If it’s one thing I’ve learned over my years of planning and having planners, it’s that there’s no one thing that works all the time. Sure, planning is a learning process but it’s also a process of adaptation. For a long time, I thought I need to stick one format for a year or for few months at least before it worked and then I realized that’s not true. My work and life changes. There are some weeks that are crazy busy and some weeks that are just plain busy. And all is thought of how to plan and what’s the best strategy was driving me crazy. So now I’m using a process that I feel is working. Who knows it may change tomorrow?

So, what’s working for me right now. 

I have a Filofax Personal and a Moleskine. Here’s how they work:

The FF personal is what I carry with me everywhere. It has MO2P and WO2P for appointments and dates. A few colored pages for personal notes and budgeting. A pages of reference info I have had for the last 5 years and switch from binder to binder. 

The Moleskine serves as my to-do and notes because I feel it’s more accessible. Every week I list everything that comes to my mind with boxes next to it. I color in the boxes if something is half done, like sending an email. If the item is done, I cross it off, like I got a response and the issue is closed. Every week I will copy across everything I couldn’t get done. 

It’s simple and it’s working. I don’t have to remember codes or anything like that. I run through my list twice or even thrice a day. This way I’m always familiar with my list and I don’t have to fret about missing anything. If anything is urgent or has a deadline I put a box  around the item and put it in my FF weekly. 

True this means having two books open on my desk, but it’s helped me save a lot of headache.