I use a physical planner.

For someone who spends most of their time at a computer and around technology, I’ve been moving in the opposite direction lately. I use a physical planner now. I have a whiteboard in my room. I write things down with a pen more than I type them. It helps me with clarity.

When I open a notes app, I can dump unlimited thoughts but most of the time I am not thinking. I just delete my mistakes and write it the right way.  When I use a physical planner I have to decide what actually matters because space is limited. That constraint forces me to break things down. Having to strike off a mistake made with a pen has a good feeling now rather than the bad feeling it gave me when I made mistakes in middle school.

The whiteboard sits there in front of me all day above my desk. I cannot minimize it, I cannot switch tabs, I cannot hide from it. If something is on that board, it stays visible until I deal with it. A mentor recently told me “touch everything only once” when I asked for tips for time management. So when I start doing something that is on the board I finish it or I go as far as I can with it. That visibility changes how I work.

We have built technology that is very good at capturing information. My phone holds everything I need to do, but it also holds everything I can use to avoid doing it. Going back to pen and paper forced me to confront the list rather than just keep it.

I wrote recently about how convenience is making us worse at waiting. I think it is also making us worse at thinking. Writing something down takes longer, but it makes you process it. Planning your day on paper takes more effort, but it makes you commit to the plan. 

For most people, tech actually solved the time management problem they had, I never figured it out. Going back to pen and paper has been the solution for me. I still use all the same tools, but I am starting to see analog as a layer that sits before digital. There is also a good nostalgia feeling to putting pen or pencil to paper. My generation, Gen Z, might be the last generation that had a period in their life that computers and screens didn’t take care of everything paper did.

I do recommend planner apps like TickTick, Apple’s reminder or Google Keep. They are all great if you take the time to set it up properly. If you still find yourself struggling with managing the tasks, try going back to a physical planner.