Thomas and I are trying to get our shit together. Which is to say, we’re dreadfully disorganized, suck at habits, and routine, and not only is it making us irritating but it’s starting to affect our business.
Bummer.
Traditionally people like us (and, okay, us) try to patch this problem with software. But you can’t solve a social problem with software, and the same goes for personal problems.
Ever tried software deodorant? Yeahhhh, like that.
Paper, it’s the coming thing in planningville.
Entré these awesome planners by Charlie Gilkey. These (and Charlie’s coaching) have been a great help.
But they don’t include a calendar. And I desperately wanted a calendar. A clean, sexy, minimalist calendar without all the chart junk.
A calendar I could use to play Don’t Break the Chain and other fun things.
So I made one.
And now I’m sharing it with you.
Download my sexy clean calendar
May – December 2012, PDF, with blanks for writing new months.
Pages template – Monthly, work week only.
Pages template – Monthly, 7 days.
Fonts used: Archer (good free alternate would be Copse) and Governor.
Productivity Trick for Creating New Months
I figured out how to create new months in a really efficient way. Check it out:
Let’s get better together
I’m going to keep working on this stuff… in public. Just as I bared my soul about why I can’t remember to brush my teeth but I can run a business.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m no Planning Polly. I’m a creative, chaotic spaz, who’s always told herself that she works better under pressure (and does her best work at the last minute).
Which should make for fun reading. (Or embarrassing reading. Whichever.)
My theory goes, though… if it works for me, maybe it’ll work for you, too. Especially if you’d also self-describe as creative & chaotic, if you feel like you rely on deadline bombs to get anything done, if you think you need to live & work in a pressure cooker to achieve anything.
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My wife and I use Apple’s calendar on our laptops and iPhones and they sync together. I also have a couple of businesses that I’m involved in and each of those has other people involved. Those calendars are managed by google but sync with my one calendar. If I’m out somewhere and I need to schedule an appointment the iPhone knows if I’m free. It’s perfect for me.
My planning nightmare comes in the form of prioritizing what should happen when and keeping multiple balls in the air. Today I need to mockup screens, layout an off site seo plan, probably have outgrown the server I started with, desperately need a refresh on my tour to reflect updates, the list goes on… And on
I’m thinking about a whiteboard, I have basecamp but somehow that’s not cutting it.I’m thinking a physical presence in the room might help
Thanks for sharing, Amy. I could not agree more about social problems not being solvable by software, although I find myself guilty of this sometimes.
I now use Crono as my personal calendar for some of the reasons you mentioned: “[a] clean, sexy, minimalist calendar without all the chart junk.”
http://crono.com/georges
Have a good day, Georges
May needs to be corrected!!!
Thanks for sharing this Amy !
@Georges: Is your calendar app public ? looks awesome
Thanks, Razvan. Crono is mostly for friends & family right now, but maybe in a few weeks…
Check out http://weekplan.net if you prefer to plan weekly rather than monthly.
It is based on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.