What is a diary really needed for and how to keep it correctly? Bullet journal: The perfect way to journal

05.05.2018 This is interesting

Why do we need diaries? To make your life easier, make it
easier, without loading the brain on everyone at the same time. They help us clearly and
consistently complete tasks without getting confused and without being scattered about everything at once.
Faithful helpers in any case, they are easy to use, for this it is enough
just have a pen and a little imagination. I recommend you also read this
article - http://earn24.ru/kak-pravilno-vesti-ezhednevnik/, we can say that these two
The articles complement each other.

Ideas are shattered by reality

Every day we do a lot of things, and we can often forget something.
It could be a trifle or an important meeting. Why was this fact forgotten?
There are two reasons: they wanted to forget and could not keep it in their heads along with a hundred other things.

In order not to miss an important event, we write it in a diary, on a magnet.
refrigerator, put it into the phone’s memory. It just doesn't help much.
Often attention is paid to them only after the fact. Then the man picks up
notebook or notepad and begins to write down everything there, highlighting it with numbers
or dashes. And even in this case, he still forgets to look at the piece of paper,
because everything there is monotonous and boring.

Planning and psychology

So what's the deal? The answer to this question was found by psychologists. Many people
simply not able to control their activities constantly. To learn
something new, you should get out of your comfort zone, which is fraught with inconvenience.
For some people, this is enough to try to get up not on the right leg in the morning, but on the
left.

It is not enough just to know how to keep a diary correctly, you also need to
adapt the information to suit you. To do this, you need to understand why each
action and whether it is suitable in a given situation. Because depending on the goals these
planners can take different forms.

Experts in the field of psychology and pedagogy strongly recommend
Accustom yourself to taking notes gradually. First you should just buy a notebook
or a notepad where you can simply write down everything you need. For example,
household list or plans for the day.

Be sure to take notes daily. It would be better to start by planning your day,
having written down the upcoming affairs for the next 24 hours. At the end of the day you have to cross it off
completed and see how well the time was spent. The more
The points crossed out, the more productive it was. If one is crossed out
point, don't despair. You just need to transfer all unfulfilled tasks to
the next day. And so on until they are crossed out in the daily plan
all lines.

IN in this case simple motivation is involved. It will be even more useful if
Some recordings will be sketched. For example, a route or
task icon. This makes it easier to perceive and remember what you see.

It is also advised not to pile a lot of things on yourself at once. It's worth starting with the most
significant events and gradually increase their number, moving across
descending to smaller matters. This way a habit will be developed
Regularly check and supplement what you have written.

Now in more detail

For each operating principle given there are several important additions,
which are also important to consider when choosing a diary and how to maintain it. All
they represent a set of interrelated principles for selecting “paper”
friend”, developed by more than one generation of users of various ages and
views. That is, they have a completely unified, generalized character.

1. Choosing a diary. First of all, you need to decide on your target
appointment. Depending on the specifics of what is being recorded, the notepad can be
lined, divided into cells, or completely empty. For creative
a clean person will suit you, but it is optimal to plan business and meetings in
"cells". It is important to remember about the external design, since pleasant
associations will help optimize the start of working with it.

2. Type of diary. Depending on what is planned, it may be
dated for days, weeks, months, or have only empty fields for this. Same
important because sometimes it is difficult to fit one event into the allotted line.

3. Planning method. Tasks can be distributed both by time and by
degree of importance, arrange them in a hierarchy or group them according to other
signs.

4. Designations. It is necessary to develop your own color system
highlighting and schematic designation for each item so as not to get confused
endless lines.

5. Important events. At the beginning of the diary, be sure to attach a piece of paper where
all important events for the year ahead will be marked (birthdays,
holidays, general meetings).

6. Data in reserve. Finally, you definitely need to select several sheets in
a reserve where names, dates, numbers and addresses will be recorded.

So we have looked at the main ways of how to keep a diary schematically and
at the same time, do not get confused, starting from the very basics and gradually “accumulating” with new ones
skills. Now you can safely begin to manage it and not be afraid of anything, because under
There are such wonderful instructions at hand!

As they say, “It’s a mess in your head - get yourself a diary,” so many people are wondering how to keep a diary in order to be able to write down their plans for the near future. In this article you will learn all the rules and useful tips on keeping a diary.

