For those of you who have perused through my resolutions a few posts back, I mentioned a desire to ideally launch at least two major promotions, one during the normally leaner months in the summer and another at the end of year.
I thought it would be a good idea to break down my process. After all, nothing says "motivation" like potentially facing humiliation in front of a virtual crowd by not following through. Plus, highlighting a few simple, nifty aides could end up being a benefit to others in their creative quest as well.
To get from point A to B in life, it pays to organize. As I said before, a simple declaration to "do" isn't enough to get it "done." To this end I figured that starting off with the right tools by spending the extra dollar or two on a good planner was in order. No more adapted spiral notepads or partially functional planners for me—I needed something that met my demands. Something that I would want to pull out every chance I had instead of cramming it in the dark recesses of my bag, never to see the light of day until the end of the year when it was time to replace it.
Of course, not all are created equal. My ideal functional planner had to meet certain personal criteria:
1. Portable. I needed something that I can shove in any bag or roomy pocket and go-go-go. Large ring binder styled, or bulky portable planners were too cumbersome. With all the other items I usually tote around with me (like my sketchbook) I would undoubtedly end up experiencing high school heavy back pack flashbacks. The type also had to be legible enough where my eyes wouldn't burn from their sockets from all the squinting. I mean really, some of these pocket planners need a loop to be readable.
2. Space to write. I needed each of the days to have enough space for me to write multiple appointments. Some agendas dedicated an entire page for one day. Frankly I didn't need that much space. Conversely there were others that dedicated two rows if even that much. Just wasn't enough. One with a few lines dedicated to each day would do nicely.
3. Project/Goals. I often scribble "spare of the moment" notes, normally on projects, research, or random ideas that pop in my head. For this a few pages dedicated to this section where I could jot them all down was a must.
4. Extras. I like extras, don't you? Even though you might not need them all it's good to have them there anyway, just in case. I'm talking about the closure straps, the map with the international time zones, the long distance area codes, metric conversion table, that sort of thing. Hey, in this business, you never know when it'll come in handy and it pays to be a bit prepared.
5. Address book. At the bottom of my priorities, because darn near every planner comes with one. I did however hanker for one that I could move from yearly planner to yearly planner.
After a bit of desparate hunting at different locations both online and in stores, I finally found and bought the moleskine pocket weekly planner. It fulfilled all of my criteria and had a very well designed layout, bonus. Originally I thought it was a bit overrated (supposedly inspired by Hemmingway and Picasso's styled journals) but I must admit that they're not all "gimmick." It's portable, well designed, sturdy, had a closure strap and a place marker, had the right kind of bells and whistles and surprisingly enough was quite legible for it's size. I probably will buy moleskines from now on unless I discover something better further down.
Not only was it important for me to have a physical planner, I needed a virtual one as well. After all, I'm online more often than not. So to that end, I opened the iCalendar that came with my Mac OS software for the very first time.
Let me just say that I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner. For those of you who aren't familiar with this digital planner, some of the nifty features of iCal include notifications, that is, I can email a reminder of an impending appointment to myself as well as set an alarm to go off at any time or day of my choosing. It also lets you separate sections by color and leave detailed notes to yourself. Pretty nifty.
I'm already well into uploading all of my business and personal affairs. Moreover, if I for example don't want to see a calendar riddled with color coded schedules, I can hide whichever I don't want to see at the moment from view. Very easy to set up and use.
Next Time: Phase Two: Scheduling
I thought it would be a good idea to break down my process. After all, nothing says "motivation" like potentially facing humiliation in front of a virtual crowd by not following through. Plus, highlighting a few simple, nifty aides could end up being a benefit to others in their creative quest as well.
To get from point A to B in life, it pays to organize. As I said before, a simple declaration to "do" isn't enough to get it "done." To this end I figured that starting off with the right tools by spending the extra dollar or two on a good planner was in order. No more adapted spiral notepads or partially functional planners for me—I needed something that met my demands. Something that I would want to pull out every chance I had instead of cramming it in the dark recesses of my bag, never to see the light of day until the end of the year when it was time to replace it.
Of course, not all are created equal. My ideal functional planner had to meet certain personal criteria:
1. Portable. I needed something that I can shove in any bag or roomy pocket and go-go-go. Large ring binder styled, or bulky portable planners were too cumbersome. With all the other items I usually tote around with me (like my sketchbook) I would undoubtedly end up experiencing high school heavy back pack flashbacks. The type also had to be legible enough where my eyes wouldn't burn from their sockets from all the squinting. I mean really, some of these pocket planners need a loop to be readable.
2. Space to write. I needed each of the days to have enough space for me to write multiple appointments. Some agendas dedicated an entire page for one day. Frankly I didn't need that much space. Conversely there were others that dedicated two rows if even that much. Just wasn't enough. One with a few lines dedicated to each day would do nicely.
3. Project/Goals. I often scribble "spare of the moment" notes, normally on projects, research, or random ideas that pop in my head. For this a few pages dedicated to this section where I could jot them all down was a must.
4. Extras. I like extras, don't you? Even though you might not need them all it's good to have them there anyway, just in case. I'm talking about the closure straps, the map with the international time zones, the long distance area codes, metric conversion table, that sort of thing. Hey, in this business, you never know when it'll come in handy and it pays to be a bit prepared.
5. Address book. At the bottom of my priorities, because darn near every planner comes with one. I did however hanker for one that I could move from yearly planner to yearly planner.
After a bit of desparate hunting at different locations both online and in stores, I finally found and bought the moleskine pocket weekly planner. It fulfilled all of my criteria and had a very well designed layout, bonus. Originally I thought it was a bit overrated (supposedly inspired by Hemmingway and Picasso's styled journals) but I must admit that they're not all "gimmick." It's portable, well designed, sturdy, had a closure strap and a place marker, had the right kind of bells and whistles and surprisingly enough was quite legible for it's size. I probably will buy moleskines from now on unless I discover something better further down.
Not only was it important for me to have a physical planner, I needed a virtual one as well. After all, I'm online more often than not. So to that end, I opened the iCalendar that came with my Mac OS software for the very first time.
Let me just say that I'm sorry I didn't do it sooner. For those of you who aren't familiar with this digital planner, some of the nifty features of iCal include notifications, that is, I can email a reminder of an impending appointment to myself as well as set an alarm to go off at any time or day of my choosing. It also lets you separate sections by color and leave detailed notes to yourself. Pretty nifty.
I'm already well into uploading all of my business and personal affairs. Moreover, if I for example don't want to see a calendar riddled with color coded schedules, I can hide whichever I don't want to see at the moment from view. Very easy to set up and use.
Next Time: Phase Two: Scheduling
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