I published my 2017 planner setup post at the end of November but in December I was lucky enough to receive an offer to join the team at RescueTime. I spent December wrapping up my final freelance writing projects and getting set up for my new role.

Changing from freelancing to working a part-time job, even though the hours per week are roughly the same, means I'll have different needs for planning and managing my work. I'll no longer have the same 2-3 article per week structure, no invoicing or following up with clients to worry about, no stress about planning work weeks in advance to ensure I can pay my bills. But I will have far more tasks alongside writing actual content, as well as more communication and meetings to keep up with.

A while ago I wrote about my experience testing out Android as I'd started thinking about switching over from iOS.

When the Google Pixel phones were released in October I did end up making the switch to Android. Since I'm using Android full-time now, and I have a brand new phone to test it on (I previously used an old Nexus 4 we had in the house to get a feel for Android, but it was a bit slow and had no SIM card so I couldn't take it out of the house), I thought this would be a good time to share my thoughts on the experience so far.

I recently wrote about the planners and notebooks I tried throughout 2016. Not long after I got my regular Traveler's Notebook I decided to try fountain pens. I'd always been turned off by fountain pens, thinking they were too fancy and corporate for me. But I'd come across some details on modern, cheap pens that used cartridges rather than messy ink bottles. I decided to try a Lamy Safari first up, and it was the start of a long journey.

Lamy Safari

Quick reminder: if you're using the word "for," use a while (two words); if you're omitting "for," use "awhile" (one word). E.g. "stand here awhile" vs. "stand here for a while".

Quite enjoyed this video on active reading methods.

Last month's review. All monthly reviews.

What went well this month

I've already posted about my planner setup for 2017.

For this post I wanted to share some of the notebooks and planners I used throughout 2016 and how they worked (or didn't) for me.

Here's something I've been doing for a while that's really handy:

1. View your wish list on Amazon
2. Filter the list by items with price drops
3. Sort by lowest price

Nice to know I'm not the only one disappointed in Apple's software quality lately.

Here's an interesting exercise if you're a writer: plan an article or blog post, take a five-minute break to read a book, then sit down and start writing your first draft. It's amazing how quickly another writer's style can seep into your work.

Following on from my 2015 review, here's a round-up of what I did this year, what I read and watched, and my goals for 2017.

Things I did in 2016

Update Nov 2017: It's been almost a year since I published this post! In 2017 I ended up switching to a Jibun Techo mini, so I've updated this post with some photos comparing the mini to the A5 slim and to other planners. Luckily, they're colour-coded, because I got a yellow cover for the A5 slim and a pink cover for the mini. Enjoy!

I've had my Jibun Techo for about two months now, so I've had time to experiment with how I want to use it. I still love it, but I've tried a few different ways of incorporating it into my planning setup and wanted to share what worked for me so far and what didn't.

Last month's review. All monthly reviews.

What went well this month

It's been nearly a year since I wrote about how I use Todoist to manage my tasks and projects. This post has been one of my most popular this year, so I wanted to do a follow up to explain how I've changed my process recently.

I've bounced around to other task managers briefly, including Wunderlist, TickTick, and Remember The Milk, but always end up coming back to Todoist. There are some design choices in Todoist that really bother me, and make it frustrating to use, but in terms of simply getting tasks into the system and checking them off when they're done, I've found Todoist suits me best.

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I've been making a few small changes lately to my daily habits and how I set up my day. While each of these is a small change, altogether they've improved how productive I am, and reduced my stress levels.

Google calendar emails

My second (and last) Hobonichi order arrived this week, so I'm finally all set for 2017. I've changed my mind a few times in the past couple of months about what setup I want for my 2017 planners, and no doubt I'll change my mind throughout the next year, as well. But for now, I'm set on what I'll start the year with, at least.

Warning: image-heavy post!

I was recently offered a prototype of a new "augmented reality notebook" to review. The Slice Planner is a hybrid digital/analogue notebook that you can support on Kickstarter right now. Thanks to the Slice Planner team for sending out a prototype for me to review.

I received a new toy to play with a couple of days ago, called a Jibun Techo. It's a planner from Japan that's competing with Hobonichi, but it seems much more rare to see these in the wild, so I've had lots of questions about it.

I've filmed quite a long video walkthrough as well, which you can watch below:

I create sketchnotes as part of [my research process][1] when working on articles for [my freelance clients][2]. See all my posts about sketchnotes [here][3].

![sketchnotes 1][image-1]

![sketchnotes 2][image-2]