When it comes to time management, I’m a double-faced man. From one side, I like to know what I should do and plan the day ahead. On the other side tough, I hate most time management systems out there (and I’ve tried many). In particular, this is what I don’t like about many existing systems:
- They’re rigid. The first thing I don’t like about most systems is that they have huge rules. For example with certain systems you must have a certain number of lists, or you have to use contexts to prioritize your day.
- They don’t focus on the big picture. Most time management systems I know focus on getting things done like a robot. I don’t like it. There’s no point in my opinion of completing 100 tasks in a day if are no valuable for me in the long term. Sure, there are things that you absolutely must do like going to the groceries store, but it’s easy to get a false sense of accomplishment without a long term vision.
- They don’t focus on habits. As you probably already know I’m a huge fan of habits. For me, developing good habits is the basis of personal development. Unfortunately, most systems don’t focus on developing habits at all, so it’s hard to keep track of how you’re doing.
So what I’m really looking for is a system that focuses on planning for the long term and on developing good habits. The good news is that such system exists.
I was introduced to this system by Giles Bowkett, who invented it (both calendar and daily list) and was kind enough to show me how it works in every detail.
How to keep track of habits
The first part of this system uses a calendar for keeping track of your daily and weekly habits.
The idea is that by drawing a line for each habit that you did on a given day, you can easily see how much productive you were. The video below was recorded by Giles and it shows this concept very well:
As you can see, you can easily track multiple habits every month thanks to this system.
By the way, don’t worry if you don’t have a calendar available for this system, indeed you can print out each month from a website like this.
Keeping track of things to do
Of course, habits are not everything, as you still have to keep track of things that you have to do.
Old fashioned lists (with a twist) work very well for this. See the example below:

How that list works is very simple. When I wake up in the morning (or the evening before), I write down everything I want to do that day, along with the time I plan to do it. Then during the day I mark which tasks I complete and which I don’t, but I also track if I did it at a different time than the one I planned. This has the added benefit that I’m actively improving my planning abilities.
I like to have two of these lists. One for day planning and one for monthly planning. On the monthly list, I put big tasks I want to accomplish during this month. For example I might write that I want to redesign a website by the end of next week.
Other than this I also use an inbox system for writing down every idea that I have during the day, and other things that might come to mind. And yes, I also use a calendar for keeping track of appointments.
I want to talk more about how you can use this system to dramatically change certain areas of your life, so stay tuned if you want more.
Posted on May 04 2010
You should subscribe to the RSS feed here.
Sharing is sexy!
I need all the help I can get with time management – I thought Giles was extremely amusing and effective in his video. Very sincere. Oscar, you are not double-faced. It’s natural to feel that way. Seriously, I swing between self-discipline and carefree days (well maybe a carefree hour but not a whole day)….Right now I am using Things for Mac and Memento for habit tracking with tags on iPhone. It is working well SO FAR :)! Thanks for all the ideas here….I like the calendar, Giles!
reply to this comment
Hi Farnoosh, I use Things too as an inbox on my mac, it’s great software.
reply to this comment
Thanks Farnoosh! I created the notecard list system there, too – kind of an oversight on Oscar’s part there, I guess, but I’m sure it’s with good intentions.
reply to this comment
Hey Giles, sorry about that. It should me more clear now.
reply to this comment
Looks pretty ibteresting. I am undergoing a productivity improvement week, I have been feeling improductive. Will give a try. Sorry about short phrases, I’m on iTouch.
Ruben
reply to this comment
Hey Ruben, let me know how it works for you.
reply to this comment
I’ll try to write a “how it went” post after the first month. Hope I can keep up with it, I need to stay productive these days!
Also, if you stick to using this system keep us updated on it.
Ruben
PS: Also fellow readers, if you happen to use the emacs text editor, you can create a TeX calendar by M-x calendar M-x cal-tex-cursor-month-landscape, which then you can convert to pdf by running LaTeX on it. I know all this may sound like nonsense, but if you feel like this then this tip doesn’t apply for your particular case ;)
reply to this comment
Hey Oscar, this post couldn’t have came at a better time!
As someone who has just decided to blog full time, I struggle weekly on what to do, and how to tackle my tasks.I must say, the method’s I’ve been doing have been helping me develop natural habits myself, however, I was doing it unknowingly. Now that I see lots of similarities on your blog versus what I’m already doing, I can recognize and reinforce these techniques to help solidify my habits.
Parker
reply to this comment
Hey Parker, glad you liked the post. I think Giles will write more about this method in his blog too.
reply to this comment
I really like the ability to quickly and easily asses your progress on creating a habit. Will be buying a calendar and some bright pens as soon as I get out of work today.
reply to this comment
That’s awesome. Let me know how it works for you.
reply to this comment
Hi Oscar.
I liked the concept very much. Will definitely give it a try.
But i am not a big fan of paper. Is there any software that could do that? I like the search option in computer-based systems :-)
Thanks
Fr4n74
reply to this comment
Hi Oscar.
I liked the concept very much. Will definitely give it a try.
But i am not a big fan of paper. Is there any software that could do that? I like the search-option in computer-based systems.
Thanks
Fr4n74
reply to this comment
Hi Fr4n74, I don’t know if there’s a software for that, sorry. Especially the calendar thing might be difficult to implement.
reply to this comment
Allowing the habit tracking to be so visual is outstanding for the visually inclined. Nice touch!
reply to this comment
Cheers Jan!
reply to this comment