What to do with a small diary. How to keep a diary correctly to complete your tasks

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 told 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 means work specifically, 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 to be.
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-dos in the TO DO sheet 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 electronic form on a 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 “track 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 mobile applications for this, 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.

The advantage of a paper diary is that you need physical access to read it, and if you write information (for example, passwords to websites) 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, a mobile phone can suddenly break down and all information will disappear in an instant and it is 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, a planner for the website for 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 my 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!

The need to keep a diary may arise for any person who has to carry out a lot of errands every day. The journaling techniques presented in the article will help you plan your day correctly and complete all tasks.

Modern people do not always have an eight-hour working day. Most often the work schedule is flexible. In such conditions, it is difficult to accomplish everything you want on time and keep all the information in your head. The diary is intended precisely for these purposes.

Why you need to keep a diary:

Regularly reviewing your to-do list significantly saves energy and time;
writing down important things helps the brain clear itself of unnecessary information;
with its help you can plan time for any period;
Over time, using the records, it will be possible to analyze the effectiveness of your work.

A person who has never used this attribute before will probably have a question about what exactly to write down. Do an experiment. On the eve of a holiday (birthday or New Year), make a list of all the things that need to be done: from buying bread to calling a friend. Believe me, all questions will disappear after this list is formed.

Types of diaries

To work effectively, you need not only to keep a diary, but also to use it correctly. This in turn depends on who is keeping the records.

Diary for girls and teenagers

Teenagers and children keep diaries more often if they wish. Some design a notebook beautifully, while others work with a spreadsheet. For many people, appearance doesn’t matter; what matters is the content. There are no universal rules for keeping diaries for children at this age.

Diary for girls

The appearance of a diary on a girl or guy indicates that secrets have appeared in their lives. This can be either first love or conflicts. In this case we are not talking about systematicity. The information is rather filled in according to desire and mood.

Diary for a student

Student note-taking is a useful learning skill. With their help, it is easier to assimilate material, draw up diagrams, etc. You can use the Cornell method to keep a diary. Divide the sheet into two parts. Allocate the larger half for writing theses, and the smaller half for your own thoughts. Students may also be interested in group notes using the Evernote app.

Diary for business people

What and how to enter into the notebook is up to everyone to decide for themselves.

There are also a number of general filling rules:

Information must be entered every day, even if it seems that all tasks have been completed. This will help you develop a sense of organization.
You will have to carry a diary with you so that all tasks that appear during the day are immediately written down.
New goals need to be written down for the next days. Either immediately allocate time to complete the work, or fix the task and then allocate time for it.
Tasks not completed today are automatically transferred to the next day.
At the end of the day, it is necessary to analyze the implementation of the plan.
To learn how to use time rationally, you need to write down absolutely all information, including trips to the store and meetings with friends.

Diary of a housewife or mother

New mothers also have to keep a lot of information in their heads. To avoid forgetting anything, it is better to write down all the details. Why do this every day? The most important events should be marked with letters or numbers. As you fill out the diary, you need to number the pages so that you can later create a table of contents. New mothers already have to carry a lot of things with them. In order not to forget about the notepad, it is better to format it electronically and keep it in your smartphone or other gadget.

You want to look at a beautifully designed notebook again and again.

You need to keep a diary like this:

Fill out the diary with beautiful handwriting using one color of ink.
Use decorative tape and cutouts with quotes, and in the run-up to the holidays, use themed designs.
A black diary filled with a white pen looks very unusual.
Come up with symbols for regular tasks, and highlight the most important ones with a marker.

How to choose a notepad for your diary

In order for the diary to serve for at least a year without losing its appearance, you should choose a notebook with a hard cover. The diary should please its owner. Notebooks with beautiful covers and unique designs can even be found in hardcover. If you plan to constantly carry a diary with you, then it should be of standard sizes. To avoid confusion with dates, it is better to immediately purchase a dated diary. It also includes various reference signs and a notebook for addresses and telephone numbers. The latter may be useful for students and business people.

Interior design ideas

A personal diary is a whirlwind of emotions. Therefore, it is better to keep a diary in the form of an ordinary white notebook and fill it out at your own discretion. When describing your impressions of sitting in a cafe or going to the doctor, attach physical evidence in the form of a photograph or a receipt to the page. Or draw a small diagram, drawing.

