Manila, 14 March 2024 — Feeling overwhelmed with tasks? Read on…

Story

It happened this week. I read an article by Doug Lester, a fellow executive coach who partners with the Harvard Business School. He had been looking for a way to simplify his personal productivity setup. His task management system, he explained, had grown in size and complexity to the point where it was holding him back from doing his work efficiently, which is what productivity is all about. 

His challenge caught my attention because I’m facing a similar struggle. I pride myself on taking my planning and task management seriously. Like Lester, however, I have been spending more and more time to keep on top of it. Of course, the more time spent on tweaking our task management system, the less time there is to do the actual work. And that’s not all. The experience of frequently having to reschedule tasks becomes self-sabotaging emotionally. I decided that it was time for a change.

In search of a solution, then, how can we set up our productivity system in the most simple, even minimalist, manner? I did my research on this to catch up on the latest apps and insights around, and that is also how I came across Lester’s story. First off, we need to recognize that people are different. The system that works for one person may not work for the other. We have to experiment with what’s available and choose what works best for each of us.

Challenge

What I discovered in my research is that you can’t accomplish everything about your productivity with a task management system. That is true even with the most powerful apps on the market like OmniFocus and ClickUp. I have been using OmniFocus for years now, and that has unexpected led me into the challenge I described above. 

As it turns out, a task management system is only one of three apps you need. So what are the other two? They are your calendar app and your notes app. Together with your task management app, these are the powerful apps you need to thrive with productivity, avoid overwhelm, and minimize stress.

Task manager apps, or to-do list apps as they are also called, are designed to help you schedule what tasks to do today, this week, this month, next month, and so forth. They also remind you, on the right day, about recurrent tasks, like when to make your monthly payments. Goals and projects, on the other hand, can best be listed in a notes app. Your calendar, on the other hand, is your best buddy for timeboxing to create precious time slots for quality work, especially for your important tasks that are not urgent.

Question

So there you have it. Three apps designed with complementary strengths to help you boost your productivity.  As suggested in the image, the challenge is to use them together interdependently, every day and every week.

As a leader, you will also be looking for ways to align your tasks with your goals, and beyond that, with your vision and purpose. These directional statements, together with your strengths and weaknesses and priority goals and development objectives, can best be described in your notes app, or in your leadership development plan.

This month in Grow3Leaders, our community of practice for leaders, we focus on the leadership behavior of building habits, a toolkit, and integrity. That’s where optimizing your productivity system comes in. It’s an essential resource for helping you achieve your goals, vision, and purpose. And for finding the most simple way to do this, so that it will save you time, effort, and frustration.

P.S. Reach out if you want to share how you are using the three productivity apps together, or when have a question about it.