You're gonna have to try some things and see if they work. It's not too late because this whole process evolves over time.
1. Cal Newport is awesome. He has a great system. Watch his Time Management Video on YouTube. I like how he literally BLOCKS out his time each day. I use different colored highlighters to create the blocks. I like SEEING my schedule in colored blocks. He plans his day based on his VALUES like Build Community, Stay Fit, Family time, research, etc. No need to put anything in your calendar that doesn't fit with your values.
He (like you) manages a LOT of short term and long term tasks so I think you would like him.
2. Robert Allen uses a rule that is CRUCIAL: OFFLOAD your brain on to something. Don't try to REMEMBER. WRITE. IT. DOWN. This is a huge stress reliever.
3. I keep a large index card in my planner and anything that comes up that day goes on the card. By the end of the day, the items are crossed off or moved to a better place (Grocery List, TO DO Folder, Appointments to Make, or on the calendar). I start a fresh card each day if necessary.
4. Always keep a RED FOLDER for active projects and tasks. I call mine TO DO. I work from the RED FOLDER every day. Once a thing is taken care of, it leaves the red folder to get re-filed, tossed, or entered in my planner. I have other files, too, but I only focus on the red folder on a daily basis.
5. Create a common place (basket, IN BOX) that is for your family to drop off and pick up stuff (permission slips that need to be signed, books that need to be taken back to the library, homework to be reviewed, insurance cards for the car, receipts, $5 for the class party). Check it at the end of each day. Let your kid know the deadline. If it's after 8 PM, it might not get seen.
6. Magnetic (white board-type) calendar for the fridge with dates you all need to know: Open House, dinner party, school play, etc. They also make magnetic pen holders so you can keep white board pens next to the calendar.
I will be following this thread closely. This is uncanny as I am grappling with this problem for the 13,000 time. I feel like I spend more time thinking about how to get organized than most. I literally ordered a new planner last night as part of my effort to support The Productivity Industrial Complex. I am ashamed at many times I have restarted finding a new system.
Firstly, I try not to do anything lol. As in, it’s a big fat NO unless it’s actually a) paying me a worthwhile amount b) something I really want to do c) admin that needs to be done. I don’t use any online systems, I use one big to-do list on paper and I write by hand all the shit I need to do. I do the hard/important stuff first in the morning then the easy/fun stuff in the afternoon. It seems to work for me! xo
With severe ADD, learned dyslexia and three kids and a mostly absent husband I had to figure out ways to keep everything together. This is what worked for me (and remember we're talking the dark ages before iPhones and iPads and computer spreadsheets etc). A LARGE calendar like the 22"x17" calendar you can buy at Staples EVERYTHING went on that calendar (even appointments with myself a half hour at a time so I would remember to pay bills) and spiral bound index cards that I would carry in my purse and EVERYTHING would be written down in it in no order, but it at least it was written down and because it was spiral bound I could slide a pen in the coil so I always had a pen. The thickness of the index cards gave it some heft and I could always find it in my purse––these are also a product of Staples and available in 3x5 or 4x6 . I also put a baggie in my purse and every single receipt went into that baggie. I can't tell you how difficult it was to maintain the chaos, but I did it because there was no one else to take up the slack or give me a break. And, truthfully, even with all the electronic methods and machines out there today, if I had to do it over I would still rely on that huge calendar and the spiral bound index cards. These days being single with my kids grown my life is so much more simple. I still keep a paper calendar (only smaller) and rather than bound index cards I keep a small notebook in my purse always. I still need to keep my environmental chaos to a minimum so my house is minimalistic (I've had people come over and ask me if I've just recently moved in––it's VERY empty––I've lived here for five years). And I keep the my environment quiet––I sometimes wear noise canceling headphones if I really need to get something done even when there is no ambient noise (like air conditioning) because the noise canceling headphones make it easier for me to focus––I feel very safe with them on and it's super super quiet. And side note: A friend of mine invested in a desk you can use sitting or standing and said it changed her life.
If you can, hire help for all the things you don’t need to do yourself. A professional organizer to get things back in line, an assistant (in person or virtual) to sort through all the incoming so you aren’t overwhelmed on the regular. It’s okay to ask for help and receive it. Personally, I’m the worst at asking but also so much more effective when I’m not run ragged.
Also, I keep lists and if I can knock off a task easily I will.
Also, microdosing has helped. It’s fucked up that I use it to be more productive, but it does help.
