Three Things from a Gray Brain: Cyclical Planning, Holiday Expectations, and the Multiboard!

In this weekly newsletter I share something I’m currently working on, something I’m thinking about, and something I’ve noticed that I think is cool.

Ever notice how weird our calendar system is?

I mean, I’m sure you have. Can you remember which months have 30 vs 31 days without starting to recite thirty days has November… in your head? Is this February a leap year?

And even worse, we mix and match the systems: for many, it’s a five day week and a two day weekend, but payday is on the first and the fifteenth, or the last business day of the month, or once a month, unless it’s a bank holiday…it’s a mess.

To be fair, not everyone minds this. But it’s always seemed something of a mess to me, a hodge-podge of inefficient tradition held together simply by everyone being too scared or lazy to change things to match, say, seasons, or sunrise/sunset, or (gasp) your personal life cycles.

Which is why I was delighted when I learned from Jashii Corrin, one of my favorite notebook/bullet journal YouTubers, a concept she calls “cyclical planning.” Roughly speaking, you divide your quarters into 3 28-day cycles and one “reset week.” This means every quarter has the same number of weeks, and the start of a quarter can always start on the same day (like Jashii, I like to start my week on Monday).

This appeals to me because of its consistency, and as I’m starting to lay out my plans for the year I’m starting with my own “reset week” that started yesterday, December 22nd — which means my 2025 cycle one starts on Monday the 29th.

This may seem weird to you (it has to a couple of people in meatspace that I’ve mentioned it to) but I find it much more logical and understandable than weirdly-spaced arbitrarily bodgered segments of time named after Norse gods and Roman emperors…

You can learn about her cyclical planning practice here.

Tis the season…to feel inadequate. As a father and grandpa, I feel a little bad about not being in a financial position to give my kids and grandkids gifts as cool as the ones I remember getting from my parents. I feel the same way about my partners in my polycule, my friends, my co-workers, even the people in my writing group sitting next to me as I write this newsletter.

Under the guise of “holiday spirit” there is an expectation of either gifts (“exactly what I wanted”) or some other gesture. I remember once when I gave up trying to buy presents for people and instead chose to donate to OXFAM — that seemed very right and proper, but I could see the disappointment on some faces. Or at least I thought I could.

Now I’m really into making things, so you’d think I could come up with all kinds of cool gifts — but then we run into the limitations of time and energy. Or the realization that I haven’t talked to (insert relative, friend, or coworker here) enough to know what to make for them. You really can’t win: if you hand-make something, it runs the risk of feeling low-quality, like the board I painted and then hammered nails into and gave to my Dad when I was eight years old: “It’s a tie rack!”

(Bless his heart, he used that tie rack for years. No matter how rough it was on his ties.)

And if you buy something, you still can’t win, because then it might feel impersonal. Honestly, the default of cash or a gift card is the easiest way to give someone your time (spent earning the money to buy it) as well as exactly what they want or need.

Yeah. I’m kind of in a bah, humbug mood about the holidays because it feels like the ultimate moving goalposts, with no way to win (we just won’t give presents this year! is not, as it turns out, any more fun).

On the other hand, I will be able to give my sister and her family who live in Kansas a personally hand-made gift because they, like me, do 3D printing…and I can design the piece, save it in the .STL format 3D printers use, and just email it to them! It’s definitely gonna be the future soon.

Speaking of 3D printing, there’s a whole genre of “organizational” items you can make, from simple pen holders to complete pegboard systems. I love me some pegboards, personally, and so I’ve been looking at various things I could print to put on my office or workshop wall — and that’s when I found the Multiboard system.

It’s a kind of pegboard itself, except it’s also a lot more…well, ok, it’s basically a grownup version of tinkertoys for nerds with 3D printers. But the joy of having things you can make that are also useful that are also multipurpose is really intense — and I haven’t even printed anything yet.

Even better, unlike a similar organizational system popular among makers called “gridfinity”, it can be used with regular pegboard accessories — which means it’s basically “pegboard +”, and the things I have that I really enjoy using still on my pegboard don’t have to be lost!

Regardless of whether I ever print any of it out or use it (hmmm, Dad, maybe I could make you a tie rack for Xmas?) the amount of creativity, thought, and enthusiasm that has been put into this system is admirable. Check out the demo video, and tell me: does it make you want to suddenly reorganize everything?

If so, you’re definitely reading the right newsletter.

Comments? Questions? Leave them here, or email Gray@creativegray.me