Wednesday 30 January 2013

Learning multiple foreign languages- help please!!

Hi guys! I would really value your opinions on my topic here!!


I am currently trying to learn German from scratch by myself (from books and a vocab CD), and am also revising Middle Egyptian and need to start revising French soon, too.
I am finding that it gets a bit overwhelming and confusing learning (or revising) more than one language simultaneously. Especially when there are different rules in the grammar between the languages, I am worried that I will get confused over which rules apply to which language! So I am wondering whether those of you who have learnt multiple (2+ foreign languages) recommend learning just 1 at a time, or is there another method you can recommend?

Some background:
Until Year 10, my schools didn't teach languages well. They didn't teach us language properly, whether it was French or English language classes (rather than English Literature classes), and although I was above my age-range in my reading level and loved creative writing, I couldn't tell you what an adjective or a verb was! In French (and then in Spanish in Year 9), all we learnt was (mostly useless) set phrases "Je joue au foot", "J'aime mon chat" etc.

Then, just before Year 10, my family and I moved to France. Although I went to an International School, where the main language was English (even the Spanish, French, Italian etc students had to speak English to attend this school), in French classes we weren't allowed to speak English at all. My poor French teacher had to deal with lots of different-level (beginner to almost fluent) French-as-a-foreign-language students, so the classes weren't custom-made for me, but I loved learning it, in particular the grammar. I wasn't brilliant at French, but the grammatical skills I learnt in French class at school in Years 10-11, and in Years 12 and 13 (French A-Level) in school back in the UK set the foundations for me to be able to learn other languages.

In my undergraduate university degree, we had to learn Middle Egyptian (Hieroglyphs), which obviously you can't exactly have a GCSE or A-Level in as a foundation! We had excellent teachers, world experts, who have literally written the book on it! It was so much fun to learn, and being a very different language to either English or French (obviously), that added an extra layer of challenge to it! At the start of my MA, I also learnt Old Egyptian (which has slightly different grammatical rules to Middle Egyptian). In my university degrees, I really learnt HOW to learn a language.


I am trying to teach myself German, because along with French, it is one of the primary languages of Egyptology. I am learning it from books (I have an amazing German grammar book), and also have a cheap CD from Aldi with German vocab, which I will mainly use to help me learn how to pronounce German words. I'm also revising Middle Egyptian and should start revising French too soon!
I'm not struggling to learn or revise these languages, and I don't need something like Rosetta Stone (wayyyy too expensive!!). I just want to know whether I should only learn one at once- which I am reluctant to do, because I think if I postpone learning one, I will never get back into it- or if there is another way to separate them in my mind, so I don't get confused with them!!

So what do you think?

Thanks!!

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Lists, lists, and more lists!!

Does anyone else find that their life (i.e. Filofax) condenses down to a long series of lists?
This is what I am finding more and more as I look through my Filofax.

I have to say, my Filo is the most developed and mature it has been for a while. This is mostly in my 2nd section, 'Organisation', because since I restarted using my Filofaxes around Christmas (after all my planner fail) I have tried hard to get my life sorted inside my Filofax, and the way I naturally do that is to write many lists!. I also stopped splitting things between my filos, for example I had lists in both my personal which I use on a daily basis, and my A5 Purple Malden which I hadn't opened for months!!!, so I decided to put them into my life-in-one-place personal. I also made an effort to get other things down on paper that were floating about in my head, that needed to be written down, in order for me to maintain my sanity!!

I LOVE lists- I think very linearly, so they really help me to get my thoughts on paper. And most importantly, they really work for me!

