One of the biggest trends I’ve seen since the beginning of the year is planners and bullet journals. While the planner trend is largely geared toward keeping people organized in their personal lives, this trend could also teach you a lot about staying organized in your work. Whether you keep your notes on a calendar, keep a printed checklist, have a favorite app on your phone or are hoping to take the first step in getting organized, here are three things the planner trend can teach you about keeping your work day on track.
1) Monthly, Weekly, or Daily Formats: Choose What Works For You
Whether you’re jumping into a bullet journal or just trying to keep your to-do lists on track, one of the biggest things to take from the planner trend is that you should choose the format that works best to keep you organized. Whether you want to plan on a monthly calendar so you can see longer-range plans at a glance or you prefer to plan your schedule day-by-day or even project-by-project, personalizing your plans according to your needs helps ensure that you stay on track.
When you’re working on getting organized, this might take some trial and error. You might want to make yourself a daily checklist and pin it up next to your calendar, for example. You might want to divide a notebook page in half with one side for meetings and another for important tasks. You might even keep your list on an app on your phone or on your computer. Whatever you choose, give it a week or so before deciding if it’s the right method for you.
2) Keep Your To-Do Lists and Meetings in One Place
Keeping your plans on one page is a helpful way to ensure that you don’t miss anything, and that can be a big help in your work day. Whether you keep everything in one binder like planner aficionados or simply have a designated space on your desk for your to-do list, by keeping all your daily tasks together you will be able to avoid double-booking yourself or scheduling too much in a day when you have a long sales meeting with an important customer.
And speaking of things to keep in one place…
3) Keep Notes On Hand—And Date Them!
Don’t be afraid to keep your notes in the same place as your schedule. This can make it easier for you to find your notes and it can make it easier to look back on how a project has progressed. It’s also important to date your notes so that you can reference when a note was taken—after all, it’s important to know which notes are the most up-to-date.
How do you stay organized? Do you keep a planner for your work day, or do you use another method? Join the conversation in the comments below.
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