Sometimes pages can be designed in the form of postcards, cards of various shapes, sheets of colored paper or parts of packages. Here you can write down thoughts, aphorisms, quotes, excerpts from songs...

Watercolor paints should be used carefully. If the sheets of paper are very thin, then before the experiment you should fasten two sheets of paper together so that the illustration turns out neat.

We design the first page beautifully

The first page is the most revealing. It contains the main moments from the life of the owner of the diary. This could be a drawing of a blooming rose, which characterizes the formation of a personality. Or the inscription STOP, indicating that the person is not ready to share thoughts with the outside world.

Daily and monthly planning

The main task of a diary is to effectively manage time. To do this, you need to plan your day, but not schedule every minute. If the morning meeting drags on for half an hour, your meeting with your partners may be disrupted. You can clearly control your daily routine. However, you should not forget about unscheduled tasks. The stricter the schedule, the higher the likelihood of deviation from it. This in turn is fraught with stress, bad mood and drains energy. Therefore, between hard tasks you should set 50% of the total amount of free time. It is better to experience the pleasure of exceeding the plan than the depression of its failure.

For quick orientation in your notes, you should highlight the most important things in bright colors, and the unpleasant ones (“frogs”) with special symbols. People will pay attention to bright recordings first of all. Doing something very important gives you a feeling of satisfaction. If the “frogs” are divided into several stages, then the pleasure will increase several times. The more energy spent, the stronger the emotions.

Keeping a diary - examples

A personal diary can be used to concentrate on a specific activity and progress towards a goal. Every day, identify 5 successfully completed tasks from different areas of life.

Draw a table with 4 columns in your diary:

“Success” is an achievement.
“Reason” - what became the incentive.
“Further progress” - ways to further advance in the chosen field.
“Actions” - what needs to be done to achieve the goal.

Regularly completing this form helps you move forward in all areas.

How to keep a diary correctly so that it is useful

Cases should be divided according to importance:

Tough tasks must be completed on time.
Flexible tasks are not time-bound and can be postponed in some cases.

From the general to-do list, you should highlight the main items in order to concentrate attention on them. Even better is to divide the sheet of paper into two parts. Write down the most important tasks in the first, and flexible tasks in the second.

How to fill out a notebook and what you can write there

The first rule of time management is proper prioritization. It will also be useful for you to keep your diary correctly. It doesn't matter when a new task appeared. All that matters is the degree of its importance.

Therefore, in the flexible tasks column you should prioritize:

“Important matters” are tasks, failure to complete them on time can lead to serious consequences.
missing “not very important things” can cause minor troubles.
“can be postponed” are auxiliary instructions.

You should not record goals on the page that have not yet been scheduled for completion. Filling out files chaotically will lead to all important information being lost. It is better to fix it separately. This rule can be neglected if the amount of reference information on the sheet does not exceed 50%.

How to use a diary

Experts recommend learning to keep a diary correctly and starting the day with the most unpleasant task, which wastes the most energy. It is in the first half of the day that a person feels a surge of strength. This time should be devoted to eating “frogs”. If the volume of tasks is large, there is a possibility of disruption to future plans, you should divide the “frogs” into several steps.

Due to the large amount of information, some important matters are lost. Therefore, in addition to prioritizing, you also need to motivate yourself to achieve your goal. To do this, it is necessary to set deadlines and constantly prioritize the most important tasks.

8 6 457 0

A diary is an important component of the success of a modern person. By learning to do it correctly, you will save your time, become more confident, and have time to do much more.

You will need:

Why do you need a diary?

A diary should always be in your briefcase or purse to help you plan your day and get your work done.

It is required for:

Businessmen, always busy people.
Those who are engaged in independent business and manage their own schedule (manicurists, masseuses, tutors).
For young mothers who don't have time to do anything.
For uncollected, slightly lazy, forgetful individuals.
For those who are looking for a job or to earn extra money.
For people who have lost faith in themselves and their capabilities.

In other words, a diary will help you organize your thoughts and time. If it’s not enough, you can plan your day so that you can get everything done. And vice versa, if there is a lot of it (for example, among pensioners), it can be used “wisely”, filling the free space with things to do, thereby feeling important and needed.

Having a completed, neat diary will increase your status with employers, colleagues or relatives. After all, this item indicates that you are a purposeful, active person and value your time.

For people who work with people, time tracking and diaries are an integral part of life. You can’t do this without a notepad, otherwise you can lose clients and authority.

