In an era inundated with high-tech productivity tools and intricate life hack theories, the YouTube video “A Simple Way to Organize Your Life” offers a refreshing, analog approach to life’s chaos. This video reveals how traditional note-taking methods and the creation of a simple timeline can effectively declutter your mind, providing a clear path through the tumult of life.
Pen and Paper: The Power of Tangibility
At the heart of this simple way to organize your life is the timeless power of pen and paper. The video’s creator strongly emphasizes the need for externalizing your thoughts, and doing so in the most tactile and intuitive way possible—by writing them down.
Writing down thoughts, to-dos, and ideas on paper provides a physical manifestation of your mental clutter. This process externalizes the internal, making your thoughts and tasks tangible and manageable. Unlike their digital counterparts, traditional note-taking methods offer a personal and intimate experience. The act of writing engages more cognitive processes, strengthening your understanding and memory of your thoughts and tasks.
This technique has its roots in cognitive psychology, where the act of writing is seen as a tool for cognitive load management. Externalizing your thoughts helps to alleviate the pressure on your mind, freeing up mental space for more creative thinking or problem-solving.
Steps to Taming the Chaos
To put this theory into practice, the creator offers a three-step process:
- Fireworks: Start by externalizing all your thoughts, ideas, and tasks. Jot down everything occupying your mind, creating a ‘firework’ of thoughts on paper. This stage is not about structure; it’s about unleashing your cognitive load onto a physical medium.
- Prioritization: This step involves curating your fireworks into a prioritized list. Engage in conversations with people you trust and respect, bouncing ideas off them to get an external perspective. This process can be a powerful tool to discern what genuinely needs your time and attention.
- Timeline: The final step is the creation of a timeline. Based on your prioritized list, hand-draw a three-month timeline and map out your projects and tasks. Visualizing your tasks within a finite timeframe provides focus, motivation, and a sense of progress as you gradually tick off completed tasks.
Quotes to Inspire Organization
In the pursuit of a simple way to organize your life, the creator of the video shares some inspiring quotes:
- “I’m a strong believer in analog which means a pen and paper and not anything digital. Not at this stage at least.”
- “There is great power in seeing what is going on in your head and not just thinking those thoughts.”
- “Things absolutely never pan out a hundred percent as we planned them to, but I have found that on a three-month time frame, you can consciously work towards specific goals that you create for yourself.”
FAQs
Q: Why does the creator prefer pen and paper over digital tools? A: The creator believes in the tactile power of pen and paper. They find that the act of writing or drawing out thoughts clarifies them in a way digital tools cannot replicate.
Q: What is the Eisenhower Matrix? A: Named after President Eisenhower, the Eisenhower Matrix is a prioritization tool categorizing tasks based on their urgency and importance.
Q: How long should the timeline be? A: The creator suggests a timeline of three months as it provides a manageable timeframe to witness measurable progress.
Q: What alternatives can I use if a timeline doesn’t work for me? A: You can consider using a mood board or similar visual tools. The key is to have a physical representation of your tasks and goals.
Q: Where can I find the creator’s classes? A: The creator’s classes are available on Skillshare.
In Conclusion: Embrace the Analog
In essence, “A Simple Way to Organize Your Life” guides us to embrace the old school and tactile. The creator invites us to journey back to the basics, using pen and paper to externalize our thoughts, prioritize our tasks, and create a timeline. This method isn’t about reinventing the wheel. Instead, it repurposes a timeless tool we’ve all used at some point—pen and paper—and transforms it into an engine for organizing our lives.
Remember, the key isn’t necessarily in the medium but the method. By physically externalizing your cognitive load and visually organizing it, you can begin to declutter your life, one note at a time. So, why not give this simple way to organize your life a try?
Skillshare: Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of classes for creative and curious people. The creator has two classes on Skillshare that are related to creativity and documenting life experiences.