In Which I Review Charlie Gilkey’s Premium Planners, and Explain How I Found My Perfect System

I want to start by saying that it was surprising to me when I realized that the reason I have a unique (and sometimes frustrating) way of organizing and keeping track of my work is because I am both a Creative Artist and a Spock-like Logician.

I have always identified myself as a logical person.

Like Spock, I love when things make sense, and when they are predictable. I love patterns. I see patterns everywhere, and this makes the world make sense to me. It’s comforting to know what comes next. (Maybe this isn’t actually comforting to Spock, but it sure as heck makes my life easier.)

But the more I planned things for my logical self, expecting that more organization was going to make my work even easier, the more my creative self rebelled.

My creative self didn’t want to be told what to do, or when to do it, or even HOW to do it. My creative self wanted me to leave it alone, and when I didn’t, it would slam the door and sulk and do nothing but feel sorry for itself. (My Spock-self was completely unimpressed by this behavior.)

Despite this upsetting problem, I kept trying to organize my thoughts and my projects and my work and my life. I used Google Docs. I hacked a moleskine-type notebook in GTD fashion. I tried text files, sticky notes all over my desk, note cards, and even more notebooks. I tried emailing myself, so it would all stay in my inbox. I tried Remember the Milk and the voice recorder in my phone.

The thing that was the most confusing for me was that all of that stuff worked… part of the time.

Figuring out why it didn’t work the rest of the time, however? My poor logical pattern-seeing brain got pretty tired of trying to understand it.

Still, life (and work) had to go on, so I kept floundering through, using what worked as long as it worked, and discarding the rest. It was sad, throwing away those different ways of doing things. Sometimes I would even go back and try them again after a few weeks, out of guilt or loyalty, but inevitably I would have to abandon them again.

Then I found Charlie and his free planners, and heaven opened and a chorus of rainbows started singing hallelujah.

When I happened upon those free planners, I noticed something profound that had never occurred to me before: there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to be productive, and there is NO ONE RIGHT WAY to plan how and why and where you are going to do things.

It’s difficult to encapsulate here what I learned from trying Charlie’s planners, because – like all my other attempts at finding The Perfect System – I stopped using them after a few weeks. Yes, I was hooked, but one day I didn’t need to specifically plan anything, and the next day I forgot to, and it was some time before I picked them up again.

And when I picked them up again, I had another epiphany about my particular special awesome brand of productivity: sometimes I need to plan out every single thing, and sometimes I don’t. AND THAT IS MY NORMAL.

Digital + physical are my Perfect System.

When I say “perfect,” that’s very tongue-in-cheek. It’s not actually perfect, because I am not perfect. (My inner Spock disagrees with this.) My creativity is not perfect, and neither are the patterns I see. Yes, all the patterns are connected, but they are all organic and unique and they can change. Knowing that, I can support myself and my way of being and doing, by using a combination of things that serve me well.

I use Charlie’s Premium Planners and 3×5 notecards for planning, taking notes, and keeping track of whatever I need to keep track of. I like the Premium Planners because, unlike his free planners, I have access to the entire year’s worth of dailies and monthlies and overviews, and I can print off as many as I want. (The free planners still rock, but you can only get a month at a time.)

Digitally speaking, I use Google services (Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Voice, Talk), Backpack, and Freckle. (I’ll write more about Backpack and Freckle another day.)

This combination gives me near-perfect flexibility, redundancy, and portability. There are a lot more great digital options than there are great physical options, and I consider myself ridiculously blessed to have found Charlie’s planner system.

Spock is happy now, because his creative half is being taken care of without screwing up his whole perfectly-planned-out day. Most of the time.

I think Spock just needs a hug.

P.S. Yes, I’ll get paid if you buy anything through my links. If I value something enough, I will recommend it with an affiliate link.