Many people wonder how to keep a diary correctly. And this is not surprising, because if you constantly keep a lot of different information and various tasks in your head, you can often simply forget about everything in the world and get confused in your own aspirations. Many citizens have a very superficial idea of their plans for the next day, week, month, and as a result, the effectiveness of their actions leaves much to be desired. Time passes, but no significant successes are observed in various areas of life. It also happens that a newly emerging idea confuses old plans and does not allow the work started to be completed.
It is worth recognizing that most people often face similar problems. modern people. To prevent this from happening, you need to systematize the knowledge you acquire and begin to constantly plan your life. And this is precisely where such a practical tool for highly effective people as a personal planning diary will help you. Read on to find out what it is and how to properly keep a diary.
What is a diary?
Essentially, it is a small, compact notebook or notebook in which you keep notes. There are quite a lot of different types of diaries. But you will learn more about this later. It is worth noting here that the effectiveness of planning your time is achieved not through some special notebook, but through the correct and regular keeping of your notes.
Why is it necessary to keep a diary?
By recording various incoming information, it is better stored and remembered longer in your head.
Looking through your to-do list for the day makes it possible not to be distracted by unnecessary things and not waste energy, which allows you to save a lot of energy and your personal time.
A planner helps you plan your time for days, weeks, months and even years ahead and not forget about priority tasks.
By regularly writing down small and seemingly insignificant tasks, you allow your brain to clear unnecessary information, not keep it in your head all day for fear of forgetting something, and, accordingly, work more efficiently.
Thanks to its convenience and compactness, you can always carry your diary with you. If necessary, at any time you can immediately write down various information about people close to you and business partners (addresses, phone numbers, email, important dates), as well as various ideas, thoughts or lines of a poem.
Also, the diary is an excellent assistant in keeping track of your income and expenses, and you can use it to make a shopping list, record expenses, the amount of income received, etc.
If you are studying foreign languages, then by recording various terms, words and expressions in your diary, you will be able to quickly remember the data you need.
Don’t think that a diary is needed only by advanced businessmen and extremely busy people. Even if you are a simple housewife or an ordinary worker, even in this case, keeping a diary will bring you many benefits. But before you start keeping a diary, you should understand the choice of its varieties.
Types of diaries – which one to choose?
Your personal diary can have absolutely different shapes. So, it can be a notebook, notepad, notebook, or their electronic equivalent for a tablet or smartphone. As for the latter options, on the Internet you will find a lot of suitable programs for your mobile device. Among them, it is worth noting LeaderTask, Daily Diary, PIMOne, Power Notes and EverNote.
If you prefer the usual paper notebooks and notebooks, then when choosing, pay attention to the presence of dates or special fields for putting them down. In the latter option, you will have to enter all the dates and months yourself (it is better to do this immediately after purchase). It is important to pay your attention to the cover material. It can be plastic, paper, dermantin or leather.
Naturally, the last option is the most preferable, and since the diary should be kept every day, the notebook must be of high quality. Also a very successful addition to the cover would be a fabric bookmark, small pockets on the surface and fastenings for pieces of paper inside. It is also highly desirable that the diary include a calendar and various supporting information.
As you understand, a diary means that it must be kept every day. Try to get yourself good habit exactly at 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening, make notes, or rather, draw up and write down a plan of affairs for the next day. The main thing is to do this regularly, without missing a single day. And even if this happens, you will clearly be able to see that the corresponding page in the diary remains empty, and you missed the opportunity to spend the day with maximum benefit.
Always take your notepad with you wherever you go. For such a case, you can also find an appropriate compact handle that will not interfere with your movements while in your pocket. Agree that thoughts and various successful ideas often come spontaneously and in different time days. And it will be very convenient if at such moments of insight you always have paper and pen with you.
If you doubt the need to make any notes, then first make a preliminary plan for the next day on a draft - at the end of the diary or on a separate piece of paper. And when you’ve already decided on your tasks, write them down clearly and specifically for the next day.
Also, when talking about how to keep a diary, it is necessary to note the need to set clear time limits for each individual task. For example, if tonight you decide to study in English, then write down that at 7 o’clock you start classes and finish them at 8 pm. It is very important to set specific time periods for yourself and always stick to them. This will allow you not to be distracted by unnecessary things and save a lot of time.
