How to Design Your Own Life Binder
My Life Binder is a map of my life and when I open it, I'm able to "point" and say, "I am here."
I created this out of the need to have something that gave me a tangible way to measure my progress from Point A (where I am now) to Point B (where I want to be) in all the different areas of my life and all in one organized place.
I didn't want a million notebooks, sticky notes, paper, apps, Word docs, etc. I wanted something simple and cohesive that I would enjoy using.
Et voila!
You improve what you measure.
You develop what you focus on.
I bought a regular 3 ring binder with plastic sleeves on the outside to insert a dream board as the cover of my Life Binder.
I also made sure that the inside of the binder's covers had pocket sleeves for holding paper and note pads. On the sleeve itself, I taped the sticky notes and tabs for immediate access.
To make these category dividers, I bought a stack of scrap book paper and cut it to be the same size as a regular sheet of paper. Here, I simply wrote in the different sections of my binder with a Sharpie marker and decorated it with washi tape. The numbered, colored tabs attached to each section are from some other office supply system - I just cut the tabs off and taped them to my own system! I also inserted these dividers into plastic slips to keep them neat.
The first section is where I keep my schedule and plans for the month and the week.
The Life Binder is a great place to keep dream boards and your goals so that you can keep looking at them.
Have fun with your Life Binder. There aren't any rules, except make sure that it works for you - in other words, you keep using it and it helps you design the life you want to live and keep "it all together."
Next section: MY GOALS!
Again, this is made out of scrap book paper material and washi tape. My binder didn't start out this pretty and put together. I just kept improving it.
Another dream board!
As I come across ideas, I find a way to make them tangible enough to put in my life binder right away. When something goes in my binder, it's like I'm affirming to myself, "This is important. I'm going to work on this."
The above pic is a ONE SHEET LIFE PLAN. It's an idea I got from Robin Sharma. Make a one page plan of what you want your life to look like and read it every day. The one I did here is for what I want my life to look like when I turn 30 - 4.5 years from now.
What I like about the Life Binder System is that these kind of things don't get lost in some random notebook.
And What Makes Life Work!
Again, if you are not keeping track of something, you're not going to stay on top of it. This section in my binder makes my life easier.
Look! A quote I like.
So under the What Makes Life Work section is a page for all my passwords. This definitely makes my life easier.
Gratitude. Gratitude makes life work.
I keep a page that I keep adding to as I figure out what makes my life work better so that I can remind myself to keep doing these things. For example, having clothes made for me instead of wasting time and money trying to shop for clothes in stores, works for me and I want to keep doing this and not default back into shopping at stores.
This piece is important. Every month, I track any significant accomplishments I've had. It helps me realize that even though some goals are taking longer to happen than I'd like, I'm still making awesome progress overall!
I have a daily method of operation that I strive to make second nature.
This section is for the projects I'm working on. Any ideas, articles, notes go here.
So, for example, for the Secret OWL Society project, I can keep print-outs of something I want to read and put into practice to help me with this particular project.
And financial peace is something I am working on in my life. This is where I keep track of my budget, income streams, money goals.
A helpful money article with advice I want to follow.
A printable to help me keep track of set monthly expenses.
Yeah, I drew that.
A section to keep track of my business goals, activity, and milestones. Very important.
This is a printable from Darren Hardy and his book The Compound Effect. It's in my binder because I get to keep coming back to it and scoring my performance in the different areas of my life. I'm thinking of creating something similar for OWL that helps people track the level of responsibility that they are taking in their lives. We all want to work on taking 100% responsibility, don't we?!
I keep track of the people that I am helping and giving value to here. All of us should be working on developing a team of like minded individuals around us that we can DO life with and link arms with and succeed together.
Ooo, yet another dream board!
This section can include random articles that I printed out from the web for reading up on later.
There you have it! A work of art, love, time, focus.
Just ask yourself: what are you doing now to measure the progress you're making toward the life you want to live overall?
Don't wait to make your own and don't stop working on it. As long as you're improving and changing, your Life Binder should be improving and changing along with you. It's really a reflection of my life. I feel like when I am spending time working on my Life Binder, I am really working on my life.
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