So, this past weekend, I bought a planner. Not one of these lightweight plastic-sleeved one-year calendar size-of-a-checkbook doohickeys, I went all Franklin-Covey. I spent about 10 minutes in Target just staring at these things debating the merits of a huge planner vs. one that I need a microscope to view. In the end, I got the microscopic-sized one (okay, it’s the “medium” one, but I still need a freakin’ mechanical pencil to actually fit things in boxes. BAD UI DESIGN, FRANKLIN-COVEY).
The trick with a planner is actually using it. I respond well to organization, though, so I know I’ll use it. Actually, it’s pretty unusual for me not to have one, but for some reason I just fell off the organization bandwagon the past year (I had a checkbook-sized year calendar, okay?).
I was on the phone with Delara outside my office building today, a call that was purely social, and I found myself wondering, “Where’s my planner? I want to write this down.”
Hm. Next time.
Tonight I’m in our studio/office/spareroom and I’m finding scraps of paper that need to be written in an actual address book (which my fancy new planner has, all tabbed out and everything) and I’m like, “Where’s my planner?” I’m sending an email to a friend about dinner next week and thinking, “I should look at my planner to see what’s happening.” Now, if my brain is so ready to record everything that’s going on, why is there this weird resistance to writing stuff down? Where the hell is my planner? Whydo I keep thinking I can remember stuff that I know will fall out of my brain in the next minute?
I really want to have a simple life, really I do. At my job, I strive to write simple CSS and kill all tables I’m commanded to kill. At home, I love to eliminate clutter. I love throwing stuff away. I love putting things in the recycle bins. I love wearing shoes without laces. And you know what? I love the idea of not having to carry a purse around, but frankly, that would throw me into disorganization, and that would suck. But still, it would be nice to not have a permanent knot in my shoulder from carrying around the bare necessities. Stupid purse. And now, stupid huge planner that I already can’t live without. I have to face this decision: life without organization, or live simply. I don’t think I can have both. Is it even possible?
I am OBSESSED with my planner. If it is not around, I a) feel naked and b) am in big trouble. Oh, and I had to get a larger purse to accomodate a planner with enough space to write. It’s a blessing and a curse I suppose. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I lost it. How else would I know about that dentist appointment 6 months from now? I guess life goes on.
I have a planner from 1993 which I’ve barely used. :)
The thing is, how in the WORLD did I ever think I could live without a planner? I used one religiously every year that I was in any kind of school system. I had great pride at the end of each year in high school when I leafed through the thinning pages of my planner, bespeckled with stickers and gel pen drawings and English assignments. In college, I went all *leather* and used the hell out of it until it was discontinued. I guess when I got a “real job” I thought using Outlook could replace it until years went by and I became so jaded that…I started to really suck at remember things. But now, NOW! Kristy. I am totally there with you.
Do the people using Outlook also have a PDA?
Using Outlook as my exclusive planner (with no portable device to sync with it) has gotten me into more trouble than it’s worth over the past couple years. I have appointments drop off the face of the earth, or that I never manage to enter, and have double- or triple-booked myself thrice in the past two months. It sucks having to apologize to people and back out of promises because of my inability to keep my schedule organized. Not to mention the fact that I’m always telling people, “I’d love to, but can you wait til tomorrow when I get to work and check my calendar?”
I think it is possible to have a simple life and live without a planner. If
a) your usual attire is a loin cloth
b) you are Henry David Thoreau
c) you live in a van
d) down by the river
e) your next meal will consist of breast milk
f) all of the above
Oh my God. G! Thank you, I feel totally validated not only by your amazingly on-target multiple choice answer, but by your problems with your outlook-only calendar! I had the same problem, and every time I got too reliant on Outlook, I would switch to paper and bam–problem solved. The only thing that sucks about that is that you have to carry around your calendar EVERYWHERE (fortunately, it’s not likely to get stolen because it’s completely worthless). And Ez, I think PDA’s are too much hassle for me, I know they are tiny and smart and all that, but I’m much more likely to do something if I write it down rather than plug it in. There’s something in me that sees a PDA and screams THIS IS A GADGET and I think that there are more effective tools out there for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have adjust my loin cloth (can girls even have those?), walk all the way through the woods, and return to my van down by the river so that I can have a nice breast milk coctail before passing out.
