okay so i'm not big into new year's resolutions i think most people will probably be on the
same page here it's it's kind of cliche at this point but one habit that i will
100 be taking with me into 2022 and probably for the foreseeable future
is well something so stupidly simple that most people including myself just frankly write it off
pun and pun intended so journaling look i get it most people are like why would you carry around a
journal when you have a perfectly good smartphone like literal mini computer in your pocket
basically 24 7. like why it's clunky resorting to digital note-taking scheduling planning
is basically the default for anyone and everyone and was for me up until about six months ago this
is nothing new like you've seen people talk about journaling those productivity hacking habit videos
and stuff but what if i told you that using this for the last six months has quite honestly changed
pretty much everything about the way i work and live my life so i realize that may seem a little
far-fetched but let me break down how and why i've been using these journals in my day-to-day life
i know i'm not the only one who feels massively intimidated and overwhelmed when approaching these
productivity hacking you know lifestyle changes i mean let's face it you watch all of these videos
from these amazing creators these high performers who are seemingly like endlessly optimizing every
aspect of their work in life and i can't help but get a little bit discouraged when i try to take
on something they talk about i try it for a few days or a week and i i can't stick with it i can't
turn it into an actual habit so when it came to journaling i didn't really know where to start but
after talking with enough people and convincing myself that it was worth really giving a shot i
think i was able to find some methods and kind of adapt my own to overcome that hump and actually
make this a regular practice in my life so first things first you're gonna need a journal obviously
and no you don't need like some nice leather bound book with you know nice thick parchment paper or
anything you can use any sort of journal big or small whatever really is comfortable for you but
i do suggest looking around and finding something that you actually like and you don't mind carrying
around and having on a regular basis i find that this tends to be about the right size for me
a really good pen makes a huge difference if you don't enjoy actually writing you'd be really
surprised how much a good pen and paper really make a difference to make that experience just
actually enjoyable this is just a really simple lined notebook nothing special about it now
when i talk about journaling i'm not saying you need to go write down your every single thought
and write detailed to-do list and schedule your day out hour by hour here's what i do for every
single day i start a really simple bullet list i start with writing the date in the top right
corner up on a line and then underneath i begin a bullet list of about six critical tasks to get
done throughout the day yes sometimes i'll write down more things jot down notes from a meeting
small notes or ideas inspirations throughout the day but the only necessary thing here are these
six tasks the point of this is we have this list of tasks that will actually move you forward in
your life or in your work every single day nothing more nothing less it's that simple
let me break down why i do it this way and why this works first off this is by no means a new
methodology in fact the way i structure this is actually really similar to a method called bullet
journaling it's just a lot simpler uh much more rudimentary peter mckinnon also does something
really similar to this i got a lot of inspiration from his video thank you peter just something to
help keep me on track and accomplishing more on a daily basis so i have six tasks but the number of
tasks isn't really too critical you should aim for a number of tasks that's significant enough
to keep you productive throughout the entire day but not so much that it's unrealistic like
you don't want to find yourself often not being able to finish everything that you wrote down on
your list this is definitely going to take some time to figure out it's going to be different
from person to person so just be patient with yourself and be honest about your own limitations
the important part here is don't over complicate things so start small a really simple daily list
of maybe five to seven bite-sized tasks and aim to cross them off all every single day
and try it for a month it can be as simple as put away gear or send an email to so and so or send a
text message to somebody it also doesn't need to be work related if you need to clean your office
write it down clean your office the more direct and actionable each of these tasks are the better
avoid writing down things like shoot tutorial video instead break it up into smaller bite-sized
sections that your brain can more easily activate on so in this case maybe write something like
write a hook for tutorial video script or write out key points for tutorial video script
something like that then there's no significant steps in order to achieve that specific task like
now you just gotta do the thing i find it works better for me to organize my day kind
of around these tasks rather than letting a specific time of the day dictate my routine
and the things that i'm getting done in all honesty there isn't a lot of consistency being
a content creator so i don't always want to like just plan to do all of my emails
first thing in the morning like maybe there's more important things that i should prioritize
getting done first our brains nowadays tend to respond heavily to small and consistent amounts
of dopamine stimulation social media you know seeing the likes roll in the comments the views
begin to add up you get new messages emails pop up we're like programmed now we instinctively wait
and look for that small temporary hit of stimulus through a change of status what's been really cool
to me about journaling is i can achieve a similar feeling in creating these lists and throughout
the day getting to cross them off as i finish them something about it is just so satisfying
you know you write out these lists i'm kind of ocd and then when you get a slash through it it just
ah it feels good it kind of starts to become a game over time you can start to see you know how
many days can i go in a row of crossing off every single task at the end of the day this is just a
practice that simply helps to keep you accountable a way to visualize your success keep you on track
limit procrastination it gives you a way to visualize and measure yourself regarding
how much you're able to actually complete on a daily basis without burning out in the process
one thing that definitely took me a little bit to overcome is don't feel pressured to protect
the real estate of your pages like i don't know for some reason i used to view each of these pages
each of these lines as like sacred space like i only wanted to write something down if it was
super important or like some profound thought or idea don't make that mistake if you need to
reply to a text message write it down if you need to put your clothes in the dryer
write it down no one else needs to read this it can be as messy or as abstract as you like i mean
if what you wrote on the page just doesn't seem relevant anymore or the thoughts are maybe too
scattered you can just rip it out there's no reason why a pen and paper and ripping out a
page should feel any more intimidating than just pressing the backspace key a few times now that
we're going into the new year and i've been doing this long enough that this practice has actually
become a habit i've picked up some new notebooks that give me more to fill out on a daily basis
a little more complex but will just help me to expand on my journaling routine and hopefully
refine my process even more these are the things the method that i've found that has worked for me
and has given me a lot of success in journaling but don't feel pressured to stick to some
blueprint or stick to my blueprint that's sort of the whole reason i'm doing this video and
the point i'm trying to get across at the end of the day this is a habit that has to be built
over time and practiced consistently in order to really be effective journaling is a way to
organize your thoughts and make sense of that mess and noise that's in your brain but no two people
have the same mess going on in their life and what may work for one person in organizing their mess
might not work for you so hopefully what i've learned in this process and some of
the tips that i've shared with you guys can help you figure out what will work for you
you