Moving From a Work Bullet Journal to a Sugar Paper Planner in 2017

I used a disc bound bullet journal as my planner last year and developed a nice system over time, as you can see from my quarterly updates. But, I wanted to try something new this year and I’m going to be using a 2017 Sugar Paper (for Target) White Weekly Planer.

Year End Work Planner Organization Review

At the end of the year, I conducted a planner / work organization review and assessed my needs in a work planner – and using a Bullet Journal.

1. I need space to write to-do lists | which is the backbone of my system. Most of the things I write don’t have deadlines and are reminders to follow up on emails etc. BUT I would like to put some kind of timeline on myself, or I end of transferring them from month to month.
2. Future planning | Monthly Calendars for the entire Year. I need to do yearly audits and it helps if I lay them out on each month of the year in advance. i.e. just write in on the month that they should occur for the entire year.
3. Keep the system simple. My planner serves just 3 purposes ..
   1. Track trips – times I’m away from the main office
   2. Track my to-do list
   3. Track items that I am waiting on other people to repsond to via email. Every time I send an email that I need a response to – I write down a reminder to follow up with that person on that issue.

Why Look for An Alternative to the Bullet Journal

I could have continued with the bullet journal in 2017 – but I decided to see if there was a pre-printed planner out there that fit my needs a little better. I wanted to start adding tasks / to-do’s to a specific day instead of having a super-long running to-do list every month BUT I don’t care to draw these layouts myself in a bullet journal, and I don’t particularly want to use printables. So I decided to see what’s out there.

The 2017 Sugar Paper Planner

💓 The #1 thing that sold me … having the days of the week on one page AND a to-do list on the opposite page. So tasks with a due date go on a page – and reminders for follow-ups go on the page to the right.

Other things I like about the Sugar Paper Planner …

💓 It starts out with quick overview of everyday in 2017 and 2018 – what would have been even better was if there was a Julian Date calendar in there too … but OK – nobody does that.

💓 There are 2 pockets in the front to save those miscellaneous papers – suh-weet!

💓 There’s a traditional monthly layout across 2 pages BUT with a little notes section on the right side. This is perfect for listing out future plans.

💓 There’s also a notes section at the back with about 10 pages. I’ll probably use this to free-write quick notes from meetings.

So this year, I’m trying out using the Sugar Paper Planner for work. Do you use a planner for work or daily life?