The author of this post on finding the perfect weekly planner has some criteria I wouldn’t necessarily have in a search for my own ideal tool. But the post did make me consider what my own needs might be, and how to go about meeting them.

What I use right now has some ups and some downs. I currently organize my life with a Franklin Covey leather-bound organizer, and what I love LOVE about it is it handles all aspects of my life. My friends at work (especially those in their early to mid twenties) think I’m nuts for copying my meetings from Outlook to my organizer via pencil, but work is just one aspect of my reality and any tool I use for avoiding ball-dropping has to handle home, school, work… life! Outlook at work does not.

What I do find somewhat lacking in the current organization setup is its system for prioritizing things. I don’t know what the solution is, but I need to be able to see categories within categories when it comes to my tasks, and I need to know if task A is going to take me an hour longer than task B and plan accordingly. Going on guts/instinct is not sufficient for the left-brain, OCD part of me.

So, I keep visiting the Franklin Covey store looking for magic to happen. What I should do is spend some time thinking about what needs aren’t met by their current product line, hand them that list, and then pester them incessently until they acquiesce to my requests.