Using a physical agenda to boost productivity and ease of mind

At the start of the year I looked back at my digitalization post and realized that I have fallen into the same old trap. Most of my day to day is currently digitalized. Some for better, some for worse.

I say some for better because keeping all my documents in Google Drive is a lot easier. Searching through Google drive than going through a stack of papers is a lot faster. It is the same for on-line payments, social interactions and keeping my to-do lists.

Now, we could argue about the calendar being better as a digital format than as a physical item. But the part where the physical version becomes better for me is in the fact that I use it as a daily to-do manager as well.

To be honest I still use my digital calendar for recurring appointments and as a back-up system.
I also still use a digital to-do manager to keep all my to-dos grouped, sorted and practical.

So what do I use my physical agenda for? Its primary target is for me to keep my focus on the tasks at hand.
In the time I used the digital format I easily got distracted by other tasks that seem easier and were quick wins. But this would come back at the end of the day as having a busy day opposed to being productive.

With my physical agenda I have a view of how my day is like. And with each part I can set the most important 2 or 3 to-dos.
This means I can follow up these to-dos without distractions by the others in the waiting list.

So my work-flow is a pretty basic in that every morning or evening I review the day and set-up the next one.
I prefer the evening versions though as that gives me a clear head to go to sleep. At that moment in time I’m also not stressed out by the feeling of “I need to do as much as possible”. This means I’m avoiding the business over productivity trap.

Off course there is the setback that if I forget my physical version you could say I’m stuck for the day. But that’s not true. When this happens I fall back on my digital versions.

Now I can hear you think, is that not giving you double the work? But that is not the case. It might take me 5 extra minutes to sink with my digital version. Setting a due date on my to-dos and blocking in time in my calendar goes pretty fast.

So why not consider using a physical agenda? Maybe it will help you out.