It is terrific to use your technology to keep track of it all. Almost everyone has a smartphone, tablet, or laptop. It is rare to find a person without at least one of these pieces of technology. While we have technology, we are not all using our technology wisely. We need to start being smart and using our technology to keep track of it all.
The attempt to keep track of everything.
At the beginning of each year, everyone gets out their new calendars and starts making plans. Many of these calendars are paper versions. The plans are almost always grand and spectacular. with the paper planner or journal, due dates and target dates are noted. To-do lists are squeezed into cute little boxes or tiny rectangles. As time passes more boxes are filled in and plans are made.
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More often than not, the person who owns the calendar will come up with a brilliant idea. She will come up with this idea when she is a mile away from her paper and cannot write it down. Inevitably, she will forget the details of the idea before she has a chance to get back to her paper. There will be a friend or co-worker who says she should put everything into an electronic device. But she will insist that she cannot think electronically and has to do things with pen and paper or her flow is ruined.
What if you used your technology to help keep track of it all?
I am an electronic person. I have not relied on paper and pen to keep my many calendars for more years than I can count. That being said, I understand the allure of pen and paper. There is something quite wonderful about the feel of a good pen sliding across smooth creamy paper. I adore the smell of fresh ink on paper. So, truly I get the allure of pen and paper. That being said, we shouldn’t be solely relying upon pen and paper to keep track of things.
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Almost every one of those pen and paper people has a smartphone with a camera. What if instead of relying solely upon pen and paper, technology was added to the mix? This means that you would use your smartphone to take photos of your calendar and planner pages. Each page of your beautifully written and designed bullet journal would be photographed and stored on your phone. This means that when you are 10 miles from your paper planner and a great idea comes to mind, you can look at your paper and use a word processor, memo app, or note-taking app to get that idea down and saved until you get back to your paper.
Think about what goes into keeping track of things at work. Have ever lost a paper planner, had coffee spilled all over it, or accidentally tossed it in the trash without having a photo back up? When it happened, how many deadlines were missed? Were there any appointments that were overlooked? How long did it take for you to recover? Would your life have been any better if you had photos of your planner pages to refer to?
Paper and Smartphones can coexist.
Today’s phones are no longer called cell phones. We call them smartphones. They are called smartphones because of all the incredible technology inside them. It may be a mistake to ignore all that technology can do to help us keep track of it all. If you want to continue to be a pen and paper person, do that. But, add technology to the mix. Take photos of your paper and storing those photos on your devices and in the cloud. That way the information is always available when you need it no matter where you are.
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Paper and technology can work separately and together. Don’t look at it as a one or the other proposition. Instead, put them both to work for you and increase your efficiency. It is terrific to find ways to use technology to help keep track of it all. So, the question for you this terrific day is how do you use paper and technology?
I would be so disorganized without my phone and tablet! I have charts and reminders for everything.
I laughed out loud at “the attempt to keep track of everything”! That is SO me! I am now SLOWLY integrating my phone into becoming a planner for me lol!
Great post! Yes I agree that tech works together with paper/pencil. Smart phone is def helpful, we use it a lot for organization