All of a sudden, half of 2017 has passed and it's time to release the latest Chronodex weekly planner.
The first half for me was pretty fruitful for work but kind of lacking behind for personal projects, almost like putting on hold. Can't let that happen and I'm re-calibrating overall priorities, just need to schedule some get away time from everything. I hope by just looking at the Chronodex dial, it can at least give you a sense of control and believing that you can. In a recent Traveler's Notebook gathering in Malaysia, a fan told me she couldn't start using Chronodex because it is kind of intimidating and she feels nervous using it. My answer is simple, if you can look at a clock to manage your time, you can use Chronodex to be in control, just don't feel obligated to use it, it should encourage your free flowing of scheduling rather than limiting.
It is not lineal, it is radial. It is for people who think spatially and creatively, it is for fun and it gives you a more natural perspective of time in relation to your tasks and schedules, it rescues space on your pages instead of letting a traditional grid format limit what you can do with the empty space.
You can leave it blank and contemplate or you can fill it up with all the details each day, most importantly I hope you leave yourself a gratitude note everyday, believing that your time is well spent, for work and families. After all, time is the only resource we can't reclaim.
Here's July to December 2017 version formatted for Traveler's Notebook for you to download. The assemble instruction is always at the Chronodex main page.
Here's a few tips on using Chronodex:
- You can use it to plan your future schedule, changing is easy if you use pencil to begin with.
- It is always good to finish a week by reviewing how you've spent your time. Simply go back to the week and use colours to label the sections according to your verdicts, for example Red for time spent on tasks you hate, Blue for pleasant periods. Soon you will be able to identify patterns, "how come I've spent so little time to do this?" "Why do I keep repeating these nonsense?" Perhaps you can start the next week by planning something pleasant, or change the way you handle tasks productively.
- You shade a larger slice if the appointment/task is Important. There are 3 levels of priorities. The area size, particularly if you colour the area, is a great way to help you register/memorise the whole week's schedule in your brain. For example, visually at the top right hand corner (Wednesday) something is marked Red at the bottom right hand corner of the dial (4pm section).
For a very crowded day, the page is not enough to record schedules and tasks altogether, you can consider to use the Chronodex Daily Scheduler with GTD to-do List.
So, have fun. Using Chronodex in front of people is a 100% conversation starter :)
