A little while ago I wrote a blog called Taming the Task List where I detailed how I approached my to do list and got myself organised.
Since then I have expanded my team and taken on new clients, so the task list has expanded accordingly. It seemed appropriate to give you a little update on the processes I now use to tackle my day.
The day to day task list is exactly the same: it goes into my notebook. Every morning over coffee I write down my to do list for the day using good old fashioned pen and paper, and I tick things off as I go. I just love a good notebook, and a list written in pen always looks more manageable than a list on a screen.
Where I find out the information for that daily list though has changed. I still have a few things in my Google calendar – appointments, meetings, calls and reminders – but all of my project and client tasks are now in Asana.
Trello was great when it was just my stuff to manage (and I do still use it for personal things and household management) but now that I have a team Asana was the way to go. Every client is listed, every team member is a part of the system, and tasks can be so easily created, allocated, scheduled, amended and ticked off. Nothing is going to get missed. Documents and images can be attached, additional people can be copied in – internal emails are a thing of the past!
So every morning, I take a look at my calendar, take a look at My Tasks in Asana, and write out my to do list. I put alarms in my phone for every appointment during the day so that nothing gets missed. Then, I’m ready to start.
As before, I never try to remember anything. If you ask me where something is up to, what I need to do next, who needs to be called tomorrow…chances are I won’t know off the top of my head. Everything is written down, either in my calendar or in Asana. I have both of those things as apps on my phone so I can make notes wherever I am.
This means that my head is wonderfully clear. If I am out for a walk, having a bath, chatting to friends, chilling in front of the TV, my mind is not whirring with things I have to remember. It is all written down, reminders will pop up, I know where it is… I can relax.
It also means that if I am feeling overwhelmed, I can write out a short to do list. I can pick three things, jot those down, and then pick another three things when those are done. This calms my brain, because I am not looking at the whole great edifice of THINGS TO DO. I am just looking at the next three priorities. Everything else is safely tucked away on the computer for when I am ready to look at it.
How about you? How do you tame your task list?
Helen Calvert
Coach and Director of Clear Day
March 2021