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How to Create a Productivity Journal

Everyone, but moms especially, want to know how to utilize time to the best of their ability. We want to accomplish more, and have more time to enjoy our family.  Moms often strive for high levels of productivity in all areas of life.  A productivity journal may help!

Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I accomplish more during the day?”, but then felt overwhelmed with how and where to improve?

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Well I have a tool that may be helpful to you. It’s called a Productivity Journal. Using a Productivity Journal can help you reach your highest levels of productivity in all areas of your life. 

What is a Productivity Journal?   

Don’t get caught up in thinking that you need to purchase a specific type of product for your Productivity Journal. Although, you can find premade “Productivity Journals” for sale online or in stores. The best kind of Productivity Journal is one that is customized for your needs and wants. 

A Productivity Journal isn’t necessarily a specific product. Your productivity journal could be any notebook you have lying around. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, unless you want it to be. Think of it more as a tool you use for accountability to help you manage your time and energy. 

How does it work? 

The two main purposes of a Productivity Journal are to provide you with accountability and clarity. Later in this article I will give you tips on specific things you can do with your Productivity Journal to make it valuable to you, but first I want to discuss the general use of the journal. 

productivity journal

Set Your Daily Goal

The first step in creating your Productivity Journal is to know what your daily “standard of productivity” is. Meaning what do you hope to accomplish each day? Maybe you have a daily fitness, cleaning, or career goal. It’s important to know exactly what your daily goals are. Write them down in your Productivity Journal.  

Observations

Make notes on when you reach your goals and when you don’t. Pay special attention to the days that you are successful. What contributed to your success that day? Did you wake up an hour earlier? Or maybe you ate a breakfast high in protein that gave you energy and focus. Record what you do on the days that you’re the most productive, so you can duplicate it later.     

Accountability 

One of the best aspects of a Productivity Journal is the accountability it provides you to be able to reach your goals. The two main ways I’ve seen people improve their productivity is with a Time Tracker and a Habit Tracker. 

Time Tracker

If you’re wondering how you can better manage your time, the first tool you can utilize is a Time Tracker. A Time Tracker takes an entire day and breaks it down into slots of either a half hour or fifteen minute time frames. You then fill in the slots with what you spent your time doing throughout the day. This allows you to see where you may be wasting time or underutilizing your time. 

Habit Tracker 

This next accountability tool is my favorite one to use. It’s called a Habit Tracker, and it’s pretty much a glorified to do list of all the goals and things that bring you joy. If you have your heart set on wanting to drink more water, take 10,000 steps a day, read a self help book for 15 minutes, AND embrace a yoga routine; then a habit tracker could help you reach all of these goals. 

productivity journal tracker

Start by creating a column of the daily habits and goals you hope to accomplish. Then create a column for each day of the week. Once you’ve completed your goal for the day, you get to mark it off on your Habit Tracker. It’s rewarding to see all of your work fill up the page. 

Clarity

Another benefit of a Productivity Journal is the clarity it can bring into your day and life. Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the amount of things you need to get done, but you don’t know where to start? Begin by prioritizing your tasks for the day. Choose the task that is the most important thing to get done, and write it down in a designated area. Then list the other important tasks below it. This will help your mind to focus and hopefully ease some anxiety. 

I hope this article provided you with enough information to start your own  Productivity Journal. It can help you manage your time and resources, and allow you to reach your highest productivity levels ever. 

If you’re interesting in learning about a similar, but slightly different, productivity tool then I would recommend reading all about journal-planner hybrids here.

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