This one's for the planners, the calendar lovers, and all of you task managers, and “check-it-off” fanatics. Let me say, I love a calendar. I mean I LOVE a good calendar and, although I don't discriminate, there really isn't much that beats the feeling of ripping off the page of an over-marked, over-highlighted, all-too busy desk calendar only to start over with a squeaky clean canvas of a new month ahead. However, to be fair, one thing that does run a close second in my book is a solid project management system and I recently attended a meeting that had one agenda item only, project management systems. We spent an entire hour sharing our personal preferences and strategies for tackling daily to-do lists along with some of our recommended systems for teams. I walked away from that early morning meeting with more options for labeling, categorizing, and hyper-organizing my to-do list than I even knew existed, not to mention this video on how to zero your inbox. It was pretty much the best meeting, ever!
I was so excited about the resources and information, I felt compelled to share it with my AHEPPP Family. Included below is a shortlist of project management systems curated by personal experience and recently shared with me. **Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with, nor do I endorse, sponsor, or am connected in any way to any of the following.**
1. Pen and Paper (because nothing feels as good as crossing things off!)
2. Power List
3. Notion
4. Asana
5. Meistertask
6. Slack (Also, great for team communications)
7. G-Suite/Google Workspace
- G-Teams
- G-sheets
- Email and Project Labels (Don’t forget to color-code)
8. The “GTD” Getting things done
9. Wrike
10. “Eat your frog in the morning” is a helpful strategy shared during the 2021 Annual Conference that stuck with me. The idea is to tackle the worst part of your to-do list early in the day instead of holding off with it looming ahead. (Full credit goes to Former AHEPPP member Mark Pontious)
Last but not least, my number one piece of advice at least for team projects is, pick and stick. Regardless of your method or preference for managing tasks and prioritizing projects, find what works best for you and stick with it. Sure, over time you may find new platforms or evolve your process but try to avoid bouncing from one system to the next, particularly for your teams. This can be the ultimate cause of confusion to try to keep up with, not to mention costly. Thankfully, there are hundreds of options available to help us improve our workflow as individuals and for our teams.
So whether you have already ordered and marked up your 2022-2023 AY calendar or you are waiting patiently until December for that shiny new planner to arrive, remember that efficiency is a priority task all year-round. Regardless of the system or the strategy you prefer, I encourage you to remember this…prioritize your time, say no when you need to, delegate tasks and schedule time for yourself, that calendar won’t highlight itself :)
Take care friends!