Don’t rush to write 10–20 tasks the next day immediately after purchasing a diary. If you have never done this before, then out of habit you will most likely not complete half of them. Make it a rule that if you have already made a note or described a task in your diary, then you should definitely complete it. Start with at least 2-3 small tasks per day and gradually increase the number in the future.
It is also important to mention unplanned blocks. It is worth recognizing that many people often fail to stick to the plan they have drawn up, as various unexpected circumstances interfere with their lives - someone close to them gets sick, their boss urgently called in, etc. Just for such cases, allocate 1-2 hours of your time from your routine, during which you will deal with unforeseen issues.
Speaking about how to keep a diary, it is worth noting that such a notebook is used not only for various business notes, but also for tracking time for rest and entertainment. So, you can mark the dates and weeks in advance when you plan to have a good rest. It is also worth recording in your diary time for breaks from work, communication with friends, colleagues and relatives.
To make it easier for you to decide on the order in which you perform various tasks, mark their priority with different symbols. So, the most important points of your plan can be circled or marked in order of importance with the letters A, B and C. Naturally, your main task for the day will be to complete the most important tasks, and after that, deal with the rest of the issues on the list.
Every day before you compose new list tasks for tomorrow, analyze the work done today. If you were able to complete all the planned tasks and are not too tired, then you can create even more tasks for yourself. If you were unable to complete part of what you planned, then answer yourself honestly why this happened. In the latter case, it makes sense to create a simpler to-do list for yourself and try to complete it completely.
A good idea would be to introduce a reward system for completing tasks. So, when you complete one of the most difficult tasks of the day, you can treat yourself with a small gift. For example it could be small amount money that you can immediately spend on any pleasures for yourself. But if you haven’t done even half of what you planned, then, of course, there’s no point in making any rewards. This recommendation alone will make your planning much easier and more fun.
Now you know exactly how to keep a diary and that such a diary is an indispensable assistant for highly effective people who want to as soon as possible achieve your goals and don’t waste time. This assistant helps you unload your head from obsessive ideas and thoughts, clearly systematize all incoming information and learn to truly competently manage the most valuable and non-renewable resource in our lives - time. Good luck!
Alexandra Savina
It seems like everyone around here is keeping a diary. Amid the hype, organization is gaining popularity new system how to do this as efficiently as possible. It is called the not very sonorous Russian term “bullet journaling” - from the English “bullet”, meaning not only “bullet”, but also “point”. It is designed to organize goals, plans and daily tasks, as well as conveniently and quickly record important information. Bullet journaling was invented by New York designer Ryder Carroll: since school, it was difficult for him to concentrate on one topic for a long time and he wanted to find a way to quickly record the thoughts that came to his mind, so that he could return to them at any time.
This is how a whole system appeared, combining a diary, a list of goals and a notebook for thoughts and ideas. In 2013, Carroll released video, where he talked about the new method, and in 2015 - an improved version roller, which has received almost four million views; from it you can learn the basic principles on which such diary management is based. Bullet journaling is praised by BuzzFeed and Quartz, and fans of the method can be found on any social network - Ryder Carroll’s project in Facebook, for example, tens of thousands of subscribers. We'll tell you why you need this too and how to start your highly effective planning.
What is a bullet journal?
A bullet journal is not just a diary, but a mixture of a planner and personal diary: This is a great place to record a variety of things (from random thoughts that come into your head to urgent work tasks and plans for the next decade) - and quickly find what you need using special symbols. All the necessary information is stored in one place, and instead of being torn between notes on your phone, notebooks and applications like Evernote and Trello, just look at the notepad. In addition, a bullet journal is a clear system: with its help, it is convenient to transfer tasks for which you do not have enough time, from day to day, from week to week, and not miss anything important.
There is no universal recipe for becoming more productive (there are several types of productivity, and each of us has our own way), but a bullet journal is a good tool, especially for those for whom it is important to plan their time and set priorities - that is, put everything in order. Unlike traditional dated journals, a bullet journal can be customized by keeping only the tools and sections you need and adding something of your own.
