I'm sure by now you've seen something somewhere talking about the power of planning your day or laying out your plans. Of all the things I've tried, I've found writing to be quite effective. If you're interested at all, then today, I'll show you how I use writing for productivity.

The following points are how I use writing to get more done:

• Have multiple notepads/notebooks
• Unrestrained writing
• Have a clear compass/direction
• Trim the details later
• Knowing what to prioritize

How to use these tips for general productivity

Full disclaimer, you can use the principles in each of these points with other methods if applicable. If you prefer using computer programs for productivity, that will also work.

These tips have principles that apply to general productivity, and the explanation here is meant for the method of writing for productivity.

With that out of the way, let's get to it.

Stay organized with multiple notepads

Have you ever tried working with a space that wasn't organized? Not necessarily messy, but just not organized right? If you can't keep your work organized, then productivity is so much more complicated when it's supposed to be simple.

I have notepads for so many different things. By now, I've purchased about 12 pukka pads. I do not regret it one bit because these high-quality notepads allow me to stay more organized.

The importance of staying organized is to make sure that everything is kept in its own "section". If your work gets messy and hard to find, you spend extra time trying to find and organize it. Not to mention that if you cram multiple subjects into one notepad, you end up with less space.

Put simply, having multiple different notepads helps with staying organized because everything you want to stay on top of has its own place. 

Writing for productivity requires unrestrained writing for at least a little bit

Think back to your last conversation with a close friend. How much of that was planned? How many restrictions did you put in place for yourself? When we aren't allowed to be fully free, we aren't able to fully express what's on our minds.

When it comes to writing, there's a critical first part that most people mess up. This part is where you are simply gathering ideas for use.

This brainstorming phase requires that you write down any ideas that come to mind and leave out none of them. If it enters your mind, write it down.

Many people make the critical mistake of having an idea and censoring it before it can even see a sliver of light. This is a terrible mistake for two major reasons.

Number one, it's telling your brain not to trust itself. 

Nobody likes being censored or cut off. When you censor your ideas before they can even have a chance, you are censoring your own brain. This leads to your brain not wanting to generate ideas anymore.

Number two, the more you write, the better your ideas will get.

The ideas that are easy & effective are the ones that are at the forefront of your mind. However, in order to get to the ideas that are even more effective, you must dig in a little deeper. This digging requires you to get through the forefront and get deep in your mind.

The first part of writing effectively for productivity is you must be willing to let your ideas out of your head and onto the paper without censoring them.

Effective writing requires a direction to follow

If you go to an ice cream shop, you find ice cream. If you go to a toy store, you find toys. If you look in a journal, you find plans, experiences, and reminders. Regardless of what you look at, each thing has a clear-cut purpose and direction in its use.

In writing, both your writing and your notepads need direction. Without it, you merely waste money and time with something that yields you little to no benefit.

One notepad you may designate as your journal. One you may designate as a recipe book. One you may designate as your school notes. 

As for your writing, the journal may be used as a planner or for writing down interesting insights from your day. The recipes in your recipe book may be experiments you're trying and notes on how to improve them.

In this area, the possibilities are up to you. You can be as expansive as you want or copy somebody else's method. Writing for productivity requires you to have enough room, so keep this in mind when picking.

The point here is to pick a method that works for you and your purposes and to have enough notepads or notebooks to accommodate that. 

Trim down the details later on

There's a reason why brainstorming is done as its own separate thing. Brainstorming is one state of mind, and refining the ideas is another. It's for this reason that we trim the details for any ideas you come up with later on.

For brainstorming, you really must get this down. You must learn to trim the details later instead of immediately whenever you have a brainstorming session.

The reason for this is simple. If you allow your mind to idea dump, then you end up with more material to work with later on.

Then, when you go to refine those ideas, you can make more decisions compared to if you let the ideas come out partially refined.

You may decide to merge one idea with another. You may decide to use one idea as an overarching theme. You may decide to use one idea to encapsulate another.

Whatever you choose to do with your ideas, your range of options will be larger if you save the detail trimming for after your brainstorming.

Writing for productivity requires prioritization

Pretty much every productivity tip you'll find will make some sort of mention or hint toward prioritization. It's a key part of the process since it makes everything that much smoother. For this method, it's just as important.

Whereas the last point was for brainstorming, this one is for when you use writing to make a schedule or plan. When deciding what to plan, you need to know where your priorities are.

Will you finish your workout in the morning or afternoon? Will you go shopping for groceries before or after your workout? Will you meditate after waking up or before you sleep?

Basically,

1. what do you want to get done
2. In what order do you want to get it done, and
3. is there something else you need to do that stops you from getting it done

Following this process will allow you to realize where your priorities are if you don't already know them and create a plan or schedule easily around them.

By focusing on your priorities, you are getting the important work done first. This one principle is how you make the most progress.

The crazy power of writing for productivity

I discovered a while back just how much easier writing made getting work done for me. It allowed me to get the words out of my head so they wouldn't keep taking up mental space.

By teaching you these tips, my hope is that you'll find a method, whether this one or a different one, that gives you the same peace of mind.

- Karl