Time Management Tuesday: Planning You Can See

At the end of the year, I heard about bullet journals twice, once from Facebook friend Erin Dionne and then from blogging buddy Melissa Wiley, in just a matter of days. These journals were recommended for planning over periods of time, so I was interested. (Plus if you hear about something totally new to you twice in a short period of time, that is a sign you should do something about it.) The bullet journal appears to be adaptable to individual users. For those of us who like planning we can see, for real, versus planning in our heads, which all too often ends up being pretty much imaginary, bullet journals are definitely worth a look.

See how much I like journals?

I REALLY like journals

Journals And Me

I am fond of journals. After many, many years of traditional writers' journals, I've moved on to a journal computer program for that material. And I have some kind of psychological dependence on planning.

But I found the how-to video for bullet journals as planners a little complicated, especially since it looks as if I'd have to do it regularly. It involves dealing with more than one page and a bunch of numbers. I don't think I want to take the time to do it. Knowing me as well as I do, I don't think I would take the time to do it. I don't think merging a traditional journal with planning will work for me, as much as I love those two things.

The Yellow Notepad System

My Yellow Notepad

I'm sticking to my yellow notepad system. I lay out my week on Monday mornings with plans for work, what  I want to do with those fifteen minute breaks (often home/personal stuff) after I've put in a forty-five minutes of work, what I'm going to do in the evening, and now content marketing strategy. (To be covered another week.) I try to have task options for every part of the day, though I may not do them on the day I planned them for. I'm happy if I get them done by the end of the week.

I'm sure this yellow notepad business looks as complicated to other people as bullet journals look to me.

The Value Of A Plan You Can See

The point is, though, that planning with something visual, paper or on a computer if that works for you, keeps what you want to do in front of you, making it harder for you to go off task. If, like me, you get a big jolt from crossing items off the plan as they're done, a visual plan becomes even more important.