Time to get organized

Anyone who has known me for a long time knows that I struggle with organization.  I was always the kid at school that had loose papers all over the place in my binder and back pack, folded pieces of paper in my pocket, reminders and notes written on my hand.  I tried using planners but never was consistent with them.  I have tried making to do lists, but end up with more loose paper all over my desk, or a pile of paper with buried to do lists.  Two years ago over winter break I tried to spend some time each day reading and doing some "professional development."  I was reading an article on twitter by Ryan Holiday about a commonplace book.  I loved the idea, I got in my car and drove down to staples that morning and bought a stack of note cards a box to hold them in and some colored dividers and started my very own commonplace book.

My main Commonplace Box

At first I was not really sure where to start.  I started writing down quotes and lists of things I read I thought would be helpful.  As time went out I made more groups and it helped a ton with getting organized and me keeping all of the information I needed in one place.  I started writing down to do lists for the day, long term, for meet info etc...  It has been a huge help to me.  I like having hard copies of things I need and use.

Very quickly I found that while I was more organized, I was still struggling with To-Do lists.  They began to pile up and would get lost in the shuffle like my old to do lists and even though I was doing better, I still needed vast improvement on staying focused on what is really important right and what can wait till later.  I tried combining lists, moving items to long term to do and focusing on making better daily lists.

A few months back I watched a video on how to create a bullet journal.  I watched it, thought it was a cool idea, but didn't totally buy into it.  Plus I had already dedicated two years to my commonplace book, liked it and didn't want to abandon it.  Honestly I was not crazy about having a to do list and breaking it up with thoughts pages and having to catalogue entire note books.  I think it is much easier to write down thoughts on a card, lable it and store it with like idea cards.  I can always resort the cards and move them if I want.  It seemed easier than tearing out pages of a book and rebinding them.

So a few weeks ago the bullet journal video came back through my twitter feed.  I watch the video again, thought about it for a few minutes, watched the video again and decided that the bullet journal could be the solution to my to do list problems.  I went on Amazon and bought a journal.  A few days later it arrived and I set up my bullet journal. I have adapted my bullet journal  and just use it for my to do lists.  It has helped tremendously.  I find that I am able to do a much better job of staying focused on what has to get done and long term projects.

Bullet Journal and Commonplace book

Just thought I would share a little about how I stay on task.  These two things have made a huge impact for me.  Hope you can get some thoughts and ideas for yourself.