I am going to get personal here for a second. I have a notebook problem, like a big one. I LOVE them – the design, the feel, the paper, the quotes or cute graphics on the cover…I love it all. But over the years, I’ve found myself using 5 even 10 of them interchangeably. This was leaving me with tasks and to do lists all over the place. I was constantly thinking to myself, “where the heck did I write that note about SEO from my business coaches? did I put that in the green notebook or the black one?” OR “where did I write down my new affiliate link for Honeybook”. To say the least, it was frustrating!
Notebooks and post it’s don’t turn overdue tasks red and definitely don’t send you email reminders! But a good task management system does.
Simply put, task management systems are the first step to shifting from overwhelmed to organized. And best of all, most of them are FREE. My task management system is the hub for everything related to both of my businesses. I use it religiously to create new projects, organize social media content, store workflow templates, add a simple “don’t forget this” task and so much more. Today I want to tell you 5 reasons why you need a better tasks management system.
#1 – Long-Term Planning
At this year’s Fireside Retreat, I gave a talk on using Asana for task management. One of the areas I covered during this talk was using your task management system to track and store information about long-term projects. It gives you a place to braindump and organize future projects or long-term goals for your business.
Not only does it allow you to store this information for future reference, it also gives you the power to assign deliverables to goals that may or may not have happened without a clear plan to achieve them. It gives you a big picture view of your business. It is the difference between maintenance and growth. Writing down and planning for long-term success and growth is what will propel your business to the next level.
Just think, you cannot launch a course with a paper to do list, there’s like 450 tasks involved. And you definitely cannot achieve the goal of “someday launching a course on X” if you don’t plan and prepare yourself months (even years) ahead of time. Long-term planning with your task management software allows you to manifest those BIG dreams and goals into reality!
*The notebooks are what I sometimes use for the weekly or daily one-off tasks like “file car insurance, call the doctor, email “so and so” back. I can’t ditch paper forever!
#2 – Save your post it’s for grocery lists!
Have you ever sat at your desk in the morning rewriting the messy to do list you left on your desk from the night before? Have you ever had a computer screen with 25 post-it notes stuck around the border?
Things like:
“Send Brooke information about engagement shoot”
“Start making the timeline for Bryan and Sarah’s wedding”
“Don’t forget to add your expenses for the week to Quickbooks”
Oh yes, I have been there (thank god I haven’t been for the last 4+ years). And man is it overwhelming! You feel like you have one million things to do, you have no idea where to start (or if you even completed the task yet) and all you want to do is crawl under your desk and take a nap.
Save yourself the stress and the post-it notes (cause dang are they expensive)!
When you use your task management system effectively, you will never rewrite another to do list again! The program does the work for you. It tells you when something is due when something is overdue and gives you an organized outlook of what is to come. And – guess what?! You still get to check off the box when you complete a task. If you are like me, crossing the task off is half the fun!
#3 – You and your team (or future team) have access to everything in one place
When it is time to grow your team, you will save yourself endless emails and time explaining your procedures by having them stored in your task management system. By simply adding someone to my “team” in Asana, I can give my team members access to everything related to my business in one place. It is a lifesaver!
Not only that, when your team is synced together in one task management system, you can share information, assign tasks, track the status of projects, and even co-work on projects together. Keeping all your business information and action items in one place is essential for you and anyone on your team!
#4 – Organize & Stay on Track with Due Dates
Okay, remember when I said post-it notes don’t turn red when the task written on them is overdue? Maybe one day, who knows (that’s some Harry Potter stuff right there)! But for now, let’s talk about task management systems.
When you assign due dates to each of your tasks and action items, your task management system will automatically give you a reminder when it is overdue. In Asana, the tasks’ due date turns red and moves to the top of your “My Tasks” section (see example below).
Don’t let another client deliverable or weekly admin task slip through the cracks. When a new task comes across your desk (via email, text, vox, Facebook, whatever) immediately add it to your task management system and assign a due date. You can even do this on your task management systems mobile app! Trust me, your clients and stress levels will appreciate it!
#5 – Managing multiple projects in one place
As your business continues to grow and you are managing more client projects as well as internal admin projects at once, a better task management system is a necessity. Like I said above, it allows you to store everything related to your business in one place. Further, it allows you to manage multiple projects at once.
Things like:
- A “Finance” project where you store your weekly, monthly, and yearly action items for tracking the money that goes in and out of your business
- Or, an “Admin” project with action items like email decluttering, cleaning up client projects in your CRM or cleaning off your desk.
- Or, your “Content Calendar” where you store all the information and schedule for your blog, newsletter, and social pages.
No matter what projects you are storing in your task management system, you give yourself more freedom and control when you keep them all in one, neatly organized place. Don’t go another day with 15 different paper to do lists. Upgrade your task management system today.
To learn more about Asana, CLICK HERE.
To read more from my about task management and organization tips, click the links below.
10 Ways to Stay Organized During the Busy Season
10 Ways to Save Time with Asana
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