Zen-Journal® ~ Task & Life Management that Works

If You’re Overscheduled, Bad Task Karma Could Be Why

by Leave a Comment

Are you chronically overscheduled? Do tasks and appointments back up due to long meetings, extended conference calls, or unexpected projects? If so, you’re likely the victim of bad task karma.

Bad task karma (BTK) is when one task affects the next and the next and so on. For instance, a meeting runs long and impacts the rest of your appointments and tasks. Before you know it you’re rushing to reschedule, and you’re overscheduled yet again!

BTK will kill your productivity, but it’s not your fault

That’s because most analog planning systems tell you to schedule tasks according to their urgency. Unfortunately, that leads to unrealistic expectations and lots of bad task karma. [Read more…]

Work as a Practice for Awakening

by Leave a Comment


I’m currently reading Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life by entrepreneur, Zen monk, and former Zen Center Director, Marc Lesser.

The premise of the book is that Zen practice can lead to the dissolution of the often self-placed boundaries between work and play.

At the heart of Zen is the absence of a separate sense of self. I have to admit that this is a concept that I’ve yet to fully understand.

I’m only about one-fifth of the way into this delightful read, however, I hope that by the time I get to the end I’ll have a clearer understanding of it. [Read more…]

How You Can Rapidly Switch Between Sections in Your Zen-Journal Even Without a Ribbon Marker

by Leave a Comment

There are times when you want to find the Quarterly Look-Ahead (QLA) or your Discipline Task Lists (DTL) in a hurry. With a lot of hardbound notebooks, that’s easy because they come equipped with one (Moleskine) or two (LEUCHTTURM1917) bookmarks.

But what if your notebook doesn’t come with a ribbon marker? What if you’re using a spiral-bound notebook or another markerless hard or paperbacked notebook?

I have a suggestion… [Read more…]

My 100% Digital Zen-Journal Experiment

by 1 Comment

A natural evolution

When I devised the Zen-Journal system, I intentionally designed it to take advantage of the strengths and time-saving capabilities of a digital device. Personally, I’m a Mac so I use an iPhone X, an iPad Pro, and a MacBook Pro. These devices are by far superior to my brain and analog notebooks when tracking my flights, schedules, appointments, and contacts.

But starting about six months ago, I began an experiment whereby I only used my iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil to create and sustain my Zen-Journal in an all-digital format. That may seem like a betrayal of the entire analog planner premise that Zen-Journal grew out of. I get that. However, it seemed inevitable given the increasingly digital aspects of our society.

It began when I purchased and downloaded the GoodNotes app from the Apple App Store. I looked at a few apps before deciding on this one. It allows me to create individual and unlimited notebooks (if that’s your thing), seamlessly view my Zen-Journal on my iPhone via iCloud, and allows bookmarks, pageviews (as in the example above) for easy scrolling and locating pages visually, as well as multiple page layouts and paper types.

It was a natural evolution of the system I created and still use. So what are the results of this experiment? [Read more…]

Which Notebook Should You Use for First Zen-Journal?

by 1 Comment

It’s a very personal choice

Like the pen or pencil of your choosing, the notebook you settle on is a highly personal choice. There are so many options both online and offline; there are hardcovers and softcovers, large, medium, and pocket sizes.

There are plain, ruled, box grid, and dot grid, and indentation page formats. Who’d have thought there was so much to consider in choosing a notebook?

I’ve used several popular notebooks and I’ll share my experiences with you for each below and maybe it will help you choose what’s best for your first -or next-Zen-Journal.

[Read more…]

How To Use Mindfulness to Survive and Thrive in Today’s Open Seating Work Environments

by Leave a Comment

Open seating workspaces aren’t what they’re cracked up to be

Open seating offices are all the rage in both Silicon Valley companies and across the globe, but for many, they’re a problem.

While proponents of the concept boast about improved productivity and ease of interaction between team members, there is a growing body of evidence that sheds light on some of the more harmful aspects of the model.

In this article on Forbes, David Burkus -author of the titles, The Myths of Creativity and Under New Management– takes a look at the various studies that identified some startling negative effects on the inhabitants of open seating offices.

The findings include a 2005 study from researchers at Australia’s University of Sydney that found: [Read more…]

My Most Meaningful Work – A 40+ Year Path of Gradual Awakening

by 3 Comments

And we dance, To a whispered voice;
Overheard by the soul, Undertook by the heart;
And you may know it, If you may know it

Neil Diamond, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Roles help us find ourselves

I’ve played many roles in my life: physician, professor, a college dean, a college president, a window washer, a retail store manager, consultant, and a guy who cleaned eyeglasses and hawked some anti-fog stuff for eyeglasses…yes, many roles and obviously not in that order.

You probably have played several, too. There is nothing wrong with playing these roles. But like we do in perfecting our golf swing or crafting the perfect cup of coffee, hopefully…eventually…we find a sweet spot. We find that one type of role within which we could stay in character for the rest of our lives.

Roles help reveal what comes easily to us. On a deeper level, we call these traits, talents, and strengths. Over time we experiment with different roles to determine our interests. I see roles as hugely important because the results of these experiences ultimately inform us about our deepest work.

The rest of this post is somewhat autobiographical. It discusses various phases in my life and the roles I played. It talks about the fractured process of discovering my strengths, talents, and ultimately, my deepest work and concludes with how you can avoid a similarly painful 40-year search for your deepest work. [Read more…]

8 Ways Regular Mindfulness Practice Can and Will Transform Your Brain

by Leave a Comment

Mindfulness practice is a transformative practice. If you engage in eating ice cream five minutes every day, do you know what would happen? Your waistline would be transformed… and probably not in the way you’d want.  🙄

You wouldn’t see it changing each day, but over the course of a few weeks, you’d notice some changes.

That’s how it is with mindfulness practice.

After five minutes on the first day you might not notice any transformation occurring, but over a few weeks you’ll notice some significant changes.

[Read more…]

Your Workday Doesn’t Have To Feel Like You’re Living a Scene from ‘The Shining’

by Leave a Comment

REDRUM, REDRUM…

OK, that’s a bit dramatic…(if you’ve seen the film or read the novel, you get it), but life working around Type-A folks can certainly evoke some really strong reactions.

Anger, feeling hurt, annoyance and other forms of upset are examples often how we choose to respond to various stimuli at work and maybe even at home, on the freeway, or around our kids.

It’s almost as if we possess a negative-reflex-thinking mode that becomes our go-to response, triggered over and over again each day.

Unfortunately, this leads to increased stress levels, a dumping of stress hormones in our bloodstream, and ultimately to disease states like hypertension and heartburn.

That’s an unhealthy way to live. [Read more…]

No, You’re Not Crazy; 3 Reasons Why Working for a Type-A Boss Feels Like You’re Losing Your Mind

by Leave a Comment

Working for a Type-A boss can be like working for a meth addict

If you’ve ever crossed paths with a meth user in full-on tweaker mode, then you may have seen some similarities with your Type-A boss. Both are driven toward a goal like a locomotive charging off a cliff.

Like a tweaker in search of his next score, your Type-A boss can exhibit some strange behavior when she’s in hot pursuit of new goal or outcome. So much so, it can seem like you’re the one who’s not focused or on board with her latest agenda. [Read more…]