Switching From a Bullet Journal to a Blue Sky Planner for Work

I started out using a Bullet Journal for Work almost a year ago, and I loved it. It worked, as I had a lot of tasks // issues to stay on top of. My system of using the ARC planner as a Bullet Journal evolved over time and got better and more efficient for my purposes.

Then, early this year, I experimented with using a more traditional planner because I needed to be able to see months for the year in advance. I tried the Sugar Paper Planner and continued to use it for a few months, but ultimately, the line spacing was too small for my writing, so I went back to using my bullet journal.

And then in August, with all the “back to school” planners coming out, I decided to try another traditional planner. I assessed my must haves:

• A Monthly overview – almost every planner has this.
• No daily layouts with time of day – I track appointments on a digital calendar, so this is unnecessary.
• Small size, but not too small – with traveling a few times a month, a big letter size planner just felt unnecessarily bulky in my bag.
• Enough space in the daily view to write out my task lists.

I settled on a Blue Sky Planner which is a traditional planner with a monthly overview and a horizontal unlined daily section. Specifically, the Ashley G White Feather Blue Sky Planner. And it’s working like a BEAST!

Here’s how I use it …

Monthly Calendar

Like before, this is my future planning section for travel and days off work, highlight the dates and put where I’m going (city, state and name of facility). I keep a small post-it note on the month and write in any un-confirmed travel plans there, before they make it to my calendar (otherwise, things get messy as dates get postponed many times).

I also have a paper-clip holding all the previous pages up to the month that I’m in so the planner opens to it automatically. Of course – I make sure it’s a “cute” paperclip. This might be a work planner, but there is some room for personality. I also stick a paperclip on a few of the upcoming months – so I can find them quickly.

Dailies

The dailies are for tasks and items that need following-up. I write them on the date started and highlight date due or to follow up – and if there is no due date, I make up one. I can see a week at a time, so only if tasks don’t get done in that week, will they get transferred to the next week (and I write them in red ink with the number of times they have been transferred). The Blue Sky Planner has a ribbon and I use that to hold the place of the current day, making it super easy to get to it.

I try to color code – usually red ink is used for tasks that get transferred from one week to the other, blue ink is for tasks that I’m waiting on a response for and black if for tasks that I need to do. I highlight travel dates on the dailies as well – just a stripe running down the side.

Post-Its

I already mentioned I’ll use a small post-it for unconfirmed travel dates which I stick on the monthly. But I also use large post-its for notes on the right side of every page. These are for meeting or audit notes, or notes on things I want to bring up in upcoming meetings.

That’s how I’m organizing my planner these days. Do you use a traditional planner, bullet journal, or are you completely digital?