I was chatting with a dear friend recently about time management, and the overwhelm that comes from being a full-time working parent with a busy social calendar and family life.
We started talking about the different ways that she has tried to better manage her time for maximum efficiency and productivity so that she can feel relaxed in her day-to-day work and life.
She mentioned sites like Monday and Toggl and other productivity books and tools that she’s tried to help her make sense of everything she’s got going on.
It gave me a gut reaction because I too previously attempted to use these tools and work with them to find the most practical process for managing all I had to manage.
For me, the reality is that most time management tools are in themselves overwhelming, complex, and difficult for my brain to understand and use.
What usually happens when I use someone else’s time management program is that I am forced to spend a lot of time translating their ideas into a form that I can work with, and understand easily.
At that point, I’m totally overwhelmed and stressed because I’ve just expended so much brain power putting someone else’s tools into a language that works for me.
I haven’t even begun to organize my own stuff, or if I’ve been organizing my own stuff, using someone else’s tools, it feels painstaking and confusing. I can’t find any of my own notes and ideas without significant effort.
The way my brain works is that I have to spend time understanding, analyzing, and often translating other people’s systems into the language that my brain speaks so that things make sense to me.
It is infinitely more effective for me to create a custom, personalized system or process that works for me and my brain, and to just do that work from scratch.
That way, I get to sidestep the entire convoluted, frustrating issue of how to make someone else’s hierarchies, terminologies, and systems of classification make sense in my brain. I get to figure out what I need to have a genuinely straightforward approach that makes sense to me.
When I work with coaching clients, I am always looking to help them find a specific solution regarding a specific problem that they are facing in their own time management, workflow, planning, or communications strategies.
I’m not interested in offering them a process or solution that I have invented because I know that one size does not fit all.
In fact, trying to force myself and my clients into one size is damaging, tiring, and the exact opposite of what most people want to achieve; namely, a sense of ease, flow, and simplicity in how they spend their time.
An example of this phenomenon that almost everyone I know has experience with is trying to work with annual planners. You know, those really cute journals that you can pick up at HomeGoods or TJ Maxx for like $10 that have you dreaming about all the goals you can accomplish and the discipline and consistency you’ll unlock if you can just stick with this lovely, bound, colorful system that someone else has already created for you?
In theory, it seems so simple and so appealing. You just fill in the blanks of the boxes that someone else has provided for you, and boom! You’ve achieved all of your dreams in just 365 days.
Well, if you’re anything like me, you have an extensive trail of failed planners and calendars, despite doing your best and giving it your all to fill out the pages consistently.
Maybe the boxes they provided for each calendar day were too small. Maybe they didn’t give you a space to plan for your week. Maybe they asked a bunch of upfront questions that didn’t actually help you get clear on anything.
Or maybe you just showed up day after day and found yourself procrastinating on the same stubborn projects or challenges because it turns out that simply writing a thing down is not enough of a clarifying support system to help you move through whatever challenges, roadblocks, or strategic issues you’re facing.
When I am faced with a complex planner, program, or time management system, all it does is add more complexity to my life and the projects I have to manage and navigate.
At this point in my work life, I have very few tools that I use on a regular basis.
I basically operate off of the Notes app on my phone, my Google calendar, and Google Drive files.( I also have backup systems in Dropbox and a hard drive that I use to back up my computer several times a year.)
I am very low-tech and minimal when it comes to the systems I use because I simply can’t keep track of anything else.
Even when someone shares a time management tool they “highly recommend”, I generally take one look at the proposed solution and pass.
For the way my brain works, my super-simple system is by far the most effective and efficient tool I can use. And I’m sticking to it!
Wondering what my “simple system” looks like?
Here’s a high-level view.
In terms of organizing my files:
On both my Google Drive and my computer, I organize files in a hierarchy that is relatively simple and makes sense to me. That hierarchy looks like:
- One work drive and one personal drive. I keep those things separate.
- I organize my work drive into a few straightforward buckets like: current clients; finances and bookkeeping; coaching tools and worksheets; past client information; and legal forms.
- I also have a goal and planning folder where I keep track of the ideas I brainstorm for my annual goal and intention-setting retreats, and where I check in every month using the moon cycle as a jumping-off point.
In terms of organizing my projects:
Every few months, I set aside time to plan my projects across quarters, months, and even weeks, depending on how many projects I’m juggling at any one time.
Right now, for example, I have a lot of varied things I want to accomplish before the fall. Keeping track of all of those things on a week-by-week basis is worth the investment of my time and energy.
Because I created my plan months in advance, I’m able to check in at the start of every month or even every week to see what’s on deck, identify the tasks I need to accomplish for the week ahead, and confirm I’m still on track. This high-level planning allows me to float along without constantly worrying and wondering if I forgot about something that needs to be handled in the coming months.
Every week, I review my monthly plans (if needed) and add to the running to-do list on the Notes App on my phone.
Every day, I plan my daily task list with a two-step process, as follows:
- I review the running to-do list I keep on the Notes app on my phone, decide which of those items I want or need to tackle today.
- Then (assuming I have time work on my computer—not usually true when I’m parenting full-time) I write down my tasks in a notebook and keep the page open next to me as I work on my computer.
I love this daily two-part process for several reasons.
- It spares me the irritation of writing down the same tasks over and over again every day.
- I get the satisfaction of physically crossing something off my to-do list.
- Finally, I spare my brain and eyeballs the angst of toggling between open tabs on my computer and open tabs on my phone.
(Let’s face it, mucking around on your phone while trying to work on your computer is generally a losing proposition. See this list I made for you with my favorite tools for productivity; keeping your phone out of reach is part of it.)
I could go on and on about all the ways I manage my projects, but let’s be honest: This missive is all about what works for YOU.
The main point I want to leave you with is this.
More often than not, you will benefit from taking the time to create a customized time or project management process that works specifically for you and your brain.
Despite the appeal of off-the-shelf workflows and programs, the inherent problem with these “solutions” is that that someone else created them.
Just because a product has a ton of positive reviews does not mean it is going to be worth your time or energy or even make sense to you.
Your time is often better spent looking at what makes sense in your brain and coming up with solutions for that than it is trying to force fit yourself into someone else’s supposedly time-saving process.
The next time you start working with a new time management tool, or project management app and you find yourself beating your head against the wall or getting immediately confused or just looking at it from a high level and feeling totally overwhelmed, just walk away.
Don’t feel beholden to working someone else’s steps just because you were told they are effective or you were taught it’s the best way to do things.
Every brain works differently, and no one knows what works for you the way you know what works for you.
Having said that, if you’d like some support figuring out the best ways to work with your brain on time or project management, I can definitely help.
I’m really good at helping people design calendars, workflows, and systems that feel organized and effective—especially folks who identify as neurodivergent or just have a lot on their plates.
If you want my help with time or project management, I encourage you to get in touch with me so that we can talk about how I might be able to support you.
Now what do you think? Do you build your own systems for time management and project management? Do you have a tool that you really love even though it was handed to you by someone else? Reply and let me know your thoughts!
