I know I go on and on about having a planning system that works with your brain. The planning mechanics are the subsystems and parts that make a planning system work.

— A place for everything, and everything in its place.

— Be creative with your page real estate.

— Sticky Notes!

— Incorporate printables! This applies to all planners, including bound books. Don’t hesitate to glue in or tip-in a printable ( My favorite tip-in video is from Daksina). We are incredibly lucky to have access to a wealth of printable inserts. Don’t skip using them just because you’re in a bound book! If it works for your brain, throw it in there! If it saves space (hello to my A6 and smaller planner people!), throw it in there! I use yearly foldouts for my husband’s game schedule for work; finances; large, multi-part, long-term projects (home improvements, specifically); and project index. It makes way more sense for me to keep all of that info on a one-page foldout for each item rather than using three or four spreads in my pocket Moleskine otherwise. That also allows for one spread to be dedicated to that “topic,” so the pages of the bound book that surround that tip-in can hold sticky notes or permanent notes that belong there as well… all of the pertinent information in one spread. Also, gluing in monthly calendars instead of having to draw them in every month guarantees that I’ll stay in a book longer… by about the third month of drawing in monthlies, I’m way over it.

— Pre-decorate for dailies, notes at the end of those pages. I am genuinely shocked that having different “page types” interspersed with each other doesn’t bother me; a few years ago, it would’ve bothered me to no end. I know that this is the best use of space in this small, bound format, and I know this setup and size are what I need right now, so having dailies/notes/journaling all interspersed isn’t bothering me at all.

— Quick curation: do I need this long-term (more than a month)? If not (a short/term, small project), I use a sticky note in the Project section or a page or two in the Daily notebook. If yes, at least a sticky note in the monthly or projects, or a spread or two in the Projects section. If not sure, then sticky note on the Weekly until I decide. Quick curating comes with being familiar with and comfortable in your system. I don’t want to think about where I should put something. I don’t want to think about where I might find a specific something when I need it. If I have to put too much thought into either placement or retrieval, I’ll constantly think about that instead of leaving that mental energy open for more important things. I don’t want to spend mental energy thinking about the mechanics. I need the mechanics to just work.

— Abbreviate when necessary, don’t worry about taking up space when I need it. I need space for school notes (formulas I need to memorize, steps involved in solving certain types of problems)… the stuff I need to commit to memory so well that little to no effort goes into retrieving it from my brain when I need it. This goes into curation. And sticky notes. If I’m not sure, sticky note on the Weekly. I can always dedicate a page or spread to it in a day or two if necessary.

— Section Linking! Information flows from one section to the next and back again. Projects and all of their steps go in the Projects section. Projects get listed on the Weekly (just the “title”, no specific steps), specific tasks for that project go on Dailies. There, I’ve linked three separate sections of my planner. This ties in to using page real estate (and time) wisely. I don’t need to list every step for a project on my Weekly because those steps are already listed in the Projects section. I just need the Project title/name on the Weekly so I remember to make some headway on it. When I’m setting up my day the night before, I look at my Weekly, see that project name listed, flip to it in my Project section, and add any tasks I want to finish from that project just in the next day. This also keeps my mental clutter at a minimum; I put my mental energy and time into the project steps that are on the Daily. The rest is in the Project section; I don’t have to worry about forgetting it or losing it.

— Timed things. A timeline, a list, what does your brain like? What looks the least distracting or confusing? I struggle with things that happen at :15, :20, and :45 because I have a lot of them and they don’t fit nicely into regular timeline inserts (usually). So I did what my brain defaults to anyway right now: a list.

— Yearlies act like a filter, (monthly) info I want to see without the noise of the other things in the same calendar.

LINKS

— Tons of free printables and great information at Philofaxy

— Great use of a small planner (Daily Pocket Moleskine) by Ka

— Beautiful, free printables from NeverPaperLand

— If you’d like to see the full set-up of this planner, it’s here.