People who just get things done and are relentlessly efficient - please explain how you do it

[CarbonEmittingPenguin]

As said above. I am the queen of 'getting round to things' but never actually doing them. I can waste entire days thinking about what needs doing but never actually doing it

If you are efficient and just get on with things how do you do it? What is your thought process? What are you generally like?

Inspired by this thread I have a) emptied my email inbox (this is unheard of!) and b) started a bullet journal .

I I love love love the bullet journal thing. I have tried various apps for organising my life, but one of their main drawbacks is that they encourage me to mess around on my phone (which is part of my problem anyway!)

List of things we need to d

Quote re flashings
Quote re Patio
Two light bulbs in dining room
Dig raised bed at front and plant new roses

Everything else is just routine and is done straightaway. Even Christmas. The Christmas card list was updated when the cards came down, the labels amended,

On a Sunday I check my diary and make sure there are no clashes/arrangements made. Before I leave work every day I check the next days meeting and make sure I know what I need and have what I need.

Every morn morning, mostly at work, I write the most important things I need to do or check and make them a priority. Work emails are accessible from my phone and I deal with the junk to and from meetings, in the car, etc, so it never builds up.

I cannot comprehend how it can possibly take a week to note all the things in one's life that need doing.

Wow I loooooove the bullet journal! Feel I can't start it until next year though as I have missed January

I find it most helpful to split the house in two sections when cleaning

Tuesday clean upstairs
Thursday clean downstairs
Change one bed a week on a rota so I don't have to do all the beds one weekend.

I find this way it only takes a few hours at a time so I'm not wasting a whole day doing it.

Lists. Every thing that needs paying goes in my office so I deal with it aLong side work.

Research holidays ordering stuff from Internet etc happens when I'm watching tv.

And if I get overwhelmed during busy times I delegate. Dh can Hoover and mop and clean bathrooms too. 😀

It's genius isn't it Bendy?! I started mine immediately! And I certainly haven't been ruining the supposed productivity-enhancingness of it by spending hours looking at people's beautiful bullet journal layouts on Pinterest. Oh no siree, not me...

Truly though, it's such a simple system, yet you can include so many bits of your life in it, which might otherwise be spread across all sorts of separate apps, lists, calendars, diaries etc. Plus you get to choose a lovely notebook and pen . It's making me happy!

merciful

Is the bullet journal an app for iphones/ipads? I can't find it in Playstore

I briefly looked at your link. But it seems complicated. I don't know what modules are

Zing - it only appears complicated because he gives things funny names like 'module'. And no, it's not an app, it's basically a way of organising a notebook so that it's easy to use and keeps control of anything you want, all in one place.

In a nutshell:

1. get an A5 notebook and a pen. Number all the pages (takes a while, but this is really important! )
2. Title the first double page spread 'Index'.
3. Title the next double page spread 'Future Log', divide the double page into 6, label the boxes Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June. This page is to note down events you know about in advance (birthdays, holidays, whatever).
4. Next double page is your first month. Left hand side is a calendar (list the dates down the left, put events in), right hand side is 'tasks to get done this month'.

Then,all you do is after your January calendar/tasks page, you start your daily journal for January. Each day (or the night before) write the day's date and note down what you're going to do. Next day, do the same, right under where you finished yesterday.

Any time you want, turn to the next empty spread and write other lists in. I have a Household tasks - daily, weekly, monthly' page. And a megalist of diy, mending etc tasks.

Important points:
Every time you make a new page, add it to your index (e.g. "Mega diy list p.9-10").

Don't leave extra pages blank for unfinished lists to continue. Just continue them when you're ready, on the next available blank spread and add the new pages to your index (e.g. "mega diy list p.9-10, 15-16, 21-22".)

There's also a set of symbols you can use, but I don't want to scare you off .

Bullet Journal. My DH still uses a Filofax!! The similarity resonates. He swears by it - always has, always will. Perhaps he's becoming fashionable

I make a list. I work through the list.

I take breaks for tea.

I JFDI. Once you get started you sort of get rolling.

