MY THOUGHTS

Well I have been in search mode for the past couple of years for the perfect (for me at least) organizer and I finally have found it!

I have tried multiple desktop organizers: Outlook, Thunderbird, Zimbra and a bunch of others. I have been trying several online packages like Zoho, Google, Microsoft live, Yahoo, Basecamp amoung others…But none of them do what I really want. They all process e-mail well, but as for working as an organizer, I just have not been happy with any of the electronic versions for a variety of reasons.

Over the years I have gone back and forth between paper and electronic, but I never committed back to the paper and because always wanted use an electronic organizer because, I didn’t have to copy over info, it was better for the environment, searching was a breeze, etc. Plus I type pretty quick, but, if I was away from my computer, it wasn’t worth anything, so I started printing out a daily page usually from Outlook and put it into a notebook, but over several starts and stops this system just wasn’t working for me and I would migrate to something else.

As a result of what happened to me in February, I have had to rely more on a “paper” memory then I have in the past, so in March I started using the Old stenopad todo list and note taking system. It was working well and I was going to Staples last Thursday to buy another one and I saw the Organizers there and remembered how well the “paper systems” had worked for me in the past.

When I left the Coast Guard in 1996, I had been using a Day Timer or Franklin-Covey organizers for several years. Once I discovered them, I hardly ever went any where without one, I went back and forth between the Classic or Monarch sizes, dependent upon the job that I had, BUT my planner was with me at work 99% of the time.

I decided that the Day Timer system met my needs most closely this time and bought a refill package (I still have my 7 ring classic binder from when I was Stationed in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980’s). The leather is getting a little beat up and if I decide that I will continue using this type of system I will probably invest in a new binder, but for now this is working.

I am left handed, so I have to put everything in backwards to most people so that I can take notes without being inconvenienced by the card holders, side pocket zippers, etc. That is why there is always a sticker of some sort on this side of the binder.

I like the two page per month or two page per day for the classic, it just gives more room to write things down. I have used it for a couple of days and it is just like riding a bike, I picked up the old habits very quickly and got more done than usual, didn’t forget process, because I write down the process to make sure I don’t forget a step or two. The letter sized organizers, just take up too much room and the pocket ones are just too small for my personal taste, so this time I choose to stay with the classic.

Also when I was using the stenopad, it showed me (again) how much a difference just writing something down, instead of typing it out on a key board, impresses something into memory. Plus I need to practice my penmanship anyway

So I it seems that I have gone back in time a bit and may be better off for it and come full circle. I know that I have to maintain my Outlook calendar for work and I might keep the google calendar around, but for my daily tasks, appointments and diary (which is part of the organizer, when you write down notes) will be written out. Now I just have to remember to get a comfortable mechanical pencil and get rid of 90% of my pens…erasing with a pencil is much neater than white out

It isn’t as green as I would like, as an electronic planner is, but I need something that will work for me and in this case paper seems to be working better.

This work by Harold L. Shaw, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I will not go quietly into the night and I will make a difference…therefore, the journey continues.