#OneBookJuly2016

July 1, 2016 by Pelican1 1 Comment

This month I will be participating in a challenge called “One Book July 2016” offered up by the members of the Coffee and Planner Addicts Club on Facebook. Their motto is “First I drink coffee, then I do things.” These are MY type of people, for sure!

The challenge is simply this: consolidate all of one’s productivity planning into one book, using one pen, for one month. Some planner addicts have multiple journals and planners for different purposes. I have more than one as well. The idea is to enhance productivity by using one book for everything.

For quite some time I had been using a pocket-sized “faux-dori” notebook for planning and a separate journal for creative planning (I do a lot of mind-mapping and brain-dumping). I was never satisfied with my “faux-dori” so I recently acquired an 18-month Moleskine Weekly Notebook to take over the planning. For this challenge, I inserted the planner into the Oberon Design leather cover (depicting Hokusai’s wave) which I had been using for my creative work. I also attached a pen holder.

So here’s a quick flip-through the new set-up:

This is my dashboard page. The image is a collage I made a number of years ago when I was a regular participant at the Soul Food Cafe. It is to remind me that I am first and foremost a Creative. I am not particularly “arty” when it comes to my planners since every last bit of space is used for a note or bullet. So this image will probably be the extent of any imagery. I do use Washi tape to affix notes and make separations. These do add a bit of color.

The front of the Moleskine planner had several pages of information primarily aimed at users who do international travel and interaction: air flight time, international dialing codes, international clothing sizes, et cetera. Those pages are of no use to me so I covered over them and am using them to hold permanent lists such as Books to Read, Movies to Watch, Websites to Visit, Birthdays, Phone numbers, and the like. The front of the planner also has several yearly calendars for overviews and advanced planning and eighteen monthly calendars where I put my long-range appointments. The bulk of the planner is comprised of weekly spreads. The days of the week are on the left with plenty of open space on the right for notes:

I am customizing the weekly spreads to accommodate appointments, daily tasks, notes, weekly goals, shopping lists, among other things. The configuration of this customization may change as my needs change. Here is what this week’s spread looks like:

To handle my brain dumps and creative mind-mapping, I clipped a pad of lined paper onto the back pocket of the planner. The pocket has post-it notes, tags, and other loose bits.

An additional challenge, called OneBookJuly2016 2.0, is to dedicate a place in the book for working on a special project. For this purpose I used a large rubber band to affix a cahier inside the back cover. My special project this month is writing a series of essays for this blog. This is where I will outline the essays and keep research notes.