My all-in-one notebook (planner, journal, tracker)

I love planners and diaries so much. I love making lists. I had been a diligent list maker on Evernote for years. I had also tried a few to-do apps for managing my tasks, Google Keep to add random notes, Evernote for journaling etc. Sometime last year, after reading Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism, I felt I didn't want to be tracking everything online across a variety of apps and tools. There wasn't any consistency, my thoughts were dumped randomly without a proper system in place and most importantly, I had to use my phone/laptop often to track every little thing. I also realized a planner or a diary is too rigid and is meant only for handling one use case. I don't want to use 3-4 different notebooks - one for planning, one for tracking, one for journaling, one for note-taking etc. 

 

 

Since June last year, I had been maintaining this system and I'm quite happy with it so far. I call this my "all-in-one notebook". I got this 5-subject ruled notebook at a price of Rs.240 from a stationery store. No templates, no dates, no time blocks, plain simple ruled notebook with 5 partitions that I have customized it according to my needs. When I shift to the next notebook, I plan to get an unruled one. Ah, the pleasure of writing on a plain, white sheet of paper! Even if it sounds narcissistic, let me admit - I love my handwriting 🙂

The 5 sections of my notebook are allocated for the following areas:

1. Reflection
2. Journal
3. Notes
4. Goals and Lists
5. ToDos

Reflection:

I use this section for two reasons:

1. Habit Tracker - I had elaborated on how I track my habits in this post. Every month, I list down the habits I want to track. The number of habits could be anywhere between 8-10. At the end of each day, I put a checkmark against the items I had managed to complete. I find that I stick to daily habits when I put that checkmark using a pen. I have tried habit tracking apps earlier but I wasn't being consistent with my habits.
    
2. Happiness journal - I had elaborated on this journal in an earlier post, which includes a video as well. At the end of each day, I think about 3-4 events/moments that made me happy and jot them down. Though I haven't been consistently writing on all days, it is such a warm feeling to read the journal entries from the past. Since I'm using an undated notebook, it is perfectly okay if we are not doing this on a daily basis. Even if I jumped off the bandwagon, I can easily get back without any feeling of guilt. With a dated diary, I used to feel so guilty when I had to leave blank pages on days I didn't feel like writing anything. A plain, simple notebook solves the problem 🙂

Journal:

This section is a collection of thoughts/Ramblings from self. I don't write on a daily basis, though I wish to. Whenever an inspiration strikes/some issue is bothering me/someone made me terribly angry or upset, I pick up my notebook and pour out all my thoughts. At the end of the writing session, I feel so relieved. Sometimes, the solution unravels itself as I journal out the problem. I also use this journal section as a brain dump when I feel too overwhelmed or I find too many random ideas surfacing up.

Notes:

This section is a collection of thoughts/quotes/writings from others. I consume quite a lot of content - from books, blogs, podcasts, videos etc. Not all of them are useful or relevant. But there will be some pointers/take-aways that resonate with me and I jot them down here. Currently, I have notes from varied topics - nutrition, health, wellness, growth, philosophy etc. I also note down inspirational quotes that I come across.

Goals and Lists:

I keep track of many lists here

• My bucket list
• Annual focus areas/themes
• Monthly goals
• Monthly calendar with important dates
• Books to read
• Recipes to try
• Movies to watch
• Places to visit
• Blogposts to write
• Courses to do
• Topics to research/explore

I prepare the monthly calendar on the 1st of every month and track the important dates. Again, there are months I haven't done this - for instance, over the last 2 months, I was feeling overwhelmed with all that's happening around and I decided to take it one day at a time. I feel content to manage my daily responsibilities without planning too much ahead in the future.

ToDos:

Weekly Tasks - I used to track this in Evernote earlier. The approach is the same as outlined in this blog post. Every Sun evening / Mon morning, I make a list of tasks for the week - important as well as mundane tasks that I plan to do across various aspects of my life - blogging, professional work, cooking, reading etc. I refer to the "Goals and Lists" section to set my weekly tasks.

 

Daily ToDos - Anything and everything I need to get done for the day is tracked here -from "Make idli batter" to "Publish post on all-in-one notebook". I refer to this section multiple times in a day and add a checkmark once completed.

 

Timeboxing/Scheduling a day - I do this on a need basis, especially on days when I have too many things to do or when I feel like I need to allocate time for different activities. When I used to write in a daily planner, I didn't use this section very effectively. I was repeating the same task on every single page or I would end up not planning for days at a stretch which would result in empty, wasted pages.

There is no right/wrong approach to setting up your planning and tracking system. Pick the one that works for you. Customize it according to your needs. Love the whole process. Don't go on a guilt trip if you don't plan a given day or a week or even a month. Allow yourself the flexibility to get back whenever you can. Don't be too harsh on yourself when things don't go as planned.

If you love planning but not interested to spend a lot on planners/journals, I hope this post gave you a few ideas to get started with a simple notebook. Let's not wait for Jan 1st or even the 1st of any month. Today is all we have, let's make the best use of it.

