Just wondering if anyone finds their planner to be the most useless thing in the world...

Personally I have tried a Palm Pilot and a Franklin/Covey notebook planner. I get excited about being organized and manage to use them for a couple weeks. After that, paperweights.

I have started no less than 10 planners/organizers in the last 2yr... I'm doing good if they last me 3 days. *as I look at my newly put-together "Control Journal" with the pretty colored index tabs, and nice and neat routines/to-do lists/menus/schedules/phone #s/etc that has sat unopened for the 3 weeks since creating it*

Chris C

My IPAQ (PocketPC) has been an indespensible tool for getting my life organized... But it took some real work to get me in the habit of using it. I agree with smufymom, that its easy to get started, but hard to keep it up over any given amount of time.

2 things that i did to make this easier...

1. find software that lets you work the way you like to work. I find that the calendar / todo / and contact list that come w/ most of those handheld gadgets SUCK!!.. Lots of double entry, i mean why do i have to put a calendar entry for a birthday, if its listed in their contact info.. I eventually settled on Pocket Informant 5. Not the best, but it works for me. It lets me link everything to everything... Notes, contacts, etc..

Do some research, and spend some $$. It will make that $400 gadget worth a million bucks..

2. Routine, routine routine. Actually this is probably the MOST important step when going to any organzier. Every morning, i make it a point to check my organizer after i wake up and hit the bathroom. Every night I make it a point to "brain dump" any information that has accumulated during the day. Notes, contacts, appointments, etc..

I admit this system is not perfect, but it got me in the rythm of using my organizer.. After a few weeks, these actions became second nature, and habitual.

Now, here is where it gets magical. My body is starting to learn that i operate better when i use the organizer.. When i need a phone #, when i forget something, when i want to remind myself of something, the reflex has been built up where i just reach for my organizer in my shirt pocket.

I noticed this recently b/c i left my organizer at home by mistake. Wehen I was talking to someone and they asked why i kept reaching for my shirt pocket, I had to explain that i forgot my organizer. It really made me feel naked..

Now, what i recommend to people is that they dont need to have a fancy schmancy organizer... A simple pad of paper and a pen will work just fine to start... Especially when you are trying to get in the habit. Also, its better to find out that you arent gonna keep up the work, with a 99 cent notepad, than with a $300-400 PDA...

If you do find that you can keep it up, then reward yourself w/ that new fangled toy. I mean we have ADD, and we all love to play with that new toy right?

I use a Nokia 6800 cell phone. I had a tendency to leave planners and PDAs lying around, with the PDAs that gets expensive! I haven't had a problem hanging on to my phone. This one opens up with a full keyboard and has worked very well for me. It might not be a good fit for someone who has 20 + events in a day, but if your day is reasonable with less than 7 meetings a day it should work quite well. I can generally see 2 to 3 items on my screen at one time. Get too many events and it might be troublesome to see your whole day at a glance.

Incidently it has a reminder function and a task list which I end up using more than the calendar. Ironically I use this cell phone more for non-phone tasks than I use it as a phone! There is software to put a check book on the phone, it can handle email, instant messaging and text messaging. I don't recommend it's web browser features, the screen is too small.