Sunday, 13 January 2013

Planners don't fail

You learn nothing when you buy a book; learning only comes when you actually read it. Planners are like that too. Planners don't fail, people do. A planner is an inert bundle of paper and binding. It is completely useless except to the extent that you write in it and read what you have written.

No planner can possibly be perfect for everyone. You need to meet the planner half way sometimes and change what you do to get the most out of it. Even if it's totally perfect for your needs you still have to do stuff like carry it around, consult it, write in it until it becomes what the GTD crowd call your 'trusted system'.

Whenever you make a change - and adopting a new planner or planning system is a change - you need to persist until it becomes a habit, until you can't even think about not doing it. This will take some time.

Some people have trouble because they're not terribly organised. Just having a planner won't fix that. Some people have trouble because they are organised and disciplined enough not to need a planner, so the planning is just additional overhead for little gain.

Work out if and why you need a planner. If you do, and you know why, work to find a routine that gives you the planning support you need. Force yourself to use it until you don't need to force yourself any more.

6 comments:

LJ said...

So true, usually when I have planner fail it's not that my planner has failed me, but that I have failed my planner. Way too easily distracted, that's my problem :-)

Unknown said...

Totally agree, im one of them tooo organised and its an addition for me to just help me skip along even more smoothly ;)

Cloudberry said...

Spot on!

Personally, I find a 'fluid' planning system works best for me.





NinaRaffaela said...

most important addition:
"...It is completely useless except to the extent that you write in it *and read what you have written.*"
!!!

I used to "forget" about that haha

Anonymous said...

I completely agree, I fail my planner not the other way round, I am getting better but still I don't always use it to the best of it's ability :-)

pattygardner.com said...

I obviously read this article before since I left a comment, but I don't remember this brilliant statement: "You need to meet the planner half way sometimes and change what you do to get the most out of it." I love that. It is so true!

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