Words. We love ‘em (we’d be pretty stumped without them). They give us the power of communication and appreciation. They simplify our lives.

But sometimes they can fail us too: particularly when we need to get organized. This happens all-too-often when we’re taking notes.

The Tyranny Of Notetaking

A blank page doesn’t lend itself to any feat of productivity; but neither does a hastily scribbled mess of half-recalled musings from several weeks ago.

Say you’re in a meeting; feverishly noting down a list of actionable items for a crucial three month project you’ll be managing. Or you’ve got a whole stack of ‘to-do’s, deadlines, milestones, and processes to figure out.

Sifting through pages of notes won’t get you anywhere fast. It wastes more time than it’s worth – and leads us to question, well, the bulk of the frenzied scribble we’d meant to use as our working notes.

‘Why did I underline that sentence?’
‘Is that an ‘a’ or an ‘s’?’
‘Who’s Dana? (Dayna? Deanna??) What’s her role?”
Why did I put a question mark there?’

The Power Of Planning

Getting organized and putting a structure in place from the very start will give you an advantage. This means bringing your own personal order to the chaos that’s going on around you.

You might not be able to escape notetaking; but rather than waffle on for ten pages straight, cut right to the chase and devise the framework you’ll need to get things done.

Easier said than done, right?

You could always devise your own planning templates – neatly drawing in margins, lines, and boxes. Or, if you want to be a true organizing pro, you could create your own custom planner and notebook on Sprintbooks!

For example, our Goals Calendar is a great way to forward plan and keep track of every bit you want to achieve this year – and when. Similarly, our various Weekly planners can give you a five, six, or seven day overview of priorities.

To make your life even simpler, our Slay the Day planners allow you to jot down things that need immediate attention; helping to shape your productivity thinking in a similar way to the famous Ivy Lee method.

Alternatively, you could combine a number of different Sprintbooks’ layouts and calendar formats, along with the notebook features you need, using our customization tool.

In a world of Agile development and optimized processes; it pays to work smarter – not harder. So why not start as you mean to go on? Find a tool that’ll help you turn your prose into productivity and help you plan for a more organized life.

Creative Copywriter with start-up savvy. Seduced by novelty. Nourished by variety. Sustained by irony.