Bullet Journals & other time mangement talk

[Hollis]

I've managed to waste most of today reading about various 'time management' systems.

I've pretty much consistently failed to maintain any of the 'apps' that do this sort of thing.. todoist can work pretty well in work if I'm really on the ball.

Has anyone used the 'back to basics' Bullet Journal approach? - Pen and paper... I understand it was initially popular among the 'hipsters'.

Bullet Journal

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Nope. Gave up on all this.

Still a fan of the Hipster PDA, though.

Introducing the Hipster PDA | 43 Folders

This article was originally posted during the first week of 43 Folders' existence, and, pound for pound, it remains one of the most popular page on the site. Please be sure to also visit related pages, browse our Hipster PDA topic area, plus, of course

www.43folders.com

 

[two sheds]

Looks a really nice simple system:

Building your first Hipster PDA

1. get a bunch of 3"x5" file cards
2. clip them together with a binder clip
3. there is no step 3

I could do that

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Looks a really nice simple system:



I could do that

Aye. Simple and effective. I used to carry one of those 4 colour Bic pens too when I used this system.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Tried a simple bullet journal for a while, but like everything else never really built up the habit.

Tend to instinctively do a bit of 'time blocking', but again, haven't made it completely habitual.

Currently mostly use Notion, but we'll see how long that lasts.

 

[Hollis]

I've moved on to investigating leather journal covers... it's a whole new hell-hole..

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I've moved on to investigating leather journal covers... it's a whole new hell-hole..

Get out now while you still can

 

[Hollis]

Currently favouring an A5 pad of plain paper, and ring binder from WHSmith. You know, the low-cost option.

 

[Pickman's model]

Bullet journals most frequently kept by quartermasters

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I've done pretty much all of them. It's a disease of the self employed.

Bullet journal isn't really much of a time management system, more of a "keep you feeling you are on top of things" system, which is itself quite valuable tbh. I do my own personal journal on a semi-BuJo basis, just to give it some sort of structure. At base it's really cheap and straightforward (by design) but the "BuJo community" on the net is mostly about highly decorated layouts, special purpose pages, and covering everything in washi tape.

Hipster PDA comes from a time when there were no smartphones, only Palms, and they were much more expensive than phones are now (or at least needed you to pay up front). Also from a time when "hipster" meant "skint". How times have changed. It's quite good though, I love index cards. I use it when plotting NaNoWriMo novels.

As a personal methodology, GTD is still quite hard to beat IMO.

 

[two sheds]

That's interesting, ta. I do already have a list of the things I have to do: daily/weekly/monthly and projects which is great because you don't have to remember to do things - they're there written down. Breaking them into smaller actions you can do at a go is what I've not done, I've had a go in the past but shall take a look at that

 

[Proper Tidy]

I just use constant email calendar notifications, on gmail and outlook, a constant stream of reminders and always about twelve ones I've ignored and stuff I've snoozed for days, weeks, drowning under the notifications, always drowning. Then when somebody emails me going what the fuck I prioritise whatever it is they're moaning about.

Have you tried that

 

[JimW]

I wait until the emails from the client get really plaintive sometime in the second month after the deadline's passed then get cracking.

 

[Hollis]

I just use constant email calendar notifications, on gmail and outlook, a constant stream of reminders and always about twelve ones I've ignored and stuff I've snoozed for days, weeks, drowning under the notifications, always drowning. Then when somebody emails me going what the fuck I prioritise whatever it is they're moaning about.

Have you tried that

That's basically my current default system at work.

 

[Hollis]

Anyway, I've spent £7 on an Amazon Basics Classsic Notebook (squared)...

I now need to move on with life.

 

[equationgirl]

I much prefer squared paper notebooks Hollis paperchase's agenzio line has a lot of different sizes and paper types.

There does seem to be a trend for dot grid notebooks, which I don't get. Squared is much better.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

There does seem to be a trend for dot grid notebooks, which I don't get. Squared is much better.

I think this is actually to do with bullet journalling - the original recommendation was dot grid iirc and it's just become a point of faith. I also find dot grid awkward - not as useful as squared, but too distracting to work as plain. 5mm grid for me please.

