Techo Kaigi

[lunabee34]

Techo Kaigi is a Japanese term that refers to an evaluation of your current planner set up. Since the new planner season is about to begin, let's host one here.

What's working for you? What's not working for you? How will you be planning and journaling in 2025?

Comments

[zenigotchas]

I found Obsidian again.

All is right with my journaling world once more.

[lunabee34]

Hurray!

[octahedrite]

Unhappy with my calendar but not unhappy enough to make a new one from scratch. The calendar I currently have is one I made several years ago, has a big grid for the month on a single sheet of paper. Considered a compact one with the whole year on a page but eh, I don't love it. I don't know what I want.

(Not looking for advice, just reflecting.)

[lunabee34]

Big mood.

I never really know what I want either. LOL

I hope you figure it out.

[octahedrite]

Thanks! I'm going with the compact calendar after all. Bitching about it here brought me some clarity lol. If I hate it, I can return to the old system and I'll only be out a few cents.

[lunabee34]

Yay! <3

[feast_of_regrets]

Current

Jibun Techo Days (the "done book") which tracks how I actually spent my days. Hobonichi Weeks Mega (the "victory book") in which I have resumed putting a highlight and a list of wins for the week. I had a half year B6 Stalogy for catch all long form journaling, which I loved, but it ran out of pages in June and nothing has really replaced it. I've been very sporadically journaling in a Sterling Ink B6 vertical Common Planner (because it was the academic year and vertical was what she had) since I filled the Stalogy, and just yesterday I actually started a traditional bullet journal daily log in there (because I needed to write my way around some executive dysfunction at work and that seemed the way to do it). The bujo was wildly successful at what I needed yesterday, although today I'm reminded of everything I don't get along with in bullet journaling. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to stick with it for the rest of the month just to have something that functions as a comprehensive planner. If it sticks, it might blow up everything else I had planned for 2025, but we'll see. I also have a Hobonichi Day Free that I have only used very half heartedly for meta planning and notes.

Evaluation

I am a little more put together than I was when we last had a general post, but I'm still pretty dissatisfied with how 2024 went and I'm looking forward to fixing some things in 2025. I have pretty much winged it this year with minimal actual planning, just living from list to list. That's not working out tremendously well. I need to get back to a regular monthly and weekly planning session, with attendent reflections on the time past. And the Days, while wonderful in every way, is actually not the best place for me to keep daily planning, because I don't like having many open items on the daily pages. The Weeks works well, but I'm now duplicating that information in about three places, and I don't love that. (The Weeks is also my favorite book to keep at the end of the year, and I really wish I had used it for my catch all instead of a random Stalogy, but that's just the kind of year it's been.) The Common Planner vertical is a spectacularly bad fit for a mostly traditional bujo, at least for me. But I only have to make it a few weeks and then I can move some things around. I do hope that three weeks of daily logs (which I haven't done in a long time) gives me some insight into improvements I can make to reduce friction between me and the things I want to get done.

Looking Ahead

I'm currently thinking of a three book system for my main planner stack, assuming the bujo stays. I want to put most of the bujo system into my Plans by Just Scribble, where I think the monthly and weekly logs and reflections will fit like a glove. Daily logs probably will not fit in that book though; it's only a page per day. (I can try dividing the page and probably have room for some days, but I hate having to try to fit, and it won't work on big days.) So the daily log will either stay in the Common Planner or move to a new notebook on January 1st. I will feed open tasks back into the dailies in the JS Plans, and finished tasks into the JT Days (which also holds my lived schedule). (This will solve my biggest issue with bujo, which is not being able to clearly see what I need to do in the daily log. It's just not a good task system for me.)

I have other books in the works (a meal planner, a health planner, a project book, and several journals and/or art projects), but I think they'll be pretty straight forward (and also are mostly for fun). If I can get the planning system itself to work out, I think I'll be a lot more content next year.

[lunabee34]

I love the idea of a Victory Book. That's such a great concept and name for it.

[lunabee34]

Well, I decided earlier this year that I wasn't digging my planner--some no name planner that's just monthly calendars off Amazon. The squares were way too small. So I got a new one from Barnes and Noble a few months ago. I'm not in love with it either. It's got weekly pages which I got all excited about using but don't use. Every time. Every damn time I think I'm going to use the weekly or daily pages, and I do not. I just use the monthly calendar pages. Do I learn from this? No, no I do not.

[stormehowl]

I keep trying out planners that have monthly and weekly and once I did one with daily as well. Yeah... a lot of wasted space because I just felt overwhelmed.

