What entries can be made in the diary. Diary ideas

The diary is an indispensable companion for all successful people, because their day, as a rule, begins earlier than that of the bulk of humanity, two hours and ends after sunset. In the everyday hustle and bustle and endless affairs, it is not surprising to forget something, to miss something. But he can bring benefits to anyone, not just a successful businessman, because keeping a diary helps to put things in order in time and head. And so that it does not turn into a simple notebook, you need to choose the right assistant.

For effective planning, a diary must have a calendar for the current year and be dated, which allows you to accurately navigate what day is planned. Hourly layout on the page allows you to avoid delays or tell you when you have a free minute for a cup of coffee.

For the convenience of recording, the A5 format is more suitable, but if by the nature of the work, for example, it is not always convenient to carry a bag with you, then you can choose a pocket analog.
Appearance can be an important factor when choosing a diary. For more high-status people, a diary can be another confirmation of their solidity and business qualities.

How to use the diary

All plans, meetings and tasks required for execution must be entered into the diary. It is best to make plans for the day the night before, so that in the morning there is more time for their implementation. It is necessary to highlight priority tasks that are mandatory in the first place, and everyday ones, time for which can be allocated after completing the main tasks or in the interval between them.

You need to make notes by date and time in order to have a clear idea of your schedule. Moreover, you need to plan both for a day, and for a month, and for a year, so as not to forget about a friend's birthday or about a trip planned in advance.

You need to fix not only plans, but also thoughts, proposals that need to be made at the meeting, for example. To do this, you can split each page in half. The left column will reflect the activities by time, and the right column will show questions and goals that need to be discussed and resolved.

The point in keeping a diary disappears if you do not carry it with you always and everywhere, be it an electronic book or a paper assistant. It should become a habit that will allow you to feel in control of your time and get rid of the feeling of forgotten and undone.

Surely, every person who wants to increase their productivity and work efficiency thinks about the question of how to properly keep a diary.

You can read about the very basics and key points of keeping a diary in the article

And in this article, we will analyze how to correctly make a list of weekly tasks in your daily planner. After all, personal effectiveness is precisely the sum of skills such as skillfully compiling a list of weekly tasks.

Order in the head = Order in business

To achieve order in your head, you need to correctly draw up a list of tasks.

We all have tasks that require daily effort. They are not part of any project. These are activities that should be carried out on a regular basis.

For example, work with e-mail, phone calls, and so on.

You also have to deal with chance encounters, activities and personal commitments. All of these items should go in a diary called "List of weekly tasks."

Ongoing tasks make up most of the day, so it is very important to schedule them and add them to your day planner. However, it is important not to fall into the trap of being busy every minute of your day. Otherwise, this approach will turn your weekly list into a grueling routine that will create unnecessary stress.

How to keep a diary correctly

To properly keep a daily planner - write three types of notes in the list of weekly tasks:

tasks in the current mode,
tasks that require extra energy (like new habits, scheduled appointments, meetings, personal commitments)
important tasks within your projects.

To illustrate this concept, let's look at each type of note.

# 1. Tasks in the current mode (current affairs).

The weekly to-do list is not your typical to-do list. This is a collection of routine tasks that require daily completion. These tasks are important in managing your professional and personal life, so it makes sense to cross them off the list as you perform them in a kind of ritual. This list shapes the coming week.

Sit down once a week and plan for the next seven days (for example, Sundays). Start by planning time for things like:

repetitive work tasks,
physical exercises,
errands,
time with family,
housework,
paperwork (both personal and professional),
Email,
phone calls
Cooking.

What happens on this list is up to you. The key here is setting aside time each day for ongoing activities. It also helps in understanding how long it usually takes to complete each task. For example, processing Email can take less than an hour a day, so you can always leave plenty of time to do the things at hand.

It also helps to combine, group things, which allows you to increase the efficiency of each day. For example, every week you need to visit the grocery store, post office, and hardware store. Then it makes sense to group these tasks, assigning them a single time interval. Completing these tasks together allows you to carry out your current activities in the most efficient way.

Finally, there is a reason why it is necessary to start with the current activity - it shapes the entire next week. If you are like most people, you are often attacked. emergencies or random tasks. Without a set schedule, you won't be able to figure out what exactly you will donate when you say yes to someone asking for your time.