Book Review: Ultimate Grandmother Hacks by Kavita Devgan

I stumbled upon this book in the "Read for free" collection on Kindle store. Kavita Devgan's Ultimate Grandmother Hacks was such an engaging and interesting read! The author has compiled a list of 50 lifestyle habits that our ancestors used to practice diligently which we have long forgotten. The content is similar to that of Rujuta Diwekar's but the writing style is slightly different. 

Kavita sets the context beautifully by narrating snippets from her childhood, her interactions with her mom and her food memories.

The first habit she emphasizes on is to understand the pH of our food. She elaborates on the acidic vs alkaline foods. One of the key take-aways for me is 

"When you exercise, the body takes in more oxygen, which helps to expel the acids from the body"

Next, she focuses on the importance of eating a balanced meal with all tastes including bitter tasting foods. A couple of points I learned from this chapter are

"The amount of nutrients you can squeeze out of what you are eating might just depend on whether your meal has a bitter component or not"

"Bitter foods help cut food cravings"

In the subsequent chapters, she highlights the importance of eating whole foods, nutrients present in the peels of most veggies and fruits, spices and herbs that are "adaptogens" helping us combat stress and fatigue. On explaining the importance of fats, she highlights the ratio of fats to be included - 1:1.5:1 (PUFA:MUFA:Saturated Fats). Using oils by rotation and ensuring our Omega 3 intake is good enough are some of the recommendations worth noting.

I liked the way she differentiates between comfort foods (foods that we have eaten as kids) and junk foods being used for comfort. 

Apart from foods and their nutrients, she also talks about our lifestyle. This statement sums it up nicely

"If you really don't have time to cook or to even sit down to have a meal, perhaps it is time to start questioning your lifestyle"

Cooking in traditional vessels like earthen pots, placing the food on a banana leaf, sitting down on the floor while eating - every such practice has a science backing which she has explained in simple terms. 

My most favorite was the chapter on how food impacts our mind and emotions. 

Totally loved reading this book. Lots of interesting tidbits and useful takeaways. Do check it out if you love to read books on food, nutrition and lifestyle.

Following a schedule during lockdown

A few days back, I had posted on Instagram about how my lockdown days are progressing. I had mentioned about following a routine - sleep by 10:30PM and wake up by 6:30AM, having a fixed time for sweeping/mopping the house etc. One of the DMs I received related to this post - "Aren't schedules boring? Life becomes so predictable and monotonous." 

It was an interesting question and I had been thinking about why I follow a schedule.

Firstly, I follow a schedule/routine during weekdays. I don't follow a similar schedule during weekends. For eg, today being a Saturday, I woke up only at 7:45AM, had breakfast at 11AM, ate lunch at 2:30PM etc. No exercise/Yoga. I spent the afternoon watching Mr. Family Man standup comedy and had a hearty laugh.

Now, coming to the question of why do I follow a schedule. This is my personal opinion. Yours might be completely different and it is perfectly okay. 

A schedule is required for anyone who has a responsibility - responsibility towards oneself, responsibility towards others in the family, responsibility towards professional work commitments etc.

The schedule sets a rhythm in our daily life. When we prioritize a few key aspects of our life and allocate a fixed time towards them, they are automatically taken care of, without much thought. During weekdays, I finish cooking breakfast and lunch by 9:30AM. This way, food is available and I don't need to step into the kitchen until evening. I can focus on my work without thinking about the dreaded question "what to cook for lunch?"

Having a schedule also sets the right expectations among the people whom we interact with - our family members and our office colleagues. For eg, my daughter knows that I do my Yoga practice between 7:30AM and 8:15AM. She wouldn't ask me to play with her during this time.

Scheduling a fixed time, also called as time-boxing is a sure-shot way of avoiding distractions. Most distractions of these days - be it social media, Netflix, watching the news, youtube videos etc can start off as a 2-min activity and can easily consume many hours if we are not mindful. So it is better to allocate fixed time for important work and necessary chores. If I don't fix a time for sweeping/mopping, I might just while away my time in the late afternoon and procrastinate the task at hand.

Having said that, it doesn't mean I schedule every minute of my waking hour. There are multiple unplanned time slots during the day where I watch a movie (20-30 min max), play with my daughter, browse or watch youtube or take a short afternoon nap.

Ironically, as I was writing this post, I came across this tweet

"This is a pandemic, not a productivity contest"

I totally agree with this point. I need a schedule just to get through my daily responsibilities. I seriously wonder how to make time for other "productive" activities like building a skill, reading books, taking online courses, trying new recipes etc, amidst the added responsibilities that the lockdown has brought down upon me. 

Let's not take additional pressure from our social media feeds that are filled with new recipes, interesting activities to engage kids, new hobbies etc. Each of our lives and situations is unique. We are doing our best we can, given the circumstances.

My only suggestion is not to expect too much from yourself or from others during these critical times.

Parle Monaco Cheeslings Review

This pack landed at my doorstep, thanks to K who placed the order on the BigBasket app and added a few junk items that I usually wouldn't approve of. 