How to keep such a diary?
The big advantage of a bullet journal is that you can start keeping such a diary from any date - so you don’t have to wait until next January. First, you need to get a notebook - not too heavy, but not too small, so that it is convenient to carry with you and contains all the information you need. The most popular among adherents of the system are Leuchtturm1917 and Moleskine, but any notebook or undated diary will do - checkered, ruled or unlined (be prepared to use several of them over the course of a year). If the pages in your notebook are not numbered, you will have to do this yourself.
To begin, set aside a page for the table of contents (Index) - you will fill it out as you go. Here you will write down the names of the sections and the pages they occupy. The next step is the annual reversal (future log). You need to devote several pages to it; most often they are divided into three parts, each of which corresponds to one month. This is where you can write down big goals for the year and important dates (like birthdays and anniversaries). Not everyone uses the annual spread, but it can be useful if you want to evaluate your plans as a whole.
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The next clean spread will be your monthly log. On the left page, Ryder Carroll advises writing down all the dates of the month in a column, and writing the days of the week next to them. Opposite the numbers, you can write down events and activities whose dates will definitely not change - for example, business trip days. On the right page of the spread, write down big questions and tasks that are not tied to a specific date that you need to solve this month - at the end of the month it is convenient to see whether you did what you planned or not.
Finally, the main part of any diary is the daily entries. The name “bullet journal” itself implies that you write down everything point by point. Each item on the daily to-do list is marked with a special icon: daily tasks ("sort out mail") with a dot, events, meetings and events ("lunch with a colleague") with a circle, and notes and thoughts (for example, work ideas) with a dash. Particularly important or urgent tasks can be marked with an asterisk or exclamation point. If you have completed the task, place a cross instead of a dot. At the end of the week, look at the tasks that are left unfinished and decide if they are relevant - if not, cross them out, and if they are still important, mark them with an arrow or a ">" sign and move them to the next week or month.
In addition to the main symbols, you can use any others that you need (for example, $ to indicate purchases and expenses) - the main thing is that there are not too many of them and you do not get confused. The icons should be written out on a separate piece of paper - they will be especially useful at first, when you are just getting used to the system.
In addition to basic tasks, you can make lists in your diary - for example, books you plan to read or frequent purchases. Don’t forget to note in the table of contents how long the entries are for a particular month and on what page the lists are located.
How else can you make your life easier?
As conceived by Ryder Carroll, a bullet journal is not only a to-do list, but also a diary: with its help, you can evaluate what you managed to do in a month or a year, and remember what important things happened during this time. It's no wonder that many people add photographs, drawings and pay a lot of attention to design - if this inspires you, in
Creating a convenient planning tool is perhaps the most important thing in proper time management. Since modern man not always an eight-hour working day, and often ordinary diaries are simply not suitable for many, the most the best option- is to create your ideal one.
Sometimes it can be difficult to complete all tasks on time, remember deadlines and keep all important dates in mind. Agree that you want not only a beautiful diary once again take a look, but also quickly cross out a couple of items from the long to do list. In this article we will tell you how to manage everything and how to make your planner unusual and interesting!
It doesn't matter what's on the outside, it's what's on the inside that matters!
The ideal diary should have " delicious filling", because decorating it is one of the reasons to look into it more often (in addition to regularly filling it with various things). You can use everything that comes to mind - multi-colored pens, text highlighters, all kinds of stickers and stickers, a figured hole punch, satin ribbons, rhinestones or half-beads Moreover, when keeping their diary, many people use multi-colored pens, pencils and markers, since even ordinary felt-tip pens will not only help you to use colors to indicate the most important tasks, but it is also interesting to formalize the distribution of cases.
Make a to do list!
One of the most common tools for managing your affairs is a simple to-do list, or To Do list. Since such lists most often lose their relevance by the end of the day, it is more convenient to arrange it in a separate sheet that can be moved throughout the notebook. To do this, you will need cardboard, which it is advisable to cover with film so that the filled stickers can be easily peeled off and new ones can be glued to replace them. Such a list should not be another “stone on your neck”, but on the contrary, it should increase your productivity throughout the day. Just imagine how proud you will be of yourself after the last tick is ticked or all the items are crossed out. By the way, this feeling gives many people not only an impetus, but also motivation to move on!
