Productivity has been a buzz word for quite some time because I rarely meet someone who does not want to be more productive. I cannot resist clicking on any headline that has the words productivity or organization in them because I want to do better. I am a sucker for trying new things and have attempted online calendars, Outlook, pen and paper calendars, writing to do lists, etc, etc. I have yet to be successful at any of it. I have been toying with bullet journaling for some time but I fear that would require bringing a new notebook into my life. Plus, I don’t see myself as artistically creative like I see when I Google “bullet journal” and scroll through the images. I don’t think it’s so much the systems as it is my personal style of getting easily bored with these methods.
Over the weekend I was browsing through Discover on WordPress and came across another productivity hack among the posts. After realizing I haven’t revisited my 2018 goals or even written out steps on how I’m going to achieve those goals, I knew I needed to try another system. Instead of running out to buy a new journal, I picked up the one I wrote out my 2018 goals (it is a large, clunky Clairfontaine notebook) that remains blank except for the page of goals I wrote in early Janaury, and I cobbled out monthly pages and after that lists for the week of… starting this week. Does it look fancy like a bullet journal? Not a bit!
Up until now, I have been a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of girl. I’m constantly double booking myself, saying yes to things and then having to back out. I have gotten to the point where I don’t like to commit to anything in case I’m going to let someone down. It wreaks havoc on relationships and my personal well being and I come off as the person you cannot rely on. I simply go by the rule that family comes first followed by work and then everything else. It may astonish you that I haven’t lost more friends from using this method! I imagine my life would be more peaceful if it had a semblance of organization (and the motivation to stick with it).
Life is about to become all the more chaotic as our house is undergoing some major renovations for the next few weeks. It’s going to require I’m at the top of my game as I keep all this organized and know what we need to provide the contractor and when. I’m going to lose my writing room for a period of time and I’ve already packed up things I needed within an hour after packing them. So that’s how it’s going. Wish me luck!
What is your favorite productivity hack? How do you juggle everything in your life? For me, it’s coffee and onward!
MC
I Am Writing 
Music is my hack, with coffee off the menu, I put my headphones in, find something to suit my writing mood and off I go. It also helps cut the outside distractions.
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I love that you use music to stay focused. I always forget to put on music and I love it so much. Thanks for the reminder it can help put you in the zone!
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Gee, it must be that time of the year for those of us that had such lofty goals in the beginning of 2018 and promised ourselves that we would change. I have been going through things similar to what you mentioned in your post. I am a list type person as well as a morning routine type guy but an early in the year vacation from a relative, followed by a visit to our son on the west coast followed by some other unexpected events sort of caused my early morning routines and hence the good day(s) that usually follow going out the window so to speak. At the moment I am trying my best to sit down and re-plan how my day(s) should go while I still have my sanity. Steady as she goes and well, baby steps. One day at a time and in following this logic, I should be back on course ……………well, sometime ……….soon I hope. Thanks for sharing.
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I hear you about vacations getting you off track. I’m going to go ahead and blame my lack of focus on that! Hopefully we can get our heads back in the game step by small step. Thanks for stopping by!
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Coffee is always the answer. 😉
I love how there’s finally someone who admits that their bullet journal isn’t Insta perfect. Mine’s almost always a mess. I like to think an organized mess.
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Organized mess all the way! I think some of us are afraid to just jump in and try something because we want to do it perfectly (Insta perfect – great term). Thanks for your comment!
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Exactly… I was stuck in that rut for waaay too long until I finally realized it wasn’t worth it
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