When I started this series, I was excited to take a hard look at my task management. I’m productive, but I hadn’t really settled on a system yet. My Evernote system is ON POINT and flows, and I wanted that in Todoist. Forcing myself to try out different systems and blogging about it helped with keeping track of what I liked, didn’t like, and designing a system that works for me. All that being said, I start with what I tell everyone who asks me about how to get organized: You have to know yourself. You can have the best designed system in the world, but if it’s not conducive to how you operate, it won’t work. I’m going to share how I designed my system, and I hope you find some ideas, but feel free to tweak what doesn’t work for you.
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The Cliff Notes version of Getting Things Done (GTD) is all tasks and files go through a process: Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do.
GTD works for people, no doubt about it. It has a near cult-following, and I can’t knock it. I rely heavily on it’s concepts when I organize my Evernote, and had half-heartedly applied it to my to do list. So this system was one I looked forward to, actually. After all, since it works so well within Evernote and filing, using it for tasks had to be good, right? For the most part, yes. Collect works wonders. If I have a thought, put it on the list. Todoist makes this easy, as do most other task managers. You can even create a recipe for Siri or Alexa or whatever robot you use to add tasks into Todoist. From there, it’s “just” a matter of determining what’s necessary and when, followed by a review process. You may or may not have heard of the Kanban Method - here’s an article that delves deeper. In short, your tasks are all visualized and move through a pipeline (To Do, Doing, Done), and it allows you to see the progress. Of course, that is a SUPER condensed version, but it’s the basic premise. Put another way: As you all know, I use Todoist to manage my tasks. Unfortunately, Todoist isn’t designed to work well with the Kanban method. There IS a Windows beta app, but I don’t use that platform. So, for this experiment, I had to move everything over to Trello.
First, a few words on Trello. Trello is a project management site that relies on the Kanban method. You create a Trello board, which contains lists. Lists contain cards, and then cards can hold attachments, checklists, labels, can be assigned, etc. I very much enjoy Trello for a few uses - I use it as an editorial calendar for this blog, and for other projects that have lots of moving pieces. For this blog, for instance, I have a few lists, each representing the stage in the process a blog post goes through before you see it. Idea, then research, then writing, then editing & graphics, then scheduling to post, then social media, then done. The calendar function gives me a way to keep my blog posts on my calendar and to view right within Trello. Other project boards may have lists for pieces in research, in progress, waiting on client feedback, etc. I really like the visual layout, and that it doesn’t have a ton of bells and whistles. In fact, Trello is a free app and while they do offer paid versions, I’ve never found a need for anything past the free version. So, while I had used Trello before, I had not used it as a task manager. FULL DISCLOSURE: I was NOT excited to research this method and use it for every day tasks. In fact, I reconsidered more than once. I knew Kanban works wonders for projects, but for everyday tasks, well, I wasn’t seeing it. So, while I tried to go into it with an open mind, I also knew I had to stick with it. Most of us know the name Eisenhower as President Eisenhower, but before he had that gig, he was a US Army General in World War II. As you can imagine, that job came with a pretty steep to do list, and Eisenhower had to figure out a way to figure out what needed his attention and what didn’t, and he came up with the Eisenhower Matrix.
I’ve always been intrigued by the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks. As I wrote last week, I use Todoist, which offers four priority levels with tasks. Prior to fully adopting the Eisenhower Matrix for a week, I used the priority levels somewhat arbitrarily - some things were marked as important but weren’t, some were important but I didn’t mark it, etc. No consistency. In my mind, if it was on the list, it was important. I wanted a way to “rank” tasks better, hence why the Eisenhower Matrix was selected as my first review in this series. Are you someone who doesn’t use a to do list? Then I am in awe of you. I blame my Type A ways, but not having my tasks on a to do list gives me anxiety. As part of my New Year, New You series, I’ve been working behind the scenes testing some task management methods. The most important part of any to do list is actually doing the things. You can have the best to do list, most effective workflow, but if you’re not motivated or active, well, the best app in the world can’t help you. (PSA: if you’re not motivated because you suspect you may be suffering from depression, please seek help. Depression is not a joke, and there is no shame in getting help in whatever way works for you). Today, before Monday’s post reviewing the first method, I want to talk about how I keep a to do list. I’ve used various apps over the years, and I know there are three things that are “must haves” for me:
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