Analog Planner

How do I lessen my screen time?  A little bit at a time.

One thing I discovered is the Traveler's Notebook system.  This is a journal cover with elastics in the binding.  Then you take staple or sewn bound notebooks and slip then into the elastics!  The notebooks are like having different chapters in one book, they are easy to change out and personalize for me.

This is perfect!  Every couple months I would change out my task list system.  I'd go from a printed weekly sheet, to a white board, to note cards, to Tickler File, and back again.  And it seemed like all I did was my to-do list and never got the house clean.  Why?!  Why not go back to a day job because I'm not doing anything around the house anyway?  

The method I found, although I don't need a Traveler's Notebook for it, is based on the one from Planner Perfect with Jenny Penton.  Ironically, I spent a lot of time watching videos and online research about this system to go analog.  But that's the world we live in.  What I learned:

1. You are more than your to-do list.  I know this, but it helps to be reminded.
2. Pray, then dream with God first.
3. Handle the things you have to do, then add in how you'll achieve those dreams.
4. Script each day with what you'll do - like a daily vision board.

The Task list takes a backseat, or a minor role to Dreams and Goals.

The system is working well for me, and for the first two days, which happened to be VERY BUSY as I was preparing for our PHS Fiber Fest, I did every single task.  The next week, when I was tired, I missed a couple.  But it was easy to switch those to a different day or drop them altogether.

This is kind of the way I used to do things when I had just a journal - before bullet journals were popular.  I made up my own calendars, pasted them in the journal, my to-dos, ideas, etc.  But this is a more organized and efficient way of compiling my thoughts.  

And that's really what this is.  It's a way to organize thoughts.  Some people call it a "brain dump" but I really dislike that term.  I prefer something more like "brain pour."  When a thought comes to me of something I need or want to do, I find the right place and jot it down.  Now my thought is safely "saved" on paper.

I'm enjoying my interaction with paper and pens again, it brings me back to my youth and young adult years.  Although I did discover a few things that I prefer to do digitally, but more on that at another time.  

Can I go Analog?

I am reviving this blog because - why start a new one when this was barely begun?  And the idea is similar - simplify my life.

The last year or so I'm increasingly less happy with social media.  The effects of time on me, the need to always check it, and what really am I gaining?  Also, do I need to have my phone with me all the time?  Do I need to also spend time on my laptop?  Watching my TV screen?  When is enough, enough?

So I am contemplating going Analog. 

This doesn't mean that I'm going back to the prairie, or cold turkey.  I still have Digital commitments that I need to do.  Plus, I believe if I step down gradually, it could be easier and frankly - I like a good Process.

So today I went through my Facebook Groups and unfollowed some because:

• The info is no longer interesting to me
• I can find the info in another form

I unfollowed 37 Groups.

I still am a par of 34 groups, so I have cut the number by more than half.

Why did I stay in so many?

• I moderate some of them
• The only way to keep in the group is through FB
• Has info that is interesting or helpful
• The only method of keeping in contact with those people

As I go, I'm sure I will leave more groups.  And I will think carefully about the 11 groups that I moderate as well.

Note to self: This is an issue for YOU.  Just because you are convicted and want to move in the "Less Analog" direction, it does not mean that others have to be at the same place.  It's not a virtue, it's a choice.