No. 2. Meetings and gatherings.

In addition to your daily tasks, you also have appointments, meetings, and personal commitments.

You must consider this because your ability to complete important tasks depends on how much time you spend on other activities. It's best to know ahead of time that your productivity will be limited due to the appointment beforehand.

In addition to your weekly to-do list, it's important to use a digital calendar that sends you a reminder of an upcoming event. This will act as an additional reminder for important appointments.

Most mobile phones are equipped with these features, and you can also use office software (such as Microsoft Outlook) that has a built-in calendar. You can use Google Calendar, it syncs with Gmail and is accessible from any device with Internet access.

No. 3. Tasks within the project.

The last items to be included in the weekly task list are tasks from the “project task list”. This can be challenging because you want to focus on the important tasks while avoiding the temptation to commit overwhelming obligations for the next seven days.

Include on the list only those tasks that are nearing due date or those that are critical to the completion of the project.

As for the rest of the project to-do list items, work on them only if you've finished everything else.

How to make a list of weekly tasks

We have already discussed the three types of tasks included in the weekly tasks list. So what's the right way to keep a daily planner using such a list? More precisely, what does this list look like? The easiest way to explain this concept is to offer you a simple roadmap.

Start by opening the weekly page and dividing it into sections by day of the week. If you are the type who works best in a certain part of the day (for example, in the morning), then divide each day of your activities into a morning part and an evening part. If you are active on weekends, be sure to include them on your list of days of the week. If the weekend is for relaxation, you can create a five-day schedule. This is a total of 10 or 14 time slots.

Now plan three types of events: current activities, appointments and meetings, tasks from the “project task list”. Exactly when you schedule your tasks depends on your work and living space. It is important to use this list to create a simple structure for the next seven days.

To illustrate, I will give you the following list of tasks for one of the days:

Monday

Before lunch:

Working with video (5).

View projects and tasks (4).

Updating tasks (4).

Pondering the next book (4).

After lunch:

Writing an article (4).

Processing letters (3).

Updating projects (3).

Blog comments (3).

There are many tasks on this list. Some of them will make sense in the context of the three types of problems we've discussed, but others can be a little confusing.

It's best not to clutter your weekly to-do list with a long to-do list. It is necessary to include there only mandatory tasks and current affairs that require additional effort. So as not to feel overwhelmed.

Next to each task, a small number is put in the range from 1 to 5.

This is an estimate of the level of energy that needs to be expended to complete this task:

(1) - not very a large number of energy, and (5) a very large amount of energy.

All successful people know how to properly keep a diary. Be sure to read the 5 rules of keeping a diary that will help you.

Knowingly on a variety of business trainings and coaching on personal growth very often you can hear advice: "Keep a diary", "Make daily to-do lists", "Plan your time" and others.

Successful people who have achieved recognition and financial well-being in their profession know very well how to properly plan their time.

It is precisely this serious approach allows them to do much more in a day than lazy and disorganized individuals, which consider diaries a waste of time.

If you want to join the circle successful people, to do more every day than now, and get rid of procrastination, then these rules will definitely help you.

The ability to properly keep a diary is formed over the years

I have a diary.

He did not appear immediately, and the ability to work competently with him did not come to me overnight. Even at school, I understood that competent time planning helps to do more work every day, to do what others do not have time to do, and not to forget about important things.

Schoolgirls, albeit high school girls, do not have as many things to do as, for example, a successful businessman, but still I tried to imitate adults by making to-do lists.

Sometimes I was lazy and forgot to do it, sometimes I wrote in some nonsense there, but these were my first attempts to learn how to keep a diary.

I really appreciated such a successful invention when I had to combine a lot of things every day: the main work with launching a website, attending a variety of courses and doing sports and household chores.

But I am a girl, so in an unrealistically tight schedule that I created for myself, I had to find time to take care of myself, shopping and personal life.

I will say right away: do not die under an avalanche of affairs and really achieve good results it was the presence of a magic notebook that helped me in everything.

The dated diary has become my friend and helper.

Making a to-do list and crossing out the items I had already completed became a kind of daily ritual that I fell in love with.

