Daily bullet journaling is just the beginning…

In the original version of the legendary cooking show, Rokusaburo Michiba was Iron Chef Japan. While his opponent rushed and sweated, Chef Michiba moved with unhurried deliberation, calmly writing his menu in calligraphy at the start of each match. It appeared unthinkable that he’d make the requisite 4 dishes.

Yet no matter the pressure, he’d serenely chop and stir, always at the right place and time. When the match concluded, he had extra dishes to spare, while his opponent slumped in exhaustion (and eventually, in defeat).

That’s how I feel – rushed, overwhelmed, and ultimately defeated.

While I now have a strong daily planning habit (using the bullet journaling method), I still can’t set long term goals and execute daily tasks to reach them with any efficiency.

OUGHT VS INTEND

A big problem is that I bullet journal what I INTEND to do in a day, which is often a too optimistic reflection of what I hope to do. Anything I don’t finish gets rolled over to the next work session.

That’s normal, linear planning.

Unfortunately, with freelancing I can’t plan linearly. I need to meet rotating deadlines at different rates, and cover for punctuated times of frenetic work or bottlenecks in pitching pipelines.

I need to break goals up into what I OUGHT to do in order to reach deadlines.

One method is to work backwards. Youtuber Clark Kegley advocates writing down large goals, often divided up by quarter. He then lists out specific methods to get to those goals.

Claire at minimal.plan suggests using a mind map to brainstorm every small thing you’ll need to accomplish those large goals. This has the added benefit of employing the Elements of Tiny Behaviors and Momentum, especially if you’re gamifying it all with checklists.

I’d add that a good scamp (free writing as many ideas for breaking down a task without regard to editing or logic) works wonders here - in fact, that’s what works well when I plan travel.

After doing a free writing session for an article, I then use a filtering system based on logical progression. For trips, it’s usually based on when things are open and my location.

Here, I can use a system based on task priorities, then assign time estimates.

ESTIMATING TIME

Unfortunately, I’m woefully unprepared to give good estimates. Lydia suggests just guessing and then honing in on correct times once you do a task a few times. Another method is using a device like Timular or Timeflip, where you turn a dice-like contraption to track different activities. Users say the tactile nature increases adherence, which is important. I briefly attempted virtual timekeepers like Toggl and just kept forgetting to set them.

An important element I’m missing in estimating tasks is emotional weight. Tasks like pitching are incredibly draining - so including a mental technique, like the smiley face self-esteem games from McGill University that I wrote about before (which have been shown to boost optimism) is a must. Folded into task scheduling, they would prevent the day from devolving into a mental health disaster.

Mental space for decision making is also key. Decisions take energy and should not be relegated to a dusty side bin of planning when they take as much or more effort than any given task.

I’m also missing a planned time to review goals and hone in on better time estimates.

Planning should be a living, adapting process, evolving for the next quarter instead of the one and done action it is now.

FILTERING TASKS

“Brain dumps” of goals and tasks aren’t a problem - I do that now as a part of of my current planning and it’s been incredibly helpful.

But filters are needed to assign tasks across a day. Lydia suggests morning, afternoon, and evening assignments. She also suggests primary and secondary tasks for off times and overflow. Another method is having an A and B task based on difficulty. I’ve found that having an easier standby task to switch to greatly increases focus and efficiency.

She also breaks up tasks by days of the week. Monday, for example, could be a designated pitching day. That way you’re able to start breaking up tasks into different rates. Like a river, in freelancing some output is immediate (like social media or blogging), others are medium (magazines) and some are glacial (like proposals).

Behavioral filters are also needed. If you’re tired, creative tasks are optimal. Tasks that take more willpower, like decisions, emotionally draining tasks, and ones that require more processing power (like editing) should be filtered from ones that are lighter or automatic.

Frequent projects are best standardized as flowcharts. Emotions, willpower drains, lag times and techniques to counter these should be included as a part of the process.

PLANNING TRANSITIONS

While general lags come from task switching, there are larger blind spots that occur in mesocycles.

Whenever a 3 month project finishes or when I come back from travel, there’s usually some sort of glitch where all my systems fail.

Planning time off is something I’m really bad at, and these are the spots where it should be incorporated.

A PLANNING METRIC

Moving forward, I’d like to hone in on my ultimate planning process. In the tradition of this project, that involves testing out new systems like:

Breaking monthly or quarterly goals into minute tasks
Estimating task completion
Using tactile time trackers like Timeular or Timeflip
Creating a filtering system
Including decision making and off time in planning
Creating a flowchart for common tasks encompassing bottlenecks, lag times, and common emotional issues
Collating the data to improve the next quarter

But how do you really know it’s working?

If there’s a metric to planning, it would incorporate the capacity to execute all the tasks that you’ve laid out in a given time. It’s also achieving a lot while not getting burned out. At the same time, a good planner is able to smoothly adapt to change, not only in the moment, but as an overall process.

In short, it’s becoming an Iron Chef.