A system

In general, I distrust all systems for keeping me “on track” with projects, to make me more “productive.” After all, my plans for world domination are based on not doing All The Things, right? Also, it has been my impression that most systems, like bullet journalling for example, can pretty quickly become major distractions from the work as you become more invested in their complexity/completeness, or worse, their prettiness.

However, I am a sucker for blank books, and one day there was an ad for a lovely looking journal kind of thing: the TheME System journal. It was just weird enough — and beautifully designed enough — for me to hit that PURCHASE button.

It would be terrifically dishonest of me not to admit that I have already found it useful. Has it made me more “productive”? Hahahahahahaha no. But it has so far been a useful tool in helping me map out my TASK AVOIDANCE? Indubitably.

You can see a lot more (and yet purposefully vague) description in the link above, but here’s how I’m using it.

First, there are four “theme” pages. Already it’s like kanban, in limiting what you’re going to focus on. I’ve chosen to list my major 2021 Lichtenbergian Proposed Efforts (L’ism for Kids, the children’s book, the GALAXY Project, and refreshing the labyrinth).

Theme / Description / Ideal Outcomes

Next, there are “Journal Pages,” where you’re supposed to write updates on your themes. As you can see, the pages are little more than blank pages, which means you have to give them form/shape/purpose.

Several neat features here: the threaded page thingie at the bottom, and the little tear-off tab, which allows you to flip immediately to your last-used page.

Here you can see my work on finishing the illustrations for Lichtenbergianism for Kids:

The third section is the Daily section, and it’s here that you keep track of your daily progress on whatever it is you’re tracking: weight loss, getting outside, creating dorky illustrations. It’s a beautifully designed idea and truly infuriating as you try to decide how best to use it.

As I say in the book, all the to-do/journaling/note-taking apps are cool and modern, but paper-and-pencil WASTE BOOKS are far more flexible and adaptable to your needs. So it has happened here:

I’ve subdivided the page into three parts. Why not? I only needed three tiers of milestones — ABORTIVE ATTEMPT, IN PROGRESS, and FINISHED — so it didn’t make sense to leave 4/5’s of the page blank. (I will say at this point that if the creators of the journal meant for you to track stuff for your annual theme every day, they probably should have given you more than 90 daily slots. The journal is not cheap, and it is often out of stock… Of course, I have just given you a solution to that problem.)

Finally, there are a handful of blank dot-grid pages, and two index pages for those who want to be all detailed and obsessive about it. (Or maybe other people have more complex life goals than I…)

In short, I have found the TheME System journal to be an effective tool for me, despite my dislike of tracking systems in general. If nothing else, it suggests a structure for planning for MAKING THE THING THAT IS NOT that is non-rigorous and adaptable to your individual needs.