How To Make Planning Your Week Way More Fun!

Slowing down and focus planning time are key for me to get stuff done.

Red Ink - Noodlers Fox Red, Diamine Wild Strawberry, DeAtramentis Document Red

So fun to see how others plan their week. Lots of good ideas here :)

Diamine Oxblood is a gorgeous burgundy red.

Welcome new paper planners. Prepare to fall down the planner community rabbit hole

I have my paper and fountain pen (an old Parker 61 Dad bought me one Christmas long ago) in front of me now. You’re so right, the fun has returned. Great tips and wisdom as always 👍

Never noticed you were a lefty until now. That you for the valuable insights. Maybe freeform paper is the way to go.

Hello Carl, Hello Carl,

Your romantic return to pen and paper greatly intrigues me. Indeed, one's own handwriting is more authentic than the letters generated by a keyboard on a screen. And when pens are still colorful, it enhances the sensual experience. However, I am uncertain whether I should follow suit. I harbor doubts about whether romance truly brings forth deeper truths from one's own subconscious or rather fosters new chaos and a world of conflicting desires and insights. Digitalization leads to clear consciousness, structure, and logic.

Outstanding information, Love your video ❤ energy and entrepreneurial insights, I would like to contact you in the near future to do a story collab @ "your" journey for my millionaire niche channel. Thank you 🙏Dan Belsky.

I love this, Carl. I too have been using paper more in recent times, and using digital for my calendar and reminders where an electronic warning is useful. This is a very helpful video. Keep up the good work.

I been watching you on and off for about a year. You are all over the place. Jumping from one system to the next. The amount of time wasted if anyone followed you from one system to the next has to be astonishing. I know you need to produce videos. Maybe you should come clean and just admit that all you are promoting is churning systems so you will het views. Paper?

I have watched your excellent videos over the years and always struggled when I tried to fully go digital, I used Zoho and more recently Notion as it is far more customisable and I can track time spent on each Activity / Project / Client. A couple of years ago I switched to having a paper project Notebook which I have quarterly and monthly targets and weekly reviews. I create a daily page listing my main tasks, good to get it written down. I update the activities in Notion as I go along and at the end of the day check everything up to date. Works fantastically well.

Thank you , a real revolution Notebook and a Pen - Next step will be Cuneiform writing

The downside of digital is it disappears. I think the brain and the hands work better together with pen/pencil/highlighter and paper/postits.

Love it! I treat my weekly review as a form of self-care. Doing it on paper makes it fun and I feel more connected to myself.

Thank you. This is absolutely right on so many levels. I am 80 now and still do weekly planning on paper and with the days choice from my fountain pen collection. Planning can be a joy if you do it this way.

Thanks for the hint with the matrix👍

Have you considered digital paper like the RM2?

I love fountain pens as well and have fallen in love with BROWN inks:-)

Who's watching this video and has young kids? :)

Index cards! I have a divider for each month, Reference, Calendar, Projects, To do. Very easy to manage. Also, I thought I saw a Namiki on your desk?

Another great tutorial! I also love using my fountain pens and I agree: planning on paper increases focus 👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks for another great video, Carl. The rabbit hole you were talking about, and having to spend four hours doing the weekly planning story of my life.
I am definitely going to try your weekly planning metrics tomorrow for my weekly planning and I’m sure it will work brilliant just like all your other methods. Watching your video was very informative, but it also made me smile, each time you talk about stationary you have that spark in you

I love this idea! Thank you for this video!

So loving these paper planning/fountain pen videos. When it stops being fun, I'll stop planning. TFS!

the pen tangent made it really hard to follow through as someone with adhd

I’m keen to Carl, how do you differentiate Projects from Radar? Would you say Projects are items you are working on personally, while Radar not working on directly (could be delegated) but still need to keep an eye on (for the coming week?)

Hey Carl, I noticed you're wearing an analog watch instead of the Apple watch. Another switch from digital to analog? Thanks for the inspiring video! I've also switched to a combination of paper and digital and it's not only more fun but also more productive.

And a big thanks for adding back “wishing us a very productive week”! I’ve missed the tag line.

So your genius idea of making planning more fun is to use pen and paper? Groundbreaking. Reported for spam and misleading click bait title 😤

Thank you for inspiration. Our team from Ukraine is right now in Warszawa for training and recreation. The war in Ukraine is taking. lots of energy. they are brave people. I'm going. through your systems. of. planning. based. on PARA and paper. Paper. and pen is the best. solution for our team. They don't always. have electricity, but life goes on!

Thank you for this useful video. I work on Saturdays too, so you would suggest to plan the next week on Saturday evening or on Sunday morning?

I have never thought of SATURDAY as planning day. I might do that starting this week. :)

I agree 100% paper planning all the way for me! Using fountain pens and highlighters too!
😊

What notebooks are you using?

I like the whole idea of “radar.” I often have things that I need to be aware or but they don’t have an action item tied to them. I’m going to try incorporating this concept into my planning. Thanks!

Thanks! I love your passion for pens and notebooks, and I love the planning matrix! I'm going to check that one out now.

Great presentation. Of hand what highlighter do you use with fountain pen? I find it smudges.

Try Diamine Wild Strawberry

The first minute and 30 seconds, couldn’t be more true… thank you, Carl.

Where was the fun part?

I am new to Todoist and also plan on paper. I’m at a loss how to integrate them both together because I feel that it is just duplicating between the 2 methods otherwise

Invaluable advice! I am loving these videos as you go through your "pen and paper" era 😄 Thank you Carl!

Does it happen that, after you do the paper version, you check in with your digital systems and discover that you totally forgot about an important project that you should have added first?

Are you off Todoist altogether or is there some combination of paper and digital planning?

For me it's not a matter of distraction, just an "empowerment" feeling on paper. Often, after I write down everything, it seems it's embedded into my brain already. Plus I do use color coding etc.

Hi Carl. I like the matrix you show us in this video. It's very helpful. Please explain what is the difference (in your opinion) between Core Work and Project/Issues. I'm asking because most of my Core Work is connected with my Projects. That's why I need help understanding the differences between these two areas of your weekly planning. Can you explain it to me? Thanks!

Good advise. Great pen collection, I can relate.