Here's a list of the lists!! that I have in my filo:

  • A list of the sort of things I should include in my Organisation section 

  • My 2013 resolutions 
Not finished yet
  • A rough list of my 2013 goals (still in progress of deciding what they should be)
  • A diagram of how I should break my yearly goals down into weekly tasks (not really a list!)
  • A list of my morning routine actions
  • My night routine actions
  • A list of monthly recurring tasks to help me in planning my monthly actions
  • Things to consider putting into my weekly planning in my Plannerisms planner
  • A list of things to do when doing my daily 10 minutes of quick tidying in my room
  • My master to-do list
  • January to February goal of sorting my room out- list of things to do
  • A quick list of my projects
  • A list of next actions for sorting out my itunes
  • A list of things that are currently in process/in progress
  • A list of things that I must keep in mind or remember
  • A list of things that are currently on my mind (so I can brain dump and not worry about them!)
  • Waiting For list
  • The ubiquitous shopping list!
  • Wish list (things I want but shouldn't buy yet!)
  • A list of blog post ideas/posts to do
  • Vlogs to do
  • My bucket list
Definitely a work-in-progress! I'm leaving room for other things
  • Books I want to read
  • Recommendations of books from other people
  • Favourite books/series/authors
  • A list of my favourite TV programmes
  • TV programmes to check out
  • A list of fun things to do when I am bored
  • A list of wages from my old job, to check against my bank balance
  • A list of things to do when I go to London!
And then in my Reference section I even have a list of things to consider taking with me when I leave the house, and other stuff like that!

So my life really does condense down to lists!


But I also realise that lists, lists and more lists wouldn't work for me for daily planning. I am the sort of person who stops seeing/reading things when they look boring or the same every day. So if I were just to rely on all of my lists to get me to do what I need to do (such as just looking at my master to-do list for things I should do today), I would ignore them all, and instead do what I want!

I am also the sort of person who needs some sort of time reference for my day. I can easily lose hours of my day by being engrossed in something, not realising where my day has gone, and therefore not getting the stuff done in the time I should have done it in! As I have a linear brain, I find the best tool for me to organise my time is a diary insert with appointment slots. This means that I can visualise my time, when to do the things I need to do, and when  I have free time in between those things in which I can do the things I want to do!



I use DPP inserts because although I have a set of 2013 WO2P with appointment slots, there isn't enough space on them, they only go up to 4pm, and they don't have appointment slots for the weekend. The reason I don't use regular WO2P is that I know it would just turn into a day space filled with lists, and no time reference, so it would just turn to mush in my brain!
I do make lists (to-dos) on my DPP, in the right-hand column, but the most important thing for me, to actually make me get things done, is to schedule a time to do them in the appointment slots, or at least in the general time frame (early afternoon, late evening etc).
I sometimes don't stick to these appointment time slots, but at least if I have them written down and visible, it shows me that I don't have all the time in the world to do what I want, and I have to get things done by a certain time today!

Monday 28 January 2013

February's 365/30 Filo Lists!!

Hello all!!

Here is February's 365/30 Filo Lists list!! It is from the amazing, brilliant and lovely Tracy of one of my ALL-TIME favourite blogs, http://www.crazysuburbanmom.com/


1)  Goals for this month
2)  What books have you read more then once (for pleasure)?
3)  What thing(s) on your bucket list can you do/have before summer?
4)  Today would be so much better if yesterday I had _________.
5)  Tomorrow will be so much better if I ______ today!
6)  What colors do you look best in (and commit to wearing them more!)
7)  My favorite books on organizing are...
8)  My favorite apps are...
9)  What are your favorite guilty pleasure foods?
10) My top must have pens are...
11) 5 things on my amazon.com wishlist (make one if you don't have one already!)
12) Things that make me crabby...
13) I'm at my best when.....
14) Who can I send an unsigned Valentine to just to make them feel loved!
15) My dog (cat, bird, etc) would describe me as...
16) 5 things I can do anytime, anywhere when I feel anxious...
17) Things I want to be better at in March...
18) Things I lie about...
19) Fashion trends that make me say, huh?
20) The excuses I use (way to often) are...
21) My planner/organizer crushes are...
22) What were the last five things you bought that you didn't need (and knew it at the time) but bought anyway?
23) My favorite restaurants are...
24) The best reasons you can think of to convince someone they should own a Filofax...
25) Start your Christmas list today!
26) 5 Movies I can watch over and over...
27) What are you favorite funny words?
28) Review of the month


Crazy Suburban Mom - Don't judge me till you've gone a mile in my minivan.

