Overview of the Bubble Planner

The issue facing you today is not managing time. What’s at issue are the choices you make with the time you have. Choices are the currency that converts the present to the future. Since you have the ability to work anywhere or anytime getting things done faster ever imagined, you must manage yourself differently to make the best choices for your future.

To fulfill your purpose in life, you must know (create, define, and clarify) the following:

• What do you want to be?
• What do you want to do?
• What do you want to have?

The key is to know these things at the precise moment of decision. In short, you need a time management tool that enables you to act at the speed of thought. The spatial design of the Bubble Planner allows you to organize your thoughts quickly. More than that, it actually behaves the way you think, which is in pictures translated into words. It moves beyond the linear limitations of traditional time management techniques such as task lists and taps into your brain's natural creative power.

Bubble Map Basics

The Bubble Planner combines powerful brainstorming techniques with life management principles. This combination recruits both the creative and logical sides of the brain. This tool allows you to capture ideas at the speed of thought and arrange them in pictures.

As an illustration, let’s say that you want to invite the Hendersons out to dinner for a couple’s night out. Simply add a phone call action to today with the relevant information. Since it is a couple’s night out, you need someone to care for the kids. Draw a line to the next bubble as a reminder to call your babysitter if Bob and Tina accept.

When you complete a task, you can either cross it out or highlight it (highlighting maintains readability). The Bubble Planner is intended to be flexible. There are many ways to do everything. The only limit is your imagination.

Sections

The Bubble Planner is segmented into six sections that all work together:

1. Radar
2. Roadmap
3. Rudder
4. Register
5. Renew
6. Review.

The first three sections (Radar, Roadmap, and Rudder) are directional. They are designed to propel your life forward in the direction of your purpose. The fourth section (Register) is a placeholder for things that must be done on a specific day. While it may be used as a calendar, it is designed as a planning tool to ensure you accomplish your goals. The fifth section (Renew) increases your capacity for production. The final section (Review) captures items for later reference.

Radar - Goal Setting

The Radar section is a big picture view of your life. It is critical to start from this perspective as it answers the question, “what do you want to be, do, and have?”. Where do you start? Start with the FISHES: Family, Intellectual, Social, Health, Economic, and Spiritual. These are goal categories. Spend time brainstorming what you want to be, do, and have in each of these categories. Feel free to dream in this section. When brainstorming, you should write down everything without filtering. Whether the goals are achievable or not will be determined in a later step.

Roadmap - Project Management

Once something appears on the radar, it is time to map it out. First, write down your current projects on the brainstorming section on the left. Now, make a mini-project plan using one of the section to the right, which is similar to the Future Reality page excluding the Why Not and SMART bubbles. The Project Management Matrix at the bottom of the page. You can use this matrix in many ways. One of the most popular techniques is to put project milestones down the left and track projected versus actual progress for twelve weeks. Another popular technique is to use this section to track activities or habits. You may either cut it down to 7 columns to represent days of the week or continue to use twelve columns, which can represent weeks or even months.

Rudder - Task Management

The rudder is the steering mechanism. If you have properly defined your Future Reality and your Desired Results, your present moment decisions will be sharp and effective. The rudder will keep you on track and moving toward your dreams and goals.

The top section of the Today page is divided into four action categories: Phone Calls, Computer Actions, Home Actions, and Office Actions.

Register - Calendar

The undated weekly calendars should also be a planning tool to help you visualize your goals coming to pass. It is not meant for keeping appointments and meetings as these activities are handled superbly by software such as Microsoft Outlook.

Renew - Habit Development

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

This section is intended to help you assess your current habits and change any habits that are not effective. There are two primary tools to accomplish this feat: The 13 Virtues and the Activity Log.

The 13 Virtues is based on Benjamin Franklin’s plan for regulating his own behavior that he developed at the age of 20 and used throughout his life. Give strict attention to one virtue a week but track your progress on every virtue daily. After 13 weeks, start the process over to complete the course four times each year.

Every evening, review the virtues and mark your progress. Put an “X” in the square if you missed the mark on a particular virtue or a check mark if you achieved the virtue. This is an enlightening process and, you must admit, quite humbling.

Where are you spending your time? The Activity Log is a Personal Efficiency Tool that answers that question. To use, select the major categories for where you should be spending your time, then add some time waster categories like surfing, chit chat, etc. Track every 15 minutes, half hour, or hour (just fill in the portion of the hour used).

Use this tool just often enough to diagnose your efficiency. This could be for a full week every six months or for a day every three. It really depends. The best answer is just whenever you feel that you are not getting the results that you want.

Review - Reflection and Follow Up

This section captures items that maybe useful later. There are three primary forms: Follow Up, Discuss with, and Take Notes.

Follow Up: Place items on this page that you delegate to others. This is a page that you review at least weekly to ensure your own success even when you have given responsibility to someone else.

Discuss With: This will be one of your favorite pages. How many times have you just hung up the phone with your boss only to think, “I should have asked her about . . .”? This page creates a framework for communication for important people in your life. This could include your boss, your friends, your teachers, and even your spouse.

Take Notes: Often, the key to remembering things is using a consistent, effective methodology. This method is among the best available. Based on the Cornell Note Taking System, these pages prompt you to capture lectures, speeches, and even conversations in a way that engages your short and long-term memory functions.

During the lecture, use the “Take Notes” column to record the lecture. As soon after the lecture as possible, come up with questions based on the “Take Notes” column and write them in the “Review” column. After the lecture, use the “Summary” space at the bottom of each page to summarize the notes on that page.