Years ago, I was such a slave to the whole market that is out there to "help" you
master your time. I wasted my money on bought all kinds of planners to help me "manage"
my time.
I don't think I was able to ever really stick to a schedule/routine strictly because the
motivation simply wasn't there or maybe it was because the consequences of not following through
weren't so bad.
It was only after I had my second child that I realized that if I didn't have a very
set routine, I was going to lose my mind and my house would become a living circus.
This is also the time I moved overseas with my family and had no access to the plethora
of time management products available in the West. So I had to just make do with getting a
cute little notebook and just turning it into a planner for the sake of sanity. I also
needed to write things down because I simply wouldn't remember appointments or my grocery list..
you get the picture.
For almost a year and a half, everytime I would get a new 'notebook planner' I would use
it enthusiastically for a while, and then the whole process would just get really really inefficient.
It would go like this: Each time I needed to organize something in my head by writing it out, make a list, or plan
my day, I'd just flip to the next available set of clean pages in the notebook and write out
the information.
Needless to say, finding something I had written in the notebook earlier in the day wasn't
all that efficient. And then I would just get bored of the notebook itself because it was so
inefficient and think that getting a newer cuter notebook would somehow give me a fresh start
and keep me organized. Yeah right.
I believe NOW after so long, I've finally found a system that works for me. Maybe it won't
work for you. Maybe it will. Either way, I knew I had to share this info in case someone else could benefit.
So basically all I've done is I get a cute notebook. Yeh thats important =)
I'm not sure if everyone is like this but I tend to be attracted to different colors
at different times of my life. So I have to get a color/print that keeps me wanting to come
back. If it's too BRIGHT or too DULL compared to how I'm feeling, it just won't work.
I'm picky like that.
The one I have right now is a lime green one with tabs.
So after you get the notebook, this is what you do:
First of all, you need to be very clear about WHY you need a planner. I use one because I want my mind to be
free of 'stuff' that keeps looping in my brain, so that I can organize and prioritize(very important) tasks
and be able to see the birds eye view of my life, understand exactly how I'm spending my time and therefore have the
power to change it as things change.
Secondly, you need to look at your life and figure out what 'categories' you need. Alternatively, what you can do is empty everything
in your brain onto paper and then see what 'categories' those things naturally fall under(remember 'Getting Things done"?).
My notebook is divided into 6 parts. My categories are (in order):
1)Inbox/Weekly Planning
2)Daily Schedules
3)Monthly Calendars
4)Grocery lists/Related Contacts
5)Money
6)Contacts
You might have also categories like health or whatever else you want to log or keep track of or plan.
Or you might alternatively have a separate notebook for that. In fact, that's what I do. I have a separate
health/food log book that I use, that stays on my night stand.
Ok so back to the categories. I'm going to explain what I put in each one in more detail so you can see how it
comes together.
In the end, I'll explain my reasoning for why I've ordered these categories this way and why it works for me.
1) Inbox/Weekly Planning: If you've read that book 'Getting Things Done' you'll know what I mean by inbox.
If you haven't, what it means is that whenever you need to write down anything to empty your brain, something which
can be 'categorized/scheduled' later, the 'inbox' is where it goes.
Under the same tab, right after the inbox, I've got a "Weekly Master Task List". So anything that is time sensitive
and must be completed within that week goes here. Simple right =)
Last in this tab is the weekly calendar. This is where you can look at the master task list right before and figure out
how to put things under what days and get those things done. It gives you a nice bird's eye view of your week.
You won't be putting everyday things here like 'cooking' or 'giving baby a nap'. This is where the big things go.
Alternatively, the things that go under the weekly schedule are things that don't repeat every week.
For instance, you won't be buying a vacuum cleaner every week so that'll go in your weekly master tast list right before
and then get scheduled into your weekly calendar.
You would also put those things here that if you don't put down, you might have a schedule conflict. For example,
if you have a cleaner come in on mondays, you definitely don't want to tell your mother in law you'll be spending monday
with her.
The weekly view gives you power to plan your week in a way that is more efficient than if you didnt have a plan at all.
2) Daily Schedule: I simply have each page dedicated to one day. On the left(or right) of the page,
I'll have a 'to-do/task list'. On the right(or left) of the page, I'll have the 'day-view' starting from whatever time you really
start to day to when you end it.
I then look at what things are time sensitive and block out times for those things in the daily calendar.