On the Internet you can find a huge number of ready-made forms, prints or templates that you can print and paste into your diary. Beautifully designed pages are the key to a successful day.
We found some interesting ideas that you can safely use to design your ideal diary:
Whether you choose a regular notepad or a couple of clicks on your phone is up to you, but a paper diary is a recognizable business accessory and can certainly be a wonderful gift to start with school year. It’s not for nothing that they say that keeping a diary is important tool all successful people. So let it be your catalyst for creativity, increased efficiency and careful planning for the future!
With coming mobile applications Humanity has a new dilemma: which diaries - paper or electronic - are more convenient for planning? The answer to this question is to each his own. So we decided to devote this material to different systems of reference.
Bullet Journal
This technique was created by American web designer Ryder Carroll. According to him, the system helped him build a successful career, and he worked with such successful brands as Adidas, IBM, Cisco and HP..
Bullet Journal has a whole list of so-called “conventions” that you need to master. We will try to convey everything as simply as possible, without unnecessary terms.
Step one. Number the pages.
Step two. Create a table of contents. For example, the schedule for June starts on page 16, the list of films to watch starts on page 58, and a huge work project starts on page 45.
Step three. Tell me, who doesn’t like keeping lists? Ryder Carroll suggests dedicating several pages to listing books to read, cities to visit, and global purchases.
Step four. Let's start creating a schedule. On the left page, write down all the dates with days and weeks for the current month. Next to the date, write down only those events that are 100% likely to happen: birthdays, trips to the dentist, deadlines, and so on.
Step five. On the right page, write down all your goals and objectives for the current month. And don't forget to put it in the table of contents!
Step six. Write down the items for the day. At the same time, the use of all kinds of symbols (circles, squares, checkmarks, and so on) is encouraged.
Step seven. After a month, move all unfulfilled items to a new schedule.
GTD – Getting Things Done
Another popular method of systematizing your life. Here, too, we cannot do without special terms. In my opinion, you will have to spend some time to use this system automatically. And its disadvantage is that you have to mark almost every step you take in your diary.
So, first, let's decide on the markers.
Open circle– a task to be completed.
Circle with one stripe crossed out- a task that is currently being performed.
Half filled circle- the task is half completed.
Filled circle- mission accomplished.
Circle with a cross– task cancelled.
Filled circle with arrow– someone else is already performing the task; there is no need to monitor the process.
Exclamation mark– the task must be completed first.
Circle with a dot– you need to constantly remember this task.
This is the whole essence of the technique. You write a To Do List, enter markers and clearly see what needs to be done, when and after what. For convenience, you can enter a number.
1 – 3 – 5
Many people have heard about this method of planning. It is suitable for those who are just beginning to comprehend the art of setting priorities.
According to the famous Pareto efficiency rule, 20% of the effort accounts for 80% of the result, and vice versa. Therefore, you can spend a lot of time and get nothing at all. Method 1 – 3 – 5 is designed to deal with this. You evaluate the importance of the task in order to subsequently get the maximum return.
The idea of the method is that you plan 8 actions for every day. It also helps to get rid of the desire to do everything at once. The first goal is the most important. This includes the fact that nosebleeds need to be done.
The next three are necessary actions, but they are inferior in importance to the first goal. If there are no problems with self-organization, then you will also complete them. The remaining five are small tasks that are not a priority.
Method for numbers lovers
Its emphasis is also on setting priorities. To begin, give each task a score from 0 to 2. They are ranked by importance. 2 – the primary task that must be completed today, 1 – the task is important, however, as a last resort, it can be completed later, 0 – everyday affairs and minor duties that need to be remembered.
To do this, at the end of the day, rate the completed items on a five-point scale.
As they say, “It’s a mess in your head - get yourself a diary,” so many people are wondering how to keep a diary in order to be able to write down their plans for the near future. In this article you will learn all the rules and useful tips on keeping a diary.
In most cases, business people have a lot of plans, which are sometimes very difficult to keep in their heads, so they turn to a diary for help. The diary will take in any important information, keep it secret, help you remember important events at the right time, and help you analyze what is happening.
