How I used my Jibun Techo in 2017

17 Nov 2017

I used a Jibun Techo on and off throughout 2017 and have ordered a new one for 2018. I tried a variety of ways of using the Jibun, until finally settling on one I like a lot. Here's a quick look at some of the ways I've used my Jibun throughout the year.

I started the year with an A5 Slim Jibun. I used it as an ordinary planner to start with.

I initially used the daily columns to write my to-do list, but I didn't like this approach much.

Next I tried using the Jibun's timeline in each daily column to plan how I'd spend my time. Lots of people seem to use the Jibun to either plan or log how they spend their time, but again, this didn't work for me.

I really found my groove with my first Jibun when I started using it as a planner and journal. I would initially use it to plan for events, appointments, and day-specific tasks, which left lots of white space per day. At the end of the day I'd fill up the white space with notes about what happened, stickers, washi tape, etc.

Mid-way through the year I took a break from the Jibun. It didn't take me long to decide I missed it, but I was using smaller and smaller formats for journalling and planning, so I bought a Jibun Techo mini (B6 slim) to try.

It took me until late in September to really enjoy using the mini Jibun, but when I did, I used a similar format to what I'd ended up with in the A5 slim: planning tasks and events, and later filling the gaps with journalling.

Over the past couple of months I've added more logging to the Jibun, which is part of what made me decide to stick with it in 2018. When you buy a new Jibun Techo, it says on the front of the packaging "Log your life". Since that's essentially what I'm doing now, the Jibun seems like a perfect fit.

So my current approach to the Jibun (I'm using a mini again for 2018) works like this:

Planning at the start of the week:

• Events and appointments
• Day-specific tasks
• Meals for the week
• Day-specific TV shows

Logging at the end of each day:

• Any changes to meals
• TV and movies watched that weren't planned
• Weight once or twice a week
• Workouts

No doubt this will change over the course of 2018, but I've been using this approach for the past few weeks and really enjoying being able to plan ahead and log what happens after the fact.

Previously on the Jibun Techo:

• 2018 planner setup
• 2017 Jibun Techo (includes video walk-through)
• Jibun Techo size comparisons
• How I'm using my Jibun Techo

You might also like to read my general planner recap from 2017 and my 2016 planner recap.