Having a day planner organizer is an essential tool for highly productive living. When you first get an organizer, it may seem a little overwhelming with all the different features and lengthy instructions. However, once you become accustomed to it, you start to see the logic and value in each part. Eventually, using it becomes second nature.
I am going to share my experiences using both a paper and a software day planner organizer. Although this is a subject typically considered just before the start of a new year, I encourage anyone not using a day planner or organizer to start right away, regardless of the date. Additionally, if you are dissatisfied with your current organizer, you may want to consider switching to a new one. What’s important is taking advantage of the time you have left in the year to learn how to use it so that you can put it into practice as soon as possible.
I was introduced to the Franklin-Covey (paper) day planner while working for a large international corporation. My boss purchased one for all the department heads. I was impressed with it, so I purchased one for each of my managers and support staff.
There is a tremendous advantage when everyone you work with has the same planner as you do. This is especially true for a manager who is leading a group of subordinate managers. When you plan various activities, everyone is literally on the same page.
Providing my staff with this day planner also allowed me to fine-tune their planning and organizing skills. Although it was my management style to provide an intricate plan for what I wanted my staff to accomplish, I credit the Franklin-Covey planner, in part, for helping develop a team that consistently led the United States in all performance categories.
My Franklin-Covey (paper) day planner improved my productivity significantly. And I was already pretty strong in this area. What it did for me was refine my skills and streamline my organizing activities.
Paper versus software day planner organizer
I started using a software organizer on my desktop computer after using the Franklin-Covey paper-based day planner for many years.
Always on the lookout for ways to simplify my life and increase productivity, I began exploring the option of converting to a software organizer. This is the time that I’d typically get a new Franklin-Covey calendar for the upcoming year. Had I known what I would discover about the software planner, I would have switched years ago without worrying about which month I started.
Although Franklin-Covey offered a software version of their planner at the time, I decided to try a different one that I had received as a gift a couple of years earlier. This software was a very early version of one I’ll introduce to you soon.
Unless you have little or no experience using computer software, I see very few advantages to using a paper-based day planner organizer. Although the initial costs of purchasing day planner organizer software may be higher, the long-term cost is significantly lower. Purchasing the software is a one-time expense that can last for years. With the paper-based version, you must buy a new calendar package annually. Additionally, you must purchase new address pages every few years, as they wear out and become cluttered with obsolete information.
Software advantages over a paper day planner organizer
Ability to…
- Password-protected access. (Impossible with a paper version.)
- Insert recurring weekly, monthly, and yearly events and tasks with a single entry. (With a paper version, you’d have to enter each one separately.)
- Set up alarms & reminders for upcoming events and tasks. (Impossible with a paper version.)
- Make quick, easy, and clean changes to any entry. (With a paper version, the erasing and rewriting leave the area messy, especially after multiple changes.)
- Drag and drop, copy and paste entries to another date or location. (Impossible with a paper version.)
- Automatically rolls over unfinished tasks to the next day and beyond. (With a paper version, this must be done by hand.)
- Find a particular event or task using the search function. (With a paper version, you could spend a lot of time trying to locate a specific event or task.)
- Switch to various calendar views as needed at any given moment. (Paper version only has one view.)
- Make journal entries and notes of any length. (Impossible with a paper version.)
- Enter multiple addresses, phone numbers, and emails along with birthdays, anniversaries, and notes for each contact in the address book. And have the birthdays and anniversaries automatically entered into the calendar. (All of this is impossible with a paper version.)
- Initiate envelope and label printing from the address book. (Impossible with a paper version.)
- Automatically dial phone numbers of contacts in the address book. (Impossible with a paper version.)
The day planner organizer (software) I’ll show you next also includes these capabilities.
- Spell check to ensure a professional appearance.
- Customize the look and feel.
- Keep a daily personal or travel journal.
- Store user IDs, logins, pins, & more in an encrypted password organizer.
- Track personal and business expenses.
- Print your calendar to share with friends and family via email.
- Send an email to a contact in the address book with one click.
- Access a contact’s website from the address book with a single click.
- Start a letter to contact in the address book with one click.
- Get a map and directions for contact in the address book with one click.
- Send an email to multiple contacts in the address book.
- Check the time in hundreds of locations using the world clocks.
- Import-Export information from/to other software.
- Synchronize data with mobile devices and Personal Information Managers.
- And much more.
Here it is! 😉 AnyTime Organizer!
I wish I had started using a software day planner organizer years ago. It would have made my life much easier and more productive.