Obviously not, because I'm going to ask you, "what is it?"

I actually considered it before I bought my first PDA. I doubt I would have actually used the Franklin - it seems fairly complicated in comparison to my current Palm.

Annellis,

It's the paper based planner put out by Franklin-Covey. It encorporates the 7 effective principles with organizing your time based on your goals. With always keeping your big picutre in mind. I do think they also have a PDA version but I am a paper and pen kind of girl.

Maddie

I love my planner. I have a palm that love and before that I used a paper planner. But in terms of writing goals and tracking the bigger picture, I don't do that much. Maybe I do but in a different way than the Franklin Covey would have you do it.

Ginger

I've heard of them. I used to use a paper Day-Runner system years ago and used it for many years. But I switched to an HP Palmtop (100LX and then 200lx for 7 years after the 100lx died an untimely death).

And then about 8 months ago I switched to a iPaq PDA that I keep everything on. My phone book, my calendar, meeting notes, todo lists and database software apps that help me to organize projects. Just about everything. Also I can play my MP3 music (with headphones). I can also surf the net, send and receive email. It has WiFi and Bluetooth (which I don't use but came with it).

But the MAIN stuff without a doubt is the ToDo list stuff, calendaring stuff and note taking and list organizing is unbeatable. Oh and it has games for when I'm bored :)

And like you said Franklin Covey system does have a PDA version. That sounds cool. What makes the Franklin system unique?

Cheers,
--jans

Mmmm I like that. I'm a paper person myself. (I don't need anything else to plug in!) Heehee

SInce I have not seen the other systems I am not sure how they differ from Franklin-paper based, but as an idea I like the concept of self-care and dedication to family as a mainstay of the FC idea. I really like the ideas I have taken from the tapes.. plus personal modifications I have made to my binder. I know that others do the same with the PDA based system.. in fact I have FC on my PP..but I am just not a PDA person.. I don't like tickytacking in on those little keys or a screen ~ husband loves his~. For me there is just something about the paper.. and as I think about it..that is really it.. I have so much other paper in my life that my binder gives me a place to put those bit and slips. I go so far as to use my mini-punch to then put them right into the binder. Color chip sample, walpaper bits. Also things I pull out of magazines and results from medical tests. Right now I am working on a comand stand for mine. FC makes one but it's a bit of ~office~ looking for me. So I am taking a nifty old wooden tray and adding feet to the front and back with bigger feet in the back so the tray sits at a tilt. This will keep my binder up off the counter and out of the way of spills. By keeping it out while at home ALL written stuff goes in there.. notes from phone conversation, notes for my busniess and the like. I TRY to use two different color pens for home and business and with luck on my new tray there will be place for a back up set since I tend to loose them in the sucking void of my house and 5 kids... all of whom deny that they would ever touch them ~G~

Maddiemom

I love my paper planner - but it's not an FC, or dayrunner/dayplanner, or any of those big name "systems". For me, those complete systems for being organized worked opposite of what they're suppose to do for me - they just gave me one more thing to worry about, rather than actually being helpful in staying organized. I gave up on planners for many years after my last expensive planning "system" experience.

Now I use an $8 thin spiral bound "Time Master" planner that I found at Hastings this year. The days are laid out in weekly increments - plenty of room to schedule appointments for each day, with space for goal setting on a weekly basis. Those pages are sandwiched in between pages with "monthly" calendars for each month...so it's easy to plan ahead to the next month, and then when you get there, transfer the monthly appts. to the daily pages. And that's all there is to it - it's very slim and compact (8 1/2in tall, 6 in wide, less than half an inch thick), so it fits in my purse very nicely.

The big planners work well for a lot of people - but for me, I'm going to stick with cheap, small ones from now on. Simple planner = simple planning, in my particular case. :-)

I agree.. if it just adds stress than it's no help at all. I have totally customized my system for how I use it and what works for me in my life. I have made ( on the computer with the FC program) sheets that fit the things I need.. like a sheet to keep up with my diabetic needs, and I had a special section for when I was pregnant. I have made sections for our house renovation and for the kids homeschooling stuff. These obviously were not sections that I could buy at the FC store ( but that would have been great.

So in my current version I have my checkbook/credit cards and money, library cards and the like. Then I have my current monthly calendars, plus day sheets for each day in this month and the next month. ( rest are kept till neede din my file cabinet) then I have my address book section and then personal sections for goals, shopping, house reno, homeschooling etc. Right now I have an extra section for vacation since we are in the planning stages for one in May. It fits me but would be a real washo-out form someone else, and I think that is the point.. it needs to work for you.. never make it more compliacated than it needs to be :)

I was a franklin gal until PDA's were invented. now my task list and contacts and everything including my checkbook balance and zagat guide for major cities in the USA are all on my palm. Nothing beats that. Nothing.

I wonder if I would have used my planner more if I'd had a stand for it.

and, if I'd had the smaller one--it was so big to lug around.

I've still got it--maybe i ought to go get some new pages for it, and try again. but I still think, if it's to work, I need to be able to carry it, and the one I have is JUST too large.

Talley, how big is yours?? Mine is standard size since I can't seem to get all I need in anything smaller.. and lord knows I have tried!.. so I have what I think of as a big one.. and just make sure that I carry a purse that is big enough.. but I totally agree that it can get heavy!

I think it's standard size, too--you can fold a piece of paper in half, and punch the short side, and put it in the binder.

It's just that I WALk everywhere I go (what w/ subways, etc.,) and it's heavy in the backpack eventually.

I think it's a more sensible size than the tiny one, esp. since you can easily add full-size papers to it (like the office phone list) so you don't have to re-copy them.

But I'm trying to lug less around.

DayTimer's planner is very similar to the Franklin one (there a Franklin store near me); I may try that out, too.

I tried a PDA, but found it frustrating to write on in a hurry. It wasn't so bad if I thought of it simply as a place to store phone numbers, lists, etc. But I was trying to take all my notes on it too, and that just WASN'T working.

W/ the paper planner, I could do that.