If you have ever gotten frustrated with a pre-made planner because you ended up working to fit the planner, rather than the planner fitting you, there is a solution. That solution is Bullet Journaling.

Ryder Carroll, the author of the bullet journal, has taken his simple system and made a coherent book out of it. Not only does he cover the basic methods (available on his website), but he shows how the bullet journal method can be used in a variety of situations.

Daily planning. The bullet journal is a great planning tool. Migrate your tasks from your monthly list or another day. Add your events, both planned and things that happened, and you have a complete picture of the day.

Journal. The bullet journal also acts as a journal. Not only do you put down your tasks and events, but you can also make notes about what happened. Need more space for reflection and long-form journaling? Pick the next empty page.

Can be as simple or fancy as you want. While the author is all about simplicity, he acknowledges that some people want to make their bullet journal an expression of art. While there is nothing wrong with this, the author stresses that it can be very plain and simple. This is a relief to someone who has looked at the fancy spreads and seen no way to achieve it.

Not everything goes in. I found the section on collections – those free form lists and notes about a particular subject – to be enlightening. This is where the author makes the case that not everything should go into the bullet journal. If it isn’t worth tracking and revisiting later, it isn’t worth putting in.

Review is key. Going through once a month during what is called the “migration” allows you to review what happened that month and reflect on it. This in turn allows you to build on your experience and mistakes. Even this is flexible – you can migrate as often as you need to.

I was impressed with this book. Not just because of the information, but because of the engaging style the author used. While planning and such can be a really dry subject, Ryder Carroll presented it in a way that made me eager to read. And this is something that rarely happens with non-fiction for me.

Book Information

Book: The Bullet Journal Method
Author: Ryder Carroll
Publisher: Portfolio
ISBN-13: https://amzn.to/2E20wI5*

Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash

Having a task list is only part of the productivity success formula. You also have to be able to set aside time to work on the tasks in order to complete them. A new version of iOS software recently released, promises to help with that.

At its very basic, Sorted(3) is a task manager that integrates with your calendar. It shows the events from you Calendar on the same screen as tasks from your Reminders.

That isn’t all it does, though. You can also “schedule” the tasks to fit in with your calendar by dragging them into place. It helpfully uses the duration you have set on the tasks to tell you when the task will be over. And if you really can’t decide, you can use the Autoschedule feature to have it assign your due tasks to open spots on your calendar, asking for default task duraction and buffer time between tasks.

Pros

• Intuitive interface, even with complicated functionality
• Scheduling tasks is a great help in managing your time.
• The Autoschedule is, well, magic.
• You can see your schedule and your due tasks in one place.
• Adding a task is as simple as pulling down on the screen.
• Completion goes back to the Reminders task

Cons

• Only works with built-in Calendar and Reminders list. I would like to be able to import from other task programs, even if the information didn’t flow the other way.

Summary

Software Information

App: Sorted(3)
Author: StaySortedLimited
Price: $14.99 (one time full unlock, or free for Sorted users)

Disclosure: StaySortedLimited let me see the program in their beta program in order for me to write this review.

Earlier this year, David Allen, along with two co-authors, released a new version of Getting Things Done, and this one was aimed at teens. The differences between the original and teen version are striking, and I believe that the teen version is easier to use, maintain, and understand.

If you have ever tried Getting Things Done (GTD), you have probably struggled with parts of it. Whenever I bring up GTD in a management discussion, I hear the grumblings from having to have all the equipment and time to clear the decks, to not knowing what was up in the clouds when the job was stuck on the runway, to just being frustrated with the amount of overhead necessary to keep up the system. All this has been rectified in the version for teens.

Written By An Educator

The reason I even checked this book out was because of an interview that one of the co-authors gave on a podcast I listen to regularly. He used terms like “learning modalities”. This is a term not commonly used outside of the education community. And when I looked at the book, I found that the third author is an educator with 20 years in the public schools. I could see his hands all over the book, making it approachable no matter what learning style an individual favors.

Usuable Out of the Gate

Anyone who has read the original GTD knows that there is a lot of text to wade through before you get to the point where you can do something. And then, when you do get to that point, you instructed to basically take everything around you and put it into a pile and sort through it. This approach is frustrating to people who don’t have the time to do a complete mindsweep, and need some help getting some breathing room.

GTD for Teens breaks the actions down so that they are usable, without massive action. It explains some theories about how the brain works, goes through real-life examples of how to classify “stuff”, and then you’re on your way.