Every successful person simply must have a diary. If you don’t know where to start yet, if you’re confused in life, buy a beautiful notebook, the one that you like. Start keeping notes in it. Read it in a week or two - you will probably understand what you are doing wrong, you will have new goals, and previously invisible horizons will open.

A diary is a kind of step towards success. If you absolutely don’t need it, get it as an experiment and make sure it positively changes your life!

5 principles for keeping a diary

For a notebook to be truly useful, you should learn how to fill it out correctly.

Lead every day

The diary should be opened and worked with every day. Try to make entries in this book without even missing a weekend. In addition to work, plan household chores, self-care, and visiting friends or relatives. With the help of these “reminders” you will be able to get more done and complete those tasks that you did not have time for before. Besides, keeping a diary every day is the dynamics of your work and life.

It is not necessary to keep a diary only in certain cases: when you are sick and on vacation. You can allow yourself a short break from thoughts and emotional stress. But even during a period of illness, a diary will be useful for recording medications, their schedule, and symptoms, so that next time you have this useful information at hand. And on vacation, devote several pages to describing your feelings and impressions. During these periods, you don’t have to plan your day and allow yourself to relax.

He should always be there

This doesn't mean you have to take your planner to the bathroom or keep it with you during dinner. But try to always have it on hand so that, if necessary, you can immediately clarify your schedule, write down important news, or remind yourself of upcoming events. Take it to meetings, important negotiations, interviews, meetings.

Write down basic tasks

You must write everything down in your notebook. Include lunch and dinner, visiting friends and cafes, reading books and making phone calls in your daily plan. Especially if you have difficulty managing your time. If you give yourself 20 minutes for lunch, 10 to call a friend and half an hour to buy a new dress, then most likely you will manage to do everything and do even more than you planned. Don’t be afraid that it looks funny or ridiculous, but this way you will see the plan for the day more clearly and clearly.

If you find it difficult to find time for yourself, you are depressed and have completely forgotten about the joys of the soul, add a five-minute coffee break or a walk to your busy schedule.

Rank tasks

Divide all tasks into main and secondary ones. You can select two parts of the page: write important tasks on one, and not so important ones on the second, or mark each task according to the degree of importance. It’s even better to write down all important tasks and do them first.

If the schedule is constantly changing, new items appear throughout the day, highlight the most important ones with a bright marker. Always try to complete the main tasks, do not put them off and take notes on the work done.

Analyze the plan

You shouldn’t write 100 things for one day at once, otherwise you won’t have time to do anything at all. Analyze your plan for the week. You will immediately understand what the mistake is. Especially if you cross out all completed tasks. If you see that there are too many tasks, reduce their number. Give yourself some rest or give up unimportant activities.

Analyzing your plan is a great way to help yourself understand problems with time and assessing your capabilities. Be honest with yourself and everything will work out!

Where to begin

The hardest part of this process is making the first recording. Then everything will go according to the established pattern. To make the diary become your assistant, you should:

Choose a diary that best characterizes you. You should like it, but if you are going to show it to business partners, take it to meetings and constantly carry it with you, buy a beautiful, but discreet one, with a neutral pattern (nature, abstraction). Any diary is suitable for your own use, the main thing is that it makes you happy.
Buy diaries from specialized stationery stores. There you can choose the most suitable and high-quality one.
You can purchase diaries with or without dates. Focus on your schedule and needs. If you are a constantly busy person, you need a calendar; For creative, somewhat chaotic people, a notebook without dates is quite suitable.
Prepare a set of pens with different inks, as well as bright markers (lime, orange, pink). This will make it easier for you to highlight something important; you can write down things for each day using different pens.
Start keeping a diary on Monday. This will streamline it a bit from the start.
First, try to map out your typical day. Remember, you also need to learn how to keep a diary. Over time, this will become easy and relaxed.
If it’s difficult for yourself, go to trainings or business courses, they will definitely teach you how to properly keep a diary.

Don't put off your first entry - perhaps it will become the starting point of your new life!

But make sure that it does not fall into the wrong hands if you do not want your experiences and thoughts to become public.

A personal diary can be kept every day or at will. This is your intimate place, where only you are allowed to enter.

How to keep a food and weight loss diary

A very important “document” with which you will understand your body better. In this diary write:

daily weight;
diet for every day;
calorie content of dishes;
summary after each week;
how much you ate, down to the gram.

