Organizing Otte: The Odyssey Continues

I have had a bit of an epiphany last night and today. I may have figured out some things I really need to keep in my future planner/calendar.

I have been watching even more videos on youtube, and I seem to be getting tired of some of them. At least the ones with copious mentions of "cute" and "us planner girls". I find myself wondering where all the blokes are. But there are still nuggets of gold to be found in the videos, so I keep at it.

I hadn't really understood why the week on a page or two pages seem so loved. I haven't been able to fathom why they should be necessary when you have your months and your days. Until I realized two things. One of these came upon me a few days ago, and is a consequence of realizing why I can't really work with the monthly pages with blocks set in rows and columns according to week and day.

I get confused when my eyes have to move back and forth along the page and also ignore the weeks above and below the current one. Having the month listed downwards makes it much easier for me to see where I am, and not get distracted and confused by the other weeks. And I will admit, this is the system I have used for years so that means I am used to it.

Once I got my head wrapped around the concept that my eyes and brains can see too much and get distracted, it was easy to see that having my days on a single page means less distractions. The empty space around on the page means less to take in. So while I could probably fit in all of my daily things on the week on two pages spread, there would be so much information vying for my attention, I would lose sight of the relevant things.

And then it struck me that I could use the weekly spread in a different way. I could use it proactively to set some goals and ambitions for the week, which would help me get closer to fulfilling my goals for the year. Currently the focus on the goals is more vague, and characterized by a stop and go motion. This way it would be possible (in theory, at least) to get more of a steady, constant flow.

I am already getting visions in my mind of how I would like them to be. Now I "only" need to get them onto paper. Which means fighting with Word on my computer. Thus far I have managed to create these pages.

I freely admit they are nothing spectacular, but I am rather proud of myself. They have not been easy for me. My computer skills will be undergoing a rather impressive improvement this summer and autumn. I am especially proud of the illustrations.

Some six or seven years ago I bought an old six-volume encyclopedia from the beginning of the 20th century. I wanted to use the illustrations and also some of the pages themselves for creative purposes. The volumes are typeset in Gothic. I still haven't had the peace of mind to do anything with them, but now I have started scanning them in, and then cleaning the images up. Both rather tedious jobs, but I am really looking forward to the end result. 

I am aware that I need to limit the use of illustrations in the inserts I make. But some of them will definitely find their way into my pages. And I will be building up a library of images to make some of those ideas I had years ago finally come into being. I think the winter will prove to be both constructive and creative. And part of my hoard is no longer just taking up space, but being a tool and inspiration.