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Whether juggling a military operations center tracking issues for several villages, or both full-time work and school, or as many as 3 jobs at a time, I usually keep myself a pretty busy guy. That makes me the guy people wonder how to keep up with, and I hear that curiosity expressed frequently as I field related questions. It’s really all about people finding time in their day, and when it comes to finding that time, I subscribe to a very simple belief.
People find time for the things that matter, they find excuses for everything else.
So what do you do when you have things that matter? You know those things, the ones that make you cringe with disappointment as you contemplate how to squeeze them in your day. When you don’t think you have the time, how do you make time? That’s a question I hear a lot, people frequently ask me how I juggle all the things in my life — between jobs, school, fitness, family, friends, taking care of myself and all the other shenanigans. I’d love to simply say that I’m on the go nonstop so physical endurance is the key, and leave it at that.
But, I’ve always been organized and kept my own structure. When I served in the Army, I used every soldier’s favorite GSA-issued “little green notebook” as a planner that conveniently fit in my cargo pocket. It was much simpler than the fancy Covey planners, perfect for us non-commissioned officers. After the Army, my work increasingly relied on laptops. That progression over the past few years led me to make use of my phone and apps with support across devices. I’ve become a big fan of Google Keep for lists, notes, reminders, even images I want to manipulate later… just about anything. But as an avid fan of human behavior, there’s something to be said for the motion of handwriting and its impact on memory. So, starting 2019, I’ve gone back to my old Army-style handwritten notebook to focus my effort for the day.
But here’s where the magic happens, how a two-dollar notebook can organize your day. I selectively focus on the term “organize your day,” because you should literally see it as organizing your time more than anything else. My notebook works much like those fancy Covey planners, the left page kept “to-dos,” tasks listed with a series of special characters to keep track of them. Here’s the basics, every item on my to-do list starts with a “-” hyphen. When I complete a task, I draw a line through the “-” to make it a “+” plus sign. This is to let me know I completed that task. If that item can’t be completed, I draw a “X” cross through the “-” to create an “*” asterisk sign, which also tells me to see my notes. At the end of the day, the beginning of the next day, or when I determine I cannot complete a task that day, I move unfinished tasks ahead to a page in the future and turn the “-” into an arrow by drawing a “>” caret.
This step of forwarding unfinished tasks is important to highlight. After a few days with any unfinished task, the step of rewriting the task is repeated. For me, this does 2 things — first, it becomes annoying to the point I start to mentally prioritize it. Second, the repetition increases my memory retention so that it becomes part of my thought process away from my notebook.
This left-hand side task list also keeps items prioritized, by sorting professional tasks starting from the top down and personal tasks from bottom up.
The page on the right side of the open notebook was free for notes from the day’s activities. Every morning, before I start my work day, I recreate my own personal “staff meeting” just as I did during my Army enlistment. I run down my list of actionable items and transfer unfinished tasks to tomorrow’s page, consolidating notes from my team of digital devices and print media. If an item stands out as a priority, I number them to the left of the “-” hyphen bullet, creating a numbered sublist within my list (eg. 1 — do X, 2 — do Y, etc.)
I highly recommend taking 5–10 minutes of your morning to plan your day. Taking those few minutes every day builds a habit, but more to the point, with a handwritten list you can visualize those things that matter, and excuse the ones that don’t. You’ll cringe less, turn down those important things less, and maybe you’ll find a little more free time to enjoy a little unstructured time for the unexpected joys in life — because those are the best.
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Previously published here and reprinted with the author’s permission.
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