In most cases, business people have a lot of plans, which are sometimes very difficult to keep in their heads, so they turn to a diary for help. The diary will take in any important information, keep it secret, help you remember important events at the right time, and help you analyze what is happening.

How to start keeping a diary correctly.

Many people who start a diary for the first time wonder how to start keeping a diary? First of all, you should start with the selection of the diary itself (in the form of a notebook, notepad, book). It must have a certain zest so that the sight of it makes the soul rejoice. The type of diary should create comfort and coziness, which will help to reveal your ideas to the maximum and record important events.

Having chosen the appropriate diary option, you should decide how to keep the diary step by step and take care of its safety. It is necessary to remember that the diary is your main assistant in organizing your personal events, so it is advisable to keep it with you.

Next, you should complete the first page and plan your own method of conducting. There are no basic rules on how to properly keep a diary; everyone keeps it at their own discretion and convenience. But you can apply the basic filling practice that experts recommend:

  1. It is advisable to make entries in the diary daily. This way, the tendency to solve problems and changes in life is better visible.
  2. This is a tool for working on your self-development and transformation.

Maintaining an organizer diary

Organizer – a notepad containing the necessary contact information, records of important events, meetings. But how to keep such a diary organizer? Maintaining this type of diary involves layout of pages. Nowadays, many ready-made organizer diaries are already sold, with date marks. These diaries include a calendar, telephone codes. The use of this format is very practical when you don’t know how to conveniently keep a work diary.
Electronic organizers are now popular in the world of high technology and constant lack of time. Keeping an electronic organizer has a number of advantages over its conventional paper counterpart:

  1. Compactness;
  2. Notification function about the occurrence of an important event;
  3. Large device memory;
  4. Security of data storage through the possibility of blocking;
  5. Easy and quick deletion of data if it is no longer needed.

The disadvantage of such an organizer is its dependence on charger, and sometimes the Internet, therefore, we leaddiary organizer, which is convenient to use at any time and which meets all the user's needs.

Why is it important to keep a diary?

Keeping a diary is important for self-determination in life. It helps answer basic questions:

  1. What am I doing?
  2. How might this affect my life?
  3. What conclusions can I take from this?
  4. What should I do tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, etc.?

If you work daily on your actions, understand the cause-and-effect relationship of events, then sometimes you can change the course of your life for the better, that’s why keep a diary and write down important moments in your life. You should also figure out how to keep a diary beautifully, since spending time with it should be pleasant. Your imagination will help you choose a unique idea for keeping a diary. .

How to learn to keep a diary? Sometimes it seems like keeping a diary takes a lot of time. This is the impression you get when you start working with him. But once you get used to it, the writing process becomes so important that you can’t wait for the time when you can finally write down new ideas and impressions on the pages.
The basis of proper work with a diary can be found in which a professional leadership coach will share with you the important points of keeping your diary, or listen to the top tips in the field of keeping your own notes:

Tip 1. You need to decide why you need a diary. It is intended for working on yourself or for recording important plans for a certain period of time. Or for both.

Tip 2. At the end, leave 20 sheets, which will be used as a force majeure for quick recording (as a rule, good diaries have such sheets), on them you can write down important phone numbers or contacts that you need.

Tip 3. You must remember that you need to write down only important things in your diary, you do not need to write down items like “Brush your teeth in the morning or chew gum”

Tip 4. An important piece of advice on how to keep a diary correctly is to schematically reproduce events and actions. This method of management is easy to remember and convenient to find important “archival” information.

Tip 5. Write down your favorite quotes and sayings famous personalities. This enriches the cultural world and helps to understand the essence of life. To prevent quotes from getting lost in the text, they are highlighted in color.

The role of a diary in the life of a schoolchild

Most parents are concerned about the question: “Does a schoolchild need a diary?” Observing constant innovations in education, you can see how the school curriculum is changing. Now the child is simply not able to remember everything he needs for school. In addition to school issues, there are many extracurricular activities that require memorization and execution.

You can summarize all the tasks and requirements for the educational process using a diary. It will become a reliable assistant for the student, helping him classify tasks and systematize them according to priority. A student can decide how best to keep a diary on his own in a way that is convenient for him to use.