I reward myself with cake based treats

I still use a Filofax (and a very handsome one it is, too!), but mostly as a historical work database.

I have clients who come back at 3-year intervals, sometimes more, and at least I know that information is safe from accidental deletion or incompatible system changes. I can often access info faster than my more "computerised" colleagues and as I have a more visual memory I find written points impress themselves on me better than filing them away on the Ethernet!

1. Don't set yourself impossible standards. Set small goals to improve your organisation. It's taken me 5 years to go from chaos to much more organised than average.

1. Sensible, achievable lists are your friend. I have a daily planner I made on Excel, a diary and a calendar. My planner has everything on it but I started with just some basic tasks.

1. Do what you can straight away. Eg. Get school stuff out of the bag while the kids take shoes and coats off, fill in any forms immediately and pop them back in the bag.

Oh another motivation thing I do is have a vision board for the year by my bed.

I am another big fan of 'it just takes 5 minutes'! Despise cleaning the hob and sweeping the floors but it does take 5 minutes if that. Always telling myself to just do it!

Having said that I'm also a big fan of letting Dh do his share round the house and with the baby

Yes it's amazing how little time those corruptions take, really.
I agree with the school bag thing...ds2 is 7 and he knows that his jobs when we come in from school are; hang up his coat, empty his uneaten food from his lunchbox in the bin, put rainwater bottle in the sink, and go and wash his hands.
Whilst he is doing this I am going through his bag, taking out his homework, letter, leaflets etc and throwing away rubbish.
Then he gets changed, puts his dirty clothes in the laundry basket and then it's snack time!! :)
When ds1 gets in he does much the same.
It's all about routine, really, and everyone knowing what their job is.

Corruptions!?
"Horrible jobs"

merciful

Thanks for explanation. I will re-read it later, only had 3 hrs sleep so not at my sharpest atm.

I bought a very pretty hot pink faux leather magnetic closure A5 day a page notebook last night. And I have some colour triplus pens.
I feel very organised already

Tehlu
Thank you so much for the bullet journal link. I have used lists and a notebook for years but it always ends up a scramble. It is known as Mummy's brain as I juggle so many my memory can't keep up.

I have longed for a method to help my brain function better and this is it.

I am gutted that we have such a busy weekend planned that I can't get onto it straight away. Saddo me.

It also helps that I have a beautiful notebook in the cupboard for 13 years that I have never identified a worthy enough purpose for, and this finally feels like it could be it. Guess what I am doing as soon as I get a chance.

That Bullet thing is so complicated. Surely a calendar is better?

It does seem complicated, especially as you're having to write out the calendar all the time.

Too complicated for me! :)

I think it would only be a little bit complicated until you had been doing it for a week or too. I use ynab for managing my money which seems a similar theory. I cannot describe enough the difference it has made to my finances and peace of mind regarding my money.

I have often said I need a ynab for managing my work/kids/house/life and my health.

Once the kids are settled in bed tonight I will be starting...

I have an iPhone and if it's something I really need to remember or something that crops up unexpectedly I use siri to remind me
I couldn't get on with ynab at all....found it very confusing but i know some people swear by it.

It's got to be better than scraping through the way I am, never feeling I have enough done, with no time for me and things on my to do list that never get done. Some things are on there 5 years. I'm not getting any younger and my frustration only gets more and more.

Have had a rough week, this may well stave off a nervous breakdown that feels like its on its way.

Zapp

You sound overwhelmed. I hate that feeling of pressure and frustration.

We have so much to do, but I haven't been well all afternoon and normally I'd get in with my crochet but even that felt too much today.
Then of course I feel guilty for wasting this time when I could have at least sort the socks or sew in some thread ends (WH squares), but achieved nothing and that makes me feel like crap.

The wanting to be tidy and organised and finish things is there.
Lots of times it doesn't turn into "doing". That is my biggest problem

(Shout if you need a hug)

Zap I can't magic up more hours in the day but maybe you'd like this system too.

hamberg.no/gtd/

Marking place so that I can read later! :)