I will be of little to no help here, but wanted to say thank you- I feel so seen lol! If it makes you feel better, my combined inboxes total 84,426, and I recently wrote an essay here called 500 tabs, the max amount iPhone lets you have open at any given time. The struggle is real! My very analogue system involves sitting each morning and writing down all of the things (even the things on my google calendar). I use a paper planner for my editorial calendar, and I use my notes app for lists on the go (like when I'm out for a walk and get an idea that I will not remember 2 minutes later).
Jenn, I *live this* as 1. a project manager with ~15 projects that stay with me for 5+ years each in various stages and 2. a mom of 2 little kids who handles the life admin. I have to keep my system as basic as humanly possible, but i think it still sounds crazy:
I do planning to ways 1. lists 2. schedules
First: Lists
A. I keep a very basic Notion set up online with only 2 components, which is my entire external brain
1. a master list of admin lift tasks. i have a column to check if it's a high priority. Literally anything non-work related lives in here.
2. A project/task template. Every work project is listed, under each project are the tasks. Each task is labelled either "to do," "waiting on" (THIS ONE IS CRITICAL), "question" or "done"
For daily planning, I have a Hobonichi Cousin Techo, which includes:
1. monthly calendar - one source of truth for all personal/family appointments/plans/travel/etc.
2. weekly calendar - used for weekly partner meeting (see below)
3. daily page - each day I divide the paper in half. Life tasks on the left, work tasks on the right. I make the list in the morning of the tasks (pulling off the notion lists), and number things in order of how I'm going to do them so I don't lose a bunch of time switching tasks.
Second: Schedules - you have to put time aside to actually *do* the planning
1. I have all work meetings/appointments live in microsoft outlook. Reminders must be turned on.
2. I put a 15 minute meeting at the beginning of the day to set up my planner, with a list in the invite of what my set up tasks are - it's the same every day! (review meeting schedule, set up list of to dos).
3. put a 15 minute meeting at the end of the day to go through your e-mails/paper/crap and transfer loose ends to your two notion lists
4. Friday afternoon I set aside a whole hour for this to make sure you have captured everything from the week.
5. Sunday evenings my husband and I have a meeting for like 10 minutes to go over kid drop off and pick ups for school/daycare, weekly calendar, weekly to dos.
Lastly the misc - grocery list lives on a hook in the kitchen. if I'm out of the house, random stuff is captured in apple notes. I never delete e-mails and i also don't sort them, just let them ride and can search if I need something. For paper stuff - I sort for anything urgent, and if it's not on fire i throw it in a basket and i go through it like once a month - we've had new car license plates in there for like 3 months. Who cares!
Put all the emails from your inbox into a "hold" folder and start fresh! Check your email once a day, delete or "snooze" everything until you need to deal with it. Close all the tabs. Don't keep any tabs open.
Definitely not too late although I think that it's hard to implement new systems in times of high stress. Trying new planners and whatnot is better left to after the book launch I think. When I describe my system it sounds massively inefficient but I find it works very well for me. I find that even though I have integrated calendars on google for work, family stuff, and personal stuff, I still need a paper planner so I keep a very ugly and solely utilitarian bullet journal. It allows me to plan out several months as opposed to just day to day. Also because I straddle the analog-to-digital ages I need to write things down to make them stick in my memory better. So I'll have deadlines on my google calendar AND written down in my bullet journal. It's not a perfect system but I don't think any system needs to work 100% if it helps. My husband and I also have access to each other's work calendars to cut down on a lot of back and forth.
I really like the Silk and Sonder monthly journal. I fail each month at making it beautiful and complete, but at minimum I sit down on Sunday evening and think about the next week.
Here how it goes for me: finding a new area I think i could improve > research how to > yes, I definitely need to watch 10 videos about the said area to improve > creating a super nice system > forget about it > back to square one 😅
I find tiny adjustments to be good for me. I am phobic of too many tabs and emails - I'm on the side of a clean window or mailbox. That's my curse
One thing that I just started doing was applying filter rules to my inbox. Emails automatically go to their folders and I can ignore anything that isn’t going to the high priority folders. It’s helped decrease my email anxiety a lot. I also use this special planner from inkblot that allows me to organize tasks by type and write out 3 high priorities for the week. It’s really helped me think about the week in terms of themes and not an endless lists of to-do’s.
I just transitioned from a full time job to self employment and my lifemin (life admin) is at an all time high.
What’s helped me is using the notes app and have one note that is to buy/do with different headings - it’s one note because I use it a lot so it’s always at the top of the app and doesn’t get buried and then forgotten.
