MiGoals Focus Pads ($9.05 US) are 50 sheet pads of cream colored 100gsm paper that is divided into four quadrants. The pads are about 7.5×9.5″ (190mm x 245mm) which fit comfortably next to your laptop or tablet computer. They are listed as B5 sized… some of the ISO sizes leave me a little befuddled. Suffice it to say its a pleasing size. It’s smaller than A4/Letter but a little larger than an A5/Half-sheet.
The tearaway sheets can be tucked into your planner or notebook making it adaptable to other systems.
The paper is a little bit toothy but not scratchy and pretty fountain pen friendly.
The quadrants provide areas for a To Do list, Schedule, Delegate and “Don’t Do”. Someone on the MiGoals site suggested that the last quadrant be turned into a follow-up section which I think is a much better use of the space. Or leave it blank for doodles, perforated shopping list or other note?
I certainly like that this tablet feels less precious than some of the fancy planners I’ve reviewed. It just has nice paper in a usable form. It’s aesthetically appealing but looks like something I want to use and then recycle. Or I can draw on the back when I’ve used the front. I can just get the most mileage out of the paper and move on. I do not feel obligated to archive it on a shelf for all eternity. How nice is that?
Thankfully, most of the pens I tested didn’t bleed through so I really can use the back of the paper for doodles.
The Giveaway:
What would you do with a MiGoals Task Pad? Answer that brainbuster to enter a chance to win one new MiGoals task pad.
TO ENTER: Leave a comment below and tell me what what you would do with a MiGoals Task Pad. Play along and type in something. It makes reading through entries more interesting for me, okay? One entry per person.
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FINE PRINT: All entries must be submitted by 10pm CST on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. All entries must be submitted on wellappointeddesk.com, not Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook, okay? Winner will be announced on Thursday, July 4 (Happy Independence Day!). Winner will be selected by random number generator from entries that played by the rules (see above). Please include your actual email address in the comment form (where it says “email address”) so that I can contact you if you win. I will not sell your email address to anyone — pinky swear. If winner does not respond within 7 days (So if you’ll be on vacation next week, check your email, okay?), I will draw a new giveaway winner. Shipping via USPS first class. We are generous but we’re not made of money. US and APO/AFO only, sorry.
DISCLAIMER: Items in this review were provided by MiGoals free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.
I am a chronic to-do list maker. The MiGoals pad would be right up my alley. I could make list after list and, as always, watch as approximately 50% of any list I make is ever checked off.
I would fill up the “don’t do” list on the MiGoals Task Pad. That would make me feel productive.
I would use the entire pad to keep sorted all of the detailed items I need to complete as I apply to grad school (again!) This pad looks to be the perfect answer for me!
Honestly, I would give it to my 4th grader. When she saw her 3rd grade teacher’s planner, she became obsessed with the idea. Since she has an actual schedule and to-dos now (piano lessons, Girl Scouts, chores, homework), this pad would be a great way to get her a structured but simple approach. I might have to…redact…the “Delegate” section though. 🙂
Make a plan to take over the world!
I would use it to manage my new health issues. I need a separate system outside of my bullet journal to focus on getting better.
I would finally be able to get my mountain of to-do’s done with the miGoals focus pad!
This pad would be perfect for me to use during the school year. I get requests from students and other staff constantly throughout the day. I currently cut fountain pen friendly paper into list friendly sizes or buy the tiny notebooks. This solves everything!
I have a few lists I give to students – like missing assignments. I’d rename that last section and probably joke with them that they actually NEED to do what’s on the list.
I’m a social worker so this pad would be beneficial in my line of work. There are grievances to be written up, notes to be taken, daily meetings, etc.
It would truly live next to my keyboard and be the catch-all place to get things out of my head. After I’ve dumped all the things (a la Getting Things Done) then I could place items according to whether or not they need to go into my planner/calendar or onto Asana for someone on my team to finish.
