An Agenda for the Daily Hustle

Sometimes the simplicity of pen to paper is the best way for me to visualize and organize my thoughts and ideas.

At one of my corporate jobs, I had to meet regularly with one of the C-suite members. She came to every meeting with her laptop and a printed document. When I saw her in the hallway, she was always carrying around that document. When I asked her about it, she told me that it was part of her daily routine. She would print out her schedule for the day and note all the important things she didn’t want to forget throughout the day. This simple document helped her organize her day and thoughts. For some reason, this always stuck with me.

I thought about her recently when I was trying to find a way to improve my time management. I was getting tired of bouncing between different apps on my phone and laptop — all while juggling the daily grind of work, a newborn, four pets, housework and personal hobbies. If the old school paper and pen were effective in helping a C-level executive manage her day, then it should be good enough for me too. Plus, I’ve always preferred a physical to-do list. The act of crossing a completed task is so satisfying.

The Not-So-Basic To-Do List

A basic to-do list wasn’t quite what I envisioned though. I wanted a format that captured my schedule, to-dos and tracked my daily food and water consumption. I found different templates online, but they were never just quite what I had in mind. I eventually gave up and decided that I needed to hit the drawing board and design my own agenda layout.

After tweaking it a little every time I used it, I finally settle on a format that worked best for me. I still use my various apps, but this daily view helps me step back and assess my day at a glance. I like to print out my template the night before, so I wake up in the morning ready to go. I’m sharing my template in hopes that it might help someone else out too. Enjoy!

Daily Agenda

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