Best Day Planner

Paper versus Software

Having a day planner and organizer is an essential tool for highly productive living. When you first get an organizer, it looks a little overwhelming with all the different features and long instructions. But once you get used to it you begin to see the logic and value of each part. Eventually, using it becomes second nature.

I am going share my experiences using both a paper and software day planner and organizer. Although this is a subject that is usually considered just before the start of a new year, I would encourage anyone who is not currently using a day planner to start right away regardless of the date. In addition, if you are unsatisfied with your current planner you might consider switching. What’s important is taking advantage of the time you have left in the year to learn how to use it so that you can put it into practice as soon as possible.

I was first introduced to the Franklin-Covey® day planner in the late 1980’s. My boss purchased a Franklin-Covey planner for each of the department heads. Franklin-Covey is a leading developer of planners, organizers, and other productivity tools. One of the best things about Franklin-Covey is the outstanding product training they provide. I received this training along with the other department heads at our headquarters. I was so impressed with the product and the training that I purchased a Franklin-Covey planner for each of my managers.

There is a tremendous advantage when everyone who you are working with has the same planner as you do. This is especially true for a manager who is leading a group of subordinate managers. When you plan various activities, everyone is literally on the same page.

Giving my staff this day planner also provided me with the opportunity to fine-tune their planning and organizing skills. Although it was my management style to provide an intricate plan for what I wanted my staff to accomplish, I accredit the Franklin-Covey planner, in part, for developing a team that consistently lead the United States in all performance categories.

Personally, my Franklin-Covey day planner and organizer greatly improved my productivity. And I was already pretty strong in this area. What it did for me was to refine my skills and streamline my organizing activities.

Paper Verses Software Day Planners

In January of 2010, I started using a software day planner on my desktop computer after using the Franklin-Covey paper product for about 20 years.

Always being on the lookout for ways to simplify my life and increase my productivity, I starting looking into converting to a software organizer in November-December of 2009. This is the time that I’d normally get a new Franklin-Covey calendar for the upcoming year. Had I known what I came to discover about the software planner, I would have switched years ago.

Although Franklin-Covey does have a software version of their planner, I decided to try a different one that I had gotten as a gift a couple of years prior. This software is an early version of the AnyTime Organizer.

Unless you have little or no experience using computer software, I see few advantages for using a paper day planner. Although the costs for purchasing day planner software can be a bit more initially, in the long run the cost is much less. Purchasing the software is a one-time expense that can last years. With the paper version, you have to buy a new calendar package every year and a new address book every few years as it wears out and gets cluttered with obsolete information.

You can probably get day planner applications for a Smart phone, but I would imagine the size of workspace would limit your organizing capabilities. Therefore, unless your job or lifestyle limits access to a computer, I would NOT recommend using a Smart phone application as your primary source for planning and organizing.

Here are the advantages of a software day planner in comparison to a paper version. This comparison is based on the AnyTime Organizer that I am using currently.

• Ability to password protect access. *Impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to insert reoccurring weekly, monthly, and yearly events and tasks with a single entry. *With the paper version you’d have to enter each one separately.
• Ability to setup alarms & reminders for upcoming events and tasks. *Impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to make quick, easy, and clean changes to any entry. *With the paper version the erasing and rewriting leaves the area messy, especially after multiple changes.
• Ability to drag and drop, copy and paste entries to another date or location. *Impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to automatically rollover unfinished tasks to the next day and beyond. *With the paper version this must be done by hand.
• Ability to find a particular event or task using the search function. *With the paper version you could waste a lot of time trying to located a particular event or task.
• Ability to switch to various calendar views depending on your need at any particular moment. *Paper version only has one view.
• Ability to make journal entries and notes of any length. *Impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to enter multiple addresses, phone numbers, and emails along with birthdays, anniversaries, and notes for each contact in the address book. And have the birthdays and anniversaries automatically entered into the calendar. *All of this is impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to initiate envelope and label printing from the address book. *Impossible with the paper version.
• Ability to automatically dial phones numbers of contacts in the address book. *Impossible with the paper version.

The newest version of the AnyTime Organizer (12) software includes these great capabilities.

• Spell check to ensure a professional appearance.
• Customize look and feel.
• Keep a daily personal or travel journal.
• Store user ID’s, logins, pins, & more in a encrypted password organizer.
• Track personal and business expenses.
• Create a PDF of your calendar to email to friends and family.
• Send email to contact in address book with one-click.
• Access website of contact in address book with one-click.
• Start letter to contact in address book with one-click.
• Get map and directions for contact in address book with one-click.
• Send email to multiple contacts in address book.
• Check time in hundreds of locations using the world clocks.
• Send key information to a mobile device.
• Import-Export information from/to other software.
• Print pages for Day-Timer®, Day Runner®, At-A-Glace®, & Franklin-Covey® paper planners.

There are many more features that are too numerous to include in this article. You can see the entire list here.

The developer of the Anytime Organizer also has many other excellent software products including a library of award-winning computer software training tutorials.

I wish I had started using a software day planner years ago. It would have made my life easier and more productive. I am so thoroughly impressed with this software planner, I am going buy the upgrade right away.

I strongly recommend you look into the AnyTime Organizer or equivalent product if you want to simplify your life, save time, and increase your productivity.

Brad Paul

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