Did you lose work in Microsoft Word?
Twice in the last month, my computer has crashed or rebooted while I had files open and work unsaved. These issues were caused by hardware, not software, by the way. When I restarted and reopened the files, the work was gone—and in both cases it was work I really, REALLY didn’t want to have to rebuild. The first case was so horrible that I went looking for solutions–and I found one! It worked great for the second case, too, so I wanted to share it here—both for you and for me, since I’m guessing it will happen again.
- In Word, click on the File menu, and then on Options, near the bottom left.
- Click the Save option on the left.
- Hope and pray that you have Save AutoRecover information every X minutes checked. If you don’t, this probably won’t work. It’s legit essential.
- If it is, copy the URL for the AutoRecover file location.
- Hold down the Windows key (generally between FN and ALT on your keyboard) and press the E key. OR open File Explorer from your Start menu.
- Paste the URL into the address bar of the File Explorer and hit enter.
- The folder should show, and you ideally should be able to find your file.
- Then double-click the file name and it should open up.
- Then save the material elsewhere and move on with your life, appreciating that you live in this advanced era of indoor plumbing, effective vaccines, chocolate, and autosave.
- If this doesn’t work, I got nothing. Maybe you saved it somewhere else? Anyway, back up your files, and good luck!
Building and tracking habits (bullet journaling part 2)
As I continue to learn about bullet journals and evolve my own practice, I thought it would be helpful for me, and hopefully you as well, if I recorded some notes about stuff that’s helping and stuff that isn’t. Today (29 May 2020), I spent some time thinking about habit tracking and weekly planning. Here’s what I came up with, mostly about habits.
Done right, habit tracking in a bullet journal can help both with building habits and with supporting your use of a bullet journal (which is, itself, a habit). If building or improving habits is important to you, recording them will support the habit. If you’re enthusiastic about doing and recording those habits, it will encourage you to use your planner. Win-win!
One of the ways to support that cycle is to make sure the habits are specific, measurable, and practical, and that some of them, at least, are small*. Small habits include things like taking vitamins, flossing, or doing stretches–actions that might take just one to five minutes and are easy to fit into your day. This is why I track the number of servings of veggies and fruits I have in a day, rather than to just assign a habit of having 5 or more. I’m almost always going to have *some*, and that’s much better than an all-or-nothing approach.
Of course, it’s also important for habits to be meaningful. One issue I struggle with for my habits right now relates to definition and meaning. Specifically, one of my goals is movement or exercise, but what does that mean for me? I have a dog (he’s amazing!), and I get a fair bit of exercise just walking him every day. What I want and need is *more* exercise. But I haven’t yet determined how to define that. If I garden for 45 minutes, or go for a 30-minute walk, or work out on the treadmill and/or exercise bike I have access to for 30 minutes or more, that definitely counts. But what about 15 minutes on the exercise bike, or 10 minutes of vigorous weeding? Where is the line?
I don’t have that answer yet, but more on that when I do. Meanwhile, check this video out for more on weekly planning, which is another thing I’m still working out.
[Top]I would never do a bullet journal
Or so I said to myself. Why? Because of all the fancy art projects I’ve seen that people call bullet journals. So many of the ones I’ve seen online are elaborate, colorful, artful, and clearly took an enormous amount of time to create and maintain. In some cases, they appear to be an end in themselves, And that, to me, is precisely what I don’t want in a planner. A good planner (and a bullet journal is really mostly a planner) should serve me, not the other way around. And so, I discounted bullet journals entirely. (Though, let me add, you do you. If you want your bullet journal to be an elaborate art project, have at it. This is aimed at people who’ve ignored them, as I had, because of that side of bullet journals.)
But then, during the early stages of the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, I watched a video purportedly about productivity but that was mostly about bullet journals, and what I saw surprised and intrigued me. The bullet journal method was originally designed by a graphic designer named Ryder Carroll, who wrote this book. I confess, I haven’t read the book (though I did just buy it). Instead, I’ve been learning my way around bullet journals through the YouTube channel of Matt Ragland, who made the video I mentioned at the start of this exciting paragraph. I use Matt’s videos because he’s very straightforward and very likable, and his work was my entry point, but you might also want to check out Ryder Carroll’s videos. Also, bonus video link! Matt posted this one recently about his morning routine and I really like it.
I’m not going to explain to you how to do a bullet journal (the videos do a great job of explaining that, along with the essential visuals), but I am going to tell you why I see them as valuable. First, I’ve always had trouble with regular planners. One major reason is that there are stretches of time where I just don’t need them. Like, during the semester, I teach two days a week, have office hours another, and sometimes those three days are just very straightforward. And over the weekend, I might (or might have, in the olden days) just be out doing something with my family or my husband. And then there are trips, whether for vacation or work. Do I need a planner for those days? I mean, maybe—but often I don’t. Even today, I have just one meeting, and a vague intention to do laundry (didn’t happen) and do some writing (check it out—I’m writing right now!). I don’t necessarily feel the need to write that down in a planner. What that means, when I’m using a “normal planner,” is that I have a ton of blank pages. And blank pages mean failure and guilt. And then, at some point, I never pick it up again. Sigh.
With a bullet journal, though, there’s more flexibility. I can start and stop whenever I want. If I skip a day or a few days, or even a few months, I can just start the next day right where I left off. Not that that’s an ideal approach, mind you, but it’s efficient, welcoming, and easy, and I like all of those things. It also means I don’t have to start in January or, with an academic year planner, in August. Perfect!
There are two other benefits I will mention before I stop talking and (I hope) you go check out those videos, if you haven’t yet. One is that you can use almost anything for bullet journaling. The dot grid format is standard, but not in any way required. If you elect to get fancy as I did (total notebook and pen fan!), you can find lots of nifty notebooks on Amazon or elsewhere. There’s one made by Ryder Carroll, one made by Leuchtturm, and (among many others) the lovely book I got, by Tumbitri Meri. That last one has the benefit of being relatively inexpensive, as well as having lots of bells and whistles, like three ribbons for marking your place, page numbers (which are super useful), and a pen loop.
And finally—and this is actually pretty key for me—bullet journals are fantastic for habit tracking. On the right-hand page of my full month spread, I note when I’ve gotten exercise, when I’ve written, and when I’ve eaten my fruits and veggies. All three of those are more likely to get done if I record my progress, so I’m hoping this will work.
There are other benefits—lots of them—so if you haven’t found a planner that’s just right for you, give the minimalist bullet journal style a try and let me know how it goes. I will, meanwhile, keep at it and post an update down the line.
Stay safe and be well!
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