Maybe you’ve experienced this before.
You start making positive changes in one area of your life and suddenly other changes feel easier, too.
I believe there are multiple factors at play, but I want to focus on one today: foundations.
You may have heard about foundational habits. The good habits that facilitate other good habits. Like how getting a full night’s sleep and feeling rested helps you make better decisions, be more alert, present, and balanced.
As I was preparing to film this week’s YouTube video, I realized the same applies with establishing a Foundational Method.
You see, last year I was fed up with how I was managing personal tasks. For a long time, I combined them with my work tasks, using a combination of Notion & Sunsama as my digital task managers.
This combination was great for work, but once the workday was over, I didn’t want to open them again. That meant personal tasks were regularly falling through the cracks.
It simply wasn’t working.
So I decided to separate work and personal tasks completely.
I tested out the Reminders app on my Apple devices for any personal tasks that weren’t appointments in my calendar. And it stuck.
But it turned out to be so much more than simply managing my personal to-do list. It became a Foundational Method. It supported me staying consistent with other goals and habits that matter to me, like staying active, learning a language, practicing piano, and more. (You can see what the setup looks like in today’s YouTube video.)
The best part?
My personal task management Method is simple, clear, and effective.
No fancy custom dashboards, formulas, integrations, or AI. These are all things I was eager to learn and build in the past because they were interesting to me (and I still use them for work), but it was refreshing to realize none of these were necessary for managing personal tasks.
So when it comes to managing tasks, let’s consider Method, Mode, and Mindset.
Method
What is the simplest, clear, and effective way to manage your tasks? A system that’s easy to access, review, and update?
Mode
How do you like to capture and see your tasks? Do you gravitate towards digital or analog tools?
Are you trying to use system that works well for someone else but never really clicked for you?
Mindset
Do you feel pressure to have a complex or sophisticated system to manage your tasks? If you have a system with lots of moving parts, and you are not using it effectively, what’s stopping you from trying a simpler version?
If you lack a system to manage tasks, what do you think is stopping you from finding one that works for you? What if it could be simple, clear, and effective?
Not following the plans you made?
If you feel stuck despite having make a plan, today’s video is for you.
When it comes to building Momentum, I recommend starting with your Method. It’s the plan of action to make progress on your goals and habits.
Sometimes you need to step back and review your Method to see if it’s missing anything or to check if it’s got unnecessary steps.
If your Method needs work, it’s time to establish the Minimum Viable Method. I’m sharing the 3 parts of a Minimum Viable Method, showing the example of using Reminders to manage my personal tasks, and sharing 4 traps.
Prefer to read instead of watching a video? Check out the blog version instead.
Final Days for Stream Deck Essentials
If you want lifetime access to Stream Deck Essentials, make sure to buy it before Tuesday, March 11 at 12pm EDT (UTC-4).
After Tuesday at noon, I won't be selling the workshop course anymore, but anyone who purchases it before then will continue to have access.