How to build your perfect planner system? Week 12: Start to thinking in projects!

Until now, we written only tasks to our lists - in fortunet case. But tasks aren't separate things. They are connected with each other. Sometimes is hard to finish something, because you don't know, what to do. "Organize the vacation" - what the hack is that? Such "task" can sit in your planner for a long time, because it is not doable. What is it then if it is not a task? I would call it a Project.

Why to thinking in projects?

If you think on something like a project, it is easier to organize. A project can have a deadline. It has tasks. It needs material. There is also informations connected to this. Organizing a trip is a project. I will explain the whole thing with this fictive project (not really fictive - we are organizing a trip to Paris in October...)

Paris trip project page

How to organize a project?

1. What steps or parts has this project?

Decide: when and where.
How we get there? Buy tickets if necessary.
Where to sleep?  Book hotel.
What to do? Only relax? Sightseeing? What to visit?
What to bring with you?

2. Deadline(s)

Deadlines can be artificial too. Define a deadline for all parts of your project, if you don't have one from outside.

3. Informations

Collect all necessary informations on the same place. Catalogs about hotels, interesting places. Your notes about these. Booking numbers, etc.

Notes about the train - we didn't chosen this

Hotels in Paris. A very messy note page :)

4. "Things"

I didn't found a better word on this. Things you need. For a skiing you need ski. If you flight first time somewhere you might need to buy suitcases. You might need a valid passport.

5. Tasks

The trickiest part. We tend to think on things like tasks, also if they aren't tasks. You cannot only buy flight tickets. Yes, it is a task. But what have you do first time? (David Allen calls it next action.) You have to discuss with your family, when will be the trip. You have to decide you will flight. That can you go and search flight tickets, that can you buy that ticket. You have to analyze your project: ask yourself "what can I do next to achieve this part of my project?" Don't be afraid, you don't have to write all tasks for the whole project at the same time. You can do it step by step.

How it comes together with other planning things we talked before?

Handling 10 projects in monthly/weekly planning is more simpler, as handling 100 tasks. Have a list of your running projects and take a look on it every week.

My current Projects List

Plan projects, or part of the projects in your monthly/weekly planning. Than take out your tasks in the daily planning.

On my monthly planning page:

On my weekly planning page is a little chaotic: sometimes I wrote tasks (buy Disneyland tickets), sometimes stuff (finish bookkeeping).

On my current weekly planner page

Homework for the next week

Take a look on your goals, your tasks from the last week, and try to find out, on what projects are you working on? Write a list!
Take for all a piece of paper and start to organize the projects as written above. As you practise to thinking on things like projects, you will be better in finishing and track things. Let me share a project. My daughter has to go to dentist. It is an appointment. I write it to my planner. Then the doctor tells me, when to come back, how to clean her dent etc, and then I think on it: cannot be "going to dentist with D" a project? It might be an extreme example... If I have for it a project page, I can keep dentist contact, next visit date, gotten informations etc at the same place. Next time I have that all by hand.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in comment! Share your experiments in our Facebook group, and get more help!  

Find here the whole series.

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5 tips for using color coding in your planner

Why should you use color coding? You can tell me "don't make my life complicated, I don't want to have lot of color pens..."

It is difficult! 

I was looking for a daily page, where I used color coding for different tasks, but I didn't found any. It is, because, I use that page the whole day, in different places in my flat, and away from home also. I am a very unorganized person, and I'm tending to create lot of categories, and I'm happy, if I have only one pen with me, not all colors I should need! So, I write here with the pen, what I find. But today, I found the solution!

Tip 1: use color coding after listing!

As usual, write the tasks (or anything) only with that color, that you have by hand, and if you are on the right place at your desk, with all of your staff, make the color coding! I have done it with my Frixion colors markers. I am using purple for work, blue for myself, orange for family.

Tip 2: use marker dots!

As I don't want bring all my pens with me, when I left home, I have in my compact size on-the-go Filofax only one black pen, and marker dots (like these), I write in black, and add colored dots to different things. Because it is only calendar, I mark: who is involved, if it is home or not, and info is only an opportunity - if we should go somewhere. Red dot's means that someone, including me has to go away from home. I write the first letter of the person on the dot. Yellow is, if I have to know about kids things - they are going somewhere, but without me. It can be a school thing, when I have to check, what they have to bring with them, but I'm free at this time. Blue is info - tomorrow will be flea market in the city, what we love, I have all occasion in my planner. Green is, when something happens at home.

Tip 3: classic color coding with color pens

Calendar is filled out mostly by my desk, so I had no problem to use my colored pens, as you can see here. And not everyone is like me, and you should work always at your desk, and have any pens with you. Think about it, what categories make sense for you.

