The following is a guest post from momAgendaCOMM blogger Michele McGraw.
Non tech planning may seem like an odd subject coming from me since I spend much of my time attached to and writing about gadgets. There is one aspect of my life where I do not take an all tech approach, and that is in my agenda and planning.
I prefer to use a good old fashioned paper agenda and a really cool pen and pencil set. Each year, I look forward to purchasing a new agenda and a new pen. Both are very important because I spend a lot of time with my planning calendar.
So, how do I combine my non tech planning calendar with my very tech life?
Each week on Sunday night, I sit in my bed with a cup of tea, my iPhone, iPad and my agenda (and special pen and pencil).
1. I write down in pen all of our activities that happen weekly like dance, sports and anything else that doesn’t change. If it is the beginning of the month, I write down activities in the monthly calendar (all in pencil). It is from there that I get the weekly activities.
2. I transfer anything else that is written in my monthly calendar to the weekly calendar in pencil.
3. I look at my week and decide which days will work better for running and other workouts. Those get penciled in to the calendar.
4. I ask my husband if he has anything that week that will affect my schedule and add that to the calendar.
5. I check my iPad for emails regarding posts that are due this week and write those in pencil. As I get projects via email, I star them and put in monthly folders in my email. Then, I can easily find them each month so I don’t miss any deadlines. I also think about blog posts that I might want to write that week and make a few notes in pencil.
6. I tentatively plan dinner for each night and write that in pencil on the calendar. That helps me with the grocery shopping.
7. At this point, I look at the whole week for overlaps or areas where I need to contact someone to help with carpooling. I send all the appropriate emails and ask for help.
8. I add the weekly activities to my online calendar using my iPad. I cross check with my paper calendar so everything is in sync.
In order for my husband to be able to see my calendar, he needs to have access to my schedule at work. So at this point, I add anything to my Google calendar that will affect him. This is also how I look at my calendar when I am away from my paper agenda. I prefer to use a large paper agenda which is not convenient to carry with me all the time.
I really prefer the non tech method of planning. I have carved out a time for myself each week so that I look forward to sitting down with the pen and paper and planning my week. It isn’t a chore. At the beginning of the month, I spend a little more time looking over the whole month and planning for my blog, my life both personally and professionally.
How do you plan your days?
Michele is CEO of Mom Geek Media and creator of Scraps of My Greek Life, a blog offering daily commentary, advice, reviews and shared experiences of how her real life and the digital domain connect. You can also connect with her on Twitter.