A Tour of My OneNote Work Productivity System
Summary
TLDRThis video outlines the creator's digital productivity system, which transitioned from a paper-based to a OneNote-based system in 2022. The system includes a comprehensive 2023 notebook with interlinked sections for daily, weekly, and monthly planning, as well as a project and feature management system. It emphasizes daily task logging, end-of-day task assignment for the next day, and the use of templates for streamlined project and feature tracking. The system's searchability and the availability of a Bare Bones notebook for purchase are highlighted as key features.
Takeaways
- ๐ The speaker transitioned to a digital productivity system in OneNote after facing issues with their paper-based system.
- ๐ They use a base notebook with a year calendar, week pages, and individual day pages for a comprehensive view of their schedule.
- ๐ The notebook is well-organized with interlinked pages for easy navigation between different time frames.
- ๐ The week page provides a weekly overview, including meetings and tasks to follow up on.
- ๐ Daily pages include appointments, tasks, and links back to the calendar and month for context.
- ๐ The speaker maintains a log of tasks with start times, projects, and billing codes for client work.
- ๐ Projects are categorized with features and contacts, allowing for detailed tracking of work progress.
- ๐ Features are linked back to their respective projects, providing a clear hierarchy of work.
- ๐ The use of templates in OneNote streamlines the process of adding new projects and features.
- ๐ The digital system is searchable, enabling quick retrieval of information across the notebook.
- ๐๏ธ The speaker offers a 'Bare Bones' notebook template for purchase on their website for those interested in a similar setup.
Q & A
What prompted the speaker to change their productivity system in the fall of 2022?
-The speaker changed their productivity system due to shortcomings in their paper-based system, particularly trouble finding information spread over five notebooks and difficulties with cross-annotating.
Why did the speaker choose OneNote as their new productivity tool?
-The speaker chose OneNote because it was available at their client site, their own company, and at home, allowing for consistent access and use.
How is the speaker's 2023 notebook structured in OneNote?
-The 2023 notebook has a section for a year calendar with links to individual days and an overall week page, separate tabs for each month containing month calendar pages, week pages, and day pages, all interlinked.
What does the speaker's week page in OneNote include?
-The week page includes all the speaker's meetings, a follow-up item, and their on-call schedule for the upcoming weekend.
How does the speaker plan their daily tasks in OneNote?
-The speaker lists their appointments and tasks on the day page, ensuring that at the end of each workday, they note down the first thing they need to tackle the next day to save mental effort.
What is the purpose of the speaker's daily log?
-The daily log is a simple and straightforward record of the tasks started, the project they relate to, and the time spent on each, which is also used for billing purposes.
How does the speaker organize their projects in OneNote?
-The speaker has a tab for projects, with each project having a tilde or squiggly in front of the name for easy sorting, and containing internal contacts, design notes, and a list of features.
What is the relationship between projects and features in the speaker's system?
-Projects are overarching and may contain many different features. Features are more tied to the software release schedule and are the smaller chunks of work within a project.
How does the speaker use templates to stay organized in OneNote?
-The speaker has a section of templates including daily, weekly, project, and feature templates that can be quickly used without having to manually set up each page.
What is the speaker's method for linking pages in OneNote?
-The speaker uses the link button to connect pages and can also use a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+K) to type the name of the page they want to link to, making the process easier.
How does the speaker's system help with searchability?
-The system is entirely searchable, allowing the speaker to quickly find all instances of a topic, such as 'SSN', by simply typing it into the search function.
Is the speaker's notebook setup available for purchase, and where can it be found?
-Yes, the speaker's Bare Bones notebook setup is available for purchase at Laura Earnest's shop, which can be found at lauraearnest.com/shop.
Outlines
๐ Transition to a Digital Productivity System
The speaker introduces their current work productivity system, explaining the switch from a paper-based system to OneNote in the fall of 2022 due to difficulties in information retrieval. The digital system is highlighted for its accessibility across different sites and its interlinked structure, which includes a year calendar, monthly tabs, weekly pages, and daily pages. The speaker emphasizes the importance of planning tasks for the next day to streamline workflow and mentions the use of a daily log for tracking tasks and billing codes.
๐ Organizing Projects and Features with OneNote
This paragraph delves into the organization of projects and features within OneNote. Projects are described as overarching entities with multiple features, each tied to a software release schedule. The speaker discusses the use of internal contacts, design notes, and task lists within projects. They also explain the process of updating tasks at the end of the day and the utility of templates for quick project and feature creation. Linking and keyboard shortcuts are mentioned as features that facilitate easy navigation and organization within the notebook.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กWork Productivity System
๐กOneNote
๐กInterlinked
๐กWeek Page
๐กOn-Call Schedule
๐กDaily Log
๐กBilling Codes
๐กProjects and Features
๐กTemplates
๐กLinking
๐กSearchability
Highlights
Introduction to a video about the creator's current work productivity system.
Switch to OneNote in fall 2022 due to shortcomings in the paper-based system.
Difficulty in finding information spread across five notebooks without cross-annotation.
