A year or so ago, I discovered The Bullet Journal. In a nutshell, The Bullet Journal is a simple and effective analogue system (devised by Ryder Carroll) to organise your life. No fancy material is required. No expensive planners. All you need is a blank journal. My bullet journal is my to-do list, my sketchbook, my notebook and my planner all rolled into one. The system has helped me enjoy staying organised but most importantly, it has given me two things I needed most - time and space. A bullet journal system is as individual as you are but this year, I adopted a simple weekly practice has had a real impact on my teaching. On Sunday nights, I complete my Weekly Review. This is not an onerous task. It literally takes me about 15 -20 mins. I start a new page and use the following headings:
My Achievements for The Week: I list everything here from getting to my yoga class to presenting a new workshop. It's a chance to stop and acknowledge my efforts. Of course, some weeks don't go to plan, but I always manage to list some achievements. I look for the big and small ways I have made an impact on my world in the last week.
Weekly Highlights: I usually pick one of two events that really stood out. Memories that I would like to document and keep.
Challenges: Of course, along with my achievements, life throws up a few curve balls. (Sometimes by the hour!) For this part of my weekly review, I split the page into two columns. On one side I jot down the challenges I faced and in the second column, I note what I could do to counteract this challenge. Can I turn it around in some way? Is there any action I could take? What did I learn? Suddenly I feel empowered instead of just plain cranky. It changes my perspective and reminds me I am in control of my attitude and behaviour. It also stops that overthinking loop. I have acknowledged the challenge so I can stop obsessing over it.
The Weekly Focus: Here I try to choose one to three areas that I would like to focus on in the coming week. I'm not rigid here but I try to choose a personal focus such as - be active every day, a business focus could be writing a chapter of my book and a family focus might be ways to support my daughter during Year 12 exams. Sometimes I might choose only one major focus area.
Making It Happen: In this section, I create a list of tasks that will make sure my focus goal(s) come to life. I don't pile too many tasks on this list. I try to cap it at 5 or 6.
Quote: Then I choose a quote or a word to frame my week.
It's as simple as that. Sometimes I complete this in ten minutes with quick bullet points or I might linger over my weekly review with a cup of tea or glass of wine, but the results are the same; I feel ready to start my week. I'm proud of what I've achieved. I've done some trouble shooting and problem solving. I've given myself focus goals for the week ahead and started to dream and plan about how I can make this happen. And finally, I've chosen some words of inspiration to seal the deal.
Creating space inside your head, is the best way I know to allow those magic moments of creative brilliance to occur. It primes the pump. If I miss the chance to write my weekly review on Sunday night, I usually do it orally in the car on Monday morning. That way I've cleared the energy and I'm good to go.
So, if a Weekly Review is not already part of your week, I encourage you to give it a go this week and see what a difference it can make to your productivity, your headspace and ultimately, your creativity.
