A personal logbook is where I scribble various things throughout the day. I first came across the concept of a personal logbook in Austin Kleon’s blog. Logbooks were originally used in ships to record important events in the management, operation, and navigation of the ship.
Why not a personal logbook to manage, operate, and navigate oneself? It paints a clear picture of what happened during the day.
When I started keeping logs, I was mostly tracking my what/when. I have since expanded the usage of my logbook to scribble random thoughts, to check in on my mood, and to capture any open loops. Here is what I write in my logbook.
Time Tracker – It is easy to spend time in this distractionful world, and complain about lack of time for important things in life like health and family. Most people who complain about lack of time do not know where they are spending their time. Tacking what you are doing in a 15 minutes interval for a few weeks can reveal a great deal of how you spend your time. Instead of a new shine tool, I use my logbook to track my time. Every time I transaction to a new task, I simply write down the time and what I am about to do. Here is my time log from this morning
Daily Planner – I take 15 minutes every morning and plan what I want to do during the day. I check my calendar to see if there any meetings I should prepare for. I pick three tasks from my task manager and identify the Most Important Task out of those. And commit to a time of the day for each of these tasks. Here is my entry from today
Random Thoughts – Throughout the day, I scribble random thought that comes to my mind.
- Emotion & Mood – I write down how I react to people especially my wife and kids. I am more aware of my mood swings. Doing this has changed my relationship with my wife and kids.
- Journal – I write down important happenings during the day. Who/What/Where/When. This helps me avoid staring at a blank screen the next morning when I sit down to write my Journal(Morning Pages)
- Tasks – I capture anything I want to get done in the future(Idea from Getting Things Done).
- Ideas – I write down any ideas that come to my mind. Many of my work has come from these scribblings.
Writing a personal logbook has changed my life in many good ways. It has helped me to cut down on unproductive work. It has improved my awareness. My relationship with my kids and wife has improved. I have kept a daily journal since I started writing keeping logbook.
Try it and you will not regret it.
3 replies on “A Logbook can Change your Life”
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In college days I used to write a journal. But one day my roommate read it. I shouted on him. And observed the change in his behavior from that movement. I decided to stop writing journal. as it’s hard to protect it from such people. but I still love writing. While going through this blog it just flashed in mind. and now I am thinking to start writing again.
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