Forgotten how to organise, plan and think!

[FuzzyBrain3000]

I started a new job a few weeks back, it is going well, but my brain just feels like a massive tangled mess of information. Once upon a time I was organised, could plan and prioritise and keep on top of things but I seem to have lost the ability.

I know some of this is probably menopause brain plus Christmas pressure etc, but I just can't seem to manage my own head.

I feel like I need to go back to basics with some sort of system or a book to help me, I just can't get out of this cycle. Can anyone recommend anything? How do you manage your workload and have space to think and plan? I am a paper / physical system kind of person rather than digital, so any recommendations very welcome.

Maybe I just have too much to do, but I don't think it's that, I am just not as productive as I should be and don't know where to start. Any advice gratefully received! Ps I don't really want to speak to my manager about this, I think this is a me problem and not a job problem .

I use a bullet journal approach...have a look at the video here. It's very paper-based. TBH I use it more for my personal life than work but that's because my work is highly digital and the rest of my team works digitally.

Watch the free tutorial and see if it resonates with you. You don't have to get all pretty and complicated, just a pen and a notebook will do!

bulletjournal.com/

Thanks @ladybranstonpickle . I've looked at the bullet journal in the past for personal stuff, but never really considered it for work. I think it might be really helpful. I think I may shortly fall down a rabbit hole of bullet journal videos..

What type of job is it @FuzzyBrain3000 ? Obviously, don't be too specific but do you work from home, are you in an office environment? Is it admin stuff that you struggle to organise?
I WFH and in an office (bit of both) and I have a created a printed paper planner that I fill in for each day. I time block my day, so fixed things like meetings go in first, then I allocate tasks into 30 min slots through the day. I also have a box at the bottom of the page for personal tasks like book dentist or do online shop. It really helps to keep me organised & stops me over committing in the day. When you allocate a time for things (even 60 mins to do emails), it really helps to see what I can fit into a day & keeps me on track.

For remembering things, I use large A4 sized notebooks for different topics. I use sticky tabs to section of the book to denote different meetings or topics.

I use my online diary to allocate time to do tasks (eg, write report).

Go easy on yourself, new jobs are hard & seem to get harder, the older we get!