Hey stranger.

How do you plan your life? Wait. DO YOU plan your life?
Do you count on your digital calendar to get you through the day?
Do you have a busy life and you feel like the small tasks slip through the cracks and you have a lot of unfinished task or half finished projects?
How about that thing you wanted to do for so long. Did you find time for it? Probably not.

Ah. The problems of modern busy life. So many things to do and so little time. Right?

Well. Wrong.

You are not achieving much because you probably don’t have a tight and laser focused, distractions free plan for your days. But this can change very easily. How?

Keep Reading …. ( gotta love cliffhangers )

Drum Roll. Introducing the almighty ……. notebook.

Wait. What? A notebook? Yeap!

Keep reading because your mind will be blown when you learn how much you can do with a simple, bullet journal / notebook ( Bujo for those you are in the know ) to organize your life and focus on the things that matter most to you.

Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day. ( Guns and Roses reference obviously )

A notebook can help you write things out. Fast. Faster that you can type with your little smartphone keyboard. And writing down your thoughts and tasks on a notebook can:

Relieve stress. Once everything is on paper guesss what: Your mind is no more full with a millions tasks and thoughts. It’s clear and stress free!
Help you prioritize: Once you have everything written down you can start focusing on the important stuff. Only.
Boost your wellness. There is something magic about looking at a task list on a piece of paper that has most if not all tasks crossed out. You feel that you actually achieve something!

There are many more benefits I can talk about but c’mon I don’t want to spoil all the surprised here!

Great! It sounds really good! So how do I start?

1. Buy a notebook. Duh!

You need to find a great notebook and a pen. ASAP. Your notebook should be small enough to help you carry it always with you but big enough to write on it with comfortably. Also you should get a notebook with a great design on the cover. You are going to be watching this thing A LOT so it helps to be pretty 😉

2. Dump all tasks for the day on the notebook in the morning

Grab a cup of coffee ( or tea ) and start writing all the things you want to accomplish in the day. You can also do this for the next 48 hours or plan the whole week. It’s up to you! Now think of this list as an “ I probably need to do this stuff”, not as a tight schedule that must be completed or 346 kittens will die!

3. Prioritize

Do you really need to call Timmy? Do you really need to go this boring task right away? Nope. Doing things you think ( or other people make you think ) are important can lead to a lot of time management troubles. What you need to do is find the 3-4 tasks you MUST complete, and then work on the other tasks on your list.

4. Got everything down? Great. Start doing sh!t.

Once you have everything down, start working on the important tasks first. Nothing really matters besides those tasks. You need to have them done. Period. No buts. No Excuses. ( This sounds like a lot like my personal trainer. Hm. )

5. Once you start working go with the flow. No distractions.

No peeking at your phone. “Wait. WHAT? No phone peeking? “. Nope. No. Forget it. Why? I will explain everything on step 9. Trust me you will survive. Constantly looking at Facebook and Instagram or Pinterest ( Hey I know you are doing it ! ) can KILL your momentum, focus and productivity. So. No. Peeking. At. Your. Phone.

6. Take Breaks and reward yourself.

Don’t burn out. Every hour or two hours, deepens on you, take a short break and reward yourself. Want a cookie? You got it! Want another delicious coffee? Go get it. You want chocolate? Of course! Reward yourself, take a break, and then keep moving forward. If you have a small chocolate break, nothing can stop you!

7 Be realistic. You have a life also. Remember?

Very quickly you will find that you typically have WAY more items on your to-do list than you can possibly complete. No worries. This happens to everyone that starts using a notebook for time management. But. Just look at all those tasks you actually COMPLETED! If you managed to cross out at least 60% – 70% you are a champ. Focus on what toy completed, not on what you did not. There’s always tomorrow!

8. Evaluate what was not done.

So you have left a few tasks uncompleted. No worries. Take the time and ask yourself: Were they REALLY REALLY important? If no you did a good job. If yes….. weeeeelllllll, you probably did not read step #3. Go read it. Like…. NOW 🙂

9. Bonus Tip: Make time for distractions! Yeah!

Having to check your phone every 10 minutes will DESTROY your creativity and flow. But I know that you want to check FB, Insta etc. No worries I’ve got you covered. All you need to do is make some time like 15 minute blocks that you can use as a break and have all your online fun you want. Go crazy! Just make sure that after that 15 minutes period you pout your phone away or on silent. Having all the distractions happening within a specific timeframe YOU decide help in transforming those distractions into fun moments. Plus you don’t feel guilty because you are looking at cat photos or memes when you should be doing actually work. So…. Win win!