Why do you need to learn how to properly keep a diary?

If my story did not convince you of how useful a daily planner is, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the main reasons that encourage people to “waste time on such nonsense” (the words of one of my acquaintances who became a casual witness of how I work with the daily planner) ...

There are at least 5 good reasons for this:

Free your head from unnecessary information.

If you are an active person and you need to do a lot in a day, then you should not keep all this information in your head.

The diary will hold her back and remind her when you ask him to.

You gain more importance in the eyes of others.

People who keep diaries are already a priori recognized as successful.

You manage to do much more in a day than your fellows without a diary.

Learn to properly allocate your time to perform certain tasks - without this skill, it is difficult to become a successful person.
Feel the satisfaction of how much you have done in a day and get motivated to do more.

To keep a diary correctly, you need to choose a notebook that suits you.

Often the quality of the reference depends on which notebook you choose for your notes.

There are two types of diaries:

Dated.

They are chosen by business people with a tight schedule who need to do a lot of things in a day, hold several meetings, etc.

Also dated diaries are often bought by people of such professions as hairdresser, manicurist, massage therapist, etc. to keep records of clients.

Undated.

Such diaries are chosen for work by people of creative professions, for whom one day can be scheduled to the eyeballs, and the other - be almost free.

In this case, it makes no sense to leave whole sheets of paper blank, it is easier to arrange the dates yourself.

If you have already decided whether you need a diary dated or undated, then pay attention to a few more rules when choosing a notebook:

You should like him externally.

Take a closer look at its cover, tone of paper, color of dates - all this should look harmonious and be pleasing to the eye.

Try it also by touch - it should be pleasant to touch it.

It must be of high quality.

Considering that the diary is bought for at least a year and is used every day, then you should not buy a cheap notebook - by the end of the year it will look terrible.

It should be medium to small in size.

Sure, voluminous notebooks look impressive, but keep in mind that you will have to carry this volume with you every day.

Why carry extra weight?

Recently, business people are increasingly abandoning paper notebooks in favor of laptops, tablets and smartphones.

You may well follow their example if you love modern technology.

The main mistakes of people who decide to keep a diary

All you need to do a good job is to learn the basic rules and avoid the most common mistakes.

For example:

Inability to analyze information at the initial stage.

When making a to-do list, you should immediately understand how realistic it is to complete all tasks, what you need to focus on, what you can sacrifice to do the main thing, etc.

What is the use of making a list of 20-30 items every day if you do not have time to complete even half of them.

Congestion of records.

Remember that you are an adult, which means that you should write down the things that really matter in your notebook.

It is not necessary to add the item "Eat ice cream" to enlarge the list.

Reluctance to keep a diary every day.

Being lazy to make notes and calming yourself with excuses: "Oh, today I have few plans, and so I will remember what to do," you will never learn how to properly keep a diary.

An example of keeping a diary,

is shown in the following video:

5 rules for those who want to keep a daily planner correctly

If you want to get as much benefit from planning your time as possible, these are sure to be useful to you. good advice, which I also used in due time.

Here are 5 basic rules for keeping a day planner:

Select a record-keeping system.

The things you have to do during the day can be grouped by time, by place of completion, by priority, etc.

I will say from my experience that the most convenient is the temporary principle of classification.

Leave a few sheets at the end of the diary (usually manufacturers think this point over) so that you can write down contact information or other important information that should be at hand.

Be sure to highlight 1-2 tasks that you have in priority and that you need to complete, no matter what.

You can highlight them using a colored marker or regular underline.

To make every day of yours as efficient as possible, learn to put time frames in front of each of the items on the list and do not violate them.
Crossing out what you have already done is such a pleasure, I know from myself. ☺

Trust me if you know how to keep a diary correctly, you will be doing much more than everyone you know, so your path to success will be shorter.

Helpful article? Don't miss new ones!
Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail

Why do I even need to keep a diary? It is believed that in order to organize your day. Day - yes, but still a week, a month, and even a year. A good planner organization will help you:

be more collected;
do much more than you could before;
don't forget about important dates and small assignments, which for some reason always disappear from the head.