No 5-10 Year Plan

One of the things I hated about the original GTD book was the emphasis on knowing where you are going to be in 5-10 years. I work in technology, and I have no desire to ever be a manager again. I can’t even fathom what technology might be out there in three years for me to work with, much less what I will be doing in 10! The whole runway analogy just irked me. With the job I do, I would never get past 500 feet. Why fly at all?

In GTD for Teens, they approach this using a pyramid, with the top being “why am I on the planet?”…and then instructions to write down what “seems true to you today.” Instead of setting that level and working toward it, it works from the vague to the specific, without pressuring anyone to lock their thinking and focus onto a level you might not even want in a few years.

Contexts Are Gone

I suspected when I read GTD in 2002, that contexts weren’t really as important as David Allen made them out to be. Again, I worked in technology, and I could see where technology could be used to blur those lines, making it impossible to have clear-cut divisions between work/personal, business phones, email and such.

In GTD for Teens, they convert this to a “spotlight strategy” which talks about the four spotlights: location, time, energy and priority. This is much more flexible than the contexts of old. It allows you to take into account how you would be most effective at the time, rather than making you slog through a list of tasks just because you happened to be in a certain physical location.

The Lab

One of the key concepts in education is you present the material, and then you get the students to engage with it. In my classroom, that meant doing math problems, practicing the skills. This book follows the same patterns: present it, then have them work with it.

GTD for Teens uses the back third of the book as a lab. The sole purpose is to have teens walk through the concepts for themselves. It’s written very much like a science lab manual, explaining why you’re doing it, what to do, and what to look for.

Something You Can Do Right Now

If you have any familiarity with GTD (the original), head over to GTDForTeens.com and look for their download icon. Choose one of the worksheets and try it out. I love the mindsweep for stress.

If you aren’t familiar with GTD, skip the original book and head to the library (or Amazon*) and pick up a copy of Getting Things Done for Teens. It will really help you clarify and systematize your productivity systems.

Book Information

Book: Getting Things Done For Teens*
Author: David Allen, Mike Williams, Mark Wallace
Publisher: Penguin Books
ISBN-13: 978-0143131939
Reading Time: 4 hours

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

When you decide to change anything, you have to be aware of what you are moving away from and also to what you are moving. Most of the time when we are trying to change something about ourselves, the knowledge of what we are moving away from is automatic: we see what we want to change as the first step to change.

However, when we are setting out to make ourselves stronger, more resilient, more flexible, more whatever, we may not have an awareness of what we need to stop doing in order to move toward our goals.

The book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success* is a guidebook on things to avoid if you are trying to up your mental strength and resiliency.

What’s Inside

The book, as you would expect, talks about 13 things mentally strong people don’t do. These are: they don’t waste time feeling sorry for themselves; they don’t give away their power; they don’t shy away from change; they don’t focus on things they can’t control; they don’t worry about pleasing everyone; they don’t fear taking calculated risks; they don’t dwell on the past; they don’t make the same mistakes over and over; they don’t resent other people’s success; they don’t give up after the first failure; they don’t fear alone time; they don’t feel the world owes them anything; and they don’t expect immediate results.

Each one is approached with an introductory story, the signs of the issue, the reasons why we might do it, the problems with it, and how to avoid it. Then at the end of each chapter is a “Troubleshooting and Common Traps” section, including “What’s Helpful” and “What’s Not Helpful.”

What Makes This Book Different

What makes this book different, and what I really liked about it, was that it went the extra step. Many books will tell you why, what’s wrong with something and how to avoid it. This book alone includes the extra section of troubleshooting and common traps.

The point of having a to-don’t list is to make you aware of things you shouldn’t do so you can replace them with things you should. Having the extra section at the back makes it much easier to be aware of your behavior and what can be done to mitigate any problems.

My Favorite of the 13

The one that struck me the strongest was “they don’t give away their power”. I struggled with this during the past summer, when my father’s sudden death pulled me back into the orbit of the extended family I walked away from 20 years ago. The criticism and anger over my absence spawned retribution in the form of my being written out of my father’s obituary. Around the same time I found that I could no longer tolerate the constant picking a client was doing at me, and I asked to be removed from the client site at the end of my contract, earning me a reprimand at work with comments that were demoralizing and unwarranted.

I realized that in both situations where I was wanting to be accepted and liked, had cost too high of a price. I had given away my power, and it was time to reclaim it. It was time for me to unhook how I felt about myself from my job, my clients, my employer and my extended family. I realized I had to let go of my anger and resentment, because it was only hurting me. I had to decide what was best for me…regardless of my employer, client or extended family.

