#PlannerGirl Bullet Journal With a Disc Bound Planner {Q3 Changes}

I’m transitioning into a new role at the company I work for, and my work planner needs have changed a little bit since I shared my initial setup and Q2 update. Now, I’m still using a hacked bullet journal system, but I downsized my ARC planner to the half size version.

The primary reason for downsizing was for better portability. I travel more often now, and I’m trying to cut down on the weight of my work bag while traveling. I always take my personal and work laptops – so I’m cutting down the weight where I can. Here’s how I have it set up for Work (and personal now).

Section 1: Monthlies

On one side of the page I have a monthly spread where I put each day of the month in one column, and then in the second column, I fill in blue for when I’ll be working from the plant, grey for the weekends,

In the space on the right of this column, I write in any tasks that are due that day. This was not a part of my old system – and now it’s much easier for me to see what deadlines are this month. My digital calendar only captures meetings, so this monthly spread is not duplicating anything that’s already captured elsewhere. I also write out details about any hotel, car and/or flight reservations beside the travel dates.

On the other side of the page, I start my task list for the month or what I’ve seen referred to as a “brain dump.” I tried ” a traditional weekly setup, but quickly returned to this method.

I use a check mark when tasks are complete, and and arrow if I need to migrate them to the next month – an X if I don’t need to do the task and can forget about it. At the bottom of the page, I section off the last 5 lines for “Follow Ups” that I need to do throughout the month.

The most awesome things about using a disc bound planner (the ARC system – with Martha Stewart pages), is that I can add (and remove) pages as necessary. So if my tasks run over – and most likely they will, I just insert a fresh page and continue.

I always start the month on a new page – so I draw them up a few months in advance. This is especially useful for me to quickly see my already scheduled travel dates – so I won’t double book.

Section 2: Projects

My new role is as a quality auditor of several food manufacturing facilities. I treat each of these as a project and use the ARC Project Page to take notes from meetings regarding these plants. The name of the facility goes at the top, meeting notes to the right and any todo’s in the “Action Item” column on the left.

Each facility gets it’s own page, and I organize all these alphabetically in 1 section (for now).

I also have a page(s) dedicated to notes from my one-on-one meetings with my new boss, and a separate page for notes from team meetings.

That’s my system right now, there is a 3rd section for trackers and personal stuff, but I’ll talk about that another time. I’ll also talk more about the supplies I’m using now, and my customization to the ARC planner in another post.

Do you keep a planner, notebook or journal?