I think it takes any of us a while to figure out who we really are. We all know by a very young age, what we like and what we don’t. But, to come to terms with what kind of personality we have, is a different story altogether.

Over the course of the last few months, I’ve come to realise my planner personality. I had been using a Personal Filofax for a long time. Rummaging through my things, I’ve also found 2 A5s that I used at some point and then again an Original A5 towards the end of last year. I’ve also found several day per page diaries, ring-bound A5 notebooks, 2 A4 notebooks, 2 pocket filofaxes and several Moleskines in various formats.

This is as much as I can remember of my planning journey over the last 10 years, which also constitutes my work life. Throughout this time, what I have used the longest is my Personal Filofax (or it’s equivalent in an LV) and the A5 ring bound notebooks. This year, I have tinkered with a Moleskine (which didn’t work) and very recently I bought a Midori. I quickly realised the Midori is not for my line of work. I work in Banking and the Midori simply doesn’t have a place at work there for me (a separate blog post on that). So each time, I kept going back to my Personal Filofax. Which made me realise, yet again, “if it ain’t broke why fix it”.

So now, I have finally found my planner personality. I am a Personal Filofax girl! Why does it suit me? Let’s see….

  • It’s a size that I can carry around in my bag when I’m out on client meetings
  • It’s big enough for me to write notes since I usually write in bullet points any way
  • I love the versatility of the pockets where I can just stuff scraps of paper
  • The week on two pages is good enough that I can write down what I need to do each day and what client meetings I have attended
  • I can carry out essential phone numbers
  • I can carry around my favourite family pictures
  • I can carry my favourite pen
  • I can take out pages at my will

Anything smaller than a Personal never occurred to me since the diary would be too small. I’ve used a compact but it just gets too difficult to write on. The A5 is lovely and if I had just a desk job, oh it would be my planner of choice. But every time I’m at a client’s office, pulling that huge A5 out of my bag just becomes annoying. Worse still, is pulling it out at other places… at the store, at the doctor’s office, etc. I still have a Moleskine cahier that I use on occasion when I know I need to take extensive notes. It’s not thick and it’s not heavy so mostly I can carry both if I need. But the Personal Filofax, is my thing. It feels good to finally realise what works for me after all these years. Nirvana……

 

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