Tomorrow it will be 2009. Do you know what that means?

That’s right – it’s time for two of my favourite things – goals and planners

Today we’re tying up the series with how I personalise my own diary/ planner/ agenda.

First I want to talk about why I need to personalise my diary.

I have never ever found a perfect diary. I have come really, really close but what I do is this:

I decide what my non-negotiables are and then I adapt the rest.

You need to also decide if you need lots of name and address pages? Or note paper at the back?

My advice to you is decide on your non-negotiables and make peace with the rest. But above all, make sure you love your planner (like I do) so that you want to use it.


Okay, let’s get to the fun part.

Someone commented on one of the earlier posts that they like how grungy an old diary gets just before the new year. Mmmm, so do I! So here’s a pic of my grungy (well-loved) diary.

Part 1
I have some typed pages I print out once a year and stick into my planner:

• my goals for the year
• personal information
• important telephone numbers
• reference numbers (insurance policies, account numbers with various institutions, etc)
• birthday list

What happens when I have to add new numbers during the year?

I simply write them on the sheet. Yes, it looks a bit messy but messy is good

On the 2008 page, I only added 8 numbers. So for the 2009 page, I simply added some of those 8 and deleted the numbers I don’t need, and I reprint.

I do this page in Excel and in the footer, I make a note of the date the page was updated. Very useful especially for changing insurance providers, etc.

Part 2
I paste the top of the birthday list on top of this page so I can flip the page up to see my other events.

Part 3
I paste an envelope on the last page like this so I can keep any business cards (before I enter them in Outlook) and other bits of paper. I also like keeping a couple of sheets of the big Post-It note pad (about 10) so I can make lists that won’t get lost.

Oh, the page on the left is a write-up of my ideal coaching client to keep me focussed

That’s it for me.

Do you personalise your planner? If so, how? Did you get any good ideas today?

P.S. I’ve had some emails from people saying how they’ve enjoyed going through this process with me. Feel free to link to the posts from your blog – let’s spread the happiness

If you missed the previous posts, you can catch up here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

This time we’re discussing monthly and other tools.

Do you need a monthly event calendar? Do you need a budget or a financial page? What about a monthly goals form?

You need to decide if these are “deal-breaker” issues for you or if you’ll be able to do without them.

This particular diary/ planner has an events page at the start of every month and it has one financial planning page spanning over two pages for the entire year.

I have to have a monthly page so that’s a deal breaker for me but I don’t have to have a page for financials since I typically do that in Excel.

If you haven’t been answering the questions, take a few minutes to do so now.

What kinds of tools are deal breakers for you?

Next time I’m going to show you how I personalise my planner.

This is part 3 in our choose the perfect planner series.

In our quest for the perfect planner, we’ve discussed…

Paper or electronic
Size of planner and of lines

Today we’re talking about space per day

Daily format

Do you like the week-at-a-glance over two pages or a page-a-day format?

My favourite is the weekly format because I do weekly planning. I find there’s just enough space to jot down my 3 – 5 Eat the Frog tasks every day. So it forces me to focus.

However, this beauty is a page a day.

That’s not a bad thing so I live with it.

Evening appointments

I also like a planner with plenty of space for evening activities. With many planners, I find that there’s such a small space for the evening and my evenings are hectic – gym, coaching, teleseminars, etc.

Other space requirements

I also like space for notes, not just appointments. So this planner has them both.

We’re almost there and by now you should have a really good idea of what works for you.

Which do you prefer – page a day or week-at-a-glance?

Keep reading for part 4 in our series.

It’s time to choose the perfect planner…for YOU. This is part 1 in a series on choosing the right planner/ diary/ agenda/ whatever you like to call it …for you.

I’ll be honest with you – the MINUTE I saw mine, I bought it. So it’s been patiently waiting for me about 2 months now.

This is the perfect planner for me – not because of its features but because I personalise my planner and make it EXACTLY how I like it. So many people (and I was one of them for many years) search high and low for the perfect planner. Well, it probably doesn’t exist.

But before we get to my personalisation, let me talk some more about how to choose a planner.

Are you a paper or electronic gal?

Why do you need to know this?

If you don’t, you might think you have to fall in love with a gadget like my organising buddy, Suzanne from Let’s Talk Organizing. Thank goodness she’s now embracing her paper side

Don’t feel pressured to use an electronic diary just to keep up with your friends or what people think you should use if you’re actually a paper gal.

I wish I’d had my camera at a meeting on Monday. Somebody asked a question and about half the people whipped out their fancy phones and started tapping away.

I love Outlook as much as the next person but I only use Outlook for time-based appointments like meetings and recurring appointments like gym (!).

I use a paper planner for the rest of my planning (about 95%). I like to physically write things down with a smooth-flowing gel pen and I love crossing things off and hearing that squish across the paper. Mmmm – lovely! It’s very satisfying for me because I’m such a tangible person.

That’s me. I embrace my paper-ness

Over to you. If you’re a techno-savvy, electronic gal, use your gadgets happily. Please just remember to back up your data regularly.

Please share – are you a paper or electronic person?