Contents
Hello dear blog readers! Planning is an integral part of a successful life, and today I want to talk about one of its tools, namely, how to keep a diary so that it helps you in business, and does not take time and effort to fill out.
How to choose the right one?
- In order to have a desire to use a diary, it is important to be able to choose it correctly. To get started, focus on the size, because it is not very convenient to carry a huge notebook with you every day, or use a very small one, given that it is always at home or in the office. No matter how impressive huge magazines look, it is better to refuse them. A5 format is considered the most optimal, in extreme cases A6.
- The cover should be leather, otherwise, not only in a year, but after a couple of months of constant use, you will be holding a shabby and sometimes falling apart book in your hands.
- For those people who are not connected with the business world, and therefore are not burdened with frequent meetings, meetings and other matters that require every second of attention, I recommend starting a weekly journal. It differs only in that the page spread shows the days of the week, and not the days by the hour.
- You should buy a dated diary, in extreme cases, with the ability to fill in the dates yourself. This will need to be done immediately after the purchase, moreover, put down the dates until the very end. Otherwise, there is a risk of abandoning your business diary, feeling bored and lacking interest in continuing to plan. And this is how the motivation technique will work, because you will feel sorry for the missed blank pages. Especially if you are thinking of punishment — be sure to fill them with drawings or motivating phrases.
- Pay attention to the weeklies on the rings. They are convenient in that you can pull out a sheet at any time and replace it with another one, take it with you so as not to drag the entire notebook and simply purchase bright dividers to distinguish between topics and categories.
- Fill in your data, because it may happen that you lose it. Other people will not be interested in your schedule, but it will come in handy for you, especially if you want to remember what you did a year ago.
12 rules of conduct
So, you know what you need to buy a suitable planning, now let’s look at the rules and recommendations on how to fill it out correctly.
1. Differentiation between rigid and flexible schedules
A tight schedule is when you have some kind of business that is bound to time, for example, a meeting at 11:30. And flexible — these are those tasks that you can start during the day, or even transfer, that is, sort out documents, view mail, etc.
And the main mistake of many is the hourly schedule of «floating» tasks, which can lead to neurosis. After all, the meeting can drag on, start later, which is why other things are shifted in time, not corresponding to your plans. And then you will be disappointed and nervous every time. Which will have a negative impact on both health and work. But even without tough tasks it is also impossible, otherwise we will not complete the work on time, motivation will decrease, and productivity too.
Solutions to this complexity are delimiting the page in the following way:
| Tough | Flexible |
If you just put time next to some things, you risk losing sight of something important and significant. So, in addition to numbering, be sure to divide each page into two columns, this technique will greatly increase your efficiency.
2.Priority
Another type of mistake is often made — tasks are performed as they become available without regard to importance. If you read an article about time management, then you know that when planning, you should always rank tasks according to their importance.
So do not start work with some minor trifle while urgent and important matters hang over you. To make it easier to navigate the list of the diary, I propose to come up with symbols for each type of importance. I have such a system:
- A — failure to comply will entail serious negative consequences, so you should start immediately. Let’s say you pay off a loan, if you don’t deposit money within a certain period, you will be charged fines and deductions.
- B — in case of skipping, there will be no particularly serious consequences, but it is better to do it anyway in order to make your life easier. For example, if you do not buy groceries, then you will not get the desired salad for dinner, you will have to be content with what is in the refrigerator, it seems not to be scary, but some need will not be satisfied.
- B is recommended. Ignoring it will not attract trouble, but will have a positive effect on well-being or work activity, if you decide to do it. The simplest examples are to replace the curtains in the hall, hang a picture in the office, etc.
3. Frog
In time management, there is such a thing as a frog, which means a very unpleasant and sometimes terrible thing. So, you should start your day with it. First, because uninteresting tasks are completed for a long time and with effort. Secondly, because human productivity is at its peak in the morning. We have already dealt with this in an article about human biological rhythms. Yes, and after completing an unpleasant task, you will relax and calmly proceed to the next, without feeling internal discomfort due to procrastination. This is how schoolchildren and students usually sin, doing anything except preparing for exams. For which they then pay with a sleepless night and a constant feeling of tension. And by the way, the frog can be marked in red or just put the letter «L» in front of the column.
4.When to plan?
Planning should start not in the morning, taking up precious time, but directly in the evening, 20 minutes before the end of the working day. If you write down your upcoming activities step by step in advance, then at night you will not be overtaken by insomnia against the background of thinking through plans for tomorrow, and in the morning you will not have to “puzzle” your head over where to rush in the first place.
5. Cross out completed
For motivation and to save time, always cross off completed tasks. Then you won’t have to read them again, and by watching how much work you’ve already done, you’ll become more confident and successful.
After all, the desire to continue in the same spirit will encourage decisive action, excluding laziness and passivity from life.
6. Intended use
It is very important to learn how to use the diary for its intended purpose, not to be confused with an address book or a recipe book. Do not bring thoughts, experiences and the like there, otherwise the blank sheets will end, and in the chaos of ideas you can lose sight of something important. Often there are situations when something urgently needs to be written down, but for these cases, get special sheets by putting them in the pocket of a notebook. If suddenly you still used up the demarcated pages, use a stapler to attach new ones.
7. Goals
Be sure to write your main goals on the first sheet or on a bookmark, this will motivate you and also help to form thought forms into the Universe, for their speedy implementation. With the process of their creation and formation, you can find here.
8. Personal life
Remember that there is not only a career, but also a personal life, which is also sometimes worth planning, otherwise, if you get carried away by the project, you will miss the matinee with the child or do not prepare for the arrival of your parents, forgetting to meet them at the airport. Yes, and in the schedule there should be pleasant things in order to maintain a sense of satisfaction from life, moreover, full-fledged.
9. No outstanding tasks
Another rule — be sure to transfer uncompleted tasks to other days, do not be lazy to rewrite, otherwise you risk losing sight of something important or missing a lot of time, turning over each page and trying to remember what you did not have time to complete and where your participation is still needed.
10. Creative
Any creative ways of keeping a weekly journal are allowed, the main thing is that you want to look into it. For example, with the help of drawings, the meanings of which are written on a separate sheet. Look at the article “How to use a mind map: methods and examples of programs”, you can also apply some points in planning activities, especially if you have taken on a large project, which will not be completed soon. Or fix for yourself what they did well, and where they were too lazy and didn’t give it their all.
11. Don’t get carried away
At first, there will be a lot of excitement, you will want to come up with new things to add to the planning list. But keep yourself in control, the obvious information, in the form of brushing your teeth and taking your child to kindergarten, is not worth making, because you will get tired of this whole process very quickly.
12.Stickers
Use sticky stickers instead of regular bookmarks. On them you can write out some cases, re-pasting for another day, if you didn’t manage to complete it on the planned one.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers of the blog! By following these simple rules, you will be able to organize your activities as conveniently as possible to achieve your goals and needs. And finally, I would like to recommend that you read my article “The Most Effective and Strategically Important Tools for Planning Human Activity”, there is a list of electronic calendars and communicators that will make your life much easier. Strength and inspiration to you!