my website at https://anirudh.fi
Bujo post
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---
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template:
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slug: bujo
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title: The quest to optimize productivity
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subtitle: This blog is devolving into a techbro cliché
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date: 2021-11-04
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---
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Us folks in tech have this general obsession with productivity. It's all
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about getting the workflow _just right_. Or at least, that's the goal.
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Heck, there are entire companies built around optimizing productivity in
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specific workflows -- email, notes, tasks, etc. Suffice to say, there's
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a lot of activity in this space.
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I've heard reports of varying degrees of success with these tools, from
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"OMG it like, totally changed how I take notes!", to "I'm not sure it's
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worth paying $30 per month for a mail client" (yeah, you know the
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one)[^1]. However, I will never use these tools. Primarily because I
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don't trust them -- I don't trust them with my data; more importantly, I
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don't trust them to exist long enough before they decide to thank me for
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their incredible journey and "sunset" their product.
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[^1]: In case you didn't, I'm talking about Superhuman.
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That said, I wasn't entirely opposed to digital solutions. I tried
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a method called the OBTF, or the One Big Text File. It's what it says on
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the tin: a single text file to manage everything -- tasks, email,
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meetings, notes, habit tracking, etc. Its effectiveness relies on your
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text editor's ability to search for things. I even came up with my own
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"syntax" to help accelerate finding relevant bits. It looked like so:
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```
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wed, 03 nov
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some task here // DONE
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another task here
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a note here
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meet foo @ 12:30 // CANCELLED
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```
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I don't exactly recall why I stopped doing it, but I did. Maybe because
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I tried to do way too many things all at once. It also meant I needed to
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be at my computer to update tasks -- some of which were offline/IRL.
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Yeah, you can see where this is going. You probably guessed it from the
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post slug. That's right -- bullet journaling. Well, sort of -- let me
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explain.
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The [bullet journal method](https://youtu.be/fm15cmYU0IM) is a somewhat
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involved process. I recommend watching the video since I'm going to skip
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explaining how bullet journaling works. The method I use draws
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inspiration from bullet journaling -- but just mostly the task symbols
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and daily/weekly logs. These are the symbols I use:
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- `•` is a new task
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- `×` is a completed task
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- `>` is a task that's been carried forward
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- `~strikethrough~` is a cancelled task
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- `-` represents a note
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And somewhat less commonly, `⊙` (a circled dot) to scribble a small note
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pertaining to that task, i.e. reason for cancellation, delegation, etc.
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Tasks are sometimes broken down into further subtasks represented as a
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checkbox `□`. Ticking off a checkbox feels great.
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Tasks are grouped under a weekly list, running from Monday to Sunday. I
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had previously done daily lists, but that... didn't really work out.
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Here's what happened:
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```
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mon, 01 nov
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> long task here
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× something else
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tue, 02 nov
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> long task here
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wed, 03 nov
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> long task here
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...
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```
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See the problem? Most often, my tasks tend to span an entire week. While
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I could theoretically break it down into subtasks, stuff like "Write an
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RFC for Foo Service" are just that. It's a big task, and I can't really
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break it down. Hence, the running weekly log.
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I can't go without posting what it actually looks like in my notebook;
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so here, have a FOIA-declassified-looking picture of my bullet journal.
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This was when I first attempted the weekly log. Evidently, I struggled
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to compute dates accurately. And yes, "rice acme" was a task -- one
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that I promptly completed, I'll have you know.
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I use a pencil to write. There's no real reason for it, but I started
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the book with a pencil and I plan to continue with it until I finsh this
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notebook -- there's still about half of it left. I plan to cop a dotgrid
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notebook for my next one, and start using a pen.
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At first I was sceptical. I didn't think I'd stick to it. But hey, looks
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like I did. I've been using my bullet journal spinoff method to great
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success for the past 6-odd months. Have I become more productive? I
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don't know, but I can confidently state that my head has become
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"lighter". I no longer have to _remember_ tasks; I can simply offload
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them to my journal.
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I think the key to making it work was the realization that it's not
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"perfect". I put perfect in quotes because I had this notion of an
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all-in-one, flawless productivity tool that'll take care of everything,
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from anywhere. I then embraced the fact that some tasks don't really
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need noting down and it's ok to _not follow the rules_. I guess what I'm
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trying to say is -- don't force it; use the journal loosely.
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No self-help-productivity-bullshit-post is complete without a list of
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tips, so here it is:
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- Make it your own. Don't attempt to shoehorn someone else's solution.
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- Don't try to manage everything -- that hardly ever works.
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- Don't over optimize. Task states don't need 20 different symbols. Keep
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it simple.
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- It doesn't have to be an art project[^2]. I know mine isn't. Keep it
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functional.
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[^2]: I'm looking at you,
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[r/bulletjournal](https://old.reddit.com/r/bulletjournal).
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Okay, this self-help-productivity-bullshit-post is now complete.