How to set your intentions, track your time, and accomplish your goals.
Everyone wants to be more productive and procrastinate less. The “one weird trick” to productivity is being disciplined enough to accomplish whatever it is that you need to get done. But how do you know what needs to get done at any given time? That’s where The Daybooking Method comes in. This simple method helps you to identify what your intentions, track your time, and actually accomplish your goals. It’s not new or groundbreaking. In fact, it borrows ideas from many popular productivity systems like bullet journaling, the Franklin-Covey planner system, and Getting Things Done, among others.
What makes The Daybook Method different? It actually works well for me. That’s it. And I figured if it works for me it may work for other people as well. Or maybe it will help you come up with your own set of methods that work for you.
The Supplies
All you need to get started is a writing instrument and a notebook with lined paper. That’s it. Your favorite pen or pencil and whatever paper you like to write on.
The Four Parts
- Digital Calendar
- Reference Calendar
- Intentions Catalog
- Work Log
Digital Calendar
Your digital calendar is where you schedule all of your long term events and appointments. I keep mine in Proton Calendar. Anything that needs to get done on a particular date and time goes here. It is especially helpful for recurring events, since you can record them once and have them repeat according to an interval that you set. If a new event is happening on any day other than today, it should go into your digital calendar.
Reference Calendar
Your reference calendar is a one-month overview of major events happening during the current month. It is simply a one-page lined sheet of paper with the numbers 1 to 31 down the left column that allows for one line per day. You use it to record major events only. It acts as a quick reference for when you are doing your daily planning so you do not have to go back and forth between your digital calendar and your physical daybook.
Intentions Catalog
Your intentions catalog is like your “inbox” where you can brain-dump anything that comes to mind that you want to get done but that does not have to happen on a particular day or is not yet scheduled. This could be anything. A task at work, a vacation destination, a book you want to read, a topic you want to research, etc. Like your reference calendar, your intentions catalog is written on a lined sheet of apper.
When you record an intention, you’ll put the month/day it was added followed by the priority and then the intent. For example:
06/22 (M) Update the project status on the new contract
There are three categories of priority: (M) Must Do, (S) Should Do, and (C) Could Do. Must Do are your no-fail intentions that absolutely must get done. Should Do are your intentions that are still important, but are not critical if you do not get them done as scheduled. Could Do are your intentions that you still want to get done at some point but that lack immediacy.
Work Log
Your work log is a running record of things that you actually accomplish during your day. Each record is preceded by the time when you started working on the task and then any notes associated with it. You want to write your work log like you are writing notes to yourself. Think of it like keeping a journal and write down anything you may need to remember later.
Daily Planning
Start each day by recording the date and setting your intentions. Check your calendar and intentions catalog for things to do that day. Under the date, write the word “Intentions” followed by a prioritized list of intentions. The first intention on your list should be your Must Do item. You should only have one Must Do intention per day. That way if your day gets away from you and you are distracted by an incoming barrage of busy work, you can still finish your day by completing the one thing that you intended to do that day.
Next, list anything you Should Do that day. This list should generally be limited to three to five intentions. If you list too many, you risk being overwhelmed and not getting them done. If you go too many days in a row without getting your Should Do intentions done, you know that you are over scheduling yourself and you need to reduce the amount of work you intend to accomplish in a given day.
Finally, when you move a Could Do intention from your intention catalog to your work log, change it to a Should Do intention. If you keep it as a Could Do intention, you are essentially planning to fail. You only want to put intentions onto your work log that you actually intend on accomplishing that day.
The Debrief
Take at least 15 minutes at the end of your day to summarize your thoughts on your performance. Analyze what you did and what you failed to do and why. Were you distracted or interrupted with busy work? Did you simply procrastinate? Be honest with yourself and consider what you can do to improve. Don’t delay. The best time to debrief is right at the end of your day while it is still fresh on your mind.
Tips
- Reserve the first thirty minutes of your day to create your plan. Talk to your supervisor and/or colleagues to discover what they may need from you today so you can get ahead of it and reduce the number of “hey you” tasks that may come up. Try to realistically communicate what your intentions are and when you will be available to assist them with their requirements. This allows you to protect your time for focused work.
- Write your meeting notes and other information you need to remember right in line in your work log. Consider using a different color ink so it stands out from your other notes.
- Use the > character to record events that happen when work on your intentions gets interrupted. For example, if you get a phone call or an email that you want to respond to right away, write the > character and a few notes about what you did.
- Whenever you think of a new intention, pause what you are doing for a moment to record it in your intention catalog. Otherwise you are likely to forget it.