For me, however, journaling never took off. I just couldn’t sit down and write about what I had done in the past, and I couldn’t write about what I was doing as I was doing it — it just messed up my momentum. However, I always saw the value and so I tried to figure out a simple way to incorporate this into my day.

What I came up with is quite simple indeed. I have a text file on my desktop. In it is a simple to-do list. This list contains my daily, weekly and monthly plan. As I check off an item on the to-do list, I cut it from that list and paste it into another text file called “Done”. In this way I can monitor what has been done and what still needs to be done easily. My done file also accomplishes the role of creating a template of the steps of what has been successful.

Having these files on my desktop, I can easily see the progress that I am making (or not). I have noticed that this has increased my productivity as I want to get items out of my “To-Do” file and into my “Done” file as quickly as possible. It is also easy to add to the “To Do” list as I come across ideas that I want to implement. In this way I never spend time thinking about what my next project should be — I just look at this file.

Wishing you great success and productivity,

~Norene