If you didn’t read Part I, then you can read that first.
On to the paper part of things.
The value, for me, of digital calendars and task tracking is that I can easily throw something in there when it occurs to me, or when it is scheduled, and forget about it — for now. That way I don’t have a million things swirling in my brain all the time, taking up space.
But I absolutely have no idea what’s in there at any moment. That’s where paper and handwriting comes in. And if I write something down with my hand, it has a way of sticking in my brain.
So every weekend (usually on Saturday morning), I pull out a weekly planner. I’m actually in the midst of changing to a new format, but I’ll show you what I’ve been using the past two years, which works well enough. This one is made an Ink + Volt Goal Planner, which is really nice if goal planning is what you’re after. (This one has four pages per week, and a two-page spread suits me better, so I’m switching over to Appointed’s Weekly Task Planner, which comes in larger and smaller editions on their site.)
I don’t use some of the more aspirational pieces of the planner because, I don’t know, that’s just not me. But I do sit down and thumb through ToDoist, then copy the big tasks I have to do for the week — pieces to write or research, chapters to read, classes to prep, assignments to grade, other things that must be accomplished — onto the task planner spread. All week, I keep an eye on it and cross things off as they’re finished. On the left-hand page I tend to keep notes related to planning meetings at my Vox job, or phone calls with customer service agents, etc. It looks like this by the end of the week:
As you can see, I do not actually do quite everything I intend to do, but for the most part these are the tasks that absolutely have to be done this week, or that are “goals” for the week (the streaks and workouts).
Then I flip over to the next page, which has more of a traditional weekly layout, and I write down what’s going on that week so that I can sort of fit it all in my head and make sure I think I can reasonably pull off everything I intend to do this week. That looks like this:
I really don’t look back at this book too much during the week, but it helps me feel like I have things mostly under control.
At this point I do a few other things, too. I check the yoga calendar in the Yoga with Adrienne app, which I love, and write down the minutes for each day’s scheduled practice; sometimes I swap them out for other ones but I try to stick to the calendar because, again, decision-making. Same for running, which I pull out of a running app. (Right now I’m on this one.)
And finally, I set up a grocery delivery slot for the end of the week and add anything that I already know I want. For a few months that’s included the ingredients for next week’s lunch from the Lunch! book I mentioned last week.
The last piece of this is the daily planner, which I don’t use every day (especially if I have class in the morning) but I do use most days. Ink + Volt also makes a day planner that I really like, both as a notebook and as a notepad with tear-off sheets. On days where I feel super scattered in the morning, or where I have a lot of moving pieces, I sit down in the morning when I get up and block off what’s got to happen that day and where I’ll work on specific tasks, commute, and so on. Here’s a sample:
Do I do everything in order as scheduled? Absolutely not. But it does give me the chance to think through things so I’m not just flailing around getting nothing done, which definitely happens otherwise. It also helps me “batch” the small tasks — you can see that here, where I needed to cancel our internet service (boring, annoying) and do a quick French lesson because I am trying not to be a language idiot when I’m abroad again next summer.
Because I’m a stationery nerd, I sprang for the Appointed equivalent for next year. I like how it kind of functions as a journal, too, a thing I am absolutely terrible at doing otherwise.
This all sounds very time consuming, but really it takes about 20 mins on the weekend — and if I can combine it with going to a local bagel shop or something, even better — and two minutes in the morning the days I use the daily planner. I also get the BONUS AWESOME of being able to mark off tasks in two places, ToDoist and the paper planner, which means I feel twice as satisfied.
What’s left to say? I schedule my life out about two months ahead; when I have a lot of books to read (as I currently do) I assign the readings to myself at the beginning of the week, as if I am both professor and student, which was an immensely effective way to actually get them done while working on Salty. I don’t get mad at myself if I don’t get things done, but I do have a much easier time being realistic about setting deadlines so I blow them less often. (I have the benefit of mostly being able to have input into my deadlines, though of course the movie release schedule dictates some of it.) When I am traveling for work or on vacation, I absolutely go into survival mode and do none of these things and basically just concentrate on doing what I have to do, keeping track of what time zone I’m in, and drinking enough water.
I think that’s everything, but if you are left with questions, or have suggestions, please do stick them in the comments below. Last week’s response indicates a lot of calendar nerds are floating around these parts so everyone might benefit.
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
Been writing
My review of House of Gucci, a profoundly stupid film that I love, kind of blew up the internet? It was a lot of fun to write and I even heard the hosts of NPR’s weekend politics podcast talking about it.
Jane Campion’s excellent The Power of the Dog is in limited theaters right now and comes to Netflix on Wednesday! (That is, December 1.) I also reviewed it. Phenomenal Benedict Cumberbatch, great movie from one of our very best.
And Paul Thomas Anderson, whose movies more or less made me want to write about film, has a new movie out: Licorice Pizza. Right now you can only see it in LA and NYC but it will go wide on Christmas. Here’s my review and, more broadly, my reflection on how the man is always making a romance, even if the two main characters are trying to kill each other, and not in a Mr. and Mrs. Smith kind of way.
Been reading and watching
Still reading The Method and also added Robert Sklar’s Movie-Made America, which seems very useful for my new book.
We just watched Broadcast News, for the first time! Holly Hunter forever!
Odds and ends
We co-hosted Thanksgiving at a friend’s house, so I cooked up a storm this week, and I would like to commend to you this intensely easy slow cooker pot roast recipe. (In a traditional slow cooker it’s done in 8 hours on high; I also made a piece of it on the slow cooker setting on my Instant Pot, and would modify thusly: run it for 16 hours — yep — on the high setting, then remove the meat and run the pressure cooker on high for 3 minutes to finish the potatoes.)
Paper vs. Pocket Robot (or, Part II)
Thank you, Alissa - this is super helpful! I have a multiple-lists system myself, and it worked until recently. Then my brain got OLD, and my work became almost entirely self-directed, and I started forgetting things even with my lists. Heading over to Ink & Volt right now. That format gives me a wonderful little thrill.