Or just to get them written down so I can scratch them out after not doing them!
These would be great to actually see what I’ve done during the day and what to prioritize for the next day.
I would mostly use these on weekends, so I could better focus on what I need and want to get done. I do not need to spend the whole weekend surfing the web or playing Simon’s Cat Crunch Time, but if I don’t have some plan made, I’m too brain-fried to come up with more fun or productive activities.
I’m someone who is extremely forgetful, so this would be great to use to make sure I actually accomplish everything I need to. It’ll probably be especially useful during the school year, as I can never keep my assignments straight!
This would be great to use when I go back to work next week after 2 weeks off for a surgery. I’ll need lots of To Do lists and having a dedicated Delegate section would be really handy, even just to remind me to delegate! As always, thanks for the review and the giveaway.
I’m Scoutmaster of a new Scouts BSA troop for girls. So many different things to keep track of and get done at the right time. Yesterday I ordered troop flags.
A great way to sort out certain tasks for quick glance rather than my longer GTD task list
I use my discbound planner for work only, so the MiGoals pad would be perfect for my weekend “plan of attack.” I might even be able to get the spouse to try it – he needs a way to get focused, but doesn’t want to use a conventional planner.
It’ll be tremendously useful in my job search!
Huh. I like the ‘Don’t Do’ part even though I can see that it’s not the most useful thing in the world.
I think I would keep it beside my computer and jot things on it for the day and then tear it off and throw it out. I’m just getting the hang of the bullet journal as a weekly thing and migrating stuff that doesn’t get done, so I’d have to think how I could use this without being redundant.
I love making lists and crossing items off those lists. The simplicity of this appeals to me in a way that a planner does not because, like you said, there’s no feeling of obligation to keep it on a shelf for ever and always. Thanks for the chance!
This looks like the perfect planning tool for some long-term projects that needs to be broken down into individual steps, and those steps assigned to myself and colleagues.
I would either use it myself, in which I would wrack my brain trying to categorize all of my todos, scribble them out, but learn something and become more productive along the way, or I would donate it to my coworker, who recently discovered the Eisenhower Matrix and might just find this the perfect tool to keep it going!
I would actually give this to my high schooler, who is working very hard at doing exactly this kind of prioritization.
omg I need the Delegate section in my life. I’m horrible at delegating and asking for help, so having that stare me in the face would force me to do it. I would use this to help keep my life in order, and to actually delegate tasks like I should.
It would be good to use this to see what kinds of tasks are being delegated and deleted in order to see if there are areas I need to refine or get rid of for the sake or productivity.
Remind myself that I’m supposed to be WORKING ON MY DISSERTATION CHAPTER when I sit down to work on my dissertation chapter! (And not, say, look up knitting patterns, or yarn, or fountain pen ink, or flex nibs, or calligraphy videos…) and use that space to jot down all that “mental popcorn” to deal with after my writing block/hour of focus is over.
Over the last couple of years, I have adapted the concepts from The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran into my schedule. However, I have not found a pad suitable for tracking tactics. Enter the MiGoals Focus Pad! This would be perfect to help keeping track of the specific tactics I employ to accomplish my goals. What a great fit!
Help me & the family keep our summer goals in check. There’s lots to do (basement dump, moving things around, kid schedules) and having this is a central locale would help. Thanks for the giveaway!
If I had a MiGoal pad, it would gather dust after I used one or two pages, but I’d still like to win it
I would use it to try and get back on top of my ADD-induced paralysis. Having the don’t do section will be a nice way to remind myself that not everything I’m stressing about needs to be done RIGHT NOW. just somethings.
If I had a MiGoal pad I would use it to help keep me on track with my craft room! I have many projects, some with all the supplies, some half started, some needing 1 thing to finish. This would be a lovely visual to get me going.
Obsessive list maker + procrastinator = everything I would put under “don’t do” are usually the things I would do first. Never thought I needed that column until now!