Paper vs. Electronic Planners? Paper vs. Electronic Planners? By Kimberly Medlock, CPO (edited) If you are busy and want to be productive with your time, using a planner tool is a necessity, not an option. The busier you are, the more organized you have to be, and getting things out of your head and onto paper (or screen) is the smartest way to help you do that. So this leads to the question: Should you use a paper or electronic planner? There are pros and cons for each. Everyone, however, must have one primary tool they use to capture information and use as their roadmap for their day or week. Which one wins the place for your primary time‐management tool? For me, it’s electronic. There are two main reasons for this decision:1) We now get much more information to manage than we did just ten years ago, and up to 80% of everything we have to follow‐up on now comes to us electronically. (2) It just makes better sense to learn how to work with an electronic tool to manage our electronic needs since transferring information between written and electronic forms can create a mess. Consider the ways in which information is transformed: rewriting e‐information to your to‐do list, contact information, and calendar; printing out emails, which creates more paper piles and wastes resources; and trying to neatly track the meetings, task deferments, and lunch location changes in a day or week. All of these processes can make your goal of an organized work week look like chaos on paper and create extra waste to boot. To be clear, there is no one system or tool that is perfect all of the time. While there are some applications where using a paper planner can still work well, more and more often using an electronic tool, such as Microsoft Outlook, is a much better choice. The real problem is change: Most people resist it. I was reluctant and waited to make the switch longer than I probably should have. At the time, I didn’t know a gigabyte from a mosquito bite, and learning a whole new world of applications, habits, and language was very overwhelming to me. But then I reminded myself, it’s not going to get better‐it will probably only get worse. My environment had changed, so I needed to change too. For you resisters, I know you are saying: “What if my computer crashes?” The fact is, you have a much better chance of retrieving information put in an electronic planner than if you were to lose your paper planner. First, you will most likely be syncing your computer with your smartphone, so your information is in both places. Also, backup is so easily automated nowadays that if you aren’t using a program or service that automatically backs up your information, then you probably shouldn’t sign up to be on the show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? “But I like to write things down!” I do, too, and so do most folks. Daily ideas and quick notes are usually easier to jot down on paper. The simple solution is to simply print out your daily task/calendar sheet, keep it on your desk, and then take it with you when you leave the office. Let it be the one main place that every new thought or note goes for that day. At the end of the day or when returning to your office, pop any new notes or open items from your sheet into your electronic task/calendar and filing system. As you consider your planning tool, keep in mind these five key elements for choosing a tool that will help you organize your time and help keep you on track with your commitments and goals: Items on a to‐do list Calendar Contacts Notes Accessibility Any tool or system you choose will take practice to use it correctly; you have to make a 100% commitment to using it every day. Remember, no system is perfect all the time, so don’t be quick to give up. Take the time to learn and utilize it. If you are feeling that it is harder and harder to manage the avalanche of to‐do items, appointments, and information that comes at you each day, then take another look at the tools and systems you have in place. Consider what works and what does not and be willing to make some changes. Remember, the success factor will always be influenced more by the habits you create than the gadgets you use. Previous Next