The Jibun Techo. You’ve heard me talk and post about it quite a bit throughout 2017. The great news is it’s been growing in popularity in the planner community and has become more accessible outside of Japan so there’s more information about it available. This week I’m sharing my top 10 tips for setting up my Jibun Techo for functional planning—it’s more flexible than you think! 🙂

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2018 Jibun Techo A5 Slim

In case you’re not familiar with the Jibun Techo, below are some quick specs for the 2018 planner:

  • Available in a B6 Slim and A5 Slim size (in both cases, they are slightly narrower than their non-slim counterparts—i.e. B6 and A5)
  • The planner is both sold alone or as a set containing two additional books: the ‘Life’ book to store personal/lifetime information and the ‘Idea’ book, a blank grid booklet
  • Tomoe River paper with faint grid layout
  • Soft, muted color theme
  • 4 yearly overviews across 2 pages (e.g. 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020)
  • 2018 yearly perpetual calendar across 2 pages
  • 10 lists, both predefined and blank:
    • My Dream 2018
    • Money Plan (2 pages)
    • Favorite Phrases (2 pages)
    • Recommendation List (2 pages)
    • Book List (2 pages)
    • Movie List (2 pages)
    • Gifts Received
    • Gifts Given
    • Promise List (2 pages)
    • blank lists (2 pages)
    • Looking Back on 2018 (2 pages)
  • 2 vertical week-on-2-page examples—one filled in (in Japanese) and one blank
  • Monthly trackers for November 2017 thru April 2019
  • Month-on-2-pages for November 2017 thru March 2019; Monday start
  • Vertical week-on-2-pages for November 2017 thru mid-January 2019; layout contains a Monday start, weather tracker, 24 hour timeline, mood tracker, morning/noon/night boxes, and checklists
  • Reference information pages (e.g. Age Chart, map of Japan, maps of Japanese train systems, world time differences, contacts, etc.)
  • 2 blank pages
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Jibun Techo vertical weekly layout
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Jibun Techo monthly trackers

As you can see, this humble little planner has a lot of different layouts despite its compact size that can be used ‘as is’ or easily modified to fit almost any style of planning. After almost a year of using it and experimenting with different planning techniques, I’ve come up with a list of 10 tips for setting up my Jibun Techo for 2018. My goal was to make sure I used every single page and layout for some purpose, even the ones I couldn’t read. 🙂 Check out the video below for more information:

To recap, my top 10 tips for setting up my Jibun Techo to be more functional involved:

  1. Using stick-on tabs to mark monthly and important pages
  2. Using the yearly perpetual calendar as an index
  3. Using every single predefined list and repurposing those that didn’t apply to me
  4. Using the blank weekly layout sample—located in the front of the book—to track daily/weekly routines and tasks
  5. Covering up the reference pages that are not applicable to me with blank paper to gain more note pages—16 in total!
  6. Redesigning the 24-hour, vertical weekly layout to group information by type or life area
  7. Using color coding and/or codes to ‘tag’ information related to a family member or life area making it easier to find on the page
  8. Using different types of bookmarks to mark current, active pages
  9. Added the holidays and other important yearly events for my country
  10. Supplementing the Jibun Techo with other blank books for note taking, project management, etc.

*FYI, I also have a Jibun Techo ‘Functional Plan With Me’ video on my channel!  😉

The Jibun Techo is an excellent planner with tons of organizational layouts in a portable size. I’ve found it to be an extremely flexible and effective planning tool with plenty of room to manage tons of information. It’s definitely become my ‘go to’ choice for a primary planner because it allows me to manage different life areas easily in a compact size and—dare I say?—brought me one step closer to ‘planner peace’. 😉

What about you? Have you heard of or tried the Jibun Techo? If so, how do you use it? What are some of your favorite tips and hacks? I’m always on the lookout for new and creative ways to use this planner so please share in the comments below and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

Until next time, 🙂

 ♥ LilD ♥