Color-Coding for the Less-Busy

{First, I just want to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my last post - I wasn't trying to beat myself up (and I realize it may have sounded that way), I was just rather frustrated with myself and wanted to portray that honestly. I would much rather have written that post the way I did, than write what I had intended to write (about how sometimes piles about the house are okay), as this whole process is about self-improvement - and the only way for true self-improvement is to not be lying to yourself! But again, thank you so very much guys - I appreciate it so very much!}

Color-coding is beautiful. Too many photos in a row of beautifully coordinated tasks in Instagram and I almost start to drool. I love the idea of each task or area of life having its own color, and marking things off as you go in certain colors.
It really would help justify my pen collection!
But, alas, I just don't have enough stuff to do that needs fancy colors.

I tried it. For about a week. And got frustrated having to dig out that many pens.
I also realized that, by the end of that week, I wasn't really looking at what I had to get done. I had associated a certain color with a task, and knew it could only mean one or two tasks, so I just sort of went on autopilot.
Which would be awesome, if I could manage to get things done while on auto-pilot, but I'm sure we both know that I am not quite that capable yet!

What I came up with, instead, is something I quite enjoy.
Each day only consists of two colors - the planned tasks and the actual tasks. Let me show you some examples!

This day started as blue. So everything that needed to be accomplished on January 2nd was in blue (and apparently, January 2nd was one of my more busy days!).
Once it was actually the 2nd, I used red. So, I checked everything off with the red pen once it was complete, added my notes, and other tasks that I did during the day as well.

I know it's kind of hard to see (you can click on the images to bring them to a larger size, by the way!), but the "Groceries" task and the "Meal plan for the Week" task have an orange arrow pointing backwards on them. That's because I did them on the 1st, and the color for that day was orange. This moving of tasks backwards (well, I guess, doing them before they are due) doesn't happen often, but it's good to still have that system in place.

Some of this stuff may not seem important to keep track of (like getting my amazon order, or painting), but I do like to keep track of all the things I do in a day. I noticed that if I do not, I will get to a few days later, and ask myself what in the world I had done all week - this helps combat that. Actually, I can have that issue in just one day, if I'm not careful!

Here is another example, with forward arrows!
The 6th of January, was planned out in purple. And everything that got done that day was marked in orange. I had a bunch of errands to do (which always take longer than they should!) so not much else got done (and, also, see note: "shame on me for putting so much off :( " ).
The orange arrows point forward, denoting that they got moved to the next day (which is why they are not in a different color).

I love this system.
At a glance, I can see what I had planned to do that day, what I got done of that list, and anything else that happened (without too much brain power to differentiate between the two). It really comes in handy for planning upcoming weeks. I am able to flip back to previous weeks and see what I scheduled in regularly for the days, and then what came up (and know that what came up for the day is probably not something I will have to schedule in for the upcoming week).

When I leave the house, and take my planner with me, I am only obligated to bring one color with me (the color for today) and mark things off as I get them done, if the situation allows. I have a pencil in the pen-loop of my planner at all times, so if I have to make a note of something to do at a later day, I can pencil it in and rewrite it when I get home, without worrying about ruining my system.

Plus, it's fun picking a color for the day (today is purple, by the way!).

Do you color-code your to-do lists? How did you decide to go about it?

~Havok