My life was simple when I was swimming in binary. I was efficient. And effective.

Okay, it might only be my perception but whatever.

I had a bowl of ones and zeroes for breakfast, spent my afternoons under the shades of (binary) trees and did some heavy compiling for dinner. My task list was simple and used to have only one entry – Get Shit Done. I marked it complete. Every day.

But soon things took a dramatic turn where I was thrown into the frenzy.Ahem…I meant to say a management position.

No matter how many To-Do lists I made, I couldn’t keep track of them. I gave a fair chance to a myriad of hacks to help me reach that epitome of productivity but somehow the romance usually died within weeks. No matter which productivity hack I used, I ended up cursing myself for not being effective.

Not because I had become sloppy all of a sudden. Okay, maybe, a little.

But, it felt that someone was bombarding to-dos on me from a particle accelerator more powerful than Large Hadron Collider. I just couldn’t complete all of them in a day and the uncompleted ones merely became a speck in the universe of forgotten To-Dos.

Well, until I discovered Bullet Journal a few years ago.

The magical formula? Its simplicity. It has a lean method of writing Tasks, Events, and Notes. All these are denoted by different symbols and in the beginning, it felt as if I was working on some hieroglyphs. But once I got into the habit of it, there was no looking back.

The best part is its neat way of keeping track of tasks, events, and notes via its index, monthly log, and daily log. The combination of these three makes sure that none of your tasks ever slip into a black hole. Ever again.

All it takes is a few minutes in a day to plan and review the tasks to be accomplished. I generally do a review at night to see the tasks that I accomplished and the ones I need to move over. And, then towards the end of the month, I do one more review to move over the pending tasks.

That’s all.

And the Gods of efficiency have been shining on my bald head since I’ve been using it. Ahh…I exaggerate. Not every day. But, it isn’t all gloomy like it was before.

For the curious, why an analog system? Why use antiquated things like notebooks and pens?

Well, the analog system makes me more focused towards accomplishing tasks. If you are thinking why can’t we just type down everything as that’s definitely quicker and we could move things “faster”, then here are my two cents (or one Rupee and thirty paise)- there is something insanely beautiful in writing down tasks.

The moment you write them, they find an unbelievable power to get accomplished. It’s like your handwriting leaves an impression on your mind and you start processing the idea. Whereas in digital To-Dos, you are always a click away from distractions and that’s inevitable.

Still wondering if Bullet Journal is right for you? You will never know the simplicity it will bring in your life unless you use it. I wish I had known about it when I was a programmer — it would have helped me tremendously in staying organized.

Where to start? By watching the video below-

Happy Journaling.

Hugs,
Tarun

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