But the Commit30 looks so much more simple. I like that the Weeklys are also a calendar-grid style. Better for my ADD brain!

I'll update if it's a success or failure.

But like you I have to have Monthly calendar pages if nothing else. That is what I used the most. I like seeing the whole picture. Which is why I think I'll like the Commit's weekly calendar aesthetic!

Good luck, friend!!!

[lunabee34]

Thank you thank you!

Same as you I just kept wasting all the beautiful space in these planners I was tempted to buy. They're all just so pretty, though. LOL

I haven't heard of Commit30. Can't wait to hear how it works for you.

[mothereader]

I was in a B5 notebook earlier this year, but then I wanted to try one page per day and B5 felt like such a waste, so I switched to an A5, both Leuchtturms.

I'm doing hybrid bullet journaling. Most days I'm doing time blocking (like it's done here) on half a page and bullets on the other half, and the rest of the days I'm doing just bullets. I've also got a few recurring collections: weekly logs have been a hit, but monthly logs less so. I'm trying a different thing for the monthly log over the next few months, so we'll see how that goes.

I've really liked having one page for each day, and the structure I have for these pages as well. I was worried about missing days, but that hasn't happened outside of expected periods. Those periods were brief enough that I just added those days in with notes about what was going on instead of skipping.

The system I'm using has everything I need at the moment and it's not too complex, so I'll continue with it. I should be near the end of the notebook by March, when I start a new planning period. I might get another Leuchtturm, but beyond that I'll probably look for something with more pages, so that I'll be able to fit the whole year into it.

[lunabee34]

I'm glad you found something that's working for you. That's awesome!

[halfcactus]

I'm currently too burned out to journal but hoping things pick up again in 2025. :( Still going with the same Laconic layout next year.

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

I really hope you feel better soon.

[asenathwaite]

I use a B6 fauxdori for pretty much everything (my husband calls it "the metanotebook"), and for the past few years I've used a monthly calendar insert and a two page/week weekly insert for planning; this pairing works well enough that I'm continuing with it next year.

[lunabee34]

I love metanotebook! That's great. I'm glad you found something that works for you.

Thank you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a great idea. I have boosted the signal over on goals_on_dw.

There's also a series of posts going up with resources about bullet journals, planners, etc.

Me, I have two basic things.

1) The goal post, customarily made on January 1. That lists a bunch of specific goals that I mark "met" after doing them.

2) The desktop calendar. This is where I write down things like deadlines, upcoming events, and which posts I need to make in the future.

Neither is fancy. Both work pretty well and are the result from years of refinement.

Re: Thank you!

[lunabee34]

Thanks!

I'm glad you found something that's working for you.

[stefanyeah]

Oooh, interesting. Let's see…
I've only started with planners this year, so I'm still in the figuring out process.
I've used the Hobonichi A5 Yamazakura Hon and the Weeks this year. I thought the Weeks would be perfect, with the page for the days and the other page for any notes or maybe sketches. It didn't work. I have no idea why, because theoretically, I still love the concept.

However, I started using the Hon's Weekly Pages, because boy, did they *click*.
I also managed to write something into the Hon almost every day, only missing like one or two. Sometimes there's a full page filled, sometimes it's just one or two lines.

So, what I did for appointments this year was: Put everything into the Weeks, because that's the one I'm carrying around. (I've filled the monthly pages AND the normal week pages.)
When at home, I sat down and put the appointments into the Hon and then into Coda, Zapier then put the appointments into the family calendar in Notion.
It's too much and when going to appointments that required me to bring a larger bag, I just took my pretty Hon along and forewent the Weeks completely.

My plans for '25 thus were:
1) A5 Cousin Avec, because that's the one with the Weekly Pages and split, so it's thinner for carrying around. (Spoiler, it's not a lot thinner when you add a cover…) I'm still excited to only have one analogue calendar to deal with, though.
2) English A6 Hon for use at home and further experimenting with different themes and so I understand the bonus pages and quotes in the Japanese Avec.

However, they announced a Godzilla special edition Weeks. So that's my number 2 planner now. I will use it for fandom things. Already put a few events and prompts into it.

---

I've also fallen in love with the concept of Travelers Journal and got a cheaper variant that's not got the knot on the back, but on the spine and a few pockets inside from Wanderings. Let's see what how that'll turn out in usage.

[lunabee34]

Ha! I am the same. Theoretically I love the concept of so many planners, but then I start to use them and they don't work for me even though I continue to think they are neat or aesthetically pleasing or whatever and wish they would work for me. LOL

[stefanyeah]

Yes. And now that I know those weekly pages work for me, at the moment, I'm looking at others. But none of them feel good. Like the Jibun Techo's pages that even incorporate day and night hours in a nice way. And yet, and yet, the actual design is too notable for me.

