My System for Staying Organised in 2022

I’m generally slow, but I rarely forget anything important.

This could be the simple summary of what my personal system for staying organised, which I will describe below, does for me.

I use a mix of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Ryder Carroll’s Bullet Journal and Gary Keller’s The ONE Thing, all slightly adapted to suit my tastes and needs.

While I do use some digital tools, my physical notebook is the only tool that truly brings me joy. It’s the simplest and most reliable technology I use. I still have old notebooks from 25 years ago, whereas most of my (important) digital data from that time has sadly disappeared. When I open my notebook, there are no notifications, PIN codes or updates to get in my way. My pen lasts 2 years on a single charge.

The ONE Thing gives me direction and permission to focus

For goal setting, I adhere to Garry Keller’s concept of The ONE Thing.

It’s extremely simple. Really, I only have to remember three things:

1. The Focusing Question, which reads: “What is the ONE Thing that I can do now such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary?”
2. The domino principle of goal setting, each goal leading to a larger one.
3. The simple but freeing idea that if I focus on one aspect of my life now, it’s OK to have a little chaos elsewhere.

Using the focusing question, I set a handful of ONE Things that guide my decisions as to what to do next.

I find this method compelling because instead of merely asking myself what my goals are, it prompts me to ask myself how to change my system to remove work in order to reach the next level. The book, which could really have been a blog post, is still worth reading once.

The concept is so important that when I use pen and paper (see below), I use a yellow highlighter to mark To-dos linked to my ONE Things.

The Bullet Journal excels at notes and To-dos

Nowadays, I write on an A5-sized Leuchtturm 1917 notebook, which, unlike the Moleskine notebooks I used in the past, features numbered pages. I did try the dotted layout, but since I’m mostly writing, I went back to the lined layout, with more vertical space to write. With its striking shape, my Lamy 2000 ballpoint pen slides into the obligatory pen loop effortlessly.

The Bullet Journal system perfectly meshes with Getting Things Done in two ways:

• It’s made for capturing ideas, notes etc., all in one place.
• It provides clever conventions for managing, or Migrating in BuJo lingo, To-dos.

Departing slightly from the standard system, I only use two Signifiers: a square rather than a bullet for To-dos, and a dash for notes. I don’t do the Weekly, Monthly or Future Logs, and maintain very few Collections. I use a couple of Index pages: one for personal topics, one for my job and one for my business (I expect I’ll be able to drop this third one with my next notebook).

Instead of using a new page for each Daily Log, I draw a horizontal line with a checkbox at its left end, next to which I write the date and my location. When all the To-dos of that page have been done or migrated and all notes of importance indexed or otherwise archived, I put a checkmark in that top checkbox, but there is a twist: I can only check it if the day before also has a checkmark. This simple system lets me see how far back my To-dos and notes need to be processed.

Managing my time with digital calendars

As GTD mandates, everything time-bound goes into one of my Google or Outlook calendars, which I keep synchronised to avoid meeting conflicts between different parts of my life, like when I have to pick up the kids.

Occasionally, I will also schedule time for large or important tasks, even if they don’t have a deadline.

Recurring time blocks titled “@ONE” in the morning give me permission to only work on things related to my ONE Things during that time, rather than doing easier, often more urgent, but also less impactful work.

That said, I don’t follow my calendar religiously unless it involves other people—I hate being late!

Getting Things Done keeps me surprisingly reliable

Getting Things Done is a rather comprehensive productivity system that has overwhelmed more than its fair share of neophytes. It does demand discipline, which is not my forte, yet it has worked well for me.

Obviously, my notebook is where I Capture most thoughts, which is a central tenet of GTD.

For Context Lists, I use physical cards that I keep inside my notebook at the current page. Currently, I keep three cards: one Next Actions list related to work and one for other Next Actions, as well as one for the Waiting For list. I mark them with a single letter in both top corners to quickly identify them. I limit those lists to one side of each card only and when it gets full, I re-write it, dropping what’s done or obsolete. I often use the unused side of another card for this. The folding pocket at the back of the notebook always has a few blank cards for when I’m away from my desk.

I use Notion to maintain my Projects List as a single, plain page, not a database, in which every Project is its own sub-page. That way, the list is easy to reorder, and the order stays stable. It also lets me use minimal layout to distinguish between projects I’m currently focusing on and others that are started or otherwise on hold or to be worked on soon. When a Project is done, I archive it by moving its entire page to a page called “Closed Projects”. With this organisation, I hardly ever need Notion’s search, which isn’t very good anyway.

There isn’t a specific format for Project pages. Most are merely rough To-do lists, although some may contain sub-pages with meeting notes, media files, links, etc. If I’ve taken important notes in my notebook, I’ll upload a photo of them rather than re-typing them. I’ll occasionally use databases displayed as a kanban board for complex projects with many moving parts.

I used to use Microsoft OneNote for keeping Projects, but Notion lets Projects grow more fluidly from a simple one-liner to a full-blown kanban board as I need them to.

My Someday/Maybe list has its own page. Entries can be sub-pages to hold more information, or simple text lines or links. I admit that I rarely look at it.

My Weekly Review is nowhere near as comprehensive as GTD mandates. I use a simple Google Sheets template that I print out on an A5 label that I stick onto its own page in my notebook. Cut marks help me trim it down to fit comfortably on the page.

Some room for improvement

There are a few things I’d like to get better at.

Like so many GTD practitioners, I struggle to maintain a regular Weekly Review routine. Simplifying it has helped a bit, but remains a challenge. Those sticky templates are fun, though printing and cutting them does add some friction. I find my Someday/Maybe list overwhelming and feel happier staying away from it.

I don’t look at my Context Lists as often as I should. In GTD, you’re supposed to return to them all the time whenever you’re not doing something from your calendar to pick your next action, but I sometimes go for days without referring back to them.

I struggle to sit down every day and Process the items I’ve recorded that day or the day before in my notebook. Recently, I had to harvest over 5 months of entries! Interestingly, few things had slipped through the cracks, so even with my lack of discipline, it still works.

I usually formulate my ONE Things quickly and intuitively. I feel I could spend more time exploring alternatives before committing.

More than the sum of its parts

Despite these challenges, this system has worked splendidly for me.

Of all the systems I’ve used, this combination of GTD and Bullet Journal is the one I’ve stuck with the longest and used the most consistently. Grown out of the necessity to balance the tremendous complexity of juggling life, job and business, it has rarely failed me.

The ONE Thing gives me permission to set extraordinary goals and let other parts of my life slip a little as necessary. GTD keeps its promise of removing the stress from keeping what David Allen refers to as Open Loops in my head, and I can only recommend using any system that holds all those To-dos and thoughts for you. Lastly, my notebooks give me real joy. I love watching my collection grow steadily, and browsing through older notebooks often brings back memories in a delightful way.

It’s really quite fascinating how much calm, confidence and even joy can spring out of such a mundane thing as a personal productivity and organisation system on a daily basis.