Keeping a diary helps your child grow up in terms of seriousness. It is easier for a child to adapt to adult life. Most children who have their own business planner, according to statistics, have more life experience and more unique ideas.

Modern teenagers have a busy schedule: they attend many different events, trainings and much more. It is not their parents who should remind them of the importance of their affairs, but the diary that they themselves will keep; it will instill in them a sense of responsibility from their youth. However, teenagers are still teenagers, and they are going through a difficult turning point in their lives. During this period, teenagers experience their first love, their first passion, and often experience misunderstandings with their parents, which leads to frequent quarrels and self-absorption. At this age it is especially difficult to find true friends. To avoid ridicule from peers, professional experts advise using personal diaries and explain how to properly keep a diary for a teenager.

Here the young man can fully express his experiences, which he is embarrassed to tell his friends and especially his parents. This way of expression teaches constant communication, which often develops into full-fledged communication with parents without being ashamed of their joint analysis.

All great things begin gradually, and often from childhood. A child needs to be taught to be organized from childhood. Should teenagers keep a diary? Yes. Parents who care about the success of their children's future should definitely take care of their child getting a diary. You can often encourage your child to want to work with him by showing this by your own example. When a child sees how their parents work with their diary, they usually want to have one too.

Keeping a diary has a special impact on the child’s internal state.

To know how to keep a diary, the main privileges of a child’s communication with a diary are defined:

  1. It is known that if you speak out, your soul becomes easier. A diary has this function. By describing his experiences, the child is deprived of negative images in his thoughts.
  2. Increases self-esteem. In the diary, without fear of condemnation or ridicule, the child describes his good sides and virtues.
  3. Teaches you to analyze events, from the moment the cause is identified until the consequences occur. The child can even predict events similar to which have already occurred.
  4. The process of preparing and implementing the idea of ​​how to keep a diary creates a creative inclination in the child.

How successful people keep a diary


Constant systematization of events occurring in life puts thoughts in order. Daily recording of everything important makes it possible to easily analyze your life and your actions. All successful people They know exactly how to effectively keep a diary so that further analysis will help in business. At all times, all successful people kept personal notes in diaries. Goal-oriented person he knows exactly what he wants, constantly thinks about the problem, and in order not to forget every little thing that can bring him at least one step closer to his dream, he constantly keeps notes. Notes help you remember special events.

But how to keep notes in a diary and how can you conveniently keep a diary? Many people who have achieved great success in life They advise you to spend at least 10-15 minutes daily writing in your diary and honestly answering 5 questions for yourself:

– Whom to thank for today?

– What pleasantly surprised and pleased you today?

– What useful things have you done today for your own well-being?

– What did you do useful for your loved ones today?

– What new did you learn today?

You need to answer honestly in your diary, because the answer is dedicated directly to yourself and your introspection. This method of filling out a diary is called the “Five Fingers” method. Using this method you can learn how to keep a diary.

Daily responses of this kind produce a certain reflex. If there is no answer to a question, a person may evaluate the past day as a missed opportunity to do something useful. The systematic absence of any answer means that a person daily misses the chance to make his life better. It seems like a small thing, but in life everything has meaning, and every particle of the processes happening around us makes up the overall picture of life.

Is it worth keeping a diary for success in business? The answer is clear: “yes.” They say “success comes with hard work and hard work.” And it is true. But in order to keep up with everything, you need to know how to keep a diary correctly, so that the writing process is effective and takes little time. Therefore, do you keep a diary? , or not is a personal right, but if outstanding people who have achieved significant success in life advise it, it may be worth listening.

Video of why to keep a daily journal from professional leadership coach Robin Sharma

Conclusion

Beginners are often asked the question “how to keep a diary.” There is no basic rule, only 1 requirement: remember that the diary is a personal corner of joy where you can plunge, surrender to feelings, talk about experiences, describe events, analyze. You can do everything, the main thing is that after this mini rehabilitation course you immediately feel at ease in your soul. You should not think long about how best to write, how interesting it is to keep a diary, since the information will be distorted.

