My produktiwiteit aksieplan vir 2014

Vandag is my eerste dag terug op kantoor. Met hope e-posse om te lees en my eerste sperdatum wat reeds Woensdag is, het ek besef dat ek weer moet kyk na die manier waarop ek spertye en dies meer aanteken.

Ek het besluit om hierdie jaar gebruik te maak van ’n dagboek en die Bullet Journal. Aangesien ek reeds gebruik maak van ’n tipe Bullet Journal om my take vir die dag aan te teken, dink ek dat die stelsel wat Ryder Carroll gebruik heel moontlik die beste vir my sal werk. Ek het al digitale tydsbestuurtoepassings probeer, maar, hoewel ek steeds dink iets soos Wunderlist wonderlik is, soek ek iets wat nie digitaal is nie.  

Vir dié wat analoog verkies – die Bullet Journal

Gaan luister gerus na hierdie potgooi van The Pen Addictwaar Ryder Carrol die gas is en oor die Bullet Journal praat. Hy verduidelik ook hoe dit gebruik en aangepas kan word by die manier waarop jy werk. (Ek dink sommige van die mense wat dit al probeer het, het die deel waar jy dit vir jou aanpas misverstaan.)

Vir my sal die inhoudsopgawe voor in die boek baie help om my notas van vergaderings, idees vir kliënte, skryfnotas en daaglikse-doen-dinge vinnig op te spoor. Aangesien ek baie streng spertye het, sal ek wel ook ’n dagboek nodig hê om dit vooruit aan te dui sodat ek al my ander werk daarom kan inpas. 

Ek gaan ook nie ’n Moleskine notaboek gebruik nie. Alhoewel hulle pragtig is en baie lekker is om in te skryf, wil ek nie so ’n duur notaboek vir my daaglikse take gebruik nie.

’n Bietjie digitale hulp...

Ek het ook ’n bietjie digitale hulp nodig, veral wanneer ek skakels vir verskillende projekte bymekaar moet hou en maklik kan opspoor. Hiervoor stel ek twee toepassings voor – Wunderlist en Evernote. Beide se basiese toepassing is gratis en nie te duur indien jy wil opgradeer nie.

Die wonderlike Wunderlist

Hoewel ek laasjaar probeer het om Wunderlist vir alles by die werk te gebruik, het ek na ’n paar maande besef dat dit vir my beter is om die notas met die hand te skryf en saam met my rond te dra – dan onthou ek sommer ook beter.

Wat wel baie handig is, is dat jy die toepassing ook op jou foon kan gebruik. Dus kan jy al jou lyste heeltyd by jou dra en van jou rekenaar of foon opdateer. Indien jy dus jou lyste digitaal beskikbaar wil hê, sal ek hierdie toepassing aanbeveel.

Evernote

Indien jy notas en skakels bymekaar wil hou – soos wat ek met projekte moet doen is Evernote bobaas. Hierdie is ’n toepassing wat ek beslis meer gaan gebruik hierdie jaar.

A Plan of Action for Productivity in 2014

Today is my first day back at work for the year. With piles of emails to read and getting back in the thick of deadlines I realised that I need to rethink the way in which I keep track of my tasks and deadlines.

I’ve decided to try a mixture of a diary/planner and the Bullet Journal this year. As I already used a form of bullet journaling (is that a real phrase) I realised that the system Ryder Carroll uses may just work for the scatterbrain half of me. I’ve tried to use digital task management tools and, though I still find something like Wunderlist wonderful, I want something that is offline.

For the love of all that is analogue – theBullet Journal

First off, go and listen to this podcast of The Pen Addict where Ryder Carroll is the guest and talks about the Bullet Journal and how it can be used and adapted to fit in with the way you work. (I think some of the people who have tried it missed the part where you adapt the journal to suit how you work.)

For me the index in the front will help a lot to find meeting notes between random daily to-dos, writing notes, brainstorming for clients and the inevitable doodling. But I also need a diary/planner because of my strict deadlines – those I need to be able to write in ahead of time so I can plan all my other work around them.

I’m also not going to use a Moleskine notebook – though they are beautiful and lovely to work in, I do not want to use such an expensive notebook for everyday notes.

And Some Digital Help as Well...

I also need a bit of digital help, especially when it comes to keeping links handy for different projects or simply to read later. For this I recommend two apps – Wunderlist and Evernote. Both these apps are free for the basic app and quite inexpensive to upgrade.

