Master The Alastair Method Today
With the start of a new year, a lot of us focus on creating goal lists, todo lists and, especially in the planner community, the setup of new planners. I’ve done the same! Guilty as charged.
As a stationary and productivity geek, journaling is one of my favourite hobbies.
With this focus on optimizing my systems and the creation of a solid foundation to achieve my goals in the new year, I ask myself, what can I leave out? What can I simplify?
This brings the Alastair method to my mind. So far I’ve used it religiously in my weekly planning, but I know it can be used for so much more.
Let’s dive in!
Understanding the Alastair Method and where it came from
This method of task logging has its roots in the bullet journal community. It was created by Alastair Johnston, who first wrote about it in November 2015 (link to external source). He developed it as a solution for forward planning.
Imagine a standard to do, task or action list, but on the left side, you add columns for categories. This could be, as in the weekly example below, the days of the week.
You mark with a bullet, in which category the tasks falls. In the above example, it reflects what day of the week the tasks is planned for.
This is the foundation. Once you do a task, you mark it off. In this example a x represents a task that is done.
You can use this in several different ways! Imagine to categories a list of events, projects or travel. You can use it for future logging and assign tasks to months or even quarters.
How to thrive with this method
I love using it for my weekly lists. It helps me declutter it as it shows if I have to do the same task on different days. There is no need to write a task down multiple times and it also looks like there is less to do which is always good.
For planning this year, I’m also looking to use it for my future log (see below) and I also use it for my adulting log which has a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly column. This way I can track everything I need to do on a regular basis, like car
Easy-to-Follow steps to get started with the Alastair Method
To get started with the Alastair Method chose one of the following options:
GTD
Are you using the Getting Things Done method? Add actions, projects, someday/maybe columns to your list.
Future Log
Use one list per quarter and add the months. I.e. create one list for Q1 and name the columns, J F M for January, February and March and so one.
Weekly to do list
Next week, just add the days of the week as columns to your existing list.
Your Action Items:
- Select one of the above options: GTD, future log or weekly and add the columns to your existing list or create a new one.
- Think about what other areas in your life you could apply this to. Do you have an adulting log? Setup your weekly/monthly/quarterly adulting tasks.
- Share your journey and how you are using it! Maybe you can come up with a unique way that can inspire others!