The initial thought is a real cry of the soul, which we hide and carry within ourselves, lying like a stone in our soul. The specifics of working with a personal notebook are different, but keeping a diary will definitely be beneficial. Therefore, relax, forget about the world around you, take your favorite pen and notepad, splash out the ideas that are already trying to pour out onto the pages.

A diary is an integral part of the lives of many schoolchildren, students, businessmen, and in general, people of any age and profession. To keep a diary correctly, you need to know specifically for what purposes we use it. The instructions below will help you figure it out.

How to keep a diary - types of diaries and the purpose of keeping them

There are several types of diary keeping: different people and goals:

  • School diary (the purpose is to record events Everyday life without any specific purpose).
  • Business diary (the purpose is to record upcoming tasks).
  • Target diary (goal - recording goals for the short or long term, analyzing them).

How to keep a diary - school diary

Many children keep a diary during their school years. There are practically no rules for this, write what you want. Despite this, the diary will take on a more structured and pleasant appearance if you record only the most memorable impressions and important events in it. Before each note, it is advisable to indicate the date of the event.


How to keep a business diary

The business diary is mainly intended for businessmen, managers, marketers and people of similar professions. Keeping a business diary has many subtleties. The most rational way to keep a diary is Time management. Time management is the ability to distribute your time as efficiently and effectively as possible. Before you start keeping a business diary, you need to set yourself up for a strict daily routine.

Basic principles of time management:

Decide on the time you will devote to work, for example from 10:00 in the morning to 20:00 in the evening.

Rank all planned tasks by level of importance and urgency. There are 4 types of cases:

  • Important and urgent.
  • Important, but not urgent.
  • Not important, but urgent.
  • Not important and not urgent.

Accordingly, important and urgent matters are completed first, since they are the highest priority. After completing all the important and urgent tasks planned for the day, proceed with unimportant but urgent ones (such as consulting with an employee subordinate to you and other routine tasks that require attention). Then - important, but not urgent, and only then, if there is time left, devote it to unimportant and not urgent matters. For greater certainty, the day before going to work, donate half an hour to compiling a diary exactly according to the principle of time management.
If some tasks remain unfulfilled, start the next day by completing them so that there are no tails and gaps.


How to keep a targeted diary

Keeping a targeted diary is quite an interesting process. All goals written in the diary must comply with the so-called SMART principle (Specific, Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, Time-based). This means that goals must be specific (concisely, briefly and clearly indicate the essence of the goal), measurable (specific numbers or indicators must be set that must be achieved), achievable (goals must be realistic), significant (really necessary, not banal), limited in time (specific deadlines for achieving the goal must be indicated).

An example of a good SMART goal:

Achieve 20% sales growth by April 1, 2018.

This is an example of a main goal, which also needs to be broken down into several small goals that are necessary to complete it:


Most people have a diary, but not everyone knows how to keep it in such a way that it really makes life easier and simpler. But it is necessary precisely so that all that great amount things planned for the day - from going to a tailoring shop to attending an important business conference - were done on time and in the best possible way. Sometimes you can keep it in your head a large number of Not everyone can do it, and is it really necessary when you have diaries? In addition, a diary is useful in cases where you need to carry out long-term planning or write down things that will need to be done in a week, in a month, or even in several months.

So, you can buy a beautiful and good diary by visiting the ViVat, Office store - here is the official website vv.ua/ezhednevniki - here you can place an order using the catalogue, the goods are delivered to any city in Ukraine.

Why start a diary?

Despite the proliferation of diaries, not everyone uses them. Many people still use sticky notes to write down important information and events or prefer to keep everything in their heads. So why do we need information recording tools such as diaries?

1. First of all, our brain works much better if it is not loaded with a lot of unnecessary information. By unloading it, you can increase your productivity, focus directly on work, or relax quietly alone with yourself.

2. Secondly, by looking at your diary, you can immediately get an idea of ​​the things that need to be done or completed that day.

3. Thirdly, plan so much for events that will happen in the future.

4. And finally, fourthly, from the entries in the diary, after some time it will be possible to understand how effectively its owner works, and what percentage of what he planned was accomplished. That is, you can conduct some introspection.

