I've carried a moleskin journal with me ever since college, it's filled with sketches, critiques, and rambling ideas, but more importantly, it maps my thoughts from year to year focusing on my goals for the future. With the bustle of daily routines and the need to relax every now and then, keeping up with goals, let alone simple phone calls home can feel completely overwhelming. After getting home from New York with a bag of business cards, the easiest thing to do would have been to prop the bag up on my desk with a little imaginary post it note next to it saying "follow up!". I like to mentally file tasks like these away along with other gems like call your friends to check in, send so-and-so that gift you picked up, and...did you set up your dentist appointment? Going without saying, these methods aren't too good in the long run, so I took the bag of cards, organized them, and proceeded to follow up with each one...every single one. Staring at the empty bag on my desk once I finished gave me a feeling of accomplishment, and while it's only something small, it represented a better way to stay organized and work towards goals on a continuous basis. To help stay on this path or even find my way back to a bit of organization when schedules really ramp up, I've been trying to follow these steps for forward thinking:
Mail it - A little note to a friend or an acquaintance that you need to re-spark does more than a text message ever could. I like to think of it as an etiquette that ensures you long-lasting relationships.
Stick it - Post-it notes are always by my side. Jot down a quick task that needs to be completed that day, then make sure to actually follow through. it feels nice to not have to add it to the to-do list the next day.
List it - For me this is the big one. Just like my moleskin, a list can represent so many things from a simple weekly schedule to a blown out business plan. Writing down each step then checking them off as I go is a great reminder that I am working towards something, even when a week feels particularly unaccomplished.
I'm working on the "mail-it" portion more, but a quick revisit to these ideas always helps me prioritize...even if the dentist still hasn't been called, I have managed to list my next few months which still seems like a win to me.
I would love to hear everyone else thinks about tips for staying on track. Anything you've found to be incredibly successful?
I think for me, just writing it down always helps. A make lists, a lot of them. Even at work, every morning, I get a cup of coffee and write down the tasks that need to be done that day. Same with personal matters. I am also a big fan of post-its, if something comes to me and I remember that I need to schedule something like the dentist, I'll write it down in a post-it and place it right by my phone. I see it and it reminds me that it's something that needs to get done and once I do it, then I can move on to the next thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge proponent of detailed lists and calendars. With a job, grad school, blog, and "vivacious domestic life" (read: cooking dinner five nights a week and tending to a very needy boyfriend!), I've got to stay organized somehow!
ReplyDeleteI'll actually be posting about "how to do it all" soon! Check it out.
Cheryl
www.thestylistquo.com
I actually use three (identical-yikes!) Moleskines to keep myself organized–one for long-term work projects, assignments that can't be done in a week, or that I need to remember to address in the future, another for short-term projects, meeting notes, etc. and a third for my personal stuff. I also have a rule not to let emails sit unread and unreplied to (mostly), and that really helps cut down on the clutter!
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