Breaking in my 2010 Planner
I finally wrote in my 2010 planner (a “converted” large Quo Vadis Habana notebook). I mean with ink. Before this, I was using a pencil to write in the planner.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to use this for the rest of the year. I found myself thinking I’m glad I only marked up the first three months of weekly pages. I’ve been feeling intimidated by its smooth white pages. I also didn’t much care for the size (I liked it initially, equating bigger size with more space to write in) which I have found hard to “grab and run”. There was also the rubbery cover that I still haven’t got used to. (Confession – I found myself missing the Moleskine’s rough cover and rough, off-white pages, so I took out a previous year’s M home-made planner to hold and caress.) Plus I’m still not used to the too big space between the lines.
I’d earlier personalised the cover with a sticker.
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I guess it wasn’t enough.
But now it’s all good. I’m keeping the 2010 planner to use for the rest of the year. The change came when I broke the surface of the first set of weekly pages with ink. The previous pencil markings were tentative (and timid) attempts at claiming ownership. Now, I own my 2010 planner. I’m not intimidated by its white pages anymore.
Here are the two pages for the current week (4 – 10 January 2010).
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The weekly layout is the change I mentioned in a previous post.
Reviewing the above week also helped me work out the process of using the pages from now on.
| * | Looking forward, items will be pencilled in on the right “notes” page of the relevant week |
| * | If there’s a date to an item, it will be pencilled into the relevant page slot on the left “planner” page |
| * | During the weekly review, ink will be used to write in comments (completed, next action, etc.) |
| * | As with previous years’ planners, different coloured inks will be used for the different areas of my life (purple – personal, blue – work, brown – family, red – ultra important, etc.) |
I’m glad I got the usability problem sorted out within the first full week of the year.