You can buy a ready-made diary, or you can design it yourself by purchasing a binder at any office supply store and inserting blocks of paper into it. You will also need page separators, with the help of which the resulting diary should be divided into five parts:

1. Spontaneous ideas and thoughts - for example, you can write down a recipe for a dish for dinner or the title and author of a book you want to read.
2. Plans for the coming day - as a rule, a person is able to efficiently and calmly complete no more than 5 tasks per day, so it is not recommended to write down more.
3. Plans for the coming week - this column will be regularly updated during the week itself, then they should be distributed over different days.
4. Plans for the next month - this column is intended for plans for this and next months and should precede the beginning of each new month in the diary.
5. Non-urgent plans are, for example, a list of purchases that you would like to make when you have money and time, or the need to buy gifts for the coming holidays.

You can add other columns as desired. But, of course, it’s easier to use a professional diary.

Plans for the current week should be updated at the beginning of the week, plans for the month should be recorded at the beginning of that month. And you need to constantly return to these sections and check whether everything planned has been completed.

Keeping a diary correctly will make your life and work much easier.

Yesterday I attended a yoga class, where I practiced deep relaxation with resourceful memory. On the way home, one of the students complained that not only did the memory not come to her, she really couldn’t relax!
To the question: “What’s the matter?” she replied that work occupied all her thoughts. I asked her if she had a diary and the answer was negative.

I was once in the same situation – I was very worried about work. At that time I was the company's drug sales manager. Clients, suppliers, vaccines, bandages, thermal cards, warehouse, price lists... I tried to keep all this in my head and it got to the point that I started dreaming about excel tables! And then I said to myself: “Enough!”

From that moment on, I decided that as soon as I leave the office door, I forget where I work and what questions there are. I NEVER take work (any kind) home. And I write everything in my diary.

All calls, all telephone numbers, everything about suppliers, everything about clients, tasks, turnover - all of this found a place in a regular office diary, where an entire page is dedicated to the day. Plus, I had a flip-up notepad on a spring, where I wrote down everything that was said to me on the phone, if it did not relate to my work. That is, if they offered me something or asked me to give it to me, or it was an order that I didn’t know if we could fulfill... I wrote everything in a notebook, which replaced a million small pieces of paper that always got lost somewhere.

I used the diary all year, and the notebooks changed periodically. Among other things, the notebook may have thematic pages where all suppliers, according to categories, all pharmacies, stores. All clients are also divided into categories and groups.

In the diary you can record all the results of searching for information on the Internet with website addresses, product codes and prices. In short, you can do everything there and it will all be IN ONE PLACE!

How to keep a diary

You need to keep a diary in such a way that your head is unloaded - this is the main condition. You don't have to remember anything. Write everything down! How to organize your notes, and with them your affairs, is a personal question. It all depends on how many of these cases there are, how new tasks arrive, etc.

There are two most popular systems for planning and organizing your affairs:
- Bullet journal;
- GTD or Getting Things Done.

You can get to know them in more detail or develop something of your own. For myself, I mixed them.

I would recommend just starting with a diary to start with. At first you will simply record as you see fit, then watch a couple of videos on YouTube and pick up ideas. Take any notepad or notebook and designate it as your daily planner. You don't even have to buy anything!

The main thing is that your diary performs its main functions:
1. Stored information.
2. Helped plan work and life.
3. Motivated to live more interestingly and work more productively!

And remember:
“If you don't create your own life plan, chances are you will end up in someone else's plan. Guess what is planned for you there? A little".(c) Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author, trainer and motivator.

Here it should be said that by unloading your head from other people’s (work) problems, you will have the strength and time to think about organizing your life. Perhaps reconsider your goals, set new ones and start moving towards yourself.

By the way, a diary is also very helpful for implementing projects. But goal setting is a separate topic.

Self-organization of a freelancer

Freelancer work is very different from office work. And the issue of self-organization is very acute, because there are so many distractions, from the Internet, to family, a dog, or even a bed! ;) Therefore, you can’t do without organization, motivation and control! And the glider is the best assistant for this.

My planning consists of:
1. Weekly schedule.
2. Monthly reversal.
3. To do sheet.
4. List of tasks from management.
5. Habit tracker.

