My Go To's:

I am a planning nerd, an office supply geek, and I fucking love color coding. Period. Here’s a list of my 10 favorite productivity techniques and tools that keep me working and allow me to enjoy my free time. A little time setting up a system means saving time for pretty much the rest of your life…which is pretty fucking cool. And the best part, once you have a system in place it becomes a muscle memory thing after a while and then it saves even more time and frustration…which is also pretty fucking cool.

TECHNIQUES

Color Coding

This is probably my number one…and that is why I made it number one.

I color code everything that I can. My planner, my files, my closet. It really helps me to sort out my calendar, my morning, and my work so much quicker…and I can use less space to write it down since I don’t have to list quite as many details…because the generals lie in the color-coding. For example, purple is for my daughter and I am red. Anything concerning the kid is written or highlighted in purple or written on a purple post-it note…all I need then is when and where because I already know who.

Protip: Be as consistent as possible with your color coding…try to use the same color for the same thing in all circumstances. Or have two totally separate systems…one for work and one for personal use and then find a way to keep them sorted like a pen for one and highlighter for another.

Time Blocking

There are several ways to do this - but the essential thing is to create blocks of time in your day for specific tasks…housekeeping, work, family time, exercise, whatever your life entails. Some folks time block very specifically and some folks time block very generally…in other words - Person A might time block email, then work project one, then work project two in smaller time blocks and Person B might time block larger blocks that are a little more open like work, family time, self-care. Person A will have a specific timeframe, a start point and stop point for each task that they need to take care of while Person B will have a start and stop time for a type of task but within that block there is more freedom. It’s about what works for you…your style should always be the key to creating your blocks so that you stick to them.

Protip: ^^ Color coding your calendar will help with this a TON!

Weekly and Monthly Planning

Pre-planning is where it is at - especially if you time block. I mean, you really can’t time block if you don’t pre-plan on the reg.

Weekly and Monthly Review

This one probably seems like overkill but it’s good to see what you accomplished and sometimes even better to see what you didn’t so you can plan better for the next week or month. There’s no shaming allowed, if it didn’t get done it just didn’t get done and if it still needs done plan better…no biggie.

Protip: I use Notion to keep a weekly and monthly Planning and Review chart and it works wonders for me…I created a template for weekly and monthly and I just fill it out…easy-peasy.

ONLINE

Notion

I fucking LOVE Notion. I just love it. I mean…fuck, I just love it.

There are a spate of group-share networking group-work sites out there right now and I’ve dinked around with them all…well, the ones I know of anyway…and in my opinion none of them are as user-friendly or malleable as Notion. I currently have a Life Dashboard that I created and refined over the past few months and that is the first thing I open every morning. I run everything from there - - my schedule, my budget, my daily checklist, my contacts, my links to literally every fucking thing.

Protip: It’s free and that is always a plus. There are upgrades of course but just about everything is available for free.

Bonuses: There are Pinterest boards and Sub-Reddits devoted to Notion for template ideas and you can even create templates to share for free or for a fee yourself.

Google Keep

I am a big fan of K.I.S.S. - Keep it simple, stupid. And Google Keep is simple as all get out. It’s just online sticky notes…and I love sticky notes. I mean, any self-respecting office supply nut loves a sticky note, it’s like a law or something…anyway - you can color code, create lists, pin important notes to the top, upload pics or documents, move them around, view them on your phone or the sidebar of your Google calendar, or pop it out to full-screen size…it’s just a nice simple and visual way to work that doesn’t cost a fortune in actual stickies.

Protip: This is a great place to keep your running shopping list.

Google Calendar

Yay for Google calendar…it is just the boss of online calendars…clearly just my opinion but it would seem based on usage that a whole bunch of folks agree. Color-codable, you can add multiple calendars to one and view one at a time, a few at a time, or all of them…it couples with the whole Google Workspace, obviously, which is convenient as all get out…and it’s set up is pretty clean and user-friendly.

Protip: For more color coding choices, link your various Google Calendars like your work one and your personal one and whatever (come on we all have at least 3 Gmail addresses) and give each one its own color (and I am clearly a sucker for color-coding).

OFFLINE

Composition Books

I don’t mean just plain school composition books…but also I do. I love notebooks, full stop…but I really prefer that size. It’s nice and big but not so big that I can’t stuff it in most any bag. And they come in so many different colors and patterns with different papers, textures, etc. They are perfect for journaling, list making, note taking, writing in general…fucking whatever. I just love them.

Protip: Buy them at Back-to-School time and find them everywhere for as little as $0.50 each and stock up for the year.

Bonus: Composition books with cute designs are great for kids, teens, and any adults that are into writing, drawing, or even design (they come in lined, graph, dot, and plain now)…pair them with a nice set of pens and boom - instagift.

Paper planner

I know it sounds weird but I just love physically checking things off and I like writing on paper…and I like that I can use my planner no matter where I am…so I always have a paper planner going. I keep mini lists and appointments in it, all color coded. Techy life, luddite soul I guess.

Protip: If you find a style of planner that you like, buy it every year if you can…a planner that meets your needs is hard to fucking find and should not be ignored or abandoned.

Highlighters

Color coding - do I even need to say anything more?