And the diary is also a great tool for positive motivation. Because when you cross out all the things you've done for today, at the end of the day, a feeling of satisfaction and pride in the work done immediately lingers inside you. And these feelings motivate you not to slow down and work-work-work further. Take small steps to your cherished dream!

How do I choose a diary?

In fact, it can be any notebook or even a thick notebook. Let's figure out what suits you. Let's start simple: the number of sheets and the cover. If you are going to keep a diary at home, sitting at your desk and not carrying it with you, then the number of sheets can be any - at least 600. And in this case you can afford a soft cover, because you will still write on a hard surface.

If you still want to carry the planner with you and write things down “in any convenient place at any convenient time,” then the optimal number of sheets is 96-128. Plus, a hard cover so you can write in it even on your knees.

The format is preferably no larger than the A5, so that it does not take up much space in the bag. So that is all! And choose the color and design of the cover to your taste, so that the diary will please your eye.

Photo tumblr.com

Life hack: If you don’t like the selection of covers at your local bookstore, buy a solid color notebook, print a couple of your favorite pictures, or just buy stickers and the cover will already be designed in your own style.

Now a little about the "insides" of your future assistant. The paper inside can be checked, ruled, point-to-point, unlined, multi-colored and even decorated.

Which one to choose? Depends on you. Do you like to draw? Take the unlined one and your sketches will adorn your daily plans.

Keeping up with fashion? Then take it to the point - fashion bloggers often showcase their designed diaries in this format. Tired of white paper in your school notebooks? Patterns and colored sheets to help you! Well, if you are the one for whom writing in algebra notebooks is much more pleasant than in Russian, then take it to the cage, you won't be mistaken.

Photo tumblr.com

Where do I begin?

You can start right from the schedule of each day (then jump to the next item, if you like, when everything is simple and clear). But if you prefer to take everything seriously and thoroughly, let's start with the calendar and goals. At the beginning of each month, set aside a spread for this.

You can do just a calendar or just a list of goals, or you can put both options on a spread at once.

Then, turn the notebook over and arrange one page horizontally - with a calendar. Make the squares with the days not as small as the calendar on your phone, but large enough to fit a few words. With a calendar, you have the whole month at a glance: mark important numbers, enter events, deadlines there, and do not forget to put a bookmark on this spread - in order to return to it and check everything.

The second page is your list of goals for the month. You can divide them into subcategories (for example, "school", "sports", "extracurricular activities", "home help", etc.), or you can make a single list. The goals can be anything: "learn to play the guitar", "learn 100 new words in English", "come up with a surprise for a friend's birthday."

Life hack: you can make challenges out of goals. If you have a sweet tooth and would like to cut back on sugar, instead of the boring “eat less sweets”, write “Challenge: No Chocolate Week” or “Three Chocolate Chunks a Day”. In general, improvise!

How to draw up a schedule correctly?

The main goal of your diary is to allocate time efficiently. There are only 24 hours in a day, 7-8 of which we spend on sleep, 2-3 (at best) on the road, 6-7 on study (and this is not counting homework!), And we also need to have time to eat, watch the series , to meet with friends, devote at least an hour to your favorite business and get laid on social networks ... In general, time is always critically short. It is a clear schedule that will help you look at your "windows" between the main activities and set aside time for what you previously "wanted so badly, but did not have time" to do. What are the options?

Option number 1: reversal = week. This option is suitable for those who are more or less time-oriented, and for whom "I'll be there in 10 minutes!" takes no more than twenty minutes. If your "10 minutes" can stretch for an hour and a half, then the second option is better for you. Well, for now, about the first one! Why a whole spread for one week, when all seven days can, in principle, fit on one page? So that it is not boring!

Life hack: stock up on colored pens, markers, scissors, glue, a stack of brightly colored magazines and stickers.

Cut out your favorite pictures, collect motivating quotes (they can also be found and cut out of magazines, or you can google and arrange with the help of colored pens), use stickers with your favorite characters / clothing / drinks / sweets. First, the cutting and shaping cleans up and calms the mind (like anti-stress coloring pages). Secondly, the colorfully designed pages of the diary, instead of a bare schedule, as in a school diary, inspire and delight the eye.

