Journals, Planners, and Tracking

[thedrake]

I just dropped some coin on a nice journal and weekly planner because my lists and notes are disorganized and not really leading to me stay focused or productive. I bought a Rhodia Webplanner and a Rhodia Goalbook. I'm going to try both out and see which I like best. I'm trying not to buy in to bullet journaling as a solution to all my problems, but looking at my top note page right now I can see how it would be more legible if it was in bullet journal format.

What do you guys use to take notes and keep track of tasks/to do lists?

Rhodia Webplanner https://classicofficeproducts.com/pl...y-planner.html

Rhodia Goalbook https://www.jetpens.com/Rhodia-Goalb...Black/pd/21917

[burban]

I use an At-a-Glance Weekly/Monthly Planner in addition to using my standard Outlook calendar on my computer. I like how I can see the month across two pages and I rarely fill in the individual days unless I have a particularly packed day where I'm moving between courthouses.

I use a plain old 5x8 notepad for daily or weekly tasks. I use Work Flowy, a basic app on my phone (also has a website for desktop use) that is essentially just one long text document, but it allows you to make indents easily to have sub-tasks for multiple things for one client, for example.

I like the tactile sensation of using pen and paper (and who doesn't like crossing items off a to-do list, compared to clicking on a screen?) and I'm trying to get away from being on a screen all the time.

[t.urman]

I've started 2019 with the Get To Work Book. I'm really liking it so far - I tend to schedule one week at a time, but fill in with a lot of to do's. So far, I really like it and I'm still using it after 6+ weeks, so that's a really good sign.

I also do a small amount of color coding, but moved away from that.

For years, I used Quo Vadis Space 24 in the past, but found I didn't always stick to it. Format was OK for me - scheduling, but not for filling in more detail or making to do lists. Worth a look.

There is a whole world of planner geeks out there - just check out instagram.

[thedrake]

Yeah, it's a rabbit hole and one that I'm enjoying so far. I'm definitely feeling more organized.

I've fully bought in to the bullet journal method. Having notes, tasks, planner and journal all in one place and not worrying about running out of space to write works the best for me. There's a little more set up time since you're basically making a planner as you go, but that's part of the process and I think it makes me consider the time I have better. For example, I set up my monthly log for February, wrote out the days 1 through 28 and that made me think, "oh yeah, February is a short month. End of month billing is going to come sooner than you think. Better get ready." Which is a thought that otherwise probably wouldn't have occurred to me until much later in the month if I wasn't setting up a monthly log.

I've decided to use two separate notebooks, one for work and one for personal. The work notebook stays at work and the personal one goes with me everywhere.

Michael's has inexpensive $5 dot grid notebooks if you're looking to try it out for not much money.
https://www.michaels.com/black-dot-j...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

I also have a 4x6 planner and a 6x9 planner that are really nice, but I'm not using them much. I think I'm just going to use the 4x6 planner as a work out log since it fits easily in my gym bag. I'm not sure if I'm going to use the 6x9 planner since it's too big to be really portable and it doesn't have as much writing space as I need to keep track of all my tasks, meetings, notes, etc.

[joekloo]

I have used many, this will confirm my OCD, now I use a large Moleskin that I make every year. I manually draw in a monthly view calendar and have a blank space after for notes. I use the rest of the notebook like a notebook/ bullet journal. This has worked perfectly for me for past few years. Takes extra time to set it up, but the benefits of having exactly what works for me make it worth it.