I believe...

...that I will find the perfect day planner. I just don't think anyone has produced it yet. I think I have to make my own.

I've been reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. It would be great if he'd just sit down with me and help me figure it all out. Or rather help Husband figure it all out. Husband would dig Allen's approach because he claims that the more of a procrastinator you are, the more intelligent and creative you are.

Or a lazy S.O.B. It could go either way.

I LOVE, love, love, like in a crazy-obsessed-going-through its' garbage-kind-of-way, day planners. I have five of them. Like, for this year.

The irony of all this is that I am exceptionally disorganized because I don't know where I wrote the thing down or where I put it - which day planning system is housing my current To Do list?

The reason for multiple day-planners, other than voluntary insanity, is to find the ultimate solution. The Perfect Day Planner. The Uber Plan; one that encompasses everything from my urgent need to pick up Cheerios to my career goals. In some ways you could say that they are one and the same, because ignoring the Cheerios, is ignoring my children's hunger, and that wouldn't be in keeping with my goal of keeping them alive and it would be hard to focus on my work if my children were starving.

Could be on to something here: if I reduced my ambitions to Making Sure Children Are Alive, I'd free up a significant amount of time. But let's be lofty and enterprising, shall we?

When I worked for another company, one of the things we were working on was developing the ultimate organizer - the kind that does what I described above, and cappucino maker all in one.

We were unsuccessful. But! I prevail! I was all into bubbles for a while, but...there was something missing. The concept is great, and if absolutely works for project planning. But it's still just one part of the whole.

I turned to David Allen. What got me reading straight away was the title "Intelligent Dumbing Down". Oooh! I do that for a living! He claims that if you figure out your next action (a project is merely a series of actions) then ..."you alleviate the pressure on your brain. Nothing essentially changes in the world, but shifting your focus to something that your mind perceives as a doable, completable task will create a real increase in positive energy, direction and motivation."

So when I think: project: clear out the work room in the basement, I sigh deeply and turn on the TV. Mission so completely not accomplished. The problem, apparently, is that I need smaller actions. Like, decide on what shouldn't be in the workroom. I can do that. That's the first step.

And the other thing to consider is that, for every goal, there is an underlying feeling you want to have. Consider why you clean your floor. The process of cleaning a floor is only enjoyable if you have attained some radical kind of enlightenment or you are so vigorous you actually get a workout. For me, I have to think that I want to feel comfortable and proud and relaxed in my home. If I hold that thought, then I just might clean the floor. Or pay good money to have someone else do it. (Preferred method.) So somehow, I need to create a planner that takes those 'wanted emotions' into account. And it has to be something that, if I left it in the staff room, I wouldn't get endlessly razzed about it. My previous list had "Relationship: to feel loved and connected. To Do: arrange Date Night with Husband" and I just KNOW that if anyone found that, I would be asked, daily, if I feel LOVED or CONNECTED and then smirked at. So it can't be something embarassing.

In other words: "Day Planner: to feel organized and motivated: To Do: find better system that does not make me look like a total wanker."

How does this relate to my Life Goals/Grocery List Planner? I'm working on it.

But at least I know the next action. My next action is to buy this. It's all sold out. God, I need this.