See 20-20 Now for 2020!

I've lost track of the number of planners I've tried since I first started to plan. Monthly, weekly, daily...Shirt-pocket, coat pocket, attache size...Planners with far too much room for appointments and too little space for To Do's...I've loved them all in my fashion but found myself starting to drift within months.

If only, I'd think, I could find one that was a sort of all-in-one. A monthly/weekly/daily tool to help me get into, and stay, in high gear.

Amazon Basics has just come to the rescue.

The Moleskine-quality journal comes in two sizes, each priced at $9.99:  5"x8.25"  hardcover (shown) and 8"x11" softcover

Monthly pages: 6 months on 12 pages

Number of weekly pages: 26 weeks on 52 pages

Number of daily pages: 186 days on 186 pages 

The undated pages are a boon, enabling you to begin any time. I started mid-December. And both layout and design are terrific, with space not just for appointments and notes but priorities, habits to learn and reviews.

Two last things:

1) The just slightly oversized 5x 8.25" hardcover version is about the same size as some new hardback books. This reinforces the sense of this being a bonafide book of life. 

2) The 3 in 1 format may take a bit of work at first, but the habit is well worth acquiring. 

I keep my mine with one strict rule: if I write something down, then I do it!

Here's the link, if you're inclined:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078GVYRZG

The Perfect Planner 1: Finding It

You could spend the whole month of December looking for a planner that's made for you--and fail. In fact, you could spend a lifetime pursuing the same quest in vain. The burgeoning planner industry plays to averages and numbers, rather than personal needs. In your search you will find a bewildering number of styles, designs and sizes:









In my lifetime, I have tried almost every style, at prices ranging from a $5 to $75.  The fact that I kept changing shows my dissatisfaction with the industry options I found. I kept looking for something tailored to my needs::
--I have very few formal appointments.
--I don't want a highly regimented planner like Franklin Covey (7 Habits) or DayTimer.
--I don't want to waste my time or tough on extras and accessories.
--Rather than a journal, log or appointment book, I need a planner that's in equal part: organizer, tracker, motivator and ferocious daily nag, An ongoing reminder to: Don't dream about it, do it!


The closest I came to a MacRath-style planner was a pocket-size number from Moleskine, 3"x5" for $18.



Pros:
--Portable size.
--Design: two-page weekly spreads. Left: seven sections for daily to-do's. Right: a ruled blank page for notes, weekly overall intentions, motivational notes, etc.
--Superb Moleskine quality.

Cons:
--The too easy to lose size for a man on the go. In one month two of these fell from the pocket of my cargo pants or the side pocket of my backpack.
--Plenty of room on the right side, but not enough room in the dailies.
--Cost: I'll spend $18-$25 for a Moleskine writing notebook. But not for a third planner that wasn't made for me.
--The design fails to satisfy my unique need for a turbo-charged blend of planning, tracking and nudging.

I found the perfect planner while rummaging through Barnes and Noble.
:

Piccadilly rivals Moleskine quality...at a fraction of the cost. I bought the above notebook on sale for $5.88...at least $25 cheaper than I would have paid for Moleskine.
Size: 5"x8"...still portable but not something I'm likely to lose.
Pages: 120 ruled sheets or 240 pages.
Potential: 2 days per page would last a year...with plenty of room at the back for my more stylized needs: notating monthly recharge dates of electronic devices...recording incidents at work with dates, times, detailed notes...logging a job search or ebook promotional campaign...
Strategy: the world was my oyster for those two days per page. I'd been freed. Now, unbound, I had only to decide the right--the MacRathian--way.
Colors: For those who lack the stones to tote a coral-colored notebook, you'll find other colors here:
http://tinyurl.com/mpcpbx7

Next week, in part 2, I'll tell you in detail how I transformed my Piccadilly into my own perfect planner.

Stay tuned!