These are my headings:
TO BUY (I don’t put a Trader Joe’s list here, but more one off things that I only remember when I’m brushing my teeth and then quickly forget, now I reach for my phone and add it to this list)
ASAP TO DO (this is as it sounds)
BACKBURNER TO DO (stuff I don’t want to forget about)
I love using the circles to check things off and it goes to the bottom of the list, you can also change the setting so it deletes when you check it, but I like to bask in the items I’ve completed for a sense of accomplishment.
And not for nothing but I’m blaming mercury in retrograde for the elevated lifemin in hopes that it will go away when that’s over. Fingers crossed.
My first organizing response is that no, it isn’t too late to get organized - and even if you had ‘been organized’ at 32 you would have had to switch up your system now anyway due to biological changes like aging and menopause, environmental changes in where you have lived and worked, and relationship adjustments like with colleagues, kids and parents. So, don’t fret and hold yourself to the organized appearance of someone from a very different stage of life! 🫶
Now for some easy/intuitive systems…I like for my clients (and myself) to separate tasks into ‘deep’ and ‘open’ attention ones and then batch them around energy peaks and cycles. A list of deep attention tasks would be those that you need the most cognitive focus for - perhaps writing assignments, or completing a multi-step-kid’s-school request. Open attention tasks are those that don’t need as much ‘omg don’t you dare breathe in this room right now’ type of energy - maybe a conference call that you aren’t leading, or submitting invoices online with an old episode of TV on in he background.
Then we want to figure out when you brain most regularly has periods where it can focus - some people are morning folks so they hit a cognitive peak before 8am, some are evening focused and their peak is closer to 2 or 3pm - and a lot of people have a 10am-12pm window. Track your energy over a few days and see if you notice any patterns about when it is easiest to have these moments of focus.
Then we bring this information together - setting aside time to do your deep attention tasks during those windows of focus. Planning for the open attention tasks the other hours of the day. If you work in a team this is a good exercise to do with others so you aren’t for instance, always scheduling work calls at 9am when most of your group would prefer to be heads down writing. ✍️
You're gonna have to try some things and see if they work. It's not too late because this whole process evolves over time.
1. Cal Newport is awesome. He has a great system. Watch his Time Management Video on YouTube. I like how he literally BLOCKS out his time each day. I use different colored highlighters to create the blocks. I like SEEING my schedule in colored blocks. He plans his day based on his VALUES like Build Community, Stay Fit, Family time, research, etc. No need to put anything in your calendar that doesn't fit with your values.
He (like you) manages a LOT of short term and long term tasks so I think you would like him.
2. Robert Allen uses a rule that is CRUCIAL: OFFLOAD your brain on to something. Don't try to REMEMBER. WRITE. IT. DOWN. This is a huge stress reliever.
3. I keep a large index card in my planner and anything that comes up that day goes on the card. By the end of the day, the items are crossed off or moved to a better place (Grocery List, TO DO Folder, Appointments to Make, or on the calendar). I start a fresh card each day if necessary.
4. Always keep a RED FOLDER for active projects and tasks. I call mine TO DO. I work from the RED FOLDER every day. Once a thing is taken care of, it leaves the red folder to get re-filed, tossed, or entered in my planner. I have other files, too, but I only focus on the red folder on a daily basis.
5. Create a common place (basket, IN BOX) that is for your family to drop off and pick up stuff (permission slips that need to be signed, books that need to be taken back to the library, homework to be reviewed, insurance cards for the car, receipts, $5 for the class party). Check it at the end of each day. Let your kid know the deadline. If it's after 8 PM, it might not get seen.
6. Magnetic (white board-type) calendar for the fridge with dates you all need to know: Open House, dinner party, school play, etc. They also make magnetic pen holders so you can keep white board pens next to the calendar.
Let me know if you need more support.
I will be following this thread closely. This is uncanny as I am grappling with this problem for the 13,000 time. I feel like I spend more time thinking about how to get organized than most. I literally ordered a new planner last night as part of my effort to support The Productivity Industrial Complex. I am ashamed at many times I have restarted finding a new system.