The Wonderful Wunderlist

While I used to use Wunderlist for everything at work, I found after a few months that I’d rather make notes by hand and carry them around with me. I also remember stuff easier when I write with actual pen and paper rather than just typing.

What is very handy, though, is that it is available for mobile as well. If you would rather have your lists and notes available digitally, this is the app I would choose.

Evernote

When it comes to keeping links and notes for a project I need to have on a computer (or which is just more practical to keep on a computer) Evernote is a definite winner and one I’ll be making more use of this year.

The Hope of 2014

The coming of a new year somehow seems to lessen the struggles of the past year somewhat. Though hardly wiping the slate entirely clean, it is rather a time in which one feels renewed to start a new year having lived much and learned much. It starts when Christmas comes. Everyone seems to slow down and start thinking about what they have – or have not – achieved in the past year. Hopes for the new year pulls harder at the heart every day from then. The New Year is in sight! A new beginning. A few days in which you again feel that anything and everything is possible.

A Blank Slate (of Sorts)

In my case, I get a new diary (a blank slate, if you want), a new notebook and new calendar. Today, when I write this, the diary and calendar is no longer blank. Birthdays and appointments are already filling the blocks and pages – a reminder that time will not stand still. Yet, I also take this time to look back at my life and not just the year. I think of loved ones lost and of new friends found. The past year put our whole family through its paces will illnesses and injuries (I would rather not spend a month on crutches again, for one). It was a year which flitted by far too quickly. But it was a full year.

Hope Renewed

It was also a year in which friends got married, or got pregnant, or had children. Children grew up, made mistakes and didn’t want to listen to caution. It was the year in which I was suddenly one of the “elders” the “kids” didn’t want to listen to. But it was also the year in which friendships deepened, hope and faith was found or renewed, and hurts got healed. We’re all left with scars – some faded, some fresh – but I hope that, this year, the hope with which we start 2014 will not extinguish before the end of the month. May it be renewed time and again so that, when we close the diary on 31 December, it is a book we want to keep forever instead of throwing it away or hiding it at the bottom of a dusty drawer.

 Carpe Diem! Make your lives extraordinary!

Perfect for Christmas in Summer

7 Productivity Tips – Tested and Approved*

*by me

After some long hours and lots and lots (and lots) of typing and editing I finally feel that I’m getting somewhere with The Eternal Dissertation. And I am thanking my lucky stars that it’s a subject which I still find interesting! After these few weeks I feel I have some tips on staying productive:

The tips:

• Don’t let you computer catch on fire. Although I would have preferred it if Binky (my poor laptop) didn’t catch on fire on its own account. Very rude.
• A few supportive friends and a great sister (or sibling) who won’t mind you rambling off on a tangent about how much work you need to do on X or Y for a few minutes. Even if they have no idea what you’re talking about. 
• Get your cat to help (or get a cat). Sir T is only too happy to remind me to take breaks by going to sleep on top of my books or in my chair as soon as I get up to make some tea.
• Tea and/or coffee. But don’t overdo the caffeine (rooibos tea is a great option) or the sugar. And remember the biscuits – only to be used as reward, of course *cough cough*. I have yet to meet someone who likes chewing on carrot sticks the whole time they are studying. And a carrot is just not as good a reward as a biscuit – admit it.
• Notebooks! Pens! Sticky notes! While apps are great, I still find pen and paper the best way to get my thoughts ordered.
• Music. Whatever you like, whatever keeps your mind ticking or your fingers typing. My choices usually change during the day. On the days I get up at 4am it’s usually something like Meat Loaf (But not loud enough to wake my neighbours. Because even really nice people don’t want to be woken at 4am by Bat Out Of Hell. You do not want neighbours fervently wishing a lightning bolt would smite you.). During the day some Early Music, a few playlists with my favourite songs or soundtracks and in the evening something like The Parlotones, Theuns Jordaan or Josh Groban.
• Save. Save. Save your work! There’s nothing like losing a file (or losing something because your computer caught on fire) to make you lose all your motivation (Thank goodness this didn’t happen to me. I only lost a few sentences.)

And now it’s back to work for me. 

Image of hand by GraphicsFairy.com 

Traditional Bookbinding

The Joy of Lexicography by Erin McKean