Monday 21 January 2013

Philofaxy Exeter meet-up

Hi everyone! 

I have just finished planning the Exeter (South West UK) meet-up!

It will be on Saturday 9th February, meeting at 12pm at a lovely cafe called The Boston Tea Party on Queen Street in Exeter! We will have some lunch, Filofax chat and show and tell, and then in the afternoon we will go to Paperchase etc!

If you want to come, please leave a comment below! Thanks!

Filofax dividers Poll: Results!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post and held a poll to ask you all what sort of dividers you use in your Filofax, and how many dividers/tabs/sections you use.

I was really pleased with the response to the poll, as 50 votes were placed! Thanks for answering! Here is the response:

1) What sort of dividers do you use in your Filofax?

Filofax standard dividers      24 votes
Homemade dividers             27 votes
Hand made dividers made by someone else e.g. from Etsy     0 votes
Dividers made by another planner brand       3 votes

2) How many dividers/tabs/sections do you use?

I don't use dividers or tabs        1 vote
1 divider/tab/section                  0 votes
2 dividers/tabs/sections             2 votes
3                                              2 votes
4                                              5 votes
5                                              5 votes
6                                              17 votes
7-10                                         8 votes
10-15                                       1 vote
15-20                                       2 votes
20+                                          2 votes


I also asked people to leave a comment to describe their divider/tab set up, and which divider types they use. These are worth a read on my original blog post!
Obviously, their dividers/sections reflect how they use their Filofax. Typically, several of their sections follow the 'normal' sections/uses of a Filofax- Diary, Projects, Finance etc, but then the users customise their sections or add extra sections (even added onto the standard dividers you get in a Filofax) to match their lives and their daily needs. I love how customisable Filofaxes are! Traditional-style side dividers are most common, but top-tabs are becoming very popular, especially for subsections within divider sections!



I am quite surprised at the amount of people who use the Filofax standard dividers, especially the ones with section names (rather than the 1-6 numbered dividers), as these dividers prescribe what you should use these sections for, which in my opinion goes against what a ring-bound planner is meant to be- customisable for your own life; however I wonder if you guys rename the sections? This is obviously easier with the 1-6 dividers!

I am very surprised that no-one voted for the hand made dividers made by someone else. Personally, I use a set made by someone else, which I will be talking about in my next blog post. Also, I know of a few other people who have bought hand made dividers made by other people, but I guess they didn't vote on this poll!
I think the reason there were so few people buying hand made dividers made by someone else is because dividers are so easy to make yourself! You can make them out of a range of materials, in particular scrapbooking card, which you can choose beautiful designs of, which reflect your personality or even the section contents! 27 people voted for homemade dividers, the (narrowly) most popular choice in the poll, as you can see by reading many of the Filofax blogs out there!

Looking at the 'How many dividers do you use?' section of the poll, I'm not at all surprised that the most common answer was 6 dividers/tabs/sections, because that parallels the Filofax standard dividers, at least in a personal and an A5! Only 1 person voted for the option 'I don't use dividers or tabs', and I'm not surprised that no-one voted for '1 divider/tab/section', because just 1 divider wouldn't be very useful!! A few people use a small amount of dividers, 2 or 3, which doesn't surprise me, because I only use 3! Quite a few people use between 7 and 10 dividers, and then a few people use a large amount, 10+ or even 20+, which surprises me, because I really didn't think 23mm rings could hold that many dividers (although 30mm A5/personal grand/Franklin Covey gigantic rings could!).

Tuesday 8 January 2013

A Christmas poem!