Firstly, I try not to do anything lol. As in, it’s a big fat NO unless it’s actually a) paying me a worthwhile amount b) something I really want to do c) admin that needs to be done. I don’t use any online systems, I use one big to-do list on paper and I write by hand all the shit I need to do. I do the hard/important stuff first in the morning then the easy/fun stuff in the afternoon. It seems to work for me! xo
With severe ADD, learned dyslexia and three kids and a mostly absent husband I had to figure out ways to keep everything together. This is what worked for me (and remember we're talking the dark ages before iPhones and iPads and computer spreadsheets etc). A LARGE calendar like the 22"x17" calendar you can buy at Staples EVERYTHING went on that calendar (even appointments with myself a half hour at a time so I would remember to pay bills) and spiral bound index cards that I would carry in my purse and EVERYTHING would be written down in it in no order, but it at least it was written down and because it was spiral bound I could slide a pen in the coil so I always had a pen. The thickness of the index cards gave it some heft and I could always find it in my purse––these are also a product of Staples and available in 3x5 or 4x6 . I also put a baggie in my purse and every single receipt went into that baggie. I can't tell you how difficult it was to maintain the chaos, but I did it because there was no one else to take up the slack or give me a break. And, truthfully, even with all the electronic methods and machines out there today, if I had to do it over I would still rely on that huge calendar and the spiral bound index cards. These days being single with my kids grown my life is so much more simple. I still keep a paper calendar (only smaller) and rather than bound index cards I keep a small notebook in my purse always. I still need to keep my environmental chaos to a minimum so my house is minimalistic (I've had people come over and ask me if I've just recently moved in––it's VERY empty––I've lived here for five years). And I keep the my environment quiet––I sometimes wear noise canceling headphones if I really need to get something done even when there is no ambient noise (like air conditioning) because the noise canceling headphones make it easier for me to focus––I feel very safe with them on and it's super super quiet. And side note: A friend of mine invested in a desk you can use sitting or standing and said it changed her life.
If you can, hire help for all the things you don’t need to do yourself. A professional organizer to get things back in line, an assistant (in person or virtual) to sort through all the incoming so you aren’t overwhelmed on the regular. It’s okay to ask for help and receive it. Personally, I’m the worst at asking but also so much more effective when I’m not run ragged.
Also, I keep lists and if I can knock off a task easily I will.
Also, microdosing has helped. It’s fucked up that I use it to be more productive, but it does help.
I will be of little to no help here, but wanted to say thank you- I feel so seen lol! If it makes you feel better, my combined inboxes total 84,426, and I recently wrote an essay here called 500 tabs, the max amount iPhone lets you have open at any given time. The struggle is real! My very analogue system involves sitting each morning and writing down all of the things (even the things on my google calendar). I use a paper planner for my editorial calendar, and I use my notes app for lists on the go (like when I'm out for a walk and get an idea that I will not remember 2 minutes later).
PS- preordering your book on tomorrow's list...
Jenn, I *live this* as 1. a project manager with ~15 projects that stay with me for 5+ years each in various stages and 2. a mom of 2 little kids who handles the life admin. I have to keep my system as basic as humanly possible, but i think it still sounds crazy:
I do planning to ways 1. lists 2. schedules
First: Lists
A. I keep a very basic Notion set up online with only 2 components, which is my entire external brain
1. a master list of admin lift tasks. i have a column to check if it's a high priority. Literally anything non-work related lives in here.
2. A project/task template. Every work project is listed, under each project are the tasks. Each task is labelled either "to do," "waiting on" (THIS ONE IS CRITICAL), "question" or "done"
For daily planning, I have a Hobonichi Cousin Techo, which includes:
1. monthly calendar - one source of truth for all personal/family appointments/plans/travel/etc.
2. weekly calendar - used for weekly partner meeting (see below)
3. daily page - each day I divide the paper in half. Life tasks on the left, work tasks on the right. I make the list in the morning of the tasks (pulling off the notion lists), and number things in order of how I'm going to do them so I don't lose a bunch of time switching tasks.
Second: Schedules - you have to put time aside to actually *do* the planning
1. I have all work meetings/appointments live in microsoft outlook. Reminders must be turned on.
2. I put a 15 minute meeting at the beginning of the day to set up my planner, with a list in the invite of what my set up tasks are - it's the same every day! (review meeting schedule, set up list of to dos).
3. put a 15 minute meeting at the end of the day to go through your e-mails/paper/crap and transfer loose ends to your two notion lists
4. Friday afternoon I set aside a whole hour for this to make sure you have captured everything from the week.
5. Sunday evenings my husband and I have a meeting for like 10 minutes to go over kid drop off and pick ups for school/daycare, weekly calendar, weekly to dos.
Lastly the misc - grocery list lives on a hook in the kitchen. if I'm out of the house, random stuff is captured in apple notes. I never delete e-mails and i also don't sort them, just let them ride and can search if I need something. For paper stuff - I sort for anything urgent, and if it's not on fire i throw it in a basket and i go through it like once a month - we've had new car license plates in there for like 3 months. Who cares!