Tip 4: use colored markers for blocking out your time 

For me this is the most important, I'm a very visual person, if I schedule my day this way, it is very simple to see, how much time I have for different things. It can help also keep your life in balance too! My colors for here: green for away from home, scheduled also travelling time, pink and purple for work, blue for myself, orange for family and house work.

Tip 5: color coding for project categories

Lot of people has different sections for projects of different areas of their life, as family, house, kids, work, etc. I want see all my projects together, so I'm using flags in different colors to mark them.

and project planning with flags

Big part of my work designing knitting patterns. The whole process is always the same: knitting, writing, testing, releasing. The colors are designated for this steps. I write the name of the pattern on these four colors, and use them to schedule my work on this.

Good luck to find the best way for you (also it is not using any color coding :)). I would be appreciate any feedback, even better wit a picture, if you make some change inspired by this post!

Do not hesitate to ask, if you have a question for me, or a suggestion, what you want from me to write next time!

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How helps a planner to make your 100 dimensional life (semi)linear?

Warning! As I read the book "ADD friendly ways to organize your life" in the night, I couldn't sleep after that, because my mind started to thinking about what I read - so much thought, and they are still here and swirling around me. The post might a little bit academic and chaotic.

A dream about a linear world, and the reality

I dream sometimes about a world, which is simple linear. A task comes in, I finish it, next task comes... But the world is more complicated. Hundreds of tasks bombard us in every minute. You have to decide if it really a task? Is that you who has to solve it? The biggest thing to remember all of it. Because the time is linear, you can accomplish only one thing in one time. With a little cheat, you can start something, and leave it to happen: start the soup, and leave it, you can do it something else until it will be cooking, but it can be an issue to find a way back (in time). But doing things like this: parallel to each other takes a lot of energy - switching between tasks is exhaustive.

Solution Level 1: Have a list

If you have a list with tasks makes for you possible, thinking linear. You work on something, and you don't have to think on other things, because they are on the list. Until you don't finish, you have only this one particular task. The list has to contain doable tasks! "My daughter's birthday" is not a task. A task is to find out what gift I will buy, buying the gift, writing invites, baking a cake...
You are making something, input comes (post, email, a thought): I have to do something with this. Write on your list on. Finish your task, then go to the list - and? What? Your list might have 100 of items. Pick the next one? Or spending a lot of time to choosing the right task for now? Better as don't have any list, but not the best. How could you finish a long term goal? It is not possible not eat, speaking with your friend, cleaning, etc until you didn't wrote that book. Switching between this long term things and everyday life little tasks, and back is very difficult. And not linear! And another question: where do you have your list? On a piece of paper? Will you always find it?

Solution Level 2: Use a calendar

If your list is in your planner, it will be always there. But how to organize your list? You should not only know WHAT you have to do but also WHEN.
Using a planner can be on more levels. You might use it as a calendar, writing appointments in and some time sensitive things, like "bring library books back", "mom's birthday". It is simple, but the problem can be, if I see today in my calendar, that my mom has birthday today, it is too late. I have to plan todos related to this thing before. So comes planning in: write one week later to the calendar a task "buy gift" to a day, where it is appropriate (have time, and opportunity).

Solution Level 3: Project planning

Project planning for work and for personal life too! What is a project? A project is anything that contains more than one doable tasks. Organizing the time is more simple, if you have more that one list. Start writing thematic lists! 

Use a planner, where you have place for a calendar for time sensitive appointments and tasks, and place also planning, not time sensitive tasks. You need also place for the project tasks lists too. You might have a "projects" session in your planner, with an index page in order from A to Z.

How to make your plan: decide on what you will work on. Choosing from 10 projects is more simple that choosing from 100 tasks. After choosing the project you are working on you can choose the task from the tasks. This helps also to finishing long term projects. 

Let's see, you are writing a book. You don't have to plan all tasks before. You can plan "working 2 hours" every day on this project, and when you are working on you are going on that project tasks list. Or you can plan "writing chapter one" in May. 

Solution Level 4: Organizing the projects in time

If you have lot of projects and you have them organized from A to Z, it is hard to decide on what you have to working on now. Place the project tasks lists in your planner in order of you will working on them! Have dividers for months, and day as in 43 folders system, or have dividers for months and weeks, how I make it. Place the lists to the time you have to working on! When you getting there, you have to choose only from a few tasks. Some sample: I have to pay tax for our house every 3 month. I have all infos on a notepaper (where how much and the tax numbers, and a list, where I write in when I payed). I have that after the monthly divider when I have to pay. When I payed it is going 3 month later. If I would have this "project" in an alphabetical order, I might never pay it! I have an idea, what I want to buy for my husband's birthday. I should make also a birthdays list, and also a gift ideas list too. But then I should always check them. I write birthdays to my calendar, and ideas to the month when I have to buy the gift! An idea is only an idea, not a project, so I have a notepaper by the monthly dividers. I prearranged with someone to make together a promotion. I don't need a project page yet, but to the month I will have to start working it, I have a note about it. I can start my list than. But if I get an idea, I start a project page before it and write it down!

