Why?

As a software developer, I spend my day in front of a screen, and then after work, I sometimes game with my son and watch something or other on my tablet. All that screen time is not the best, so this year I am going to try to spend more time away from screens. These are the steps I want to take.

Bullet Journal

I have always toggled between making a physical to-do list and one in an app, probably trying to find something that will stick. I like the idea of this, and with my plans to also be a bit more organised outside of work, I think this can help.

One thing I need to be clear about is that this will not replace Jira at work, but serve more as a guide to help me prioritise my day by going through and seeing what tasks need to be done and, if needed, splitting them up. The paper will help me get my thoughts together and then update Jira. At home, I want this to help keep track of learning as well as planning out dinners.

I have tried this in the past, but the notepad I used was too small for me and my writing, so I am getting a bigger one this year to see if that improves things or if I will forever be looking for the next best app/method and never settle down.

One of my hobbies is growing my own food, so this will help me keep track of things that need to be done and serve as a record of when I did things, so I can look back in years to come and track how well or poorly things have grown.

Journal

I used to use the app One Day, then had a look at the Apple Journaling app. While these are good, I have been using a cheap A5 notepad from Amazon for this recently, and I do prefer writing it out by hand, probably as this is one of the few occasions I now write with pen and paper, although that is changing with the addition of the bullet journal. My method is nothing special; I don't use any prompts, I just write what happened that day and how I felt. I usually aim for a single page, but I don't stress if it is longer or shorter.

Photo Memories

This is one idea I saw on YouTube where you print a photo (or photos) of an event and store them in a book, then write about that day and even add other perspectives from those who were there, so you can look back and remember all the things that happened. While I have started this, I am finding it harder to convince my wife to also contribute to this book, but I like the idea and will continue with it regardless. I want books after a while that I can look at and smile at with the stories I have written about the photos. I know that apps also have the 'On This Day' feature, and I like looking at them, but they also have random photos mixed in and never have any context around the photo. I do use Apple Photos and Immich for backing up my photos.

Conclusion

While I do still and will continue to use a lot of apps in everyday life, I want some things that are physical and which force me to slow down and think about what I am doing without any distractions from notifications or the temptation to look at something else.

Do you write with pen and paper for anything, or do you want to try something similar? Let me know.