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Time management optimization... I'm always looking for different and effective ways to enhance time management. I've learned better managing what you have to do frees you up for what you want to do. I've bumped into a novel approach to day management that you may want to try out.
We're all familiar with daily planner pages that use a grid/table to track the day (8 am at the top / 5 pm at the bottom).
This novel version I've found, uses the clock dial to visually map time. It's basically a pie chart of your day.
[from the X17 website]
There is something about seeing my day presented on a wheel like this that makes me feel I have better control of my time. I like seeing the spacial relationship between projects/tasks.
I found this on the X17 website (myX17.com). They produce planners and notebooks... But what makes their system unique is that they use a series of rubber bands to hold multiple mini-sections in one book. (detail below)
You can mix pages that are blank, pages that are lined, a calendar, and an address book in the same journal. And... one of the inserts you can buy uses this clock dial planner!
I looked all over the internet to see if this was a standard template I could find. No luck. So the folks here at the Idea Sandbox Institute have re-created it.
Below is a sample blank page.
[click to view larger]
Here I've filled it out similar to the way they do in the example from the X17 site.
[click to view larger]
How to Use It
- Draw lines from the center to the hours you have appointments.
- Shade in the inner portion of the dial for in-office events. Shade in the outer portion for out-of-office events.
- Add meaningful names to your events just outside the marked time.
- Curving arrows can indicate a block of time.
If anyone is familiar with this tool, please let me know. I'm deducing from the example from the website that this is in fact how to use this planner.
Download It
Click to download a: Scalable Vector PDF version or a JPG version. Print at the proper size for the planning system you use. These are half-letter sized. (5.5" wide x 8.5" tall or 014 x 21.5 cm)
The X17 site is in German and French, but it uses plenty of graphics so you can figure out what you're looking at. To view the inserts available on the X17 website, follow THIS LINK and and click on Recharges. There you'll see all that are available.
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Comments
What I like about this is its macro-perspective, making the major goals of the day on a visual plane that we're familiar with (an analog clock). It also nicely forces people to categorize large time goals, instead of many minute tasks.
This helps keep the mind attuned to accomplishing what's important for today.
Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Mario Vellandi | 01.11.08
Someon should make this for windows mobile to draw itself out of the calendar. I'm bad at drawing. :-) And yet I'm too dependend on digital calendar...
Posted by: Dusan Vrban | 01.12.08
I am gonna use this! This gives me more insight in my day than a regular digital calender i think. Very practical!
Posted by: J8 Internet Marketing | Jeroen | 01.13.08
Now this looks like it might just work for me. I might give it a go in the next few weeks and let you know how I go. Thanks!
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 01.13.08
This will provide better visual memory of how my day looks time wise.
In fact, I intend to draw this on my office whiteboard, and fill it in each day so I can see my day at a glance while working, or on the phone.
Thanks for sharing. Great post.
Posted by: billthomasweb | 01.13.08
I like the concept. I would like to share another concept with you just launch last month by Day-Timer designed by Trapper Woods.
You'll find a similar approach, looking at our time as boxes. Here is a video tutorial on it the concept.
http://www.trapperwoods.com/worklifeplanner/
Posted by: Mark Woods | 01.13.08
Yay! I'm glad you're finding this as interesting as I do.
I agree with planning a week's worth of goals, but this is a neat way to manage your day.
They say kids who learn to tell time using an analog vs. digital clock have a better sense of time because they see the distance between now and 3pm on the face of the clock.
Please do let me know how this works for you. Leave your comments here, or contact me via idea-sandbox.com
Posted by: Paul Williams | 01.14.08
A few years ago, I took a time management/project management workshop and the tools they suggested were similar. Since then, however, I've moved to electronic formats exclusively and have been looking for something that allows me to not only schedule my time but to easily docket my time for client work. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open.
Thanks!
Posted by: Elaine Fogel | 01.16.08
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Posted by: phyza17 | 04.05.08
This is realy nice concept.
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Franklin
Put The Message Where It Matters! WideCircles aka Wide Circles represents relevant, distributed, highly targeted and efficient internet word of mouth marketing using entertaining or informative messages that are designed to be passed along in an exponential fashion using social network mediums such as blogs, forums, wikis and so on. http://widecircles.com
Posted by: Franklin | 04.23.08