Therefore, you will need a whole spread: between the scheduled days, pictures, stickers, quotes and everything that you want to place for this week will flicker. You can divide seven days into two pages: Monday-Thursday on one, Friday-Sunday on the other (or weekdays / weekends). Or you can do all seven days on one page, and on the second place a huge collage that will motivate you.

Start by writing down the main points for each day: write down the beginning and end of the session, indicate the time of training or any extracurricular activities that you visit.

See where and how much time you have left and figure out what you usually spend it on.

If on social networks and eight episodes of a cool series, then you better write down something for this time that you have long wanted to do and that, perhaps, will help you get closer to the dream of your life. Dilute it with lessons, an hour's rest (here you can deservedly stick on Instagram and do whatever your heart desires), meeting with friends - this is your week!

Photo tumblr.com

Option number 2: page = day. This option is suitable for those who want to learn how to manage their time and who have become a habit of being late for a long time. It's not scary. The intuition of time is really a tricky thing, and if you were not born with it, then you have to somehow get out. A clear schedule for the whole day in this case can play into the hands.

On the left you write the hours: from wake up to lights out (6:00, 7:00, 8:00 and further on the list). You can vary the minutes. If your classes start at 8:15, then replace 8:00 with 8:15, etc. The main thing is that the difference between the points should be an hour and a half, not more. In each passage of time, write cases.

Life hack: some things do not depend on you: traffic jams, queues, cancellations, so add at least 10-15 minutes to each event so that you have a margin of time. Even if something went wrong anyway: the performance was canceled, they were late to the cinema because of eight-point traffic jams, do not rush to get upset or angry. This is not your fault, and it is not even the fault of those who stood in traffic in front of you. Little troubles happen, so that later you will appreciate the little amenities more! ;)

Whichever option you choose, do not forget about the design: it is it that will lift your spirits when you look into the diary to see what you have next on schedule!

Trackers

Tracker = tracking. A very useful thing that you can assign one, or even several, spreads in your diary. There are a lot of them: sleep tracker, habit tracker, goal tracker, mood tracker, etc. In general, choose where your heart lies!

A sleep tracker is a great idea, especially for those who want to change their mode to a more adequate one. Now let's talk about one of the ways to do it. We write the numbers horizontally from 21:00 to 13:00, this is the time. Vertically - from 1 to 31, these are days. Every day you paint as much as you slept.

For example, on the first day you went to bed at 23:00 and woke up at 6:00. Then you paint over all this gap between 23 and 6 horizontally.

Be sure to note how you felt that day. You can think of some signs for yourself, or you can get by with the words "good / normal / bad", etc. So you can track how many hours your body needs in general to rest, when it is best for you to go to bed and what time it is best to get up.

Sharing from teaandtwigs (@teaandtwigs) Jul 25 2017 at 10:42 PDT

Hello dear blog readers! Planning is an integral part successful life, and today I want to talk about one of his tools, namely how to keep a diary so that it helps you in your business, and does not take time and effort to fill it out.

How to choose the right one?

12 rules of conduct

So, what you need to buy a suitable planning, you know, now let's look at the rules and recommendations on how to fill it out correctly.

1.Distinguishing between rigid and flexible schedules

A tight schedule is when your business is bound to a time, for example, a meeting at 11:30. And flexible - these are those tasks that you can start during the day, or even postpone, that is, sort documents, view mail, etc.

AND main mistake many have an hourly schedule of "floating" tasks that can lead to neurosis. After all, the meeting can drag on, start later, which is why other matters are shifted in time, not corresponding to your plans. And then you will be frustrated and nervous every time. Which will have a completely negative effect on both health and work. But it is also impossible without tough tasks, otherwise we will not complete the work on time, motivation will decrease, and so will productivity.

The options for solving this complexity are the delimitation of the page in something like this:

Hard

Flexible

If you just put down time near some business, you risk losing sight of something important and significant. So, in addition to numbering, be sure to divide each page into two columns, this technique will greatly increase your effectiveness.

2.Priority

Another type of mistake is often made - tasks are completed as they become available, without regard to importance. If you have read the article, then you are aware that when planning, you always need to rank tasks according to their importance.