Weekly schedule helps you decide “what should I do” right now. That is, there is a time schedule for exactly when I have to work. Moreover, I don’t write mindlessly for 8 hours – that’s not true.
Even in the office, people rarely work more than 4-6 hours. They work, and don’t go to meetings, drink coffee, go to the smoking room, read the news, etc. This refers specifically to work, without “sitting” or “serving.” Plus, without distractions, you work much faster and more productively in the early hours.

My planning system is suitable for those who work with one project and/or customer, and do not constantly take on different ones. Because if you constantly have different tasks, it is better not to make a schedule, but to keep a weekly journal.

Create your weekly schedule. I am attaching a video by Anastasia Kay on how to do this as efficiently as possible.

Monthly reversal helps you plan things according to time. Here I write down only what will happen on this day in any case. Birthdays, for example, Ekadashi fasting days, holidays that are important to me.

Things that are not guaranteed to happen, but are time-bound, I write on stickers that I can re-stick for another day or month.

It’s very useful to keep track of your goals in your monthly spread! Let's say I planned to travel around Ukraine every month and if there is nothing blue on the spread, then I urgently need to plan something. I go to the “Travel” section and select from the “wish list” where to go this month and immediately plan the day of the trip and buy train or bus tickets.

In the current months, I have a complete “shamahandia” of stickers and decals, plus I don’t share my plans, so I’ll show you how empty it looks and I’ve come up with some things to do for myself so that it looks like real planning.

I note that it is very convenient to use color coding.

For example, I have the following color codes in my planner:
STICKERS:
Pink – important;
Blue – travel and/or tickets;
Orange - lessons, education;
Purple – associated with yoga;
Green - something nice for yourself;
Yellow - something unimportant, but it has a place.
DOTS/CIRCLES:
Lilac – hungry days of Ekadashi;
Pink – birthdays;
Orange – lessons, courses;
Blue – travel;
Red – payment days.

TO DO sheet("TO DO" ​​list) or a sheet with things that need to be done. This is a list of all things to do. Moreover, I have TO DO sheets, both work and personal. That is, for example, now is working hours, which means I open the TO DO sheet for work, select a task and... work.

In the working TO DO I have a list of files. Personally: buy food for the dog, write a blog post, listen to a training... etc.

To-do list items appear from task list from management. In principle, this may be the same list for you. But I have two due to the nature of my work. Basic information in in electronic format in computer. But in order to know which file for which site I need to process now, I look at the TO DO list. And in order to give tasks to people or plan work, you need a list of tasks from management. These are not something specific, but general vectors of movement.

Habit tracker Helps you get organized every day. For example, I write down there: the time I got up (I instill in myself the habit of getting up at 6:00), my weight, the number of pages written for the site, exercises, English, etc. This thing not only helps you keep track, but also perfectly motivates you to do what you want to do.

Since everything is in one “account” book, you won’t leave it or forget it, so you’ll be filling out both your monthly planner and your habit tracker.
This means planning your life!

Paper diary or mobile phone

Many people use it for this mobile applications, but this method does not suit me. My cell phone doesn't run my life. I don’t depend on electronics, charging, RAM, sound messages, etc. Writing something with a pen is much faster for me than typing a task on a small keyboard.

Plus paper diary the fact is that to read it you need physical access, and if you write information (for example, passwords to sites) in a way that only you can understand, then the information will be safe. A mobile phone makes it possible for everyone who has the means/knowledge and desire to get acquainted with it. Information is not protected on the Internet.

Also mobile phone It can suddenly break down and all the information will disappear in an instant and it’s not a fact that it can be restored. And the sandwich, as you know, almost always lands butter side down.

How to choose a diary

If you decide to try to unload your head and you are faced with the question of how to choose a diary, then I will share my experience.

Of course, it all depends on your needs. If you work in an office, then I would recommend a diary or a thick notebook for work notes. It is important that it has good weaving - when open, it should lie on the table and the pages should not jump. You want it to be comfortable to write on both the right and left pages of the diary.

Dated office diary

When I worked in an office, the most convenient for me were regular dated office diaries. As a rule, even budget options (which can be bought even in supermarkets) have a good weave that allows you to open the book on the table and the pages will not jump. Plus - there is a lot of space for notes. The only requirement for a diary for me is the red color of the cover. All dates are also written in advance, which allows you to plan ahead. A nice bonus that dated diaries have - moon phases, angel days, public holidays, city telephone codes, sunrise and sunset times and a map of Ukraine and Europe on the endpapers - I also constantly used this.