(I've also fallen into the planner/journal youtube rabbit hole for a while. But I know, a lot of those won't work for me.)

[lunabee34]

It's so soothing to look at the pretty things, though. I love reading stationery blogs, etc.

[stefanyeah]

It certainly is. :D

I kinda like those "plan with me" and "my planner setup" videos for background noise. It seems they have a body doubling effect on me, because at some point, I'm back to writing/typesetting/whatever and don't even notice them anymore.

[lunabee34]

*nods nods*

I'm into ASMR, and I think the ones that are ASMRish in nature, too, that just show people writing with dip pens or making a spread in their planner or unboxing stationery items.

[stefanyeah]

I think ASMR is very hit or miss for me. (Also, I'm not sure if I always recognises what's ASMR and what's not.)
People writing and drawing, yes, I can see that. Bernadette Banner doing her cutting and sewing bits, hellsyeah.
All those restocking things, that youtube shows me in people talking against restocking? Nope. (But that might also be the overconsumption madness inherent to it…)

[lunabee34]

Mostly I watch videos of people getting facials and massages. LOL

[stefanyeah]

That's a genre of videos?! The more you know. XD

[lunabee34]

Yes! I mostly watch Korean and Japanese language ones. There's something so soothing about listening to those languages for me.

[stefanyeah]

I might try and look for some of those, my curiosity is piqued.

[lunabee34]

Here's a few of the ones I watch:

https://www.youtube.com/@esteASMR/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@asmrtwix/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@ShiliASMR/videos

[stefanyeah]

Thank you. I'll have a look. :D

[matsushima]

I'm happy with my diary practice but not with my planner. Maybe someone here has some advice?

Currently, I use Notion for my media diary but I'm not really feeling it lately. Does anyone have suggestions for an app that can be used to plan and track reading, listening, etc? (I have a hard time writing by hand and I'm not interested in social tracking sites like TheStoryGraph.) I would like something that can be accessed easily from multiple devices with the option of sharing publicly.

Thank you! This is something I really want to focus on in 2025 so I've been researching my options. So far I haven't found "the thing."

[octahedrite]

Have you considered a spreadsheet? Google sheets lets you publish a webpage from a sheet.

[matsushima]

Yeah, I used to use a simple Google Sheet but that didn't have quite the features I was looking for. Maybe I'm just too picky.

[lunabee34]

No! No such thing as too picky. If you can't find what you're looking for that means there's a deficit in the market waiting to be filled.

[octahedrite]

Maybe we can brainstorm a way to do it in google sheets, if you tell us what features you missed. Isn't it supposed to be Turing complete?

[lunabee34]

I don't know much about planning apps. I hope someone chimes in with some suggestions for you. You might get more answers if you make a top-level post about it. :)

[stefanyeah]

*clears-throat*
Allow me to talk about Obsidian real briefly…
5 hours later
…
Joking aside, are you looking for free out of the box solutions or would you be willing to pay/spend some time figuring out things?

There's of course Airtable and Baserow, which are spreadsheets that also offer table and gallery views. And there's Coda which is closer to Notion. I prefer Coda, though. Notion is just unintuitive to me.

[stormehowl]

I am going smaller and lighter. Journals that fit in my purse. My current one is like an A6 size and has a leathery cover and hand-made paper inside that looks very old and vintages and I feel like Bilbo writing out his memoirs from The Hobbit in it. My journaling theme this new year is pretty much writing a book of letters to people I'll never send to them. Conversations with them I'll never really have. I'm a couple days in and I cannot believe how much purging I've done in a short time.

I'm trying out a Commit30 planner for the first time (The year before last I'd tried using Passion Planner but wasn't really crazy over it). The Commit30 hasn't arrived yet but should any day now!

I really have become more minimalistic. Just written words. Not so much accessories as I tried the last few years (stickers and highlighters and ephemera, etc). All that just ended up overwhelming me. I want to use it like any other planner with dates and to do lists but also meal planning (something I need a lot of work on) as well accountability lists for fitness/health and cutting some obsessive habits. Also a little shadow work notes and positive affirmations.

I wish everyone good luck!

[lunabee34]

I love that journaling theme. I've never had a journaling theme, but I can imagine the one you're doing being very cathartic.

A5 is really the sweet spot for journaling for me, and A4 for planning since I prefer just a big old two page calendar to put everything on. The squares are too small to fit everything in if I go smaller than A4 since I'm putting due dates for student assignments and etc on there too.