So you shouldn't start work with some insignificant trifle while urgent and important things are hanging over you. To make it easier to navigate the list of the diary, I propose to come up with symbols for each type of importance. I have a system like this:

A - failure to comply will entail serious negative consequences, so you should start immediately. For example, to pay off a loan, if you do not deposit money within a certain period of time, you will be charged fines and deductions.
B - in case of missing, there will be no particularly serious consequences, but it is better to do it all the same in order to make your life easier. For example, if you don't buy groceries, then you won't get the desired salad for dinner, you will have to be content with what is in the fridge, it seems not scary, but some need will not be satisfied.
B - recommended to do. Ignoring, will not attract trouble, but will have a positive effect on well-being or work activity, if you decide to do it. The simplest examples are replacing the curtains in the hall, hanging a picture in the office, etc.

3 the frog

In time management, there is such a thing as a frog, which means a very unpleasant and at times terrible thing. So, you should start your day with him. First, because uninteresting tasks take a long time and with effort. Secondly, because human performance is at its peak in the morning. We have already dealt with this in the article about a person. Yes, and after completing an unpleasant task, you will relax and calmly proceed to the next, without feeling internal discomfort due to postponement. This is how schoolchildren and students usually sin by doing anything other than preparing for exams. For which they then pay for a sleepless night and a constant feeling of tension. And by the way, the frog can be marked in red or simply put the letter "L" in front of the graph.

4. When to plan?

Planning should start not in the morning, taking away precious time, but directly in the evening, 20 minutes before the end of the working day. If you write down your upcoming activities step by step in advance, then at night you will not be overtaken by insomnia against the background of thinking through plans for tomorrow, and in the morning you will not have to "puzzle" your head over where to rush first.

5.Cross out completed

To motivate and save time, always cross out completed assignments. Then you don't have to reread them again, and watching how much work you have already done will help you become more confident and successful.

After all, the desire to continue in the same spirit will encourage decisive action, excluding laziness and passivity from life.

6.Intended use

It is very important to learn how to use the diary for its intended purpose, not to be confused with an address book or a recipe book. Do not bring thoughts, experiences and the like there, otherwise the blank sheets will end, and in the chaos of ideas you can lose sight of something important. Situations often occur when something needs to be written down urgently, but for these cases, create special sheets by putting a notebook in your pocket. If suddenly you still spend the delimited pages, use a stapler to attach new ones.

7.Objectives

On the first sheet or on a bookmark, be sure to write your main goals, this will motivate, as well as help shape thought forms into the Universe, for their speedy transformation into reality. You can familiarize yourself with the process of their creation and formation.

8 personal life

Remember that there is not only a career, but also a personal life, which is also sometimes worth planning, otherwise, being carried away by the project, you will miss the child's matinee or not prepare for the arrival of your parents, forgetting to meet them at the airport. Yes, and the schedule should include pleasant things, so that the feeling of satisfaction from life, moreover, full-fledged one, remains.

9.No uncompleted tasks

One more rule - be sure to transfer uncompleted tasks to other days, do not be lazy to rewrite, otherwise you risk losing sight of something important or wasting a lot of time, turning over each page and trying to remember what you did not manage to complete and where else your participation is needed.

10 creativity

Any creative ways of keeping a weekly journal are allowed, the main thing is that you want to look into it. For example, with the help of pictures, the values of which write down on a separate sheet. Look at the article, you can easily apply some points in planning activities, especially if you have taken on a large project, which you will not finish soon. Or fix for yourself what you did well, and where you were too lazy and did not give your best.

11. Don't get carried away

At first, there will be a lot of excitement, you will want to come up with new things to add to the planning list. But keep yourself in control, the obvious information, in the form of brushing your teeth and taking the child to the kindergarten, is not worth bringing, because you will get tired of this whole process very quickly.

12.Stickers

Use adhesive stickers instead of regular bookmarks. On them, you can write out some cases, re-sticking the next day, if you did not have time to complete it on the planned one.

Conclusion

And that's all for today, dear blog readers! By doing these simple rules, you will be able to adjust your activities as conveniently as possible to achieve your goals and needs. And finally, I want to recommend that you read my article, there is a list of electronic calendars and communicators that will make your life much easier. I wish you strength and inspiration!

The material was prepared by Zhuravina Alina.