Some time ago I created a weekly planner. I tried existing designs from the likes of DIY Planner and David Seah and I had experimented with all the different refills for my Filofax, but none of them were tailored to my individual needs. So I designed my own. The second version of it that I published last year was very popular, and even got mentioned by Lifehacker. However, move forward several months and I was increasingly feeling that the planner needed a refresh to suit my current needs. And so the time has arrived to introduce version three of my weekly planner….
The most striking difference to those who have seen (and hopefully used) the old design is that there is no longer the seven columns to cover each day of the week. I figured rather than listing each project under the appropriate day I’d be doing them, why not have a masterlist of all the projects I wanted to do and then select the days I want to focus on them from a tickbox. It’s something different and saves me from writing the save task over and over again.
The old design also had two boxes for organizing any work that wasn’t day specific. In other words, I’d write something in there if I wanted to do it during the week, but I hadn’t decided exactly when. Only problem was where to write down all the rest of the stuff that was on my mind. I resorted to keeping a seperate list, but seeing as the whole point of my planner is that it should be one complete package, it kind of defeated the point. As a result, for this new design I have replaced all of that with one long ‘mind dump’ column to capture any stray thoughts and loose ends, regardless of when they need doing.
And of course there is the whole visual tweaking, partly inspired by Dave Seah’s tools. For those who use my weekly planner, I hope you like the new design (the previous design will remain available). If you’ve never tried it before, why not print a few copies and see how it goes? Either way I look forward to all your feedback. If you have any questions on how I use it, please ask!
July 8, 2009 at 04:06PM
I like that design for writing goals that must be done in the week. I may give it a try to see how it works for me.
July 8, 2009 at 05:40PM
Very nice. I totally get your idea about getting rid of the seven columns for a master list. It’s much more concise that way, but takes a little longer to visually scan the list.
July 8, 2009 at 06:05PM
Yeah, it’s certainly more concise. I write a blog post three times a week. With the old format, I’d have to write that out three times. With the new format, I just write it once and tick three boxes. I suppose it can take longer to scan the list, but I just look down the tickboxes for the appropriate day.
July 8, 2009 at 06:14PM
Much better than the seven column format. My only desire… color! Design as well as color always gets my attention. Maybe an added box for items that must be read for meetings, calls, etc. Other than that, good job. Thanks!
July 8, 2009 at 06:18PM
Thanks for the feedback. Frankly, the only reason I don’t use color is because I only have a monochrome printer. I’m not able to test how it looks in anything but black and white!
July 8, 2009 at 06:30PM
Could you also tell us what you use as a tool to design the form. I’d kinda like to give it a try too. Thanks!
July 8, 2009 at 06:33PM
I use OpenOffice Draw. Probably not the best for this sort of thing but it does enough for my needs. Plus it’s free.
July 13, 2009 at 06:58AM
What do you do about an actual schedule? How do you keep track of appointments or things that must be done at a certain time?
July 13, 2009 at 07:57AM
If you look closely, to the left of the checkboxes for selecting what day you’re going to do the task, there is also a bit for writing down the time you need to do it by. So for instance, if I have a meeting on Monday, I’d write the description down, the time I’m doing it and then tick the Monday box.
July 24, 2009 at 05:12PM
I’ve used this for the last few weeks and found that it’s helpful to have a little structure beyond the simple notebook list. I use the time area for a place to indicate who I’m waiting for if my tasks rely on another for completion. I haven’t gotten disciplined enough to use the days section – I’m using a calendar for that.
July 25, 2009 at 03:50PM
Thanks for the feedback Mike. Did you use the second version of this template? Which one do you prefer?
July 26, 2009 at 03:46AM
I looked at v2 briefly, but this one was far better for my needs. My work tends to cycle through many projects at once with deadlines a few weeks out (if I’m doing it right!), and I usually can’t assign a specific date to most actions. Keep the great content coming!
October 16, 2009 at 02:47PM
Wow, this new version has knocked my socks off. The section for mind dumps is sensational. I’m going to blutack this to the pantry door below my calendar (where the pencil on a string will always be handy).