I’ve been sucked into the trap of looking for a perfect task management system for the entire time I’ve spent creating work on the internet…

Of course, this perfect system doesn’t exist, so this has just been procrastination. There’s no solution that’s magically going to allow you to breeze through the work as though it isn’t there.

Having said this, many people could benefit from simplifying their task management system. This article will explain how to do this, based on what your task management priorities are, giving examples from the system I currently use.

Let’s get started…

In this article, a task management system is a combination of tools and methods that somebody uses to make sure that they capture and keep track of everything that they need to do, making sure that they complete the tasks on time.

My task management:

Like many people who’ve struggled with productive procrastination in the past, I’ve tried most of the task management options available. This includes apps, bullet journaling, as well as just sending it without a task management system (not recommended).

I’ve reached the point where I’m very frank with myself concerning my task management system. I try my hardest to employ digital minimalism principles so that I don’t waste time trying new things and getting caught up with shiny object syndrome.

I’ve written many articles now about the systems, apps and processes I’ve used in the past. Through time, I’d been trying to envelop everything that I needed in a capture and management system into one tool, app, or notebook.

This would work for a while, but I’d find myself wanting a more complete system. It was overwhelming, and I’d feel like the structure wasn’t adequate for capturing all the ideas that I was having throughout the day.

In short, I was running from the fact that doing work is hard. I thought I could out-organise content creation, which takes time to sit down, plan and execute.

At the moment, my task management system consists of task and idea capture mechanisms, as well as triaging these tasks and ideas before assigning them a due date. I add the ideas to other systems where I can act upon them more easily (e.g. project notes in Obsidian where I organise and manage content creation).

This allows me to complete a lot of productive work, because it accounts for everything on my mind, and isn’t over complicated.

But how can you create the same thing?

Defining your priorities:

I wont recommend any tools to any one person in this article. You best know what tool fits your use case — I’m not the judge of that. This is advice as to how you can prioritise task management functions and simplify your tools and methods accordingly.

Similar to the definition above, you’ll likely use a task management system for two reasons:

  • To capture ideas, thoughts and tasks that come up, to make sure that you don’t forget them
  • To keep track of deadlines, to make sure that you complete these tasks in time

When simplifying your own task management system, consider these two points, and any other reasons that you have for recording tasks, and decide what you want to prioritise in the system.

For me, this was prioritisation of capture — as someone who creates content online and works to his own schedule, I wanted a method that made sure I didn’t forget any of the ideas I had throughout the day.

This meant spreading out from a single app/notebook, and setting up different buckets that I could capture my ideas into:

  • Todoist — I can’t find anything more rapid and effective than the Quick Add features that Todoist has. I can use natural language to add priorities and due dates as well. This app, on Windows and my iPhone, does most of the task/idea capturing throughout the day.
  • Pen and paper — I like handwriting journal entries and notes when I don’t want to be distracted by the digital world. I place a Traveler’s Notebook next to the bed when I sleep, because my phone is across the room, charging, so this notebook captures any stray thoughts that pop up before I fall asleep.
  • Whiteboard — You can’t use a phone or paper in the shower, so I tacked a whiteboard and pen to the wall in the shower. If I have any thoughts here, I still have somewhere I can write the ideas down. Shoutout to Dickie Bush for this idea!

Someone who prioritises tracking deadlines, however, might choose to centre everything in one system, so that they don’t lose sight of the order and priority of the tasks that have to be completed.

Once you’ve decided what your priorities are within such a system, you can decide what tools to use. However, this is not all you have to change to simplify your task management system…

Changing your perception of task management:

This was the other thing that I did, aside from altering the tools used, to make sure that I actually embraced using my task management system.

The methods that I used previously increased my frustration and stress when I came across an element that didn’t capture well, or something that didn’t fit right into other parts of my system. To avoid this, I let go of my previous unrealistic expectations of task management:

  • I no longer wanted a system that was going to work perfectly
  • I no longer wanted a system that relied on rigorous and unnecessary tagging and organisation
  • I no longer wanted a system that fitted reliably into a rigid structure, seamlessly holding every form of note, idea or content that I wanted to capture

By simplifying and accepting that my system wasn’t ever going to be perfect, I could focus on executing on the tasks and ideas that I’d captured.

I embraced the messiness — I’ve no idea what form the next capture’s going to take, so why should I worry so much about how my system’s going to react to it?

Better to have in place something that takes me from a seed of an idea to a finished piece of content as quickly as possible.

Better to have a system that reminds me when something is due and shunts me into action without taking excessive management and maintenance.

I hope that this article’s provided you with some valuable insight. Thanks for reading!