For example, prayer or lunch or my daughter's nap time go in specific times. So these things don't even get listed in my 'to-do' list
obviously. They're simply part of my daily routine.
But if there's things that are only specific to one day, and need to get done anytime that day, they go under the to-do list.
You would also refer to your weekly schedule and make sure you incorporate the info there into your daily so you're on top of things.
Example: It's monday, and you've got a dentist appointment at 9am (listed in your weekly schedule). So you start planning your daily
schedule for monday. You'd block out the time for the dentist appointment(note it) on your daily schedule. You'd write down other time
sensitive things like break for lunch or prayer. You also need to pick up something from the tailor and make a phone call. That would
go into your to-do. If you know exactly what time you want to get these tasks done, you can note them in your daily schedule.
The benefit of going through your day and just essentially doing whatever your daily schedule tells you to do is that your mind can be empty,
you know you haven't missed anything, and you have the confidence of knowing that you've prioritized things in your life, and that you
aren't just doing whatever came up first.
3) Monthly Calendar: In the past, my monthly calendar tab would never be put to it's potentially awesome use. It would be lonely and empty.
Gone are those days.
The first thing I have under this tab is a monthly task list and a goal list for that month. For example, we're in February now.
So I've got a february task list and a February Goal list. Anything I want to accomplish in february needs to go under the February Task List.
The goals list is also really neat. This is where I put 'headings' list "Spiritual/Marital/Parental/Neighbors/Online etc"
Another way to do this is to think of all your 'roles' in life and then simply figure out what goals you'd like to accomplish with that role.
So as a wife, maybe you'd like to go out on a date with your husband. So that goes under your marital role. Maybe your parental goal for that
month is to potty train your daughter. That goes under Parenting.
This is where you step back, and figure out what things you want to accomplish that month and then you have the power to chunk them down into
bite sized peices, plug that into your weekly tab and ultimately have it trickle down to your daily!
Right after the two pages (or more if you like) dedicated to monthly task list and monthly goals, is the monthly calendar.
I use my monthly calendar for big events and mainly to log things. I have two people who come in weekly to offer some services. I log the days
they come in and for how long they are here, and that helps me to know how much to pay them when payday comes. I also use my monthly calendar to
log when I started a certain medicine with my kids and that helps me to know when to stop. I put vacation days here or exam days, etc.
You can use this for all sorts of things. Say you've got a medical condition and you just want to note what days are good and bad. Monthly
calendar is a great place to log that.
4)Grocery Lists: Not much to explain here. This is where I make my grocery lists. It also helps to quickly flip back and see what I got last
week in case I feel like I'm forgetting some things. I often 'order' groceries which is common in Egypt and I need to have the supermarket
numbers in easy reach. This is the tab they go under. I do have 'em in my phones as well but if I'm out and happen to be making the call from
another phone, or whatever, it comes in handy.
I sometimes put my menu plans here as well for the week. Which is actually a way more efficient way to plan your grocery list anyway.
5)Money: I get a 'salary' and I basically divide it up into different categories that I deal with in our house.
So I just use this 'tab' to do whatever planning I need to do on paper to keep things working
smoothly.
I also put 'a monthly shopping' list in this tab and organize it however. I organize it by putting all the names of the individuals in our household
and their shopping needs under their names.
That way If i'm going to 'shop xyz', I can quickly look at my monthly shopping list, and figure out what I can get at this xyz place.
Alternatively, you can put your monthly shopping list under your monthly tab. Whichever suits you better.
6)Contacts: All my contact #'s are in my phones but there's addresses I need to note. Those go here. In the past, this was the main reason
for getting a palm. But as a stay at home mom with a busy life, I came back to using paper.
Sometimes I also have a 2-page weekly routine skeleton to refer to when my schedule is pretty set in stone.
Why I've Ordered these Categories like this:
In the past, I'd have the monthly first, I'd have the weekly right after, and I'd have the daily calendar after that. And I realized as I continued
to use the planner, that I needed to refer to the weekly and monthly a lot more and it was a lot easier to flip to those sections if they were
right in the beginning. So I switched around the order to one that is very practical for me.
I've been using this sytem for several months now and although I tweak it as I go along, what I noted here is the big stuff that stays the same.
It gives me a great bird's eye view to plan my life according to my highest priorities. And it keeps my brain empty!
If you use a system that works for you, I'd love to hear about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment