Spiral Findings

learn, share, grow

My way

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I have been reading a lot about simplifying and decluttering in this book by Marie Kondo. She talks about how things that you are discarding are not the focus but rather the intent is to focus on things that you want to keep and that bring you joy.

I started sifting through the the mounds of stuff in my garage to get ready for an upcoming move and realized how many books I had, tons and tons of books, and many of them were just there, not sparking joy, just there. I got to thinking about Marie’s philosophy of getting rid of stuff and Tammy’s post about getting rid of books. Their way of decluttering or what they decide to keep may not be the right way for me.  Things that bring others joy don’t necessarily bring me joy, and so my method of discarding things or the items I choose to discard is going to be different than someone else’s.  My way may mean keeping some things that other people don’t value but that spark joy for me.  Realizing this made the process of decluttering easier somehow.  I wasn’t trying to do it by using someone else’s yard stick of how much to rid myself of but by listening to my own intuition and what felt ready to let go of and what felt right to keep.

Letting Go

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Did you ever hear about a book that someone had read or a new tool of some sort that had a special impact on someone you knew (either in real life or in virtual online life)?  Of course, i’m sure this is the case – there is so much information out there and most of the time we get a lot of it through blogs, personal references, etc.

Anyway, this happened to me, I won’t say recently because it has been going on for a while.  I heard about the desire map book a while ago and everyone seemed to be singing its praises.  For the life of me, I don’t know why, but it just wasn’t working for me.  I read the book once, and I thought, hmmm, this doesn’t make sense…I don’t get it.  Well, instead of thinking that this book wasn’t for me, I thought it just wasn’t the correct time for me to read it and maybe if I read it again, I would relate better.

Well, I read it again.

Then I got the journal.

And the planner.

And wouldn’t you know, none of them worked for me.  I can’t tell you why, but they didn’t.  I know Danielle’s content is great, and provides immense value for others.  I loved reading this post from  Tammy and how it impacted her life…so inspiring!

But for me, it didn’t, and that’s ok.  I gotta tell you though, it took me forever to get there.  Isn’t that funny?  Sometimes we hear something that’s really interesting, see other people benefitting from it, and we want to have the same benefit, but it’s just not meant for us.  And, life is short…too short to spend time forcing yourself on ideas that just don’t work…so on to bigger and brighter ideas, at least for me. 🙂

Chronodex

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When I started using a Midori traveler’s notebook, I found a huge community of Midori users and that is where I first learned about the Chronodex system created by Patrick Ng.  I printed it out his templates and made my own insert for my regular sized Midori notebook.

Chronodex Insert

My primary interest in using the Chronodex was to track things like sleep and exercise.

Three days into using the Chronodex system, I ended up abandoning it.  My fitness tracker was more effective for tracking what I wanted to track, because it was automatic and didn’t need my involvement to do that tracking.  I agree that there is an element of being deliberate when putting pen to paper and I think the Chronodex may be good tool for that.  Personally, I found that I preferred the automatic tracking of things like steps taken and hours sleep rather than the manual process.  I definitely see the value of doing a day or week or even a 30 day project of tracking to see how you are spending your time or to focus on one specific item to track, but tracking everything I did would be too cumbersome for me and I don’t think it has longer term sustainability for anything beyond 30 days.

As an aside, I really like Patrick’s approach to sharing his development of the Chronodex systems with people.  He gives it away for free, and simply asks for those who download it to send positive energy and prayers for his a member of his family.

Communities like this of notebook/organizer people (Midori, Filofax, & beyond) make me happy because there are others who love paper and pens as much as I do and I’m so glad they share their gifts with the world! 🙂

Bullet Journal

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One of the best note taking tools I have started using recently is the the bullet journal.  It’s a nice way to manage my life events and tasks in monthly blocks.  I use it primarily for work, and I love that I am not limited by pages.  If one day’s worth of notes takes up to four pages, then so be it.  Also, I think this system is great because you can customize it to how you take notes.

For me, the bullet journal helps me use the Getting things Done framework because it provides a home for my tasks.  I fell off the wagon a bit with that process, and this is helping me get back into it.  I am still working on how to sync up the bullet journal with Toodledo, which I previously used for managing all my tasks.

The best idea I got from the bullet journal is the concept of an index – it’s such a simple idea but it’s super useful and I’m planning on using it other notebooks as well.

I encourage you to give bullet journaling a try if you are interested in experimenting with a new note taking system.

Tools

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I was inspired by this post on Tammy Strobel’s page where she went through the tools she uses for fostering her creativity.

I was thinking I’d like to share a few of the tools that I use:

  • Daily Planner:  I’m currently using a Passion Planner, but I’m also evaluating the Desire Map Daily Planner – the Evergreen Version.  I’m trying to decide if I like a week to view planner or a day by day view.
  • Midori – Regular Size (Brown): I use two inserts – one to capture notes from books or blogs that I am reading or topics I am learning about and the second as a bullet journal for work.
  • Midori – Passport Size (Star Edition): I use two inserts – one as a gratitude journal and one for daily musings & morning pages.

Occasionally, I will pick up a separate notebook for special purposes – a course I’m taking, or a thicker paper midori insert for art journaling, a sketchbook for an illustrated discovery journal, or a binder for creative dream journalling.

As an aside, I really love Goulet Pens as a company.  They really understand how to delight their customers – especially with how they pack their products to make sure they aren’t damaged during shipping.  🙂

Note: I am only recommending products that I enjoy using myself.  I have recently become a passion planner rep, which gets me credits if you purchase through my link and saves you 10%.