I love tech.
Probably a little too much.
I’m a gadget freak. I’m always checking out the newest gadgets, diving into new apps, new software… if somebody says, “Oh, I’ve been using this app to do XYZ,” there’s a pretty good chance I already know about it.
Which makes what I’m about to admit a little bit hypocritical.
I still carry around a cheap little spiral notebook.
And sometimes I use that instead of all the tech.
I catch myself giving people a hard time because they still rely on pen and paper. (Sorry, sissy. 🫣) Meanwhile, here I am with a notebook in my purse, rewriting my errands before I leave the house.
Apparently I’m one of “those people” too.
My system probably looks ridiculous from the outside.
I have a running spreadsheet for all the things I need to get to eventually.
ClickUp is where anything needing history lives. If I call an office today, I want to know six months from now who I talked to, what they said, and exactly when I called. That’s where all of that goes.
My whiteboard is only supposed to hold what I’m working on this week.
Then there’s the little spiral notebook or my Rocketbook for errands because I don’t want to unlock my phone every time I need to see what’s next. I rewrite the list in the order I’m going to drive it, sometimes more than once… so I can just glance down, cross something off, and keep moving.
Sometimes the damn whiteboard runs out of room.
Sometimes life happens and I stop reviewing everything like I’m supposed to.
Sometimes something ends up on the whiteboard because I looked out the window, saw the neighbor cutting the grass, and suddenly remembered a bill I never paid.
It’s… a weird-ass system.
But everybody in my life knows if it’s something important I have to remember, they’d better text me.
Because, if it isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist.
Maybe It’s Not Too Many Systems
When I started thinking about all this, I thought, good gracious, this is a lot.
But…maybe it’s not. Maybe I really have only one system.
The tools just have different jobs.
ClickUp isn’t trying to be my whiteboard.
My whiteboard isn’t trying to remember six months’ worth of phone calls.
The notebook isn’t trying to remember my whole life.
None of them are competing with each other. They’re just doing different jobs.
And it could be why the digital systems eventually start feeling overwhelming.
I don’t think it’s because the software stopped doing what it’s supposed to.
I think it’s because I slowly start stuffing everything into one place until it becomes a warehouse instead of a workspace.
That’s exactly what happened with ClickUp and I didn’t realize this until now.
I always thought I was still looking for the right system.
But I don’t know…
maybe I already have it.
It’s just spread across a bunch of tools because my brain needs different things at different times.
For the longest time, I thought all the notebooks, apps, spreadsheets, calendars, and whiteboards meant I hadn’t figured it out yet.
It’s kinda ironic, but…
I think they are my system.
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I wonder how many other women have quietly built a collection of tools that all do different jobs… and still think they don’t have a system.
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