An approach to organizing managerial chaos
As a manager, I often feel like my brain needs to be handling a dozen things at once. My calendar is full, so I don’t have a lot of time to process information or get things done between meetings. My brain also has the tendency to suddenly remember important and often personal tasks at the most inopportune times, usually in the middle of a meeting about something completely unrelated, which can become a distraction as I try not to forget.
In my journey to successfully juggle everything the day throws at me, I’ve had several failed attempts:
Prioritized to-do lists on a notepad seemed simple enough, except that my priorities regularly shift so I found myself re-writing my whole to-do list daily. Simple online to-do lists would get excessively long, increasing the risk of me missing something altogether.
An organized daily planner looked promising, except that most of my tasks don’t have a specific day they need to be completed by, and notes-wise I’d have some days with nothing and other days that would exceed the space allowed.
Sticky notes quickly became overwhelming, and a significant waste of paper.
Today I use a combination of bullet journaling, a desktop whiteboard, and markdown notes to get information out of my brain quickly and into a format that I can easily retrieve when I need it.
Bullet journaling for function, not form
If your only exposure to the concept of bullet journaling is via Instagram or Google Images, you might think that my bullet journal is a beautiful, artistic display with fancy calligraphy and perfectly sketched layouts. Thankfully for me and my lack of artistic talent, those picture-worthy bullet journals are an evolution of an extremely simple, mindful practice created by Ryder Carroll. My bullet journal follows the more traditional approach. This video provides a 4-minute overview of the basics.
Here’s how I’ve adapted the concepts of bullet journaling to work for me:
Each month I start a new two-page spread in my notebook, labeled with the month, for my “monthly log.” The original bullet journal method includes a calendar page in the monthly log with a line for each day of the month, but I haven’t found that very useful for me, so my task list usually goes on the left page, and I usually start my daily logs on the right page.
I create a new daily log when I have something on that day to add. It’s labeled with the date and day of the week. I use a standard bullet for to-do items, an open circle bullet for events I want to remember, and a dash for any notes. I don’t use my bullet journal for most note-taking, but I’ll use it for quick notes on things I don’t want to forget or things related to my to-do items.
When I complete a to-do item, I put an X over the bullet. If something is no longer relevant for me to do, I’ll cross the entire thing out with a line.
At the end of each month, when I start a new monthly log, I go back through the previous month’s unfinished to-do items, making a mindful decision on whether or not I move it forward to the next month. If I move it to the next month, I draw a > over the bullet to indicate I moved it ahead; otherwise I cross it out. The original bullet journal method also uses a future log at the front of the notebook to indicate tasks for later months, but the vast majority of tasks I migrate aren’t things I want to put off for multiple months, so I don’t bother with a future log anymore and just move everything ahead.
The only fancy element of my bullet journal is color. I use three different pen colors each month: One for titles/labels, one for work-related notes/tasks, and one for personal notes/tasks. I like being able to use my bullet journal for everything that pops into my brain, so the colors help me sort out what I need to focus on in my work and personal time.
That’s all there is to it! I like how bullet journaling adds just enough process to a written to-do list to keep things organized without being time-consuming, and the mindful practice of thinking through each of my items helps me stay focused on the right things and drop the rest.
Whiteboard for daily tasks
Each morning, I start my day by looking through the monthly log and the month’s daily logs for to-do items I haven’t completed, and decide on my top 3-5 items I hope to complete. I like to write these on my desktop whiteboard, which helps keep me focused but also allows for last-minute changes as things pop up. All of my tasks are still in my bullet journal so I don’t have to worry about losing anything. I also sometimes use my whiteboard for quick, messy notes that I’ll want to re-word for my bullet journal later.
I own a Fluidstance Slope, which I like because of the angle for writing, the way it fits under my monitor, and the space it has for me to slide my bullet journal underneath when I need more desk space. But there are plenty of cheaper options out there if the Slope is a bit too much of an investment!
Markdown for meeting notes
I take notes in every meeting I attend. Note-taking makes it easier for me to reflect on a meeting hours later, when I have a longer free block in my calendar. I also just find it helpful to stay focused, particularly in online meetings, where I can find myself unintentionally distracted by Slack messages or phone notifications. I like typing my notes rather than hand-writing because I can take notes much faster, and in a format that is easily searchable later. I use Google Docs for 1:1 notes, and Confluence for meeting notes that are meant to be shared, but for everything else I like writing in Bear. There are plenty of great note-taking apps out there, but I like Bear because of its simplicity and support for Markdown, which I find helpful to quickly format my notes as I type them. Bear also allows me to copy as rich text for easy, formatted pasting into other services that don’t support markdown.
Clearer mind, fewer dropped balls
The combination of bullet journaling, whiteboarding and markdown notes makes me a more effective leader by getting things out of my brain as quickly as possible and into a format where I can easily come back to it later. This allows me to stay more engaged in my work, and facilitates a mindful prioritization practice to ensure I’m always focusing on the most important things.
