As a Virgo, I always feel like I’m some how letting my fellow star sign siblings down when I quietly admit that I am terrible at organization. My MO can usually be categorized as “vaguely chaotic”. I live in a pile of sticky notes and a calendar that hasn’t had the date crossed off in at least two weeks. My coat pockets are lined with messily scribbled notes. I fantasize about being able to successfully bullet journal. The only project management software I’ve ever really interacted with is a list on Excel of things I need to do and where to send them once they’re done.
“I know what I need to do, I just don’t know how to do it”
After this weeks reading, I turned a critical eye towards my organizational habits. I am a visual learner and I find I’m very particular about how I want my information to be presented. I know what I need to do, in terms of the work I need to do for this course; I just don’t know how to do it. I tend to lean more towards simplified lists and calendars, giving me the ability to place all the things I need to do into neat boxes. I can get easily overwhelmed when I look at all the information I need to organize as a whole. Lists allow me to simply break down what I need to do and calendars help give me a clear picture of how long I have to do it in my mind.
In researching project management software, I discovered a vast sea of variety. Programs like Wrike and Basecamp’s interfaces were a bit too busy for me, leaving me a more confused than organized. A lot of programs seemed to come with a learning curve and came with more features than I really needed for this project and for myself in general. Trello and Podio were close to what I wanted but they lacked a calendar view. (I also didn’t love that Trello required my billing information).
The program I felt most comfortable with was Asana. I found it the most visually appealing and the easiest to work in and customize. The original template is three lists: To Do, Doing and Done. It was easy to repurpose these lists, creating a new list for each module and listing what needs to be done for each module using the task option. This way, each week is broken into simple, specific goals. It’s been proven that breaking down tasks into separate components creates the illusion of multitasking, which can improve performance.
With each module set up and each task for that module listed, I was able to go into deeper detail within the task. First I labeled the task and assigned it a due date. I provided further explanation of what needed to be done in the notes, noting what I’ll need to read for that week or the parameters for blog posts and submissions. Pulling from the readings in Deep Work, I focused on the wildly important and labeled the tasks that needed the most focus. I had the option to label a task High, Medium, or Low on a scale of importance. The other labeling system keeps track of if I am on track to complete a task on time, at risk of getting off track, or completely off track. I elected to also add a completed tag to keep track of everything I’ve finished and a “revisit” tag for tasks I will need to come back to for my white paper.
Cal Newport really nailed it when he stated, “People play differently when they’re keeping score”. Organizing like this provides a source of motivation. Having a clear plan and idea of what I should be doing creates a rhythm of accountability. After only a week of having all the tasks I need to complete organized, I already feel like I have a clearer idea of what I need to do in the coming weeks and when I need to do it.
I’m pretty pleased with how this project turned out. I definitely want to keep using this throughout my journey through the masters program. I feel combining this software with my own written notes will help me recognize and create routines and frequently review my work to see what is working and what can be improved. It will probably take a little getting used to, but execution is harder than just strategizing. I think with a little effort, this will help me develop the routines I need to complete quality deep work. Who knows, if this goes well enough I may take a crack at bullet journaling next.
Photo by Patrick Perkins on Unsplash
Asana.com
Newport, C. (2016). Rule#1: Work Deeply. In Deep Work (pp. 95 – 155). New York: Grand Central Publishing.
Srna, Shalena, et al. “The Illusion of Multitasking and Its Positive Effect on Performance.” ScholarlyCommons, 15 June 2018, repository.upenn.edu/marketing_papers/322/.
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