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| R.H. Russell & Son Calendar, 1897. poster, Edward Penfield |
Any system or blueprint for success is better than none at all. Think on paper.
BRIAN TRACY
When it comes to personal planning, I prefer paper systems over digital systems. I remember when they came out with the Palm Pilot back in the 1990s, but I never took the bait on those digital assistants. Today, the smartphone has replaced those digital assistants. Ironically, if you peruse the EDC forums, you will see smartphones paired with Field Notes notebooks. The reason for this oddity is because paper is faster and more convenient than the phone. This is why I use paper notebooks and a paper calendar.
It took me awhile to get to the pocket calendar. When I was in college, I found I had to have some kind of tool to plan my days between classes, studying, and working a job. I bought one of those fat calendar books that fit in my backpack and had a page for each day. You could plan each hour of the day. I lamented that there were only spaces for 8 hours, but I came to realize this was overkill. That system was forcing me to over plan my days. But I wouldn't figure this out until after college and had abandoned calendars altogether. That was the chaos of my twenties. I don't know how I ever kept track of anything in those years.
When I hit my thirties, I needed to be a more responsible adult, but I knew I didn't need the fat calendar. I thought back to the bratty girls that attended my church when I was a kid. Each one of them had a small calendar that fit into a purse. It just showed the month, and they would draw and write in these calendars the silly things that girls of that age write. But I never forgot those calendars.
I needed one of those calendars, but it had to be manly and more adult. I went to the office supply store in my town and bought the first of many pocket calendars. They didn't have any cutesy animal pictures or any of that crap. But they were essentially the same as those bratty little girl purse calendars showing the entire month. This pocket calendar represented the midpoint between the overplanning days and the underplanning days.
That office supply store is no longer in business, but I was able to find some similar pocket calendars at Big Lots. They are now out of business. The calendars were kinda fruity on the outside but were essentially the same on the inside. I just took the black plastic covers off of my manly calendars and covered up the fruitiness. Now, I just get that same brand off of Amazon.
I don't plan my days down to the hour, but I do need to keep track of appointments, Mass times, and Holy Days of Obligation. When I had my day job, I would put my start times in the boxes. In the blank squares, I put my To Do list for the month like servicing the car and whatnot. I don't plan much beyond that because a tight plan gets loose very quickly.
My pocket calendars have up to two years of dates. I keep two on hand as I can get ready for the next two years before the previous two years are up. I also keep a binder clip in the calendar to hold on to a daily To Do list of chores and errands. If I was still in college, I would use that clip for my class schedule and various homework assignments. It's too bad I didn't know that back then.
This has been a good system that I have been using for over two decades. The batteries on the calendar never need recharging, and I never have to get a software update. It just works and keeps me on track. Mrs. Peasant has gotten in on the system with her own girly pocket calendar.
Get yourself an old fashioned pocket calendar. Thank you for reading.
