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Discussion on: What Do I Know?

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Akram Saouri

I can relate to that TJ, and I wish I was able to log my days/progress too, can you tell us how you were able to commit to that over the years? even when times are rough or you have nothing to write, nice article

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TJ Fogarty

Thanks, Akram. It took some practise and patience, but every morning before logging in to my work machine I would write up any tasks for that day. Any tasks from the previous day would be carried over. As the day went on, I would add more to the list.

It doesn't have to be tasks, either. I also would write some notes about the work I was doing. Some idle thoughts, or ideas. It's ok if there's nothing to write. You could always write down why you have nothing to write :)

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Mike Gasparelli

I have been using Microsoft ToDo for a while now, and what I've started to do is create a task for every bit of work I need to do. I have a hectic job, so a task might be as simple as "reply to Bob's email". Each morning, I review my tasks from the prior day and set up my list of ToDo's for the current day. At the end of each week, I create a new list to archive all completed tasks from the week, this way I have an easy way to go back and see what I accomplished in a given week.

I've tried many methods of keeping track of my stuff over the years, but I finally found a system that works for me. The killer feature in Microsoft ToDo is "My Day" where you are able to promote tasks into a special area for the current day. This helps you focus on the important things and not get distracted or overwhelmed by a big backlog of tasks.

I think leveraging the tools that already worked for me to keep me on track, and finding a way to use them to keep that "journal" is what really helped me commit to continuing.