Lined is ok for BuJo though, you don't need to do many columns (I don't do them at all).

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I just use constant email calendar notifications, on gmail and outlook, a constant stream of reminders and always about twelve ones I've ignored and stuff I've snoozed for days, weeks, drowning under the notifications, always drowning. Then when somebody emails me going what the fuck I prioritise whatever it is they're moaning about.

Have you tried that

Me too, along with flagging e-mails that require me to do something. Never quite get through all the items flagged for follow up though due to the ridiculous volume of e-mails I receive every day - but reckon if it's not been chased up for months the issue has gone away.

 

[Proper Tidy]

Me too, along with flagging e-mails that require me to do something. Never quite get through all the items flagged for follow up though due to the ridiculous volume of e-mails I receive every day - but reckon if it's not been chased up for months the issue has gone away.

I like reading emails, deciding they are not important enough to do anything with now but are important enough that I should mark as unread so I deal with it later, then two months later deleting 500 of those fuckers in one bulk go cos nobody has chased me up on it. Even more satisfying when some cunt has put a read receipt on it like some passive aggressive wanker

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Even more satisfying when some cunt has put a read receipt on it like some passive aggressive wanker

I loathe people who do that - and automatically refuse to let Outlook send a read receipt. Fuck them.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Wait someone has written a whole book about the blindingly obvious fact that a notebook and a pencil is a far superior way of keeping track of stuff than any possible app or gadget?

I'm gonna start work on a book called 'Why You Shouldn't Put Your Dick in a Toaster'. Get myself a few steps ahead in the race to the bottom.

 

[Hollis]

Wait someone has written a whole book about the blindingly obvious fact that a notebook and a pencil is a far superior way of keeping track of stuff than any possible app or gadget?

I'm gonna start work on a book called 'Why You Shouldn't Put Your Dick in a Toaster'. Get myself a few steps ahead in the race to the bottom.

That's an interesting point really... I guess this is all part of the 'move away from digital' that there was a thread about a year or so ago. I suppose we're marketed that apps are meant to be so wonderful. For somethings they are - fitness - Strava/Runkeeper are excellent, but I suppose that's because they add something manual systems can't do - i.e. maps/monitoring of heart rate, pace etc. Ditto I have a blood pressure monitoring app - which is also excellent - despite being simple - it's reporting is better than having to maintain a spreadsheet and charts.

 

[equationgirl]

I think this is actually to do with bullet journalling - the original recommendation was dot grid iirc and it's just become a point of faith. I also find dot grid awkward - not as useful as squared, but too distracting to work as plain. 5mm grid for me please.

Lined is ok for BuJo though, you don't need to do many columns (I don't do them at all).

Ah, that makes sense. I can usually work with narrow ruled as well as squared, but not plain. I like nice coloured covers and soft rather than hardbound. Rhodiarama, paperchase agenzio or moleskine all do notebooks I like.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I have to say that paper-based systems tend to suck compared to electronic ones with anything involving time-based tasks and events. For tracking meetings etc, there are reasons (apart from executive idleness and inattention) that there were more secretaries who specialised in doing this when it was all paper.

One thing systems like GTD do highlight, though, is that organising tasks by date is not necessary, and deadlines are generally imaginary. GTD was written before gadgets were common, and does have some time based structures, but mostly concentrates on you knowing what you need to do next. You're explicitly told not to assign dates to anything unless it literally cannot be done before or after.

The essential truth of deadlines and date plans being bullshit - and that knowing what the fuck you are doing beforehand and sticking to it unless something radically changes is what's important - is one that anyone who's had a job should recognise, but it's interesting that Agile methodology, dominant in software engineering at least, has this at its core too, no matter how much management might try to pretend it doesn't and still demand a meaningless calendar based on vague, ever-changing nonsense.

 

[equationgirl]

I have to say that paper-based systems tend to suck compared to electronic ones with anything involving time-based tasks and events. For tracking meetings etc, there are reasons (apart from executive idleness and inattention) that there were more secretaries who specialised in doing this when it was all paper.

