It’s funny. Since I haven’t been working, I feel like I’ve been busier than I was when I was working. Although I feel like I’m doing a lot and staying busy, I just don’t have a sense that things are getting done.
Take yesterday for example. I had 10 things on my task list and two appointments. The tasks ranged from my volunteer work for the Literacy Society, projects related to setting up my business, a couple of videos about how to approach writing a novel and personal health and wellness.
Guess what got done? I went to the appointments (appointments force me to do things at a particular time so as long as I remember them and haven’t double booked, they’re pretty much a given). Of the 10 things on my list, I completed four. And they weren’t the four that were the most time sensitive or important. They were the easy things, barely worth writing the to-do but I so love checking them off, so I add them to the list in the morning.
The other three items were training modules or exercises. (I guess you can tell I haven’t yet made changes related to my Training Addiction Blog.)
Otherwise everything else got the chevron. The chevron of doom.
In the organizational system called a Bullet Journal (or BUJO), you set out tasks and appointments and mark them off and take notes as you go. I (theoretically, it seems) find it helpful to try to focus my day (try being the operative word). It seems more helpful as a tracking of what I did do over the course of the day. It helps me keep notes in one place (and encourages me to take more notes).
For reference, I’ve taken a picture of the symbols I use, most, if not all are the same as the template BUJO. The key ones being the dot which indicates a task and the X which means it is completed. The danger zone symbol for me is the chevron > indicating a task was migrated. (Isn’t that a nicer way to say pushed to another day.) The problem is, I find it almost as satisfying to put the chevron (of doom) on the dot as the X. (Almost. Still prefer the X.)
I’ve put that beside my list for the day (two items are not pictured, but got X’s). It helps you see that the items that didn’t get accomplished were the ones at the top of the list (presumably at the top because I most wanted to do them today).
I like the system and am finding it helps me feel more on top of what I need to get done. It’s just that it doesn’t seem to actually help me get the things done.
I (mostly) follow the directions to plan once each week. I do it on Sundays and set out what I’d like to get accomplished for the week, making sure I have something for each of my “pillars” – Me (health/wellness), Security (setting up business), Giving (Literacy Society), and Writing. Every morning, I refer back to the weekly plan and identify appointments and tasks for that day (in true BUJO form, you should do this at night but my attention span and energy is so low at the end of the day, I’m finding it better to do in the morning).
It all seems to make sense and it should work, if not for the chevron of doom. You see, it’s almost as satisfying to mark a task with the chevron as it is with an X. (Almost, not quite, I’d still like lots of Xs.) Because the dot isn’t left naked, it gives the impression that some thought or care went into the task on that day.
That’s how the chevron is supposed to work. It’s supposed to be used in conjunction with the “less than” chevron which indicates something has been scheduled for a particular date/time and the strike through, indicating that a task is no longer relevant. The BUJO user is supposed to make these decisions – if you keep “migrating” (in my world, ignoring) a task, you should question if you are ever really going to do it or if you should just drop it from your list (by delegating or determining it’s no longer necessary or not going to get done anyway).
How Chevrons are supposed to work.
My chevrons.
How many chevrons I want to use.
That’s how I need the chevron to work. I’ve been struggling with this for a while because it’s generally the same type of tasks that get done and the same ones that “migrate”. I’ve tried breaking the tasks (and therefore checkmarks) down to smaller pieces, for example, instead of . create videos, it could be three dots – . create video on A, . create video on B and . create video on C.
I’ve tried identify chunks of time. For example, I want to focus on writing short stories for at least 5 blocks of 30 minutes. I’ve tried less items, more items, more prescriptive, less prescriptive but I still don’t seem to be getting to the things I need to be working on.
It’s frustrating and I’m hoping I come up with a solution soon because in a month, I’m going to be working full time hours for a few weeks and so I’ll be in even less of a position to move things forward.
Leave a Reply