He got a earful and promised he would stick to my one-junk-per-order rule 😉 

Anyway, let me take this as an opportunity to review a popular junk food that seems to be a favorite among kids and adults. Cheeslings is so addictive that many just munch on it while watching a movie. It feels so light and crunchy (similar to popcorn). If one is not mindful, it is easy to gobble up a large serving size.

Let's look at the ingredients:

Refined wheat flour (maida)

Refined oils (palmolein and palm)

Sugar

Iodised salt

Cheese (1.8%)

Yeast

Raising Agents [503(ii), 500(ii), 341(i)]

Invert Sugar Syrup

Spices & Condiments (mustard powder)

Acidity Regulators (270, 296)

Emulsifier of vegetable origin (diacetyl tartaric

and fatty acid esters of glycerol)

Flour treatment agents [1101(ii), 1100(i)]

Added flavours (Artificial flavoring substances -

capsicum, black pepper and cheese)

The mumoorthi ingredients of any junk food are at the top three here as well - maida, palm oil and sugar. All cheap ingredients, along with harmful chemicals in the form of raising agents, flour treatment agents, emulsifiers and artificial flavours. But the pack isn't cheap. 150gm pack size costs Rs.60. 

Though iodised salt is the fourth ingredient, sodium values are not mentioned. Also, it contains around 21gm of unhealthy refined fats. Most importantly, it is super high on calories - 492 kcal per 100gm.

If fried snacks are our preferred choice, then it is better to eat homemade namakpara (diamond cuts). The number of ingredients is fewer. We would use fresh, relatively healthier oil. 

The ONE strategy to improve the quality of your work

This epiphany struck me one night while I was scrubbing the kitchen sink after washing a pot load of dishes. What does the job "washing dishes" entail? Does it only mean washing the dishes in the kitchen sink? What's the process one typically follows to make sure this task is complete?

1. Keep the dishes that were washed in the afternoon in their respective places in the kitchen cupboards
2. Fill the bowl with dish wash liquid/soap
3. Bring all the dishes that are lying on the kitchen counter which are to be washed 
4. Wash the dishes
5. Wash the scrubbing pads that were used to wash the dishes
6. Scrub the sink and remove all the dirt/grime
7. Put the sink knob and cover the outlet

As you can notice, there are always a few tasks that need to be done before and after the main task. 

For any task, visualizing the workflow helps us to understand this pre-/post- tasks better. For critical projects, most of us plan ahead and break down the job at hand into these individual tasks. But I believe such an approach is needed for even the mundane tasks at work and at home. Maybe, it's my Virgo instinct coming to play 😉

This mindset of before/after thinking has a tremendous impact on the quality of any work we do. Focusing ONLY on the main task and ignoring these pre-/post- tasks eventually lead to stress and possible conflict both internally and externally.

Let me illustrate this with a few more examples:

 

Cooking a meal

1. Check the available ingredients
2. Decide on what to make
3. Chop the vegetables / prep the ingredients
4. Cook the dish(es)
5. Throw the vegetable peels into the trash can
6. Keep the spice boxes and other containers in their respective places
7. Wipe the kitchen countertop
8. Keep the dishes to be washed in the sink

Delivering a talk

1. Decide on a topic to talk about
2. Brainstorm a possible outline
3. Put up a structure
4. Gather the required materials
5. Finalize the flow of the talk
6. Work on the visuals (ppt)
7. Copy the completed deck onto a flash drive / Send the deck to organizers
8. Deliver the talk
9. Answer the questions post the talk
10. Do a self-retrospective on what went well, what didn't
11. Make notes on the kind of questions that were asked and possible areas to explore

Initiate a meeting

1. Understand the intent/objective of this meeting required
2. Identify who you need to talk to
3. Research on the context 
4. Send a mailer / invite to the required person(s) with possible availability time slots
5. Share objective and set the context for the meeting using a 1-pager writeup
6. Start the meeting
7. Listen intently, make notes, clarify questions, note down things that you would get back to
8. Identify the next action items from all stakeholders
9. End the meeting
10. Send meeting minutes with discussed points, open items, dependencies and next action items
11. Setup a followup meeting if needed
12. Self-introspect on whether the objective of the meeting was achieved and if not, why?
     
    This might sound like a lot of work to do, but trust me, it is only a mindset shift. 

Planning ahead and retrospecting after the job is complete is as important as working on the main task. Most of the time, our minds are fixated on the main task so much that we don't allocate enough mind space for the before- and after- tasks. 

How does this practice of before/after thinking help?

1. It enables us to become more aware and more mindful of our actions
2. We think through the possibilities beforehand and end up being well prepared. We aren't caught by surprise (most of the times)
3. We learn from our own mistakes, which would directly impact the quality of any work we do

If you would like to try out this strategy, 

Pick up any one task that you are supposed to do. Think through the steps involved. What do you need to do before starting the actual task? What do you need to do after the actual task is completed? Jot down the to-dos in a journal/notepad/todo app. After completing the task, introspect in a journal/notepad/notes app on what went well and what didn't. Try this out for one task tomorrow. 

Do you practice this form of before/after thinking? How has it helped you? Do share in the comments below.