Get Yourself A Second Brain

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Get Yourself A Second Brain

Kikki-K

I know a lot of writers who are stationary buffs, so you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Half way through last year, I got frustrated and threw my diary out. I wasn’t pitching a fit over a trivial incident, I just ran out of room. Even worse, I am a diary fanatic. That book is my second brain and I am totally dependent on it!

All my diaries are lovingly and carefully chosen for size and features: and this was one of the best I have ever had. It had the month to a page at the beginning of each month, week to a page view, business card section and every month had a neat divider, so I could flick around and schedule. It hadn’t been a cheapie either! For a diary of that calibre to bite the dust, something had dramatically changed.

The good news is, that change was success at what I was doing! I was writing more and I needed planning space. I don’t have many appointments, so my diary pages are devoted to work to-do’s, time tallies and reminders of event preparation. It never leaves my desk, as I must look at it every day, or I have no idea where I am up to. My head is too full to fly by the seat of my pants.

I have converted to digital as much as I can, but there’s a catch. I always need information fast when my computer is off, there is a thunderstorm or my iPad has run out of battery life! I use my iPod touch when I go out, but I still need the ease of paper. Some days you want to jot down an idea before it’s lost; plus I was totally sick of rummaging around my desk trying to find the separate blog post idea folder, the phone bill, my shopping list for the business, the guest post schedule, my e-book outlines! I just wanted one space which had everything. It was a way to save time and sanity.

So I did it the easy way. I grabbed a lever arch file out of my cupboard, printed off my iCal calendar for 15 months in both month to a view and week to a view, then put in month and subject dividers. It’s been the most useful tool I’ve ever devised! My iCal files have all our financial reminders, birthdays and public holidays logged in. So they immediately appear on the pages, coded in colour. I have separated my blog posts, time sheets and other essentials with dividers and all I do now is flick it open. The best thing is, if I totally mess up a page as schedules and plans have changed: it easily gets reprinted. No more using correction fluid that never works properly, or building up layers upon layers of white stickers I can write over the top of. My diaries never used to shut properly anyway!

Dividers come in numbers, months, blank tabs or A-Z and are dirt cheap.

In the past I have had swish Debden diaries with the gorgeous leather cover, many customisation options and that wonderful ruler which marks where you are. That hobby was expensive, plus I loathe working in black and white! By printing an A4 diary, for each week I also have an adjoining blank page I can use as a scrapbook, or extra note space. I invested in quotation stickers from Kikki-K to brighten it up and it’s a pleasant space to work. Plus it does fit in my brief case; though I take the option of removing the small part of the diary I need and taking it in a flat file. Less weight is always welcome.

So if you too are having space and memory issues: plug your regular items into your computer, print it, throw it in a folder and enjoy the outcome. Sometimes the simple solutions just work better.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

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