I’ve found that I use my outlook calendar a lot (work stuff esp for meetings) and every day I grab my planner and sync them so that my paper calendar matches my Outlook one and vice versa. Its really the only way for me to stay sane.
I carry a giant bag and have recently become tired of it…but I NEED EVERYTHING WITH ME OH MY GOSH WHAT IF I FORGET SOMETHING?! haha.
It’s definitely possible to have both. I do!
i don’t have a planner. i don’t have a pda. i have a gmail calendar. and i have a little notebook i keep in my bag. i write little “i’d like to remember this” notes in the notebook, i keep little pieces of paper people give me in the small pocket in the back of that notebook, and i enter ALL appointments into the calendar. i am ALL for “keep it simple.” do it.
My blackberry tells me all i need to know about appointments. And syncs with outlook. All i need now are appointments to enter……
Today I was introduced to Google Notes. I think my life is truly complete now.
You know, I used to be all about calendaring, and I had a planner which eventually I ported to a pda. Then for reasons unbenownsted to me, I stopped doing it. I stopped writing down all the stuff and the little notes and syncing my pda and worrying about all that stuff. I guess now I just don’t have that much going on to require a calendar.
It was incredibly freeing.
Granted, I use my outlook calendar at work so that other people don’t schedule me for times when I’m already devoted to something else, but that’s just at work and just for work stuff. I also carry around a little notebook to satisfy my list making impulses, but other than that, I’m able to remember all the stuff I need to remember and still function in society (as well as a geek can, anyway).
How have I managed to live without a planner for the past year? My Palm pilot got stolen and in a grumpy act of self defeating defiance, I refused to get another one, and I KNOW I won’t carry around a giant hefty planner b/c that would require a huge Persian lady purse (which my sister Shadi and apparently Sholeh, have embraced despite their youthfulness), and that is SO NOT MY STYLE. I haven’t missed any appointments or forgot anything superimportant yet. My outlook planner, which I also don’t think has a great UI, BTW, I sync manually with my cell phone about once a week or so (there’s no high tech cable or IR sync capability – I just reenter everything into one or the other, thus doubly reinforcing the appointments). I also use a mental next day planning exercise before I go to bed (and have been known to scramble out of bed to check my computer calendar if what I vaguely remember is not in my cell phone).
But I do remember the feeling of satisfaction, Lacey.
“I actually did a lot of stuff. I am busy and productive and organized and polished.” But really, even with a planner, I think I’m just busy. REally busy.
I have none of these things. And I dont forget. Its weird, but I just dont forget. And thanks to the TSA, I dont even have a watch. In fact, before having my watch stolen, I had ceased wearing it on most occassions becasue it made me so agitated that I would look at it obsessively, even when I knew I didnt have to be anywhere or do anything. Call me Henry David from now on, but I just dont feel the need for these things.MMmmm…breast milk.
I heart Google Calendar (with the ability to have THREE calendars – Delara’s, mine, and “Marchbank Enterprises”).
I heart my Crackberry. When I’m not hating it.
I heart Delara.
15 days. I can’t believe it. We had a strange day together today, and yet, there was a moment when I looked at her, and well, I fell in love with her all over again. Yeah, there’s a really good reason I’m marrying her. :)
Oh crap, I just missed a meeting….. I’ll see you guys later.
I use my phone for important personal meetings (Dr. apointments, concerts, and other events in which I need to be somewhere). I use my google calender for other personal things such as birthdays and other important dates to remember. Then I use outlook at work for all my work stuff. It’s a good system that works really well.
I’m currently looking at my computer monitor which has quite a few sticky notes on or around it with things/apts. to remember. Ever since I graduated from college I have resisted the need for a calendar. I guess once I didn’t have to juggle school, shows, work and play I thought I didn’t need one. But my apartment has become crazy with scrappy bits of paper all over the place and I spend my time going “do I still need this? What was this for? Who’s number is that??” …So I finally relented and bought myself a mini calendar for the purse. Because some of the big things JUST NEED TO BE WRITTEN DOWN. sigh. I resisted as long as I could.
Sidenote: Pat, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. Thanks. Again.