Getting Started with the Ellie Brook Thing
Okay, so I wanted to share a bit about what I’ve been tinkering with lately, something I’ve just started calling the ‘Ellie Brook’ setup in my own notes. It’s nothing fancy, really just a way I tried to sort out my messy workflow for personal projects.
Things were getting a bit scattered. I had notes here, tasks over there, ideas on random bits of paper. It felt like I was spending more time looking for stuff than actually doing anything useful. So, I decided I had to try and nail down a simple process.
First off, I grabbed an old notebook. Just a plain one, nothing special. I dedicated the first few pages to outlining the main goals for the project I was focusing on. Big, clear points. Then, for the actual day-to-day, I started using a very simple system.
- Morning Check-in: Look at the big goals. Write down just three small things I wanted to get done that day towards those goals. Only three.
- Work Time: Focused on just those three things. If I finished early, great. If not, they rolled over, but I tried hard to keep it realistic.
- End of Day: Quick look back. What got done? What didn’t? Made a tiny note on why, maybe just a word or two. This wasn’t about feeling bad, just about seeing what was happening.
Sorting Out the Kinks
It wasn’t perfect straight away. The first week, I kept trying to cram too much into those three daily tasks. Felt like I wasn’t doing enough. But that just led to feeling overwhelmed again, which was the whole problem I started with.
So, I had to really force myself to break things down smaller. Really small. Like, instead of ‘write report’, it became ‘draft first paragraph of report’. That felt a bit silly at first, honestly. But it actually worked better. Ticking off tiny steps felt good and kept things moving.
I also started using sticky notes alongside the notebook for super urgent, must-do-today items that popped up unexpectedly. Just one or two, stuck right on the current page. Helped keep the main notebook cleaner.
How It’s Going Now
It’s been a few weeks now. I wouldn’t say it revolutionized my life or anything dramatic like that. But it’s definitely… calmer. I feel less frazzled looking for what I’m supposed to be doing. The notebook acts like a simple anchor point.
The main thing is consistency. Just doing that simple check-in and check-out each day seems to build a bit of rhythm. It’s basic, maybe a bit rough around the edges, but it’s a practical thing that’s helping me move forward, step by step. So yeah, that’s my little Ellie Brook experiment so far. Still using it.