The lovely Susannah has made a competition on her wonderful blog, Belzira's Corner!

The task is to draw, write or craft and Christmassy/Wintery scene! So here is my entry!

NB: I haven't written a poem in 6 years, so please bear with me ;b


Santa Clause's Filofax



Santa Clause's Filofax is bulging at the seams,
Filled with lists of girls and boys, nice and kind or naughty and mean?
Millions of letters fill the rings: 
A bike for Tommy, a doll for Jean;
"Please, dearest Santa, won't you bring, 
the gift I've craved since Spring!"

Hundreds of Elves make the candy, Christmas decs and toys;
Thousands of tin soldiers and teddies for all good girls and boys!
Baubles on fur trees and strings of tinsel decorate the workshop,
While jingle bells and Christmas carols make such a lovey noise!
Til the checklists have been finished, the Elves cannot stop;
Then finally, with a hot cocoa, off to bed they hop!


I hope you liked my little poem :)

Monday 7 January 2013

Filofax Dividers... A Poll!!

Hi everyone!

If there's one thing in my Filofax that I've changed more than my diary inserts, it's my dividers! I am going to do a post on them soon, but first I'd like you guys to answer my little poll!

The poll is composed of 2 parts.

1) What sort of dividers do you use in your Filofax?

2) How many dividers/tabs/sections do you use? (This includes subsections, which are perhaps subdivided using sticky tab)

Please answer both sections of the poll :)

I'd like you to answer with what is your most common or favourite answer. E.g. if you use 6 tabs most of the time, but sometimes have a couple extra, answer 6. If you mostly use your homemade dividers, but sometimes switch back to Filofax's standard ones, answer 'Homemade dividers'!

It would be great if you could also comment on this post listing which sections you have in your Filo :)



I'm really interested in what types of dividers people use, what your sections are, and how many you use! I will write a blog post soon with the poll results, and also show you my array of dividers :)


Thanks!!


Wonderous Washi Tape!

Hi!


This is just a quick post to show you the AMAZING washi tape I got for Christmas!!



Last Christmas (2011) my mum got me a 2 pack of spotty tape from the Muji shop in London :)



This was just around the time I was finding out about this wonderous product, and so although I was very happy to have some, I didn't really know how to use it, and wasn't infatuated by it yet!
But seeing everybody's amazing Filofax and stationery blogs, showing how they use their washi tape, it gave me ideas of how to use mine!

Over the side of a flyleaf


E.g. I use it to reinforce the sides of Filofax sheets/flyleafs that I take off the rings frequently, especially ones where I have slit the holes so I can take them out without having to open the rings!

I didn't realise, but this 2 pack contains two different colours- I used to think both of these were the same colour, so I took one to uni and left the other at home, and only realised the other one was a different range of colours (pink/purple rather than orange) when I came home this October!! Woohoo, more washi tape!! :D


Now being infatuated by wonderful washi tape, I asked for some for Christmas, and my mum let me choose and order them myself from ebay. These are the ones I bought!



I keep them in a box from Paperchase, which I also got for Christmas!


So far I haven't used them a lot, except for one thing I have made, which I will show you soon ;b

Friday 4 January 2013

365/30 Filo Lists- January 2013


Hello!

I forgot to post this the other day, but I hope it's not too late for you guys to start your January lists! (And maybe you can catch-up on the previous days!)