I am still working on these issues, and I am using the troubleshooting section of the chapter to help me to do it.

Conclusion

I was very impressed by this book because it gave concrete actions that can be taken, as well as the signposts that allow you to see if you are traveling down the “don’t” path. It is going to be a biannual read for me.

Book Information

Book: 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do: Take Back Your Power, Embrace Change, Face Your Fears, and Train Your Brain for Happiness and Success*
Author: Amy Morin
Publisher: William Morrow
ISBN-13: 0062358294

Disclosure:TLC Book Tours provided me with a free copy of the book enable me to write this review.

Sometimes you just need a simple solution. Like when you’re trying to remember in which cloud storage you stashed a particular file. Instead of going through each one, wouldn’t it be great if there was one place you could look that had all of them?

There is. And it’s called Multcloud.

How Multcloud Works

This is such a simple solution: you add your drives. Then you access your files all in one place.

You click on a button, select the service you want to add, then fill in the credentials.

I added four services: Dropbox, Google Drive, One Drive, and my FTP to the blog.

If you want to search multiple services, you can. Simple check the services, enter your search terms, and it searches everything you have checked.

Pros

• It is really simple to add services.
• It searches across all services you select.
• You can move files quickly between services.
• Nothing is served on Multcloud servers.
• It’s free.

Cons

• How are they making money?

Summary

This service has helped me in many ways – in fact, it was one of the ways I got around a client’s recent cloud storage blocking. This service is easy to use, easy to set up, and allows you to consolidate and get to your files.

Software Information

Site: Multcloud
Company: AOMEI
Price: Free

One of the things I think the iPad should be better at is being a notebook. It would be so nice to be able to take notes as with a pen, and not have to deal with the typing. Notes Plus is an application that brings this to the iPad.

There are a lot of note taking applications out there. Notes Plus stands head an shoulders above the rest with its ease of use, and the handwriting to text module available for additional purchase. It is also very friendly to left-handed people and others who have different hand positions while writing.

Pros

• Easy to switch paper types within a notebook
• The palm rest area – where you put your palm while writing – is adjustable to account for writing style
• You can choose from one of six different hand positions – including three left-handed
• You can keep your hand still and scroll the paper while writing – making it faster to take notes
• The handwriting-to-text module actually works – even with messy notes
• You can save styles of pens, making it very easy to get back to your favorites
• You can export as a graphic, PDF, or native (so others can open/edit the notebook)
• You can add recordings and shapes to your notebook
• You can natively put this to VGA to share during a presentation
• You can easily lock a page as read-only
• You can print directly from the app via AirPrint

Cons

• The only thing I wish that this application had was the ability to tag things. It would be great to mark things as needing further action and then pull up a list of those items later.

Summary

I really enjoyed using the Notes Plus application. If they add in the tagging, I will throw over my current note-taking app and never look back.

Software Information

App: Notes Plus
Author: Viet Tran
Price: $4.99

Disclosure:

NotesPlus.com provided me with a free copy of the software to enable me to write this review.

Photo by NotesPlus

As a consultant, how I bill my time is important. And in order to bill properly, I have know calculate properly.

Calculating time can be a pain in the neck. 60 minutes, plus all the increments therein…nothing goes nicely to base 10. In the past I have just resorted to working in quarter hour increments. But even that can get tricky, adding increments up on the calculator.

That’s where Calcloc steps in to fill the breach. Calcloc is a calculator that can handle native time calculations.

Probably the best way to demonstrate this is to show you a recent example from my life.

Calcloc In Action

I was working from home because my daughter was off school. I started at 8:30, and at 9:10, my internet and phone stopped working. I called the phone company, and they promised to have someone out between noon and 9pm.

I knew I had to continue to work, so the choice was to pack up and head to the library. I got there at 9:55 am, and worked until 12:05, when I received the call to go home and meet the technician. I started work back up at 12:50 and worked until 4:30. What were my total hours?

• 8:30 to 9:10
• 9:55 to 12:05
• 12:50 to 4:30

Step 1: 8:30 to 9:10

Step 2: 9:55 to 12:05pm

Step 3: 12:50pm to 4:30 pm

Step 4: Adding the times together

or all at once…

Summary

This is a simple application, and it does what it is supposed to very well. Anyone who has to calculate time ranges regularly will appreciate the ease with which it can be done using this application.

Software Information

App: Calcloc
Author:Clever Acronym
Price: $0.99

Disclosure: CleverAcronym provided me with a free copy of the software to enable me to write this review.