3 things saving my life (and creativity) right now

Recommendations for a brighter new year

I love New Year’s time — the shiny new feeling of January 1st and the week or so after when you haven’t gotten used to the new date on the calendar yet. Arbitrary as it may be, turning to a new year gives me a sense of ritual and a sense of structure. It helps me remember what I did before and plan what I’ll do after the clock strikes midnight for a brand-new year.

This January time might feel fresh and open for you, too. Or maybe you’re still drowning in work and worries left over from 2022. Either way, I wanted to share the three tools that are helping me keep my New Year’s resolution to do less.

Todoist

I love a to-do list. I enjoy the clarity of writing out what I need to do and the sense of accomplishment from checking off tasks. But I’ve run into trouble with both physical to-do lists and digital versions.

If I make my list in a physical notebook, I don’t always have my notebook with me. I would also “lose” tasks if I made a list, checked off 8 out of 10 items on it, then didn’t manually transfer the other 2 tasks to my next to-do list. I tried to make recurring tasks into habits, but I couldn’t always remember, especially if I had a hectic day. I attempted to use Evernote for my lists, but that app and I are no longer friends (more on this later). It was also simply too laborious in the swing of a busy day to have to highlight and backspace over some long to-do list item (say, a specific list for a grocery run).

This is all to say: I’ve been using the task manager and to-do list app Todoist to organize everything, and it’s been a game-changer. (I know I’ve talked about this app in a previous newsletter, but it’s been so helpful that I had to write about it again!)

• I can enter recurring tasks by typing in “clean coffee maker on the 1st of every month” or “make plan for the week every Friday” and know that task will pop up to remind me every month or week as needed.

• I can also create temporary recurring tasks — e.g., I created a reminder to journal every day over my Christmas vacation. I typed “journal every day from December 22 to January 3” as one task and the app automatically put it on my list each day in that timeframe.

• I can make daily tasks (and add whatever details I need) to my heart’s content, knowing that if I overload myself (as I frequently do), whatever I don’t get done will stay on my to-do list instead of getting lost in a notebook.

• I can future-plan by putting in “watch 2023 US Figure Skating Championships” months before the event, knowing the reminder will pop up in time for me to watch that week.

I almost can’t over-state how helpful it’s been to be able to tap in a task and a deadline or timeframe into an app on my phone and send it away, trusting that it will be there when I need the reminder.

Bear

I can’t stop recommending this notes app that only takes notes. After Evernote sent me into a writer crisis by losing a perfectly worded paragraph one too many times, I knew I had to make a change. I’ve been using Bear to capture both random ideas and detailed notes about stories and projects I’m working on, and so far it’s been up to either challenge.

The interface is clean and simple, and notes are organized easily with a hashtag system. I can pull up a new note, tag it with “#resourcesideas” to put it into my Random Ideas That Might or Might Not Be Something folder, and then tap away, trusting that the exact words will be there if and when I need to come back for them.

This notebook

I have journals going back to age 14, a fact that is wonderful and horrifying at the same time. But I’ve never been able to keep up a consistent journal, sometimes writing in my notebook every day or (many more times) going months without an entry. Daily journaling is one practical, concrete facet of my New Year’s resolution to Do Less. I wanted to stop getting loss in the chaos of each day and have a moment to check in with myself as well as a record of how I grew or what I learned or even just what was interesting or funny or sad for me that day.

I wanted to embrace journaling again for 2023, and more than that, I wanted to be someone who jots down at least a few thoughts on a daily basis. I needed something in between being a planner and being a blank notebook, and this PAPERAGE undated daily planner has been exactly the right thing right now. Key selling points:

• It’s spiral-bound and lies flat. VERY important.

• It invites short, daily journaling with each page.

• It’s lined. I’ve tried to be a bullet journal person, but it didn’t work for me, and I need more than just dots.

• A unique feature I haven’t seen in a notebook before — it has margins. I can use the circles to create bullet points, and I can jot notes about my own notes in the margin. Whenever I’m flipping back through it, I can quickly see “Writing” or “Faith” or “Newsletter Idea” in the margins and find what I’m looking for.

Have you been doing less (or more) in 2023? I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to reply to this newsletter (or any newsletter) to reach me directly, and happy New Year!