Never lie, be honest with yourself, do not reduce the numbers.

Before losing weight, keep a diary and describe your initial menu. At the end of your weight loss, describe your new diet. Write down your daily routine in such a diary.

How to keep a training diary

This is the diary that distinguishes a beginner from a professional. In this diary you should write:

The weight with which you started training.
Weight after each week, workout, day (as convenient for you).
What weight do you lift during exercise, your progress in training.
How much muscle volume has increased or how much the waist, hips, and arms have decreased.
The number of exercises and approaches performed during training; how long have you been studying?
Well-being, sensations after playing sports.

Your workout diary is just a way to monitor your exercise and weight. Don't go to the gym just to make another record and then brag about it.

How to start an online diary

Online diaries are very popular. They help you find friends, learn something, and ask for advice.

To create such a diary, you need a few minutes:

Choose the resource that suits you best, for example, blogger.com. There are many of them, it is better to choose the one where most of your friends are registered.
Complete the registration following the instructions.
Once you receive the email, activate your page.
Design the diary to your liking. Choose suitable photos, videos, drawings.
Create a feed with your favorite items.
Depending on your desire, make the information in your diary private or public.

Video for the material

If you see an error, please select a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

If you don’t have a clear plan in your head in the morning, then your day will go awry. You will forget to do an important task, be late for a meeting, and only remember about a relative’s birthday the next day. To save energy and optimize time, a diary was invented. Today there are a lot of varieties, ranging from personal diaries of young girls to organizers of businessmen. But they have the same essence. Since you need to keep a diary constantly, this attribute is always with the person. It records plans for the coming days, makes the necessary notes, distributes tasks, and sometimes simply writes down current thoughts. Today we’ll talk about how to keep a diary so that it becomes a truly valuable assistant.

Does a modern schoolchild need it?

Indeed, who can it bring tangible benefits to? The image of a business person is strongly associated with a briefcase and an organizer. But what about ordinary children, schoolchildren and teenagers? For them, the school diary becomes the very first diary. Thanks to him, the child learns to write down assignments and plan the next week. Further - more, because today the guys have a very busy life. They attend different clubs and sections, trainings, and parents are not always able to tell them what time they need to get there or there. In addition, an ordinary diary does not have an emotional component. The child cannot write down what worries him today. Therefore, you need to think about how to keep a diary.

Where to begin

First of all, you need to choose a suitable notebook. The format can be any: book, notebook or album. The main thing is that it is beautiful and comfortable for you. Since you will have to keep a diary constantly, it is advisable that you have it with you every day. Here it is important to start from what you will use it for. Moreover, it is best if it is universal, that is, it allows you to keep all your tasks, goals and thoughts in one place.

Functions

This is another step towards understanding how to keep a diary. If you know why it is needed, then you will definitely figure out how to do it. Why you personally might need such a notebook:

For recording small and important matters. This helps the brain clear itself of unnecessary information, and helps a person to work, study, and do various things better.
This is the best reminder of important meetings and events. Just scroll forward and write down what you need to do in a week or month. Now you won't be able to forget about it.
With the help of an organizer, you can plan your time several weeks in advance. Now you will not be able to arrange a meeting with several friends on the day when your grandmother comes to visit.
A diary is also a friend for intimate conversations about the most intimate things. Thanks to it, you can analyze your feelings and thoughts, actions or actions. This approach will allow you to see the true reasons for what is happening.

As you can see, it is very difficult to say how to properly keep a diary, since everyone will have their own. In addition to these functions, you can find others. For example, a diary can be a repository for passwords, phone numbers and addresses.

If this is your first time doing this

The first question that arises is: how to design a diary. It all depends on your desire and mood. You can buy a ready-made diary, which is already lined, where the chapters are marked, and you only need to paste photographs and pictures and keep notes. But this option turns out to be very limited. It is much better to buy a regular notebook and line it the way you want.

Another option for organizing a diary is to buy a universal organizer. This is a thick notebook, on one side of which there are numbered sheets for each date, and on the other - just blank pages that can be used as you wish. This makes it possible to use it for study and work, as well as for personal purposes.

