Bubble Planner

Posted on June 27, 2010 by LJ

If you prefer the power of paper, but can’t find a planner that works for you, you need to check out the Bubble Planner. This planner does away with grids and squares and does everything in relational bubbles.

Why Bubbles?

Most of us don’t think linearly. We think in relationships. Bubble planning is relating things you need to do to other things so that nothing gets left out.

The Planner “Guts”

There are five sections to this planner: Radar, Roadmap, Rudder, Register, Renew and Review.

Radar

The Radar section is about finding where you are, and thinking about where you want to be. Take brainstorming in various areas of your life and get set to make them reality.

Roadmap

The Roadmap helps you figure out how to get from NOW to THEN…the same places you identified in the Radar section.

Rudder

Just as the rudder is essential to determining where a boat is going to go, the Rudder section helps you steer your days so that you can reach your goals.

Register

A planner wouldn’t work if it ignored the commitments we have in our lives. The Register section is a calendar, with plenty of planning space.

Renew

The focus of the Renew section is habit development. Based on the system used by Benjamin Franklin, it helps you monitor your behavior and be the best you can be. It’s all about progress, not perfection, folks.

Also included in this section is an activity log. Where is your time going? It’s a good exercise to find out how different where you think you’re spending your time is from where you are actually spending it.

Review

This is the place where you park things you need to look at again, like delegated items and notes.

Why I Like The Bubble Planner

The thing that first attracted me to the Bubble was that it was different from all the other planners out there. It encouraged me to be creative.

The second thing that caught my eye was that they offer a left-handed version. As a southpaw who prefers to write with my dominant hand, I struggle with the rings in binders as I try and maneuver my hand to a position I can write from.

Warning: This Is Not A Granular Planner

At the time I first used the planner, I was deep into Next Actions with Getting Things Done. The Bubble Planner doesn’t handle that level of granularity on the daily pages well. It instead encourages you to think more circularly, rather than drilling straight down into the next possible, smallest granular next action.

Once I broke free of that, the planner became much more useful.