How to start keeping a diary correctly.
Many people who start a diary for the first time wonder how to start keeping a diary? First of all, you should start with the selection of the diary itself (in the form of a notebook, notepad, book). It must have a certain zest so that the sight of it makes the soul rejoice. The type of diary should create comfort and coziness, which will help to reveal your ideas to the maximum and record important events.
Having chosen the appropriate diary option, you should decide how to keep the diary step by step and take care of its safety. It is necessary to remember that the diary is your main assistant in organizing your personal events, so it is advisable to keep it with you.
Next, you should complete the first page and plan your own method of conducting. There are no basic rules on how to properly keep a diary; everyone keeps it at their own discretion and convenience. But you can apply the basic filling practice that experts recommend:
- It is advisable to make entries in the diary daily. This way, the tendency to solve problems and changes in life is better visible.
- This is a tool for working on your self-development and transformation.
Maintaining an organizer diary
Organizer - a notepad containing the necessary contact information, notes important events, meetings. But how to keep such a diary organizer? Maintaining this type of diary involves layout of pages. Nowadays, many ready-made organizer diaries are already sold, with date marks. Such diaries include a calendar, telephone codes. The use of this format is very practical when you don’t know how to conveniently keep a work diary.
Electronic organizers are now popular in the world of high technology and constant lack of time. Keeping an electronic organizer has a number of advantages over its conventional paper counterpart:
- Compactness;
- Notification function about the occurrence of an important event;
- Large device memory;
- Security of data storage through the possibility of blocking;
- Easy and quick deletion of data if it is no longer needed.
The disadvantage of such an organizer is its dependence on the charger, and sometimes on the Internet, therefore, we leaddiary organizer, which is convenient to use at any time and which meets all the user's needs.
Why is it important to keep a diary?
Keeping a diary is important for self-determination in life. It helps answer basic questions:
- What am I doing?
- How might this affect my life?
- What conclusions can I take from this?
- What should I do tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, etc.?
If you work daily on your actions, understand the cause-and-effect relationship of events, then sometimes you can change the course of life in better side, that's why keep a diary and write down the important moments of your life. You should also figure out how to keep a diary beautifully, since spending time with it should be pleasant. Your imagination will help you choose a unique idea for keeping a diary. .
How to learn to keep a diary? Sometimes it seems like keeping a diary takes a lot of time. This is the impression you get when you start working with him. But once you get used to it, the writing process becomes so important that you can’t wait for the time when you can finally write down new ideas and impressions on the pages.
The basis proper operation with a diary you can look at in which a professional leadership coach will share with you important points keeping your diary, or listen to the top tips in the field of keeping your own notes:
Tip 1. You need to decide why you need a diary. It is intended for working on yourself or for recording important plans for a certain period of time. Or for both.
Tip 2. At the end, leave 20 sheets, which will be used as a force majeure for quick recording (as a rule, good diaries have such sheets), on them you can write down important phone numbers or contacts that you need.
Tip 3. You must remember that you need to write down only important things in your diary, you do not need to write down items like “Brush your teeth in the morning or chew gum”
Tip 4. An important piece of advice on how to keep a diary correctly is to schematically reproduce events and actions. This method of management is easy to remember and convenient to find important “archival” information.
Tip 5. Write down your favorite quotes and sayings famous personalities. This enriches the cultural world and helps to understand the essence of life. To prevent quotes from getting lost in the text, they are highlighted in color.
The role of a diary in the life of a schoolchild
Most parents are concerned about the question: “Does a schoolchild need a diary?” By observing constant innovations in education, you can see how the school program. Now the child is simply not able to remember everything he needs for school. Except school issues, there are many extracurricular activities that require memorization and execution.
You can summarize all the tasks and requirements for the educational process using a diary. It will become a reliable assistant for the student, helping him classify tasks and systematize them according to priority. A student can decide how best to keep a diary on his own in a way that is convenient for him to use.
Keeping a diary helps your child grow up in terms of seriousness. It is easier for the child to adapt to adult life. Most children who have their own business planner, according to statistics, have more life experience and more unique ideas. If parents want to help their child become successful in life, they need to learn the basic tips on how to keep a diary and start working on it. At first you can help the child until he learns on his own.