Buttons, rhinestones, ribbons

Today there is a huge selection of office supplies that will help make your organizer not only useful, but also beautiful. Girls especially love such attributes. You don’t even need to teach them how to keep a diary. They will decorate the notebook themselves, choose a beautiful background for the cover, add stickers and sew beautiful ribbons to tie the notebook after filling it out. Your diary is a reflection of your inner world. Let it be shiny, like a Christmas tree decoration, or strict, in dark leather binding.

How to keep a diary correctly

Considering the inconstancy that is characteristic of a teenager, it may not be worth starting a notebook in the classical sense. If you take into account that your goal is to plan your time and energy, and possibly your life, you need to do the following. Buy a ring binder, blocks of blank squared paper, and adhesive page dividers. Now all that remains is to divide the diary into six sections. There can be more of them at your request. The advantage of this option is greater mobility. Sheets in sections, like the sections themselves, can be removed, added, or swapped.

Main blocks

We have already talked about why you need to keep a diary. Taking into account the listed functions, it should contain the following sections:

Let's start training

Indeed, you have to learn how to properly keep a diary so that it brings benefits and not just takes up space. First, it is recommended to monitor your schedule for a week. That is, you literally fill out the schedule for each day, minute by minute. From the moment the alarm clock rang until you went to bed, you will need to record minute by minute what you did. This will allow you to analyze how much time is spent on unnecessary things.

So, the week has passed. Review your notes and create a graph that shows how much time was spent on each activity. If watching TV or talking on the phone is in the lead, and you complain about the lack of time to clean the room, you clearly need to reconsider your schedule.

The next day

We continue to talk about how to learn to keep a diary. The next item will be writing assignments for the next day. Develop this habit for yourself, it will be the first step to success. When you get up in the morning, you will already know what you need to do today. Start the day with the most important and difficult tasks, otherwise by the evening you will no longer have the energy to do them. Be sure to include an estimated completion time.

Mark completed tasks

Immediately after the task has been completed, you need to cross it off the list of tasks. This will give you the confidence and strength to tackle the next step effectively. Never try to do several things at the same time. Nothing good will come of this, you will only waste time. If one of the planned tasks remains unfulfilled, then it needs to be rescheduled to the next day. Of course, it is recommended not to allow this.

Success Journal

At the end of your planner, set aside a few pages to write down your accomplishments. Every day it is recommended to write down at least ten points of those cases in which you showed your best side. In a week, a piggy bank of 70 points is collected, where you are great. Reviewing your success journal regularly is a great boost to your self-esteem. Try to correlate your achievements with the goals and objectives that you set for yourself. This will allow you to start wanting to do more and more every day.

Gradually increase the list of tasks

Ask your parents if it's worth keeping a diary. Most likely, they will answer that they definitely need to do this. It disciplines, teaches you to set goals and fulfill them. Don't set yourself grandiose goals right away. For example, you cannot immediately say that you will do 1000 push-ups. But it’s quite possible to start with ten and gradually increase the number as you see that there is free time left that can be occupied with something useful. So it is with the number of tasks - they gradually need to be increased.

Personal experiences and feelings

This is an equally important block that allows you to better understand yourself, your actions and actions. Most often, such entries are started by young girls who are overwhelmed with feelings. What does this mean:

The need to deal with yourself.
The need to speak out. Not everything can be said to a friend or mother, but the paper does not blush and will endure everything. This is associated with growing up, the first feelings that are not only difficult to understand, but also impossible to express. The diary does not correct, does not criticize, it allows you to be yourself.
And some people just like to write. It's interesting and enjoyable. And then, after some time, you can re-read your story.

Sometimes a teenager just needs to pour out his accumulated feelings somewhere. And for these purposes, a diary is perfect. If you ask a psychologist, he will confirm that such an action is beneficial for a person’s emotional health. Here you can record thoughts about life and display important events. Such records must necessarily contain conclusions and reflections on actions. This is a kind of personality work. Sometimes this method allows you to improve communication skills and attitude to life, as well as fight fears and complexes, taking into account personal experience.

Many teenagers start keeping a diary, but then give up. This suggests that they had no purpose. But we remember - this is only one section of the diary. This means that you need to return to this issue and decide whether you need to include a block of introspection and introspection. What can it give, how long will it be relevant. Clear answers to these questions will allow you to cast aside all doubts and start keeping a diary or do without it.

For a teenager whose emotional state is like a storm at sea, a diary with the ability to display diary entries can be a real salvation. Take it with you at all times. In this case, other people will not be able to read it. In addition, when you always have it with you, you can take notes at any convenient time.

