Why a little black book is crucial in 2015
2015 is here, and now is the time to start brainstorming some resolutions for the new year. Nope, “keep being super awesome” is not a resolution. Neither is “explore the human capacity for cake eating,” although I appreciate where your goals lie. The first few weeks of the year are great for getting organized; you can start to schedule your days as the new year winds up, and you can get yourself a little black book. I’m talking a planner. An honest-to-goodness-not-messing-around physical paper planner. A little black book is the perfect tool for professionals, travelers, students, and everyone in between.
The traveler:
Keep all of your travel details in your little black book. Flight numbers, confirmation numbers, ticket stubs, everything. That way I have all of my information in one place: if I want to look over my itinerary, I don’t have to swim through my bag to look for that one confirmation email that tells me what terminal I need to get to. Your little black book makes it easy to schedule trips and flights because all of your travel dates are recorded, making it easy to visualize your availability and plan travel accordingly.
Hint: Don’t lose it. Don’t do it.
The student:
Write down important deadlines, study group dates, and motivational notes (along the lines of “SERIOUSLY START THAT PAPER I’M NOT EVEN JOKING. DO IT RIGHT NOW”) This is also a great place to record dates for shows, concerts, and social events you might eventually kind of forget about. Sometimes it’s easy to let a couple of days slip away in a Netflix-induced kettle-corn-powered shame spiral. But you’re bigger than that. Just write things down and you can keep yourself on track.
The blogger:
Along with the iCal editorial calendar, keep important deadlines for non-regular posts (like one-time guest posts or interviews) in your notebook. Having these dates all in one place makes it much easier to manage your time and maybe fit a couple of extra posts in a week.
A little black book can be a super-effective way to keep track of your life. Because your dates for everything in your life are all in one place, it’s much easier to prioritize tasks for the afternoon or for the week. This year, make your life a little less crazy by prioritizing organization. It will decrease your stress level and prevent little things from falling through the cracks.
