A Month Without a Paper Planner

Hello everyone! Happy Monday!

It’s been about a month since I decided to move from a paper planner to a cloud based system, so I thought I’d give a little update about how it’s working.

It surprisingly wasn’t as easy as I had thought. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I actually went through a bit of paper planner withdrawal which is a bit scary to be honest. There were definitely days where I wanted to have a planner with me {for what reason, I don’t know. I didn’t have anything to write in it, and I wasn’t going to use it. I just wanted to have nearby.} There were also days {or weeks…} where I scanned Flickr, Pinterest, and Youtube for planners, and Philofaxy’s Webfinds are still a staple in my blog reading. I’ve just kept reminding myself that it’s all in my head.

I guess the most shocking thing, after I got the whole withdrawal thing out of the way, is that it actually worked! I did have to tweak Things a bit, but I’ve probably gotten more done this past month than I have in a while. I think a big part of the issue was that before I got rid of the paper planner, I had things scattered everywhere. Some tasks were in Things and others were in my planner, so I was never really using one system fully. Now everything is in Things and Google Calendar. I only have one place to check, and I only have it put it there once.

I’m not sure what the future has in store for my planning situation. Clearly going all digital works for me right now, but I still have some weird attachment to paper planners even if I don’t seem to use them.

Should I decide to go back to paper planners, my next experiment will likely be a Filofax Flex sort of set up with a monthly notebook and either a weekly or daily book that I’d use to implement my Bullet Journal + Life Mapping combo. Size and colors and books are all still up in the air.

Thankfully, for now, I have a system that works. I’ll be sticking with it at least until the end of the year {mainly for my wallet’s sake}.

Signature Update

Brainstorming: Bullet Journal + Life Mapping

Hi everyone!

This is going to be a really quick post because I just had to share this with you all before I forgot it. I’m a sucker for anything planner, or stationary related. Today as I was reading through a mix of reviews of Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal system followed by DIYfish’s Life Mapping Planner post, I had an idea.

You can use just about any journal with the Bullet Journal system, but I can bet most people are using a grid notebook. What else uses grids? The Life Mapping system…

Why not merge the two by using DIYfish’s index system with the Bullet Journal to have the Bullet Journal’s super simple system with an easy way to find everything using the Life Mapping index. Using both gives you the option to rely on the Bullet Journal’s index with page numbers OR flipping through to quickly find things via the Life Mapping index. More is better right?  It’s also a fun and useful way to add some color to your Bullet Journal.

I’m really drawn to both these systems, and despite moving away from paper, they’re calling to me now that I’ve come up with this idea.

Do you use the Bullet Journal or Life Planning systems? {Or maybe both?} Let me know. I’d love to know how it works for you.

Signature Update

P.S. One critique of the Bullet Journal is that it doesn’t handle forward planning. I’ve been toying with the idea of setting mine one up from the beginning with monthly spreads at the front and using the rest of the pages afterwards for the daily notes which will allow me to have pages to track future events and tasks.