One thing systems like GTD do highlight, though, is that organising tasks by date is not necessary, and deadlines are generally imaginary. GTD was written before gadgets were common, and does have some time based structures, but mostly concentrates on you knowing what you need to do next. You're explicitly told not to assign dates to anything unless it literally cannot be done before or after. The essential truth of deadlines and date plans being bullshit is one that anyone who's had a job should recognise, but it's interesting that Agile methodology, dominant in software engineering at least, has this at its core too, no matter how much management might try to pretend it doesn't and still demand a meaningless calendar.

Most of work is driven by real deadlines, set by external agencies around the world that for the most part cannot be changed, and there are consequences to missing the deadline.

I do juggle a lot of things, and it doesn't matter what's on the list, there's always something emergent that needs to be done before the list.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Most of work is driven by real deadlines, set by external agencies around the world that for the most part cannot be changed, and there are consequences to missing the deadline.

I do juggle a lot of things, and it doesn't matter what's on the list, there's always something emergent that needs to be done before the list.

There are certainly lots of real dates around, but what this sort of system attacks is the creation of more of them in an attempt to organise things - "Tuesday I will finish this system" - or just for spurious reasons like "we told the client X would be done by Y even though we don't even know what you do lol" or "I promised the board that A will be done by B even though it doesn't need to be so they can present it" (or the classic "I'm saying this needs to be done a week before it actually does because I expect it to be late" - a direct consequence of bullshit deadline culture). It's more relevant for project planning than individual ad-hoc tasks, but I've had to do it with the latter as well sometimes :/

 

[equationgirl]

There are certainly lots of real dates around, but what this sort of system attacks is the creation of more of them in an attempt to organise things, or just for spurious reasons like "we told the client X would be done by Y even though we don't even know what you do lol" or "I promised the board that A will be done by B even though it doesn't need to be so they can present it" (or the classic "I'm saying this needs to be done a week before it actually does because I expect it to be late" - a direct consequence of bullshit deadline culture). It's more relevant for project planning than individual ad-hoc tasks, but I've had to do it with the latter as well sometimes :/

Thanks for that explanation. I'm struggling a bit with stress and productivity under lockdown (mainly due to stuff outside my control) and the only 'guidance' I really get is that everything has to be done including the low priority admin tasks.

So any system that helps with that would be great.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

Thanks for that explanation. I'm struggling a bit with stress and productivity under lockdown (mainly due to stuff outside my control) and the only 'guidance' I really get is that everything has to be done including the low priority admin tasks.

So any system that helps with that would be great.

GTD has some good stuff about "inboxing" - identifying where tasks come from, gathering them, doing the quick ones right then, then filing the others as appropriate.

IME there's a limited amount any system can do about impossible situations though. The point of divorcing tasks from deadlines is that deadlines don't determine how long the tasks for them will take, let alone what else you also have to do. I used to triage ad-hoc requests based on the urgency/importance axes (apparently this is called the "Eisenhower Principle") as well as order they were received and, unofficially, "is this person an arsehole", but after a while, if you get two or more people saying their thing needs to be done tomorrow and there's only time for one of them, it's a social issue - requirements capture and expectation management. I'd try to find out what they really needed doing, and when they really needed it, which is exhausting and time-consuming and sometimes involves asking other people.

Having a formal process for submitting requests to fall back on did work because it's hard to argue with - I think all departments should have one. It's also an idea that appeals to bureaucracy-minded folk so can get put in place by them.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

(or the classic "I'm saying this needs to be done a week before it actually does because I expect it to be late" - a direct consequence of bullshit deadline culture)

I routinely set an earlier deadline than the actual final deadline when I need returns from the team - I know there will be some stragglers I'll have to chase so it makes it simpler to manage. Less hassle all round really.

 

[FridgeMagnet]

I routinely set an earlier deadline than the actual final deadline when I need returns from the team - I know there will be some stragglers I'll have to chase so it makes it simpler to manage. Less hassle all round really.

You know they don't really believe that deadline is real though don't you. And thus the cycle continues.

I just ignore what people say are deadlines unless there's actual evidence, like "this site needs to be live before the event that it's for takes place", which is reasonable.