I know, that was long... If you have any question or comment, do not hesitate to write me!

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3 tips for how to make sure you complete "Important but not Urgent" tasks

Choosing the right task what you do now (or decide, when) is the most hard part of planning. Take a look on this diagram:

1. Important and urgent: it is very simple. You must do. Now. No question. There was an accident, someone got hurt: you has to bring in hospital. Not tomorrow, now. This is an urgency case. But other things can be falling in this category if you don't plan carefully. Making not important thing and procrastinating important things for the last minute can cause big stress. The goal should be to avoid this situation! How? To plan carefully the important, but not (yet?) urgent tasks.
2. Important but not urgent: this tasks tend to be always postponing. Why? Because that had maybe no deadline, or it is somewhen in the future. We can find other most interesting things to do and thinking, that we don't have to work on this task now.
3. Urgent but not important
4. Not important, nor urgent tasks

About this two category will I write in an other post.

3 tips to avoid the stress caused by not urgent but important tasks waiting to do

1. For little task, dedicate a project, named "procrastination list". Find a time frame for this project every week. Plan an hour or how much you would like to working on this list. Keep the list by hand, and write everything here what falls in your mind. If the times come, do not care about any other thing! Even not your urgent tasks. Pick any task from the list and start doing. If the time is over, stop. List goes to rest until the next week.
2. If the things are long term projects, you can schedule for each of them a day. Decide, how long you will be working on that project, and do this! Very important to make good notes and task list, not to forget what you started. To make more clear, on what I'm thinking, my "Task of the Day" are: working on my homepage, bookkeeping, dyeing yarn.
   
   
   
3. Use markers every time you reschedule a task. First one point, second two points (or what you like), if you reach 5: make a decision. Do it now. Or cancel. Or find someone who can do it. Of course it makes no sense to plan a task, if you are not able to do it on that day. 

I wish you more success to finishing every important tasks!

Happy planning!

Zsuzsa

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Project Planner - for what???

I got questions how to use and why the project planner insert?
If you don't work in projects in your workplace, it can be hard to imagine, how could be this insert useful. If you try to forget the word "project" and thinking on things belongs together it can be more simple.

Some example

Plan your holiday. 

   Tasks:
      -- find out where - subtasks: look through the catalog you collected already, make a list about what is for you (and other family members) important (it will help in the decision),
      -- book flight
      -- what I want to see - subtasks: buy a tourist book. Read the ... blog for ideas. Print some out. Buy a map.
      -- make a packing list.

Plan your Christmas

  Tasks:
      -- Gifts. Subtasks: create a list with names, ideas. Buy the gift for x. Order from the internet.
      -- What to eat? Subtasks: create a menu. Ask xy if he is not vegetarian? Buy ... Order cookies from...
      -- Schedule. Subtask: call xy, when could she come. Look in the calendar when starts the holiday in the school.

My own examples

Planner Project

Because it is slowly too big, I made some "subproject" from it.
There are: "New inserts". I collect here my ideas I want to make some day. "Corrections/developing ideas" for the inserts I already made. "Personal size". Inserts to reducing for this size. "Miscellaneous Ideas".

Folded note to a new insert idea:

By corrections a Task is an insert like "Daily Planner V1". This is Nr 3. I have two marks here: + means, that I have a note for it. It is folded into the Project Planner, and I wrote the number of the task too. S means, that I listed minimum 1 Subtask on the other side.

In this case: more hours. I should have more Subtask for a Task, as by the Nr 1. I can write the Nr of the task into the second column. I highlighted the subtasks, that I find important and want work with first.

My note for the correction.

Homepage Project

This is also a huge project, on it I work continuously. I have here subprojects too, as "Home", "Webshop", "Blog". This is more complex, because I have a collage who works on it too, I have to know, what he will make, and when...

Pattern Project

Every pattern is a project for me. There are always the same things to do: find the idea, choosing yarn, designing, knitting, writing the pattern, make proofreading, testing, releasing, marketing. Usually I don't make a Project Planner page for them. I started to make laminated checklists for the different part of the process, and I use them.

If I need to write something, mostly I use a to do list insert. Things such "measure the shawl". "Change Chart C on page 4". 

Little projects

If a project is not too complex, I don't use the folded version, only the two pages, or a to do list. 

Where to place the projects?

You can use the chronological method, as I wrote in the 17 folders post. I find it perfect, because I can place a Project page now for the next Christmas, and write in if I get an idea...

If you have only some project, make a "Projects" tab in your planner, and mark with flags your folded pages. If you have more, you might want to make an index page and sort the projects in ABC order.

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