A LOT! I write everything that I think of down in one place now & it has helped so much to be able to compartmentalize my tasks & ideas (they tend to flow to the middle section too) so that I can delegate some items & prioritize. I tend to use the top parts more than the appointment section - but find the space appropriately distributed. The only thing that I would love to add is a long term goal section & bigger note section. (The note section is manilla card stock - so it feels like the notes I wish to write there should be of some importance & have longevity - they don’t always- I brain dump) My partners & co-workers some of whom are more logical in thinking, use this plan effectively & cross off tasks & use the triangle effectively.
Tracie, very helpful post. Thanks. It almost sounds like you’ve been to training on how to use it? Or maybe there is strength in numbers with all of your partners using it too…
I thought the note section looked a bit small as well.
Brad- No formal training - I received info on this product the same way you did - through direct mail. The plannerpad just happens to fit my micro-organized/mad-scientist approach to, well, everything. It is helpful that my partners & I have been able to discuss our individual interpretation of this product & apply ways to utilize it that we wouldn’t have alone been able to think of.
I am yet to find a planner that works for me, I am amazed I get things done, but I always have lists and I do tend to get things done, but I know once the planner of my dreams finds me I will add a few peace of mind points to my life. I will have to check this planner out
Great post
You must be one of the ‘lucky’ people who can still remember everything. I was that way in my younger days, but find myself slipping here recently as the demands on my time increase. I assume you’ve tried the classic Covey based planners? That’s how I started. They are good, but then I moved into electronic planning with Outlook and Pocket PC.