Modern teenagers have a busy schedule: they attend many different events, trainings and much more. It is not their parents who should remind them of the importance of their affairs, but the diary that they themselves will keep; it will instill in them a sense of responsibility from their youth. However, teenagers are still teenagers, and they are going through a difficult turning point in their lives. During this period, teenagers experience their first love, their first passion, and often experience misunderstandings with their parents, which leads to frequent quarrels and self-absorption. At this age it is especially difficult to find true friends. To avoid ridicule from peers, professional specialists They advise using personal diaries and explain how to properly keep a diary for a teenager.
Here the young man can fully express his experiences, which he is embarrassed to tell his friends and especially his parents. This way of expression teaches constant communication, which often develops into full-fledged communication with parents without being ashamed of their joint analysis.
All great things begin gradually, and often from childhood. A child needs to be taught to be organized from childhood. Should teenagers keep a diary? Yes. Parents who care about the success of their children's future should definitely take care of their child getting a diary. You can encourage your child to want to work with him by often showing this in by example. When a child sees how their parents work with their diary, they usually want to have one too.
Keeping a diary has a special impact on the child’s internal state.
To know how to keep a diary, the main privileges of a child’s communication with a diary are defined:
- It is known that if you speak out, your soul becomes easier. A diary has this function. By describing his experiences, the child is deprived of negative images in his thoughts.
- Increases self-esteem. In the diary, without fear of condemnation or ridicule, the child describes his good sides and virtues.
- Teaches you to analyze events, from the moment the cause is identified until the consequences occur. The child can even predict events similar to which have already occurred.
- The process of preparing and implementing the idea of how to keep a diary creates a creative inclination in the child.
How successful people keep a diary
Constant systematization of events occurring in life puts thoughts in order. Daily recording of everything important makes it possible to easily analyze your life and your actions. All successful people know exactly how to effectively keep a diary, so that further analysis of it will help in business. At all times, all successful people kept personal notes in diaries. A purposeful person knows exactly what he wants, constantly thinks about the problem, and in order not to forget every little thing that can bring him at least one step closer to his dream, he constantly keeps notes. Notes help you remember special events.
But how to keep notes in a diary and how can you conveniently keep a diary? Many people who have achieved great success in life They advise you to spend at least 10-15 minutes daily writing in your diary and honestly answering 5 questions for yourself:
– Whom to thank for today?
– What pleasantly surprised and pleased you today?
– What useful things have you done today for your own well-being?
– What did you do useful for your loved ones today?
– What new did you learn today?
You need to answer honestly in your diary, because the answer is dedicated directly to yourself and your introspection. This method of filling out a diary is called the “Five Fingers” method. By using this method You can learn how to keep a diary.
Daily responses of this kind produce a certain reflex. If there is no answer to a question, a person may evaluate the past day as a missed opportunity to do something useful. The systematic absence of any answer means that a person daily misses the chance to make his life better. It seems like a small thing, but in life everything has meaning, and every particle of the processes happening around us makes up the overall picture of life.
Is it worth keeping a diary for success in business? The answer is clear: “yes.” They say “success comes with hard work and hard work.” And it is true. But in order to keep up with everything, you need to know how to keep a diary correctly, so that the writing process is effective and takes little time. Therefore, do you keep a diary? , or not is a personal right, but if outstanding people who have achieved significant success in life advise it, it may be worth listening.
Video of why to keep a daily journal from professional leadership coach Robin Sharma
Conclusion
Beginners are often asked the question “how to keep a diary.” There is no basic rule, only 1 requirement: remember that the diary is a personal corner of joy where you can plunge, surrender to feelings, talk about experiences, describe events, analyze. You can do everything, the main thing is that after this mini rehabilitation course you immediately feel at ease in your soul. You should not think long about how best to write, how interesting it is to keep a diary, since the information will be distorted.
The initial thought is a real cry of the soul, which we hide and carry within ourselves, lying like a stone in our soul. The specifics of working with a personal notebook are different, but keeping a diary will definitely be beneficial. Therefore, relax, forget about the world around you, take your favorite pen and notepad, splash out the ideas that are already trying to pour out onto the pages.