We are already a few days into 2016, but if you are bad at planning and didn’t get yourself a new planner for the year, this Field Notes 56 Week Planner for any year (via Field Notes) might be your new best friend. The 56 Week Planner has the classic brown Field Notes cover (thicker cardboard like the Steno Book) and black print and measures 4.75″ by 7.5″ and provides a full week across the spread of two pages once open.
The fully open Field Notes 56 Week Planner for any year shows you a full week on two front facing pages. The left side is split evenly into thirds and has space for your Monday through Wednesday happenings, while the right side is split similarly, but the bottom third of the page is split in half for your Saturday and Sunday planning. One other minor difference between the left and right pages is that on the very top of the left hand page, there is a field for the month that you are currently in. Personally I may not use this just because as you progress between months, or if you have gaps in your planning, you may not be completely on one month for an entire one page spread. You will see how I handle that in the next photo below.
Although the page in the example above doesn’t have the “Month” label on the top it still serves as an example of my simple adjustment for how I’m reflecting the month as I use this planner. I’ve simply used the small date box to show the month and date in the format mm/dd which assumes I won’t forget what year I’m in. With the close up picture above its a good time to point out (as if its not obvious) that this Field Notes 56 Week planner for any year is bound with double coil binding which is a nice and sturdy option for something of this size that is meant to be used for just over a full year. Also you will note that I’ve used a fountain pen as one of the writing samples here because many folks don’t consider Field Notes to be fountain pen friendly. I will say I mostly agree with this, especially in this case with a medium nib and darker ink, but I’ve used fine and extra fine nibs with lighter inks in the past with my Field Notes and its never been too much a problem for me.
I think my favorite part of the planner might be a small section in the lower left corner of the inside front cover where they list some “Self Improvement” keys. They are pretty funny since some of the ones on the left are obviously in direct conflict with the ones on the right such as “Don’t Trust Anyone Over 30” and “Respect Your Elders” but as someone who is 39 I certainly hope that doesn’t put me square in the “Elder” category. Oh, and next to that its also has a handy time conversion table in case you need to know that there are 6 billion nanoseconds in one second.
The inside back cover is also full of some helpful and random information. It has some information on the history of Field Notes, the moon phases, Leap Year’s (in case you can’t count by 4) and notes for the best days to do things, so since today is Monday, you should be out there buying a car…now go. I particularly like the Specifications section that mentions that the planner rulings measure .227″ (5.78mm) which although “pretty random” just “worked best that way”…it’s nice that they attempted to put some humor in your day with the Field Notes 56 Week Planner for any year. Oh, there is also a convenient ruler on the outside edge of the cover. The s Field Notes 56 Week Planner for any year is a big hit for someone like myself who frequently has gaps in their planning. Its nice to know that I can pick up a generic any year planner like this which lets me to have a continuous running planner even if I take a few days, weeks, or even months off from my planning. Check out the Field Notes 56 Week Planner for any year (via Field Notes) if you are miserable at planning like this guy is.
©2016, Brian Greene. All rights reserved.