Information transfer form

But here the scope for imagination is simply limitless. You can keep a regular chronicle, that is, write down what happened to you every day. Be sure to include analysis and conclusions. Another option is drawings with comments, short notes and poems. The result is a bright, colorful narrative, often understandable only to you. What you need to write down, what methods to choose, how to keep a diary, how to formulate goals and objectives, you will decide for yourself as you work. The sooner a teenager starts working with a diary, the faster he will learn to take a responsible approach to tomorrow, assigned tasks, feel responsible for completing them, and also understand the value of time.

Instead of a conclusion

It is quite difficult to explain these things to a child if the parents themselves are always in a hurry and are late for meetings, forget to call on important matters, and even congratulate their relatives on the holidays a few days later. Therefore, before teaching a teenager, it would be good to start a diary yourself and start planning your affairs. Very often, children begin to copy such habits, trying to look older.

In this article, we will help you understand what a diary is, how to keep it, what types of diaries exist, and why you should even waste your precious time on this activity.

“Wealth does not come from desires. They come from a clear plan of action based on equally clear aspirations. ”

Napoleon Hill

What is a diary?

A diary (also called a planner) is a small notebook into which the user enters information at his own discretion. There are many different techniques that will help you use your glider more effectively and use its full capabilities to get the maximum benefit for you. What should you write in your diary? It should be said that this small notebook does not impose any strict restrictions on its use. You can enter a lot of different information into the diary and adjust the universal planner to suit you in such a way as to get maximum comfort and pleasure from using it.

Let's consider what exactly to write in the diary:

Your own daily routine included on the pages will greatly simplify your day. You no longer need to keep a lot of information in your head and worry about forgetting something.
Problems you need to solve . Create a competent and clearly structured order of tasks that you need to complete every day. This way, you will not only increase your efficiency, but also gain the wonderful ability to set large goals for yourself that will flow from your small, daily tasks.
Thoughts that you write down and can return to after some time. . There is a chance that you will be able to scale and develop a simple idea into a grandiose project.
If you don't know what to write in your diary, then write down your emotions . By putting negative emotions on paper, you can significantly improve your overall emotional background, which will have a positive impact on almost all aspects of your life.
Keep a diary . Write down everything that happens during the day in a brief form, highlighting the most important and valuable event, in your opinion. This way you can have a little personal memoir.
Time management. A properly compiled, well-structured, thoughtful diary can be an excellent tool for your time management. By allocating specific time to solve specific tasks every day, you are guaranteed to significantly increase the efficiency of your work.

How to keep a diary?

By applying this set of simple, practical tips for maintaining your diary, you will be able to use your time more effectively and get the most out of the process. It is worth noting that diaries are most often found in two variations. Dated and undated. A dated planner is designed to structure your day by dates, with clear time frames for completing various tasks. Undated planners are most often used by representatives of the artistic world, who often do not like to limit themselves to a specific time frame. Here is a set of small and effective tips for properly maintaining a diary.

Don't enter unimportant information . You should not enter data in your diary about the cup of coffee you drank and the time spent on this action. Unless your day is so busy that you should set aside a specific time for a small coffee break.
Don't be lazy to keep your planner daily . Do not forget that the maximum return from any process lies in a systematic approach and strict implementation of all points every day.
Try to put a time frame next to each of your tasks for the day. . This will allow you not to waste precious time on trifles and perform more useful actions in a day.
Cross out already completed position . This is, firstly, pleasant, since the result of the completed day will be visible, and secondly, it will avoid confusion in the information entered.
Choose a record keeping system that's right for you.

As you can see, there are a lot of variations in what you can write down in your diary. You can keep a planner in free form, without using any specially created methods, but if you set specific tasks for maintaining a planner, then we will provide you with examples of using various systems and methods for maintaining diaries.

We will give you an example of the most effective rules for using a glider

Number the pages . If you know what to write in your diary, then quickly navigating the search for the information you need is simply necessary.
Take notes. Indicate your wishes for the implementation of each of your assigned tasks. For particularly important matters, come up with your own way of highlighting.
Create a thematic table of contents for posts . This will allow you not to get lost among a large number of records and quickly find what you need at the moment
Get a calendar . Structure events by dates, this will allow you not to overload your day.
Time column . Dividing the day by hours makes it much easier to complete your tasks.
Special column for cases that you have moved or postponed.
Highlight events or meetings in a special way . For example, circle it or paint it with some color.
Dedicate a few pages at the end to formulate global goals that you need to achieve within a clearly defined period of time. Thus, having formed a goal, you can build a list of tasks that need to be completed within a set period of time, which will lead to the inevitable realization of your large-scale goal.

