Daily Dose 49: FAQs for Writing Systems

What are the basic rules for a writing system?

Start Early. Start Simple. Be Professional. Be Permanent. Get a paper punch. Create elegant solutions, don’t acquire elegant gadgets.

Simple because you won’t consistently use an unwieldy system. Professional because you might lose, or need to redo notes and plans if a stop gap solution drifts into permanence. More importantly, your information will be in a more ready-to-share form. Permanent, because you want any weeding through plans to be intentional, not accidental. You need a paper punch to make it simple to add other printed materials to your notebook. . .maybe even as early as tomorrow.

What are the pros and cons for different writing platforms?

• Bound books (journals, wire bound notebooks, etc.) have the advantage of being intact, but lose flexibility to readily insert or remove pages.
• Loose leaf notebooks are flexible, but keeping notes intact and in good condition once they are removed from the notebook is often difficult. Pulling out sheets to make room for more is dangerous!
• Computer files can be customized and made professional looking, but may not be readily available when you want to reference them. Dormant records are more easily lost with computer changeovers than with a small notebook tucked in a box or on a shelf.

What are the pros and cons of ready-made planner systems?

• Ready-made planner systems are ready to go. Just putting them in a notebook provides an instant skeleton for what to record.
• They make what you are recording look and feel professional.
• Systems are printed on high quality “thin” paper; a notebook can hold  more of such sheets.
• Systems are designed for appointment-driven work, not at-a-glance views of topically-driven lives, so most ready-mades need significant customizing to be highly beneficial for most personal and home oversight.
• Much of the space on daily sheets may be unused for home oversight purposes and storing years of dated sheets on which very little is written is not effective.
• They cost money every year.

Should you only have one planner?

• If you live in a perfect world, yes. If everything could be in one tidy, portable package, wherever you go, your plans can follow. This is the allure of smart phones and cloud computing, but it still seems hard to me to cuddle up in my bed on Sunday night and design a new routine, brainstorm new cycles, or review old plans from long ago with a computer. Then, again, remember, I’m a dinosaur.
• Planner content most often reflects a person’s major time focus, and for most people that means a system heavy on work and school appointments and deadlines, i. e. calendar driven.  EO is more topic-driven, and its notebook can help right that balance by providing a place where home and personal affairs get coordinated top billing over hourly appointments.
• If you have young children, a reference notebook of family routines, menu plans, basic needs of the children and similar topics can be a great help in case you are called away or ill for an extended time.
• Unless you are effectively well-synced electronically, maintain only one master calendar. Only if you’ve tried this, will you know how hard it is.

Will computers and smart phones eliminate paper-based systems?

The computer certainly makes preparing professional looking tools possible. Many lists and charts that would be in a notebook can be kept on the computer, but you don’t want to lose quick and ready reference. Lists and plans unused on a computer or unopened in a notebook are the same: dormant at best, worthless in daily decisions.

What do I start putting into a notebook?

Give yourself two weeks to just compile lists. Here are some starting points:

1. Your value list.
2. Your priority list.
3. Books you want to read. Music you want to learn. Places you want to go. Things you want to do.
4. Bible study topics or ideas you want to do.
5. Character qualities to work on for yourself and/or children.
6. Home projects that need done.
7. Home processes that need attention.
8. Clothing assessments.
9. Exercise plans.
10. Anything else you think might be helpful in your life.

After a couple of weeks of allowing yourself to brainstorm, the “should be doing” lists and coordinated plans and routines can start to get attention.

One Guideline

Remember though, only one list per sheet. This is a profitable inefficiency. Though it seems wasteful to write only two titles on a sheet labeled Books to Read and leave the rest empty, the long term value comes when you want to rearrange the sheet within your notebook or add additional titles later.