Are you looking to finally co-ordinate and balance your life between working and playing? Do you need a time management journal to get the job done? Do you need a hand getting started?
Then you are in the right place, for we will be looking at the time management journal today in all its glory, listing the benefits, as well as some easy ways to get started.
Why Use a Time Management Journal?
So, before you dive straight in, it's supposed you will be wondering just why anyone might give it all up and head straight into using a bullet journal for their time management. Cue the benefits.
Data Mining
Much as some people are keen on using a food journal to chronicle their daily eating habits, the same can be done for productivity. Humans have an innate penchant for lying to themselves about the honest truth and productivity is no exception.
Time management skills ask us to excel at this honest approach and using a bullet journal for the work task can be very effective at laying out the reality of a situation for us to process later on. Indeed, bullet journals are useful for far more than just to-do lists.
Patterns
Yes, just as they can be useful for identifying the honest reality of a situation, they are also a useful way of retrospectively identifying patterns of behavior.
Say it once and then again, humans are very good at lying to themselves and each other about what's really going on without even realizing it. So, instead of just using your bullet journal for your daily to-do list, you can also use bullet journaling to see how many tasks you have completed or not, as well as analyze how often this kind of behavior is the case.
Time Sensitivity
One of the premier uses of the bullet journal method is to enable people to get a better grip on time tracking. Time is ephemeral and slippery, often evading our grasp. Humans have a strange relationship with time, often unintentionally squashing or stretching it out to suit their purposes.
Thus, using a bullet journal as a daily log of all the tasks and all the events that you have been experiencing and fulfilling will modify your relationship with the passage of time for the better.
Productivity
Here lies the number one reason so many people bite the bullet and jump into the bullet journal lifestyle. As a time tracker for important and rapid logging of amazing ideas, the bullet journal is unmatched (even by digital tools that offer a future log of important tasks).
The bullet journal was designed with the life of those who enjoy a keen social life and work life simultaneously in mind. With modern technology, it can be difficult to keep work and play separated - never before have the two bled into each other so much.
A bullet journal seeks to change this, enabling you to focus your energy on the next task while ensuring that uncompleted tasks are left to the next monthly log when it is time for a day off.
Motivation
In this way, a bullet journal is also a great way to tap into motivation when it might otherwise be waning. By dividing up your work time and playing more effectively, you can also find time within each of these separate areas for moments to explore the opposite.
Dividing up your time in this way is an incredibly helpful way of dividing up your efforts between a single task and the rest. Time is money and money is effort, and for some, it is useful to have a pictorial rendering of this division of time.
How to Use a Time Management Journal
So, now we have looked at all those benefits, let us look at how exactly to go about doing it properly.
1. Choosing a Recording System
First things first, you are going to want to find a recording system that works for you. Often, this is just a paper journal, though nowadays there are plenty of other options, such as digital tools online, or even mobile applications.
This latter tool is of significance for the worker bee who is constantly using their phone to organize their life. A good example is Toggl Track.
Likewise, just as you would use leather journals, you can also just use the notes app on your phone.
2. Recording Events
If you are manually recording your events into a paper journal or notes app, then you can easily record your events as soon as you finish with a task, block of time, a meeting, or any other action. Make a quick log of what you did and how much time it took to do it (alongside anything else that you think is worthy of note for later on).
If you tend to run late to such things, then you may want to make a note as soon as you arrive, lest you get back-logged down the line and miss out on making a note of a certain activity.
3. Check The Log at the End of Each Day
This is one of the most important parts of logging in this way as it gives you an opportunity to evaluate your progress each day. This way, you can keep tabs on yourself and your achievements in a way that does not necessarily feel very overbearing. Creating a regular and routine action of it will ensure that you get into the habit of doing it.
One of the most important reasons for doing this each day is so that you can keep track of all the things you might have missed in your daily log, either for negligence or because you did not have time.
4. Repeat for at Least Two Weeks
Though you can just do it for two weeks, it is better to do it for longer if you can afford to. The longer you use this method and bring it into practice, the more thorough and accurate the baseline for analysis of your method will be.
The idea is that if you have more data, then you can more easily and more accurately create a better plan for being more productive in the future because you will know precisely how you react. It sure can be tough, but be as honest with yourself as possible. You will not get anything out of this task if you are dishonest with the results.
5. Analysis
Now, once you have foregone the task itself, you can get down to analyzing your behavior. Try to look for patterns of behavior that keep repeating.
Are there certain types of things that you consistently show up late for? Are there things that keep making you late for these things? What times of day seem to work better for you? What kinds of events seem to trigger procrastination in you?
Once you have this data, you can then make a plan based on the judgments you have made.
Final Words
So, there you have it! Hopefully, you are now feeling ready and able to get started with your very own time management journal, to finally take control of your work-play balance.
FAQs Time Management Journal
WHAT ARE THE 4 P'S OF TIME MANAGEMENT?
In terms of marketing strategies, the 4 P's are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. The 4 W's of time management, though, are What, When, How, and Who. Yes, these do not all begin with the letter W, but they all represent the fact that as a professional, you have a range of different responsibilities which it is useful to differentiate between for the most effective work-life balance. If you can name the What, When, How, and Who of each of your individual tasks, then you are on the right track.
