I’m a little behind on blogging because, as most of you know, I’m knee deep in working on my novel for NaNoWriMo. But I wanted to share some new tools I’ve started to use that are working wonders for me.
If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I’m always seeking new ways to improve my productivity. If you want to see some of the methods I’ve used in the past, including my awesome post-it system (which is now upgraded to my bullet journal) go ahead and check it out here.
When you dictate your own work schedule, or if you’re just pursuing a creative career in the side, it’s important to set goals. The bullet journal is the perfect way to balance not only your creative goals, but also your daily tasks lists, events and other notes. It’s like a planner and a journal had a baby, an organized, inspiring baby.
The problem with my post-it note system was that the items all had equal weight and at the end of the day/week, I didn’t hold onto the notes. I couldn’t look back and see what I had accomplished or what had been moved forward to accomplish on another day.
You can customize and build your journal in a way that works for you. I have a page for each month, then daily pages. I also have pages like:
- Books to Read
- Yearly Goals
- Recipes to Try
- Weight Loss Tracker
I was able to find many samples of pages online as well as different ways people use and build their journal.
My daily pages usually look like the picture to the left. It has both tasks I need to do for writing, day to day tasks, and events. You can also see little stickers next to the most important tasks I needed to accomplish for the day. I’m able to visually organize what is the most important for the day, this way.
Completed tasks and appointments get a line striking through them.
If something does not get finished that day, I put an arrow through it and move it to a future date. I love this, because it makes me very conscious of what tasks I’m not completing and moving forward.
I also included some inspirational quotes I found and liked on pages here and there.
I would definitely recommend this system for people who like to cross goals off a list daily. I’ve even added some small tasks to my daily list, so I have something to cross off first thing in the morning. It gives me that extra motivation to keep accomplishing things throughout the day.
If you want to learn how to set up your own bullet journal, check out their website here. There are also several posts on youtube and tumblr that have so many ideas on how you can make the system work for you. My journal is fairly plain compared to some of the cute ideas out there.
How about you? What’s one new productivity tool you’ve discovered that’s helped your work load? I plan to share a post on RescueTime next, which is another awesome tool I’ve recently found.
The Taming of the Muse 
You changed my life when you introduced me to this!!!
I’ve always used the old composition notebook. Write a few lines with a task or goal that needs doing, draw a line under it and then add another. Once that task is completed a simple X through the box means it no longer needs my attention. Important items gt the yellow highlighter treatment. Once pages start filling up I’ll use a paper clip to quickly get me back to an unfinished item that I haven’t been able to remove.
Composition books hold together well over time and the pages can’t be ripped out easily. It gives a pretty awesome sense of accomplishment when you can revisit everything you need to get done. It’s also handy when you can go back and tell the IRS that indeed you did have a conversation on such and such a date and that you spoke to “Thomas” at 3:45 pm who assured you he would enter a note in the computer.
Thanks!