I want to share my personal organization system so that you can see if any of these things would work for you. I admit that I am constantly adjusting it, so what I describe today is probably changing slightly.
As I've mentioned, I base my system on Getting Things Done by David Allen. I won't describe the entire system (read the book - it is awesome), but it essentially is designed to get everything down on paper and then do constant activity and reviews.
I use electronics as my primary system. I have all Apple products, so the inputs are shared between devices. This is important to me because I like having the same information be current on my phone, iPad and laptop - this way I know what i am looking at is the latest, no
matter where I am or what device I am using.
I use the Reminders app that comes with Apple products for my tasks. It isn't the greatest and I wish it had some other functions, but it does the job for me. I do create folders and tasks lists within each folder. You will see a business folder that has multiple tasks lists as well as a personal folder that has multiple task lists.
I use the Calendar app on my Apple products as well, but connect it to my Google Calendar, which is what my family uses. This way, my calendar sees all of my commitments as well as the family commitments. They are different colors, but I admit I don't pay much attention to the colors.
For notes, this is where my system gets a bit messy. I will pretty much take notes anywhere on anything. I try to limit it, but I've just never gotten good at it. I will use the Notes app on my Apple devices or Evernote electronically. I try to keep any notes on a generic page (broken out by days) that I then transfer to the appropriate place when I do my reviews. I also still use paper alot. I try to use small notebooks or pads. This way I have my hard copy notes in one place, but I always try to review them and transfer them to my electronic systems. This is where Evernote is great because I can take a picture of it and add it to Evernote.
I will do a nightly review, which usually takes me about 10 minutes. I look at my notes and see if I need to do anything or if I can quickly store the note somewhere. I look at my calendar for the next 2 days to see what my schedule looks like and if I need to prepare anything. I also look at my task list and make sure it is up to date and add or delete anything I need to. I also create and review my list for tomorrow. Knowing I am ready to go in the morning helps me sleep better. I then do a quick mental scan of the day and see if there is anything I want to journal. I don't spend a ton of time on this, but reflection is always helpful.
One other trick I use is to rate my day on a scale of 1-10 (1 being horrible, 10 being great). I try to honestly evaluate how I did, not based on my calendar or tasks, but how I feel. Did I really get as much accomplished as I could? I then think about how I can raise that score by 1 point tomorrow. For example, if I give myself a 6 today because I got distracted with something that wasn't on my task list and really wasn't that important, I think about how I can make tomorrow a 7. The reflection gets me in the right frame of mind for tomorrow.
Hope it helps, let me know if you have any questions.
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