1) New Year's Resolutions 2013
2) Goals for this month
3) Goals for 2013
4) Favourite moments of 2012
5) My achievements of 2012
6) 2013 planning tools
7) Books to read in 2013
8) 10 things to try in 2013 I've never done/had/experienced before
9) Favourite things on a cosy night in
10) Best things about being a child
11) Best things about being an adult
12) If I could only eat 5 food items for the rest of my life…
13) Favourite TV programmes
14) Simple things that make me happy
15) Magic/Super powers I would love to have
16) Places I'd love to go on holiday/vacation
17) Favourite animals
18) 5 things I love about myself
19) Favourite music/band/singers
20) Fun places to spend a day out
21) 10 favourite items of clothing in my wardrobe
22) Things/people/programmes that make me laugh
23) My favourite little indulgences
24) I prefer… (pick 1 of each): Books or music? TV or movies? Hot or cold? Internet or paper? Day or night? Sweet or savoury?
25) Favourite meals to cook
26) What I wore today
27) Favourite books
28) Top 5 websites to waste time
29) Chores I secretly enjoy doing
30) Favourite way to spend a day off
31) Review of the month


Happy January!

Thursday 3 January 2013

Planning my 2013: Part 2- Filofax

Hello!

This is Part 2 of my 'Planning my 2013' posts, about how I am using the planners/organisation tools to plan my life for this new year! If you haven't read Part 1, please do so now! :)


Part 1 is where I discussed how I am using my Plannerisms planner to plan my recurring tasks (monthly), and, most importantly, forward planning my weeks. The next stage of my planning is where my Filofax comes in!



I got a lovely Plum Osterley personal Filofax for Christmas! Yes, I know I said in a previous blog post that I would try to stick to my Orange Osterley... but I have a good excuse! My mum was desperately trying to find a big present for me for Christmas, and I couldn't think of anything, except for the Plum Osterley that I had been in love with for about a year and a half! I had found a good deal on amazon, and a few times I had come close to buying it myself! So I asked for the lovely Osterley, and received it for Christmas!! I had been worried about the rings being terrible, and although they aren't perfect, they're not too bad, and they function ok, so it's all good :) I'm sure I will do a review on my Osterley soon :)

I have put together my diary system for my 2013 Filofax set-up very carefully. I have been going through Planner Fail for a long time, so I need a system that will work perfectly! It took me a lot of thinking and much back-and-forth decision making, but I have finally decided on, bought, and started using, my diary :)

Firstly, I have the 2013 Filofax vertical-format year planner. I don't know what I will use this for, but I hope that I will find a use for it soon!
Then I have my diary proper, which is composed of several parts.


I am using 2012's Day Timer Flavia month dividers. I am reusing the ones I got last year with my Day Timer diaries, and I don't mind that they're out of date, because I never used the month grid that was printed on them anyway. They are so pretty, and very useful! I have the dividers from January-July in my filo, and I will put the rest in later in the year.

Then I have my 2013 Franklin Covey Monticello MO2P. Unfortunately, the DPP didn't work out for me, but the MO2P are great. The paper quality (well, actually it's more like cardstock!) is excellent, and the boxes are much larger than Filofax's grids, and are lined, which helps keep it all neater. The month pages that came with the FC diary go right up to June 2014, and I have them all in here. January-July 2013 go immediately after the month dividers.

Then I have my DPP sheets. I decided on Filofax DPP, rather than the Franklin Covey DPP, for several reasons, which I will do another post on, but the main reason is because I like how plain the Filofax pages are, and how I can customise them to my own needs. I only have the current week of DPP in my Filofax at any one time.



Immediately behind the current week of my DPP, I have this week's DodoPad 2013 personal-sized insert. The DPP inserts sit spliced between this week's DodoPad pages- the notes page on the left, and the diary page on the right. I also have the rest of the current month's DodoPad inserts, but no more than that, to save on space.


So this is how I am using my Filofax for 2013 :)


I use it in conjunction with my Plannerisms Planner, which you can read about it Part 1!



After I have finished forward-planning for the coming week on Sunday nights, I should have a lovely weekly page in my Plpl!
Updated (read: finished!) since my last post!


I copy the important things from my Plpl current week over to my DodoPad Filo insert. I don't take my Plannerisms Planner out with me, so this is here in case I want to check something about my week when I am out and about. I try to make it fun, with lots of colours and doodles!



Then, the most important part- My Day Per Page inserts!



