My Guide to Techo Kaigi
Techo kaigi (ๆๅธณไผ่ญฐ, planner meeting in Japanese) is basically an opportunity to reflect on your planning/journaling system. It looks different for everyone, but Iโve been using planners for more than 10 years, so I designed this exercise with some examples for folks who either want to start using planners for the first time or are unsatisfied with their current planner lineup:
- Define Personal Tracking Needs (whatโs in scope?)
- ๐
Events / Key Dates
- Birthdays
- Trips
- ๐ช Health
- Food log
- Sleep stats
- Exercise
- ๐ Learning
- Lessons / Classes
- ๐ค Reflection
- What did I do for my future self today? How did I respect myself today?
- Mood
- Gratitude
- Major purchases
- โ Things I do not want to track in a planner (whatโs out of scope and why?):
- Shared life aspects like trip planning, cleaning schedule - These things need shared visibility
- Work-related professional development - I need to divide work and life
- Habit tracking - I always fail at tracking this in paper planners
- ๐
Events / Key Dates
- Define Ideal Techo Specs
- Hard Requirements: List the features and how they serve you (do not consider techo without these)
- Dated to keep me accountable
- Grid paper for neat handwriting
- A6 space or less for a single day to avoid having blank pages
- Nice to have Features
- Not TRP - all my fp inks forever smear
- The fewer notes pages, the better because I only need one for pen/ink testing
- Half year / avec style to cut down on deco chonk and increase portability
- A5 or A6 size since I have so many covers I need to use
- Hard Requirements: List the features and how they serve you (do not consider techo without these)
- Evaluate Planner Models - List out pros & cons for each model youโre considering
- Sort Tracking Needs into Spreads - Using the list from Step 1, slot these into the different spreads of the techo you picked from Step 3 (ex: track trip dates on the monthly spread, log meals on the daily spreads)
For more techo kaigi goodness, I recommend:
- This episode from The Stationery Cafe podcastโ, which is run by my friend, April (@penguinscreative)
- The Stationery Selectionโs techo kaigi blog post