Organized October—Week 4

As Organized October winds to a close, it’s time to consolidate your planning system. We encourage you to keep your plans, goals, schedules, and daily records all in one planning system, so you can easily remember past events, prepare for upcoming events, and change your plans whenever necessary. We live in a world that is packed with distractions. You’re bound to forget something important if you don’t document your day and plan for the future. That’s why it’s so critical that you carry a planning system with you that is complete and up-to-date.

 

What constitutes a planning system?

First, your planning system needs to work for you and your lifestyle. It should be as mobile as possible, so you can make plans or adjust plans at any time. And it needs to incorporate as many aspects of your life as possible—preferably all of your roles, goals, tasks, contacts, and appointments. Your Franklin Planner is designed to do that beautifully.

 

Paper

Paper is the ideal technology for setting goals and planning the things that matter most in your life. Science has found that writing notes by hand actually sparks more related ideas and imbeds that information deeper into your memory. Reading on paper even improves recall by creating a mental map of the information you read. Paper allows you to draft a big-picture view of your plans with notes, mind maps, sketches, and lists. With paper, you can list your long-term goals, break them down into small, manageable pieces, and review it all at a glance. Because of these unique qualities of paper, your paper planner can act as an anchor for your life plans.

 

However, the world you live in and the people you interact with have several ways of incorporating you into their plans. They may call you and leave a voice mail, text important information to you during business hours, give you a handwritten note, or send an email loaded with questions and requests. It’s essential that your planning system can accommodate these situations as well.

 

Devices

To ensure that your planning system is flexible enough for today’s world, you’ll most likely need to incorporate more into your planning system than just your planner. Your phone is a prime example. Digital devices don’t offer the same advantages as paper when it comes to taking detailed notes and drafting a complete vision of your future, but there are some things your phone can do very well, such as allowing instant access to your contacts, or enabling alarms and reminders to keep you on schedule with your goals. Since you always have your phone with you, why not take advantage of its strengths by incorporating it into your planning system?

 

As you’re preparing for the busy holiday season and the start of a new year this October, be sure to take some time to coordinate your phone and your planner. Here are some helpful suggestions:

• Make time each day to transfer information from your phone to your planner (and vise-versa).
• Create a planning folder or section on your device for easy access to your calendar, contacts, etc.
• Add appointment reminder alarms to your phone that correlate with the events in your planner.
• Transfer updated contact information from your phone to your planner (and vise-versa).
• Review your text messages and emails to be sure you have everything scheduled in your planner.

 

Computer

You may also need to do the same with your office computer to be sure you aren’t missing anything important. If you coordinate all of your devices with your paper planner, you can be certain you are on schedule with your goals and plans—wherever you are. The best solution in today’s complex world is to combine the strengths of both paper and digital technology. As simple as it sounds, we feel that it’s a breakthrough solution that will allow you to maximize your ability to achieve in ways people could only dream of just a few decades ago.