Every night, I sit down and plan for the next day. I use the daily column in the WO2P of my Plannerisms Planner to give me a picture of my day.
Firstly, I write down my daily focuses, which helps give me an idea of what I should concentrate on during the day.
Then I use the basic scheduler from my Plpl to give me a picture of when I should do things during the day. I write them into the appointment slots of my DPP insert. Of course, I write in time-dependent things first, like work shifts, and then I fit in other things from my scheduler, like tasks that will take a long time, or to-dos that have to be done by a certain time during the day. I use arrows to show the length of time things should take.
On the right column of the page, I write my to-dos, notes, info, anything I will need for that day. At the bottom of the column, I draw 8 boxes where I put crosses to record how much water I have drunk that day (I think my record is 6 glasses, I never drink enough!!)
I make sure I write in everything from my Plpl daily column into my DPP. I actually really like that my 2 planning tools are in separate books, because I love that I can have the two sitting side-by-side, rather than having it all in my Dilodax and having to flip back and forth in copying from WO2P to DPP!




I colour-code everything, because it makes it easier for me, but also because it looks pretty!



So that's my Planning for 2013 :)

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Planning my 2013: Part 1- Plannerisms Planner

Hello!

I didn't realise how long it was since I last blogged!! Sorry guys, I will try to blog twice a week from now on ;-)

Today is New Year's Day, 01/01/13!! Happy New Year!
So it is the perfect time to tell you all about my planning and organisation for 2013! I am going to show you my planning tools and how I am going to use them :)
This is Part 1, because it is going to be really long if I write it all into 1 post! Part 2 will be about how I am going to use my Filofax for my 2013 planning!

To cut a long story short, I was in planner fail for MANY months!! I feel like I am almost out of it, but as always with coming out from the dark side of planner fail, it is taking a while to build up my organisation system again, because when I stop using my planners, as I inevitably do when I hit the murky world of PF, I don't write down any of my to-dos or anything, so the next few weeks are always difficult, especially now; not only do I have to start planning again, catch up with my life, and plan for the future, but as it's the start of the new year, I have to plan all my goals and resolutions for 2013 too!! So I am getting there, but it is all still a work-in-progress!


My Plannerisms planner:


I LOVE this planner! It is made by the lovely Laurie from Plannerisms and Philofaxy, who is amazing, as you will know from reading her blog!
Laurie has written loads of blog posts and made videos about the planner, so I won't repeat here what she said there, but I will show you how I am using it!
I chose the pink one, because although I love the purple one and have been going through a purple phase for a while, pink is my favourite colour, and if I get bored of purple, pink will still always be perfect for me :)
I use it in conjunction with my Filofax. They each have distinct purposes, but are partners-in-planning :)



I am using my Plannerisms planner (a.k.a. Plpl) for forward planning. I used to be terrible at this. At university, I only ever planned 1 day in advance. OK, it was very detailed planning, on Filofax DPP pages, and it got me through university, but it's a bit crazy that I didn't have a mental picture of anything more than 24 hours in advance! So now I have decided that I need to plan at least 1 week in advance! In fact, I would like to have some sort of picture of at least a couple of months in advance, even if it's just for goals. After all, a chess grand master sees at least 10 moves ahead, doesn't he? This is where my lovely Plpl comes in!

Forward planning on a bigger perspective: Goals!-
Laurie has focused a lot on goal planning in her planner, and on her blog- check out her latest posts about how to use the Plpl for goal planning! So she has included yearly goal planning pages, quarterly goal pages, then after each monthly grid, monthly goal planning pages. Goal planning is new for me, but it is something that I am trying to work out at the start of this year, to go with my resolutions. So I am going to figure out some yearly goals for 2013, then break them down quarterly and then monthly, which will give me a picture of what I should be trying to do in each month. So now I can see a month or 2 ahead a bit more clearly!