This post reminded me to preorder your book, which I just did! Also loved the episode with Jane Marie.
Put all the emails from your inbox into a "hold" folder and start fresh! Check your email once a day, delete or "snooze" everything until you need to deal with it. Close all the tabs. Don't keep any tabs open.
Definitely not too late although I think that it's hard to implement new systems in times of high stress. Trying new planners and whatnot is better left to after the book launch I think. When I describe my system it sounds massively inefficient but I find it works very well for me. I find that even though I have integrated calendars on google for work, family stuff, and personal stuff, I still need a paper planner so I keep a very ugly and solely utilitarian bullet journal. It allows me to plan out several months as opposed to just day to day. Also because I straddle the analog-to-digital ages I need to write things down to make them stick in my memory better. So I'll have deadlines on my google calendar AND written down in my bullet journal. It's not a perfect system but I don't think any system needs to work 100% if it helps. My husband and I also have access to each other's work calendars to cut down on a lot of back and forth.
Make enough money to hire an organized assistant.
Also, although I’m a founding subscriber at the top price, your Substack tells me I’m a free subscriber & should upgrade to paid.
Is this Substack’s fault or…God forbid…is this one more damn thing you’re expected to remember and handle?
I really like the Silk and Sonder monthly journal. I fail each month at making it beautiful and complete, but at minimum I sit down on Sunday evening and think about the next week.
Here how it goes for me: finding a new area I think i could improve > research how to > yes, I definitely need to watch 10 videos about the said area to improve > creating a super nice system > forget about it > back to square one 😅
I find tiny adjustments to be good for me. I am phobic of too many tabs and emails - I'm on the side of a clean window or mailbox. That's my curse
One thing that I just started doing was applying filter rules to my inbox. Emails automatically go to their folders and I can ignore anything that isn’t going to the high priority folders. It’s helped decrease my email anxiety a lot. I also use this special planner from inkblot that allows me to organize tasks by type and write out 3 high priorities for the week. It’s really helped me think about the week in terms of themes and not an endless lists of to-do’s.
I just transitioned from a full time job to self employment and my lifemin (life admin) is at an all time high.
What’s helped me is using the notes app and have one note that is to buy/do with different headings - it’s one note because I use it a lot so it’s always at the top of the app and doesn’t get buried and then forgotten.
These are my headings:
TO BUY (I don’t put a Trader Joe’s list here, but more one off things that I only remember when I’m brushing my teeth and then quickly forget, now I reach for my phone and add it to this list)
ASAP TO DO (this is as it sounds)
BACKBURNER TO DO (stuff I don’t want to forget about)
I love using the circles to check things off and it goes to the bottom of the list, you can also change the setting so it deletes when you check it, but I like to bask in the items I’ve completed for a sense of accomplishment.
And not for nothing but I’m blaming mercury in retrograde for the elevated lifemin in hopes that it will go away when that’s over. Fingers crossed.
My first organizing response is that no, it isn’t too late to get organized - and even if you had ‘been organized’ at 32 you would have had to switch up your system now anyway due to biological changes like aging and menopause, environmental changes in where you have lived and worked, and relationship adjustments like with colleagues, kids and parents. So, don’t fret and hold yourself to the organized appearance of someone from a very different stage of life! 🫶
Now for some easy/intuitive systems…I like for my clients (and myself) to separate tasks into ‘deep’ and ‘open’ attention ones and then batch them around energy peaks and cycles. A list of deep attention tasks would be those that you need the most cognitive focus for - perhaps writing assignments, or completing a multi-step-kid’s-school request. Open attention tasks are those that don’t need as much ‘omg don’t you dare breathe in this room right now’ type of energy - maybe a conference call that you aren’t leading, or submitting invoices online with an old episode of TV on in he background.
Then we want to figure out when you brain most regularly has periods where it can focus - some people are morning folks so they hit a cognitive peak before 8am, some are evening focused and their peak is closer to 2 or 3pm - and a lot of people have a 10am-12pm window. Track your energy over a few days and see if you notice any patterns about when it is easiest to have these moments of focus.
Then we bring this information together - setting aside time to do your deep attention tasks during those windows of focus. Planning for the open attention tasks the other hours of the day. If you work in a team this is a good exercise to do with others so you aren’t for instance, always scheduling work calls at 9am when most of your group would prefer to be heads down writing. ✍️