(How do you keep track of all the things you want to do?  Lists/journal/calendars?)

So this is what I bought.  What do I have planned?

   Ignore the clipboard.

This all started with a video I watched on YouTube.  It was talking about how not all people organize the same way.  The speaker said she discovered four different ways people prefer to organize.

There are two main styles.  Some people want their items put away where it can’t be seen: closets/cupboards/file cabinets/drawers.  And there are some people that need their things organized out in the open where they can see the items.

Then there are two subcategories to organize farther.  Both subcategories have to do with organizing by liked items.   The first organizing category is to have everything in its own place.   EX.  This would be having a filing drawer for bills, with each type of bill having their own folder: car payments, light payments, credit card payments and so on.  The second category is less detailed.  EX.  This filing drawer would have one folder with all the bills no matter where they came from.

It dawned on me that I think I am mostly an out in the open type of organizer (except in the kitchen).  If something is out of sight, then I am very likely to forget about it.  That is how I end up buying double of things I already have.  My subcategory is I want everything to have its own place, though I think I am too lazy for that.  I will not know for sure till I actually get more organized with my stuff.

When my husband got home that night I told him about the video and told him I think I am the kind of person that need things organized out in the open.  His response was, ‘Yes! (duh)’  Like I should have know that all along.  Though it was right that second that it dawned on me how true that was.  My favorite quotes are taped to my bedroom wall, my personal goals are taped to the wall behind the computer and now this new project.

I usually write my to do list in a flip folder (a process I learned about 4 years ago from a YouTuber – forgot his name) along with some other information.   After writing my To Do List I usually put the notebook aside.  Once I put it aside and not have it right in front of me the % of me getting my list down has dropped 80%.  It is awful.  I put the work into making the list and then actually forget all about it as other things during the day take my attention.

I was thinking that I needed something more in my face.  Something that was hard for me to ignore.  This is when this idea came to me.

It took me a few days thinking about the concept before going to the store and even then I didn’t know exactly what would work.  The first picture (above) is what I ended up coming home with.  And this is what I ended up making.

  The purple and red one are for the activities I want to get done on a weekly bases.

Let me explain how it works.  I write on little post-its the activity I want to do.  It starts in the top blue area each morning.  As I do them during the day I move the activity post-it to the green area.  By the end of each day I can see how much I have gotten done and how much I didn’t.

This really helps me on tough days where it feels like I got nothing done during the day.  Looking at the Visual To Do List I can see that I have moved tabbies into the green.  That means at least I got something done during the day.  It makes me feel better.

Also, at the end of the night, if I still have several things to do, I can usually fit 1-3 more things in before I head to bed.  Since starting this I have drank more water in the last month than I have in the last 6 months.  Health wise it has really helped.

I was worried that the little post-its would only be able to be moved a few times before losing their stickiness.  It has been a month now and my original ones are still working.  I made sure to buy something that had a more plastic surface (less porous) and not paper.  That way the post-its last longer.

In another part of the house I have used plastic page protectors and colored printer paper.  So if you can’t find the right plasticky dividers, then use the page protectors since they are easier to locate.

What things did I write on my post-its?  I wrote things I want to do on a daily bases.  The blue post-its are health related and the orange are chores.  I plan to add more if this is something I will keep doing, though I knew not to overdue it or else it would be too hard to make it a habit.

  There are 8 waters, 2 exercises, a fruit and a veggie for health (blue).  Chores (orange) includes: clean cat box (I want to do it before my husband does it.), wash dishes and put away dishes.  I am not much of a house keeper.

Side note:  When I first started I only had 4 waters on the chart, though I decided to do 8 because in the future my goal is to drink 8 glasses of water.  Right now those water post-its do not relate to cups of water.  Again, if I started too hard I would not do it.  Each water is worth 5 swallows of water.  Every time I drink water and take 5+ big swallows, then I can move the tab to the green.  Because I chose to start with little steps I am drinking much more water now.

You will want to make this chart personal to you and your situation by picking activities you want to get done on a daily bases.

The system has been working for me, but not as well as I hoped.  It has been over a month and I am still using it, though it is easy to ignore since it is not the only thing I have on my wall.  I will say getting something colorful has helped it stand out a lot.  I still have to make an effort to look at the list and get it done.  It is so easy to make other choices.  Example:  Drinking coffee instead of my water.  And not carving out time to do proper exercises.

I know I am a creature of habit, so I just need to make it into a habit.  Easy Peesy, right?

How do you keep track of all the things you want to do?  Lists/journal/calendars?