Planner / Semester Milestones
Spring 2018 • De Angela L. Duff • Tuesdays • De Angela L. Duff • 5:30 - 9:10 PM • 2MTC MAGNET 811
Planner and/or Journal
Procure and use an analog or digital planner or journal on a daily or weekly basis.
Please edit the Calendar and Planner / Journal Choice note pinned on the pro_sp18 slack channel and list planner(s)/journal(s) you currently use or will be using this semester.
Use your planner and/or journal on a daily or weekly basis.
What do you want to make happen this semester?
What do you need to make happen this semester?
Develop a comprehensive professional plan with key goals, milestones, practical considerations, and actionable tasks that will lead you to create the vision you have of your future self that you will make happen by the end of this semester and beyond.
You must prioritize.
Resources NOT Limited to:
Planners
Journals
PLANNERS
I personally use the Ink and Volt Planner. What’s great about this planner is that it provides space for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals. The weekly outlook section is really important, because it can be used for MITs. MITs is an acronym for Most Important Tasks. I actually use this for my creative projects. Later, I'll tell you about the systems I use for my work projects—but for now, just remember that this really is a great journal for passion projects, and I use it all the time.
If you don’t like the format of Ink and Volt, Intelligent Change has created the Productivity Planner. The Productivity Planner is a little different: it already has a place for your most important tasks, as well as your secondary and additional tasks and notes. You can also give yourself a productivity score for the day. What’s great about this journal is that it also has a section for people who use the pomodoro technique.
The weekly appointment calendar is the focus of this planner alongside daily and weekly focuses, goal setting guide, personal & work to-do lists, daily goal measurement, monthly reflection, gratitude log, motivational quotes, and blank & grid pages for sketchbook or journal.
Now, the one thing I don’t like about the Passion Planner is the weekly appointment calendar because I use a weekly digital calendar. (Technically, I use Google Calendar and a big desk calendar that I've taken apart and arranged on my wall, providing me with an analog annual view for big-picture scheduling and long-term planning, and a digital daily calendar for details.) Some people prefer analog handwritten calendars, and if you do, this would be a great journal / planner combo for you. But, since some people (like me) prefer to use Google Calendar and still others like to use iCal, this feature isn't best for everyone.
JOURNALS
Journals are a little bit different from planners. Planners are more about what you are actually doing—that is, the actions you are taking. Journals are usually about your thoughts, feelings and emotions. These are also very important to track because your thoughts, feelings, and emotions can affect your productivity profoundly.
This journal is not a physical journal, but a system. A lot of students love it. It uses a simple notation system. The Bullet Journal defines itself as "a customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and diary, but most likely, it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less."
In addition to the Productivity Planner, Intelligent Change also creates The Five Minute Journal. The Five Minute Journal is for the morning and the evening. In the morning, you write three things you are grateful for and what would make today great. This is where I would put my MITs (most important tasks) if I wanted to modify my journal to also act as a planner. You can use the daily affirmations if you like. I’m not big into affirmations—but that doesn’t mean you can't be.
At the end of the day, The Five Minute Journal prompts you to talk about three amazing things that happened today. In my opinion, what’s even better than that—because this course is about iteration and continuous improvement—is the bottom section: "How could I have made today even better?"
And now I want to talk to you about the Best Self Journal. This journal breaks down milestones in a thirteen-week road map. This is really close to a fifteen-week semester, because usually the first week is taken up with introductions and the final week is really for your final project presentation. So the thirteen-week road map works well for a semester.
The journal also prompts you to plan for "The Results," that is, the big goal you want to achieve in the next thirteen weeks.
The Best Self Journal further directs you to set three progress goals and three actions based on each progress goal. Three actions is a really good breakdown. It reminds me of the old adage "how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." It’s really important that you break down any project into actionable tasks. "Actionable" means you can actually complete it within a day. In other words, planning a wedding is not an actionable task. It’s a project. However, calling the florist, scheduling the minister, going to the store to try on dresses or tuxes, and taste-testing cakes are all actionable tasks—they are things that you can do within a day.
With the Best Self Journal, you also have a place where you officially commit to the project. I really like that. It even prompts you for a due date, and—as I'll be repeating throughout this course—deadlines are super important. If using this journal, you’ll also record how achieving this goal may improve your life. There's also a place to write how you will reward yourself for succeeding.
Now, the one thing I don’t like about the Best Self Journal is the daily planner, for the reasons listed above for the Passion Planner.
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