Developing a new System
A reason for change…
As I start this post I need to explain why I am developing a new system. I have a new job. It starts in February but I will finish up my current job at the end of November. This will also involve a move to a new city. Because of all these big changes, I’ve decided that the best way to mentally draw a line under things and move on, is to set up a new system.
Hopefully this new system will deal with some of the deficiencies in my old system. I like the way I was using the Time Sector System, and it was helping me to cut out unnecessary elements of my system that just bogged me down and took up wasted time. However, my mind needs to see things in projects. This is how I think and this is how I work.
Changes to make..
So the biggest changes are that I have largely reverted to a project based set up in my task manager. The second big change is that I am trialing ClickUp for project management, task management and planning. Evernote remains as my notes app. But in a third change, I will try doing my project work using the Docs feature of ClickUp.
This system is still in development and will largely come into play when I start my new job in February. But over the next 3 months I plan to use this system and develop it further. I have not yet finalised my workflow but this is the flow of it so far.
ClickUp will become the new hub. This will replace Evernote & Notion for my planning. I may still keep planning checklists in Evernote as it is helpful to have a different window open. But, my command center will be in ClickUp. I will likely continue to do my higher level Year, Quarter and month planning in Evernote but the weekly and daily planning will take place in ClickUp.
My project list will be in ClickUp, my projects will be in ClickUp and my tasks will be in ClickUp. My notes and big picture planning will be in Evernote.
Putting it all together
So, my vision, value and goals will be mapped out in Evernote. I will likely create a way to reflect these in ClickUp. From this I will plan out the projects and goals to develop each year. Setting priorities for the next 12 months. Given I am moving and changing jobs in January/February, I will need to do some high level planning at this time but in large part I will stick to the September — August year. From this I will develop and map out each term and the summer months. Setting projects and goals. From this I will plan each month. All this will be done in Evernote.
Projects will then be created as separate lists in ClickUp when they become active and tasks will be mapped out within these lists. I have created a custom field that is ‘Deadline’. The reason for this is I use the in-built ‘Due Date’ field to set the date I will do something. Not perfect but the way ClickUp works makes this a more sensible approach.
Each week, I will look at my month plan and select which projects I will work on, changing their status from Active to This Week. I will then schedule projects from the project list to specific days and time slots, both in ClickUp and on my Calendar. I will then go through each project for this week and determine which tasks I will work on from the project, again scheduling them for the specific day, within ClickUp. I will then review each area of Focus and schedule the tasks within it for specific days of the week. Always referring back to my month plans, goals and vision to ensure I am giving my time to the right things.
Each day, I will set priorities. This will be done at the end of the day for the next day. A red flag, denotes an objective that must be done. A yellow flag denotes a morning task. A blue flag an afternoon task and a gray flag, an evening task. The aim is to have 10–15 tasks flagged as red, yellow or blue and 2 or 3 flagged as gray. Tasks with no flag are less important.
Each morning when I start, I will do my Corum Deo. Reviewing my calendar and priorities for the day. I will write the objectives and project focus in my journal and plan an rough agenda. I have not yet decided if I will plan the agenda in Evernote, my journal or in ClickUp. In ClickUp I could use the calendar feature to set an agenda, or a Doc, or text box in my Command Center or the notepad feature. I’m going to play around with this and will make a decision before I start my new job, trying each idea in turn for a week and seeing what works best for me.
The Corum Deo should take about 10 minutes. Then I crack on. Do the work Mr Wood. Do the work.