What to write in your diary?

You must determine the degree of importance and significance of matters yourself. There are several methods of keeping diaries, developed by highly qualified time management specialists, and designed to make the most of your most valuable resource - time. These are, for example, diaries based on the method of the recognized American genius Stephen Covey, or the founder of the Russian school of time management, Gleb Arkhangelsky.

When maintaining planners of this type, you will not have the question of what to write down in your diary, since the authors created their methods based on the principle of intuitive perception. That is, even a person who has never kept personal diaries will be able to understand how to use this tool to manage their own time. But these diaries are quite expensive compared to those that you can produce yourself. In the event that you decide not to buy and make a diary yourself, we will give you examples of planning and keeping entries in the diary.

“It is necessary to take into account: the plan must be tangible (on paper or electronically). As one colonel at my military department said, “the sharpest memory is dumber than the dullest pencil.” The human head is not capable of holding too much information at once. Be sure to write down all your tasks for the day and review this list regularly throughout the day. This will only take a few minutes, but will give you control and control over your tasks, the ability to not forget anything and prioritize correctly.”

Gleb Arkhangalsky

First, you should decide what information you will enter into your diary.

Based on what you have chosen, create several graphs and wisely divide the area of the sheet. In the simplest version, on one page you will have to contain the exact date, division by hours of the day, as well as a list of the main tasks of the day. Don't forget about page numbering.

There is a great option where after each month you leave space on one or two pages to write down your global goals that you will need to achieve for that month. You shouldn’t write too many of them; based on practice, it will be more effective to concentrate your attention on one or two specific goals. Small tasks, the completion of which should lead you to the goal, can be written down at the bottom of each page and thus, you will achieve a clear understanding of which direction you should move and what actions should be taken at each individual stage.

“You must be able to cram the main idea of your speech into a matchbox - before you even sit down at the typewriter.”

Dwight Eisenhower

Try to provide information briefly and concisely. You should not confuse yourself with unnecessary cumbersome notes. Also, do not forget about accuracy. Strive to structure information by topics, events, and tasks. There is a wonderful thing that will help you very succinctly answer your question - what to write in your diary. It's called the Eisenhower matrix. The thirty-fourth President of the United States proposed entering things into his diary, classifying them solely by degree of importance and urgency.

Thus, you will get a large square that can be divided into four equal parts, which will be called: important urgent, important non-urgent, unimportant urgent and unimportant non-urgent. This, in my opinion, is one of the most effective and convenient classifications that will help you not only enter things into your diary and regulate their implementation based on the level of need, but also simply understand how much of your free time is taken up by things from the unimportant and non-urgent.

“Like substance abuse, urgency addiction means constantly taking painkillers. Urgency temporarily relieves the acute pain caused by the discrepancy between the compass and the clock. And for a while we feel very good. But the relief quickly passes, but the pain remains. Simply by increasing our productivity, by speeding up our running, we cannot get to the cause of the pain, the chronic disease that gives rise to it. We only speed up the resolution of secondary (or tertiary) issues, without doing anything to cure a chronic disease, the essence of which is that the main thing in our life is not given the main attention.”

Stephen Covey

You will be surprised at how much time you will have freed up to solve more important tasks, such as work issues or time spent with your family, in comfort, which is also no less important. To use this scheme, you will not need to purchase anything other than a small, cheap notebook. Absolutely anyone can draw four small squares with text on paper.

In fact, the question of what to write about in a diary is most often thought about by people who never even kept a diary in childhood or adolescence. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t start, right? A diary is the same as a diary, but with more advanced and more advanced functionality. Don’t be lazy about making entries in your diary; a habit, as we all know, is formed in just twenty-one days, and this is quite enough to change your life radically, without exaggeration, friends. A well-structured, correctly composed, comfortable to use and visually pleasing planner will become an excellent hobby for you, which will bring you quite noticeable benefits, and is guaranteed to force you to work on yourself, and therefore constantly improve yourself.