My Daily Journal
For my birthday this year I asked for a Notebook, among other things. But I was really looking forward to getting a new notebook as I was itching to get started on using a paper based markup system for keeping up with things, and adding more order to my already order systems. I already had a notebook I used near daily at work for keep notes, tasks, etc. But after seeing the Paper Based Markup System post over at The Cramped, I realised I was not alone on have various items to keep notes, tasks, etc.
The next month start after my birthday I had decided that I would open up my new notebook and stick to a routine of my own version of some of the system’s show in the different system on the post Paper Based Markup System seen on The Cramped.
This was three months ago, and I have been using it on a near daily basis, for tracking tasks needed done this month, week, day. Taking meeting notes, and general notes. So here is how I am using a paper based markup
- I have a contents page that lists the Months and the page numbers of start and end pages for the month.
Months
- At the start of each month I have two pages with are two facing pages (notebook opens flat – blank left and right page) where I put the month day list on the left, and my months task list on the right
- On the left page I use the list of days to block out important items, trips, travel, big deadlines, holidays, etc
- On the right page is a list of things I wish to achieve this month. Each month I check last months items and bring them forward if not complete.
Days
- During the month the pages can vary depending on the day, and what’s happening during the day(s).
- Most days I use a new page to write down my todo list for the day. I start each day with the full date of the day (Tuesday 23rd September 2014). Then I write out my list of items in order I wish to tackle them.
- Rather than use bullet points I use squares this allows me to tick them off,
- highlight meetings with a clock icon and put the time in square brackets.
- You exclamation marks to show important items, that are urgent, or need done ASAP.
Meetings
For meetings I start with a blank page and have:
- Full date (Monday 29th September 2014) in the top left
- On the right I have the time of the meeting (including the timezone) and a clock icon (so when browsing through my notebook I can easily distinguish the meeting notes apart from a normal page)
- Below those two items, I have the the meeting title/agenda
- Then a list of attendees, for any attendees that don’t show I put a line through their name
After the above is on the page I will start to take notes using the same ideas as my day pages, using square next to items that I know need done, clock icon next to items that have time related parts, and then at the bottom any follow up items, or additional planned meeting related to the current one.
Over the past few months, I have managed to keep a consistent output, and have tweaked my style as I go along, I am sure I’ll tweak it a little more over time as I think of different ways to document items.