This month so far I have decided to focus on 2 things: sorting out my (extremely messy and cluttered) bedroom, and planning/organisation. These are goals, but they break down like projects. I will tick the check boxes once I have done them. I will probably copy out these lists into my Filofax too!
So writing my goals (and the steps to achieve them) gives me a picture of what to do in January to make progress. I think I will kind of use this as a 'theme' for January, with many of the activities planned on my weekly pages working towards my goals! I haven't decided whether to use the monthly grid to plan these goal activities, but I might do that :)


Recurring tasks scheduler-
I am using the lovely and big monthly grids of my Plpl to schedule my recurring tasks. I tend to forget when I last did certain household chores that don't need doing everyday, like changing my bed, so I'm not very good at planning when they need to be done next. So I am using this monthly grid to plan when these recurring tasks need to be done.



In the left-hand column, I have listed the recurring items that I need to schedule. These are things like Filofax previews/reviews; tidying/cleaning my room, cleaning my bathroom, and changing my bed; blog posts; and also when my cat's claws need clipping next. In my Filofax I have a similar list, with a note of how frequently these tasks need to be done, e.g. every 6 weeks, once per month, every 2 weeks etc. Some things happen on the same day every week, like weekly Filofax previews and reviews, which is every Sunday night.
So at the end of every month I am going to plan my recurring tasks for the next month. I will look at the list in my Filofax, look at the previous month to see when those items were last done, and work out a general time when they need to be done this month (e.g. around the start of the 3rd week). Then I try to work out precisely when they should be done:
I circle the day's number in either purple or brown to signify if it's a day off or if I'm working, and then if I am working that day, I write my working hours next to it. This means that I know how much free time I have in that day, so I know how much or little to schedule. Then I schedule the recurring tasks onto specific days! I haven't finished this month because I have been so busy planning everything else, but I will get it done soon.


Weekly forward planner-
One of the best things about the Plannerisms planner is the weekly layout.



I love the weekly structure because you can divide up the columns however you like. They aren't divided up for you, the planner doesn't tell you what you should write in certain sections, it is completely up to you.
This is how I have arranged this week's pages:



I haven't finished planning this week yet, it's still in progress. I have to hurry up and do it, because it's not forward planning if I don't get it done ahead of time!

In the space at the bottom of the page, I write down what I want to focus on that week, taken from my goals for that month.

This is how I divide up the daily columns:
I use the left-hand column to write labels for the sections/blocks I have divided the columns into.
The main part of the columns is basic scheduler, which is 3 blocks of 3 lines each, 1 block each for morning (waking up time to 12pm), afternoon (12pm to 6pm) and evening (6pm to bed time). This is where I do basic time-block planning for the day. First I write my work shifts, and then I write other things for the rest of the day. I don't do precise scheduling unless things have a proper time to be done, like a meeting- otherwise, I just schedule things for a general period of the day, like morning or afternoon. Basically, that task should be finished by the time the next period begins. Any more precise time planning will go into the DPP inserts in my Filofax, which have half-hourly appointment slots.
Under that I have listed TV programmes to watch on that day, and a little bit of note space.
Then I have the most important section: my 'Focuses'. This is where I write the 3 things that I should focus on most in the day, taken from my focuses for the week. I added this section late, so it's at the bottom of the columns, but really it should be more prominent, so for next week I put it at the top of the columns. I decide my focuses for the day based on either my weekly focuses section, or the recurring tasks from the day's square in my monthly grid. Then I use the focuses section of those weekly columns to plan more specifically what I'm going to do on each day of that week, which goes into the basic scheduler.
At the bottom I have some space for notes, and then a space where I record how many drinks of water I have in a day. I am really bad at drinking, I get really dehydrated, but I find that if I record it that I drink more. However, this isn't really a place to record things (my Plpl is a forward planner, not a recorder), so I don't think I will put this in here for the future weeks.


So that's how I use my Plannerisms Planner!


Part 2 will be up soon, about how I am using my Filofax!