If this doesn't matter to you, then you can buy an undated planner or a nice, handy notebook for work and design it the way you like. By the way, you can use this one for several years if you don’t write every day. Nowadays they are even made to order for a person - choose or not! There are a lot of videos on YouTube where girls make diaries (mostly weekly planners) from ordinary notebooks.

Moleskine journals

But Moleskine diaries are inferior in terms of information content. They are simply dated. The phases of the moon are written only in the annual planner and are not clear. The rest of the information familiar to Ukrainian diaries is missing. But there are stickers and a separate booklet for special notes, as well as a convenient pocket on the back flyleaf. Excellent binding and paper quality. Another great thing is that the notebook closes with an elastic band - very convenient - it does not open and the pieces of paper do not fall out, even if you carry it in your bag. But there is also a minus - the high price. I bought mine both on Amazon and once at a supermarket in Cologne - it was very cheap - 17 euros.

Moleskine diaries come in different formats. I tried a daily planner and a weekly planner with a writing sheet. As for the weekly journal, it is clearly not enough for the office, but it is more than enough for a book that you carry with you (to meetings with clients and suppliers, for example). But this is for me personally. You may have a different system.
In principle, there is nothing special about a dated moleskine, so you can use any notebook instead. Moleskine is simply a good brand. Show-offs are worth more than money, as they say.

Filofax organizers

Filofax organizers were a discovery of 2016 for me. A significant drawback of any stitched notebooks is the inability to carefully tear out the page, and in notebooks that are not spring-loaded, the inability to insert them. But this problem is solved in Filofax Organizers, whose rings open and close. That is, you can independently create the perfect notebook for yourself, and after a week you can redo EVERYTHING. If you need another page for passwords or contacts... no problem - you can insert it. It's easy to swap sections. Insert your share - please! In addition, you can insert postcards, envelopes, files, cardholders and even calculators!

I almost never use the original Filofax filling, but make my own. But nevertheless, the selection of content on the official website is large and there is delivery to Ukraine.

I placed orders on the official websites of Filofax in Italy (I don’t recommend it - it took a month to deliver, plus there are questions about filling) and filofax in the UK - delivery is more expensive, but it arrived in 3 days. I like it. The big disadvantage is the very high cost of these organizers, especially those with leather covers.

I bought a small leather organizer (which I carry with me as a wallet, a pocket planner and a notepad for ideas) for 70 euros (and this is at a discount, but it is a very expensive limited edition model - Filofax Enigma pocket red), and I bought a desktop one that is no longer leather personal size, Filofax Saffiano model, color red, or rather poppy.

But you don't have to buy an original Filofax. You can buy a Chinese equivalent on Aliexpress - there are very beautiful models! Here's the thing... You can buy dokibooks or organizers from a very cheap company deli, which are sold even in Auchan. It all depends on how much you are willing to spend on office supplies. %) I'm a notebook maniac, so everything is expensive. But the main thing is planning, not a notepad.

Before buying an expensive organizer with rings, I bought a nice Aventura notebook from the online store “Notes of a Madman” and if the diameter of the rings was enough for me, I would have stopped with it! It's almost like a personal size Filofax, only the sheets are one centimeter wider. As a result, when I got my hands on Filofax, I simply rearranged the “filling” from the old one to the new one and that’s it :).

For me, a diary is something that organizes my life and something that I turn to several times every day. Therefore, I want the item to be beautiful and to enjoy using it. My yoga mat, for example, is also incredibly expensive from Manduka.

In addition, I use Filofax as a notebook, a success diary, and a website planner. independent travel freetravel.com.ua, as a programming summary, an address book, a collection of codes and passwords, a shopping list, a notepad, etc. That is, this is the only notebook that I basically need for all my information: both for work and for personal life. Like 20 notebooks in one!

I understand that this post is long, but the topic of diaries and notebooks is one of my favorites. I could write a book about them. I hope some tips helped you. I’ll learn how to make videos – I’ll also shoot about diaries.

Remember, 5% of your working time spent on planning saves 30% of your life time. So go ahead! To productivity and achieving goals and dreams!