Use of OneNote for accessibility across client site, own company, and home.
Description of the base notebook and the 2023 notebook setup.
Interlinked structure of year calendar, week pages, and day pages.
Weekly view preference for an overview of upcoming tasks and meetings.
On-call schedule integration within the weekly view.
Daily task listing and prioritization for the next working day.
Simple and straightforward daily log with time and project details.
Billing column usage for weekly timesheet submissions.
Project tab setup with main projects, features, and internal contacts.
Linking of features to projects for task organization and tracking.
End-of-day task review and organization for ongoing project lists.
Utilization of templates for quick project and feature setup.
Linking pages within OneNote using buttons and keyboard shortcuts.
Meeting notes organization by month with DOT grid for handwritten notes.
Entirely searchable notebook for quick retrieval of past work.
Availability of the productivity notebook template in the creator's shop.
Upcoming video teaser for tips and tricks on using the notebook setup.
Transcripts
hi welcome to a video about my current
work productivity system I decided to do
this in a video format rather than words
just because I think it will be easier
for you to understand how I have this
working
I changed to the system in the fall of
2022 after some shortcomings in my
paper-based system became glaringly
obvious most specifically I was having
trouble finding information that I
recorded this was partly because
information is spread over five
notebooks but also because I'm not
really good about cross-annotating
things
so I decided to move to OneNote and that
decision was prompted mainly because I
have one note available at my client
site at my own company and at home
so this is the base notebook that I have
that I work from and this is my 2023
notebook I have a section for a year
calendar that links not only to the
individual days but to an overall week
page
I have a separate tab for each month
which contains the month calendar Pages
for the week and then Pages for the days
so all of this is interlinked and if I
want to if I come into a day I first
will go to the week page now I like to
see things as a weak format so that I
can see what's coming at me this isn't
the first week in January it starts on
January 1st and it goes until January
7th and you can see I have all my
meetings in here along with the one item
that I need to follow up on which is
checking on the marketing data on
Wednesday
I also have my on-call schedule in here
so that I know I am on call next weekend
from here I can go to the individual day
page the day page has links back to the
calendar and the month and I list my
appointments and then any tasks now the
tasks are not assigned necessarily on
the day that I am working I always make
sure that at the end of the work day I
put down in my next working day the
thing that I need to tackle first this
saves me a whole lot of thinking and
remembering at a time when my mental
agility is probably not at its peak
during the day I write a log this log is
very simple and straightforward it has
the time that I start the task and then
the project now my billing column I use
for billing the client I have to submit
a timesheet every week and I bill three
or four different projects every week so
I make sure that I have my billing codes
in there
and then I just list out everything that
I did
now this is good as far as a daily sheet
but if I want to know what's going on I
have to go to my projects so I have a
tab for projects here my main projects
always have this little tilde or
squiggly in front of the name because I
can sort them
alphabetically and the projects will
float to the top in the work that I do
projects are made up of features and
projects are kind of an overarching
thing that may have many different
features features are more tied to the
software release schedule
so in my project I have the contacts
these are internal contacts so
um I didn't list email addresses but if
they were vendors I would have their
email addresses in here as well and then
I list the features this is also a space
for design notes and log things that do
not necessarily fall into the features
so from here I can go to my features and
this is a very small chunk of work and I
have a link back to the project telling
me what it is
and then I also list the tasks now I
don't do this during the day I do it at
the end of the day I will use this and I
will copy all of my items
and then go over to here and then just
paste it in and then move the items back
into the list so I have a running list
of what I did on every project takes me
about five minutes to backlink all of
that stuff and it's very helpful
one of the things that I use to keep me
on track here is templates and I do have
a section of templates in here I have a
daily a weekly dot grid for plain notes
a project template that you just saw in
my feature template
and I can keep these available so that I
can quickly use
project and features straight from here
without having to do anything gymnastic
like
so if I want to add another project I
just come in and I add a project
foreign
it's very easy to link things together
you can do it using the link button and
I can go in here and say that okay this
is my project it is Project sample and
it will link there and I can go there
now this it's even easier you can do it
using a keyboard shortcut with Ctrl K
and then you can just start typing the
name of the
page that you want to link to and it
will do everything for you
so this is my main work notebook it's
done everything I've needed to do if I
have meeting notes I will generally put
them in the month that they occur I'll
use a DOT grid and just add it to the
bottom and just start typing notes in
there or using my tablet to handwrite
things
I find that this is working really well
as far as keeping me on track and it is
entirely searchable
so for instance if I wanted to know all
the places that I worked on the Social
Security Number issue I could just type
in SSN
and I can see that I worked on it as
part of the credit card application
rewrite on January 3rd
so this notebook I've put together I do
have this available in my shop if you
are interested in purchasing it it's a
Bare Bones notebook it has all of the
days for 2023 laid out you can set your
own templates and go from there and to
find that it's Laura earnest.com forward
slash shop
in my next video I will show you some
tips and tricks that I picked up while
putting together this notebook that made
it much easier than having to click and
type for every single page out there
thanks for watching
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