Productivity is Personal: 4 Important Principles

The most effective productivity systems are personal and customized to our lives.  One system might work well for a student, while a working mom might need a different system. As our lives change we need to be willing to adjust our systems so that they keep working for us! Today I’m going to talk about 4 important principles that will help as you develop the best productivity system for you, right now!

Overwhelmed? 

How many of you would like to be more productive?  I’ll guess that everyone would say yes to that question.  There are always more things to be done than there are hours in the day.  Even if we are at home all day, the chores can seem never ending, the messes can multiply without warning, and our children are always asking us for something.  Add in the constant notifications which come to us via our phones, and it can seem like the mountain of things to do is insurmountable.  What are we to do?

We can run screaming from all the things and retreat into endlessly scrolling through social media, reading books, watching TV, or playing games.  Or, we could create lists and schedules that even Mary Poppins wouldn’t be able to get done!  We could sacrifice our sleep just to make sure that the cleaning routine gets done on just the correct day.  We can fill our days with errands and events outside the home so that we aren’t bothered by the endless pile of chores.  Maybe we work longer hours just to avoid the home tasks which need to be done.  Or, maybe we do it all but with such a grumpy attitude that our family learns to avoid us!

I’ve done many of those things in the course of my homemaking career!  I have spent hours writing down a new method of cleaning, only to get to the end of it and be too overwhelmed to do anything.  This was especially a problem for me when we moved from our mid-sized house about 5 years ago to our new home, which is much larger.  Suddenly, the weekly cleaning I did in the old home didn’t seem to be enough.  So, I created a large document with all the detailed cleaning tasks to be completed in each room.  I made it nice and pretty and even printed it out.  That was the fun part! But then, I was too overwhelmed to begin. Having pages upon pages of things to do was just too much for me.  I spent more time devising the cleaning system than actually doing it!

I have made personal schedules for myself and then gone through the routine of adding it to my calendar so that I knew exactly what I was supposed to be doing each hour.  Interesting idea, however after a day or so, I found myself ignoring what I was “supposed” to be doing.  I actually began to resent the fact that I was obligated to do a certain home activity at a certain time of the day.  Once I realized that, I deleted those detailed calendars from my existence.

I have a calendar to tell me when my appointments outside of the home are.  I am very detailed about making sure everything outside the home gets placed on the calendar.  We share calendars as a family, so that everyone is on the same page.  But, when the thing to be done is not time bound, I resent the inflexibility of a calendar. 

There are many things in the home and in our lives which don’t need to be done at a specific time of the day, but really should be done on a regular basis.  So, how do we keep track of those items in a way that works for us?

I have excellent news for you!  It is possible to design an effective and personal productivity system that works for you!  After many years, I have finally discovered a framework of productivity which is customizable, and that I actually use.  I’ll share the system I use at the end of this post, but first let’s explore 4 important principles of an  productivity system.

4 Important Principles

1.  Personal

It is critically important that your productivity system be personal so that it works for you.  We are all different in our walks of life.  Perhaps you are a working mom who has kids in school.  Maybe you are a stay at home mom with an infant and toddler.  Or, you are single and living on your own for the first time.  I don’t know where you are in your life, but what I can say for sure is that there is no particular system which will fit each of us perfectly!  

We can take advice from the wide world of the internet on cleaning routines, productivity systems, and time management tools, but in the end, the system which will work best for you is a very personal decision.  You don’t have to follow someone else’s system to the letter. Maybe there are things which work for you, and other things you’d rather throw out.  Take the good, what you can implement, and leave the rest of the system behind.  

The very best productivity systems are highly personal to our preferences and our stage of life.

2.  High Touch

Another key principle of an effective personal productivity system is that it needs to be high touch.  You cannot use it once and ignore it.

You need to look at and use this system multiple times a day in order for it to work for you.  If your weekly cleaning routine is buried under the mail pile, you will not go look for it. Whatever you use, you need to be interacting with it a lot. If you have a paper planner, then it needs to be out where you can find it easily.  If you are concerned with your children damaging it or flipping through it and being nosy, then train them that they are not allowed to go through your planner.  Or, put it out of their reach.  But wherever you put it, make sure you can easily get to it and that you use it each and every day.

If you have decided on a digital app, then it should be on the first screen of your phone or iPad.  It needs to be obvious and prominent.  Do not bury it in some folder called “Productivity” that you forget about.  I know because I’ve done that!  Put that app somewhere obvious and open it several times a day.  

If you have a personal productivity system that you touch multiple times a day it will be a useful tool to help you get the things done you care about.

3.  Simple

It is so important that your personal productivity system is simple.  Simple systems get used over and over again. If it’s too hard to use, you won’t do it!

Oh the many complicated productivity systems I have seen out there.  They are enough to make my head spin.  I have looked at some of these systems and realized that I would need to go back to school just to understand how they work. For a while, I tried the GTD system.  It did not work for me!  There were too many details to do and it didn’t work at all for me.  I ended each day feeling overwhelmed with a huge inbox and a defeated spirit.  It may work for millions of people, but it was too complicated for me.

If your system is too complicated, with too many categories, folders, repeating events, and cryptic abbreviations for things, you will not be successful.  The most effective systems are the most simple.  The important thing is not how the system is organized. The key question is are we getting the right things done in our lives? The system should help us remember, not be so complicated we give up.

4. Beautiful

The last principle is that the system you choose should be beautiful.  Or sleek and modern if that is what you prefer.  It should be a joy to open. Productivity is hard, but we can help ourselves out by using tools we love.

If you have a beautiful system that you capture your routines and to-dos in, you will enjoy opening it up and using it.  This could be a beautifully designed to-do list with special themes that you can pick and choose from.  Maybe it is a paper planner in your favorite colors.  Or, maybe you have found a notebook in your favorite color to write things down in.

Your system should be a joy to look at, whether it is digital or analog.  Once I decided to take time to make customized templates for my system which were pleasing to me, I found the time I spent each morning planning out my day to be so much more fun.  It is amazing what a little clip art can do to lift my spirits! If you would like some of my designs for free, just click here to sign up for my newsletter and I’ll share them with you!

  These four principles can be applied to any productivity system you implement, whether it is digital or analog. 

My System of Choice (for now)

I did mention that I was going to share the system I use at the end of this post, so here I go.  I will write more about how I use this system in other posts, but I want to encourage you to check this method out if you haven’t heard about it.

I have been using a Bullet Journal for nearly three years now. You can learn more about this system by going to the bullet journal website.  I started using an analog notebook, but once I got my new iPad with a pencil I transitioned to using the app GoodNotes to create a digital notebook.  I’m able to handwrite my to-dos in the iPad in the morning, and then refer to the list as I move throughout the day. 

What I absolutely love about this system is that each day is a new page.  Also, it can handle anything I throw at it.  Some days I have lots of items to do, other days I need to take notes during a phone call, and other times I just need to keep track of my house cleaning chores.  The blank page is so flexible that I can write whatever I need to in it, and then refer back to it later as needed. 

If you’re looking for a homemaking system to help you, and you’re feeling overwhelmed, then I also highly recommend you look at www.flylady.net.  I discovered her system after the birth of my first child, and I found her “Baby Steps” to be very helpful as I learned how to keep my home presentable when I was dead tired from staying up all night.

An  effective productivity system can be a great tool to help you keep track of your many ideas and to-dos throughout the day.  It will be most useful if you make it personal, high touch, simple, and beautiful.

How do you keep track of your to-dos?  Do you have a favorite system to use?  I’d love to hear about it. Please feel free to share!