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Charlie Gilkey

How do you plan projects for work vs. for life?

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Many of us are accustomed to using project planning tools and methodologies in a work or corporate setting, but do you have tools available to make sure your personal projects and goals are achieved? What are those tools and how do you use them?

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Rob Lawrence
Hey Charlie. I use Clickup.com with collaborators and fellow content creators as a useful tool for managing and tracking the lifecycle for our pieces of content (for example, a podcast episode) from start to finish. Similar, to trello.com it has some very useful checklist and 'macro' features that allow us to manage certain events happening at key steps or points in the process.
Anna Filou
I don’t have a system, but trying to make one. Lately I’ve realized I need to approach my personal life in a more structured way. I started using Microsoft To-Do again for habits and tasks that need reminders. I also bought a small, paper, weekly agenda. There’s something about the permanence of paper and the fact that I can have it open in front of me and glance at it all day, that makes everything seem more real and achievable. And if I don‘t do something, it stays on the paper, reminding me of my procrastination. We’ll see how this evolves with time. I’m also thinking of making my own to-do app, with a different approach (one that prevents you from over-booking and over-committing). The risk of course is that it’ll be just another to-do app I’ll end up ignoring, so I’ll need to approach the matter very carefully.
Nicole Chaplin
@anna_0x Anna I encourage you to go for it. You never know if you can succeed at something unless you try. When it comes to formulating structure for our personal lives, I agree we can sometimes put that to the side. I have been more mindful with this myself.
Daniyar Yeskaliyev
@anna_0x I also find Microsoft's To-Do app impressive! When combined with clock app and focus session - it super helpful how the all info is being synced with the tasks from To-Do! P.S. I thought that the focus session was broken because when you choose 60 minutes focus session, it shows a period of 27,5 minutes instead of 30 that I expected. But it turns out that it takes into account a 5 minutes break :D
Anna Filou
@dan_yes thanks for the input! Is focus session an app? If so, I can't find it. And yeah, I like the simplicity of Microsoft to do and the clarity of knowing where everything is but I find it lacks some basic features that I want, like showing my calendar events, letting me specify how much time a task is going to take, and keeping track of habits. These past few days I've been working on creating a design that improves on that, but of course it is much easier said than done. Wish me luck.
Daniyar Yeskaliyev
@anna_0x in the Clock up, there is a section in menu called Focus sessions. You can set time, Select a task to focus on (will lookup from ToDo app), set focus goals for day (2-4-6 hours per day). and can play spotify if you have account (but the integration is minimal - play/pause).
Anna Filou
@dan_yes oh, so we're talking about Windows only, right?
John Jantsch
Hello Charlie - I use Monday.com for both business and personal planning. If a personal goal involves a new habit, I might also use a habit tracker of some sort. John
Kat Lapelosa
I have been very analog lately as I find writing things down helps me connect with the ideas! I use Rocketbook but also old-fashioned post-it notes, and I stick them on my wall. Once the task is done, I take it down. It keeps me on track and looks kind of cool!
Osheyana Martinez
I use a multi-system system 😅 For work projects, it's much more organized, as I have the tasks & built-out projects in Asana or Confluence and I chunk the more Macro steps of my projects or tasks in Momentum, which informs how I block out my time on GCal. For life projects, it's usually a scrap notebook or a dry-erase board, and then using my iCal to keep my appointments & reminders in check. but life projects tend to be a little less convoluted so they're easier to manage (at least for now). The best way to keep these things in order from day to day (as I have ADD and will completely forget what I'm talking about in the middle of a sentence, let alone what was done the day before) is to leave myself "breadcrumbs." I usually do this for work projects, and it consists of leaving notes, links, and tasks for myself somewhere that I know I'll see them the next day.
Daniyar Yeskaliyev
I've studied PM as my major for master's degree, according to PMBOK. I've completed a few business projects according to it, I've planned important events like emigration, career switch, wedding following PMBOK standards where applicable. It does help a lot, it forces you to think about all the processes, roles, and most importantly - to evaluate the risks. I moved to Canada - success on all three of planned: scope, time, budget. Business project: success on time, scope, but failed on budget (my national currency has devaluated and the US dollar became 2 times more expensive, which ruined my business model. And it all happened when I already started my project and it was too late to back off). For all other personal projects - it's just a habit of planning that I've developed and it works for me personally, so I stick to the core ideas, but not to all recommendation precisely.
Pavel Kukhnavets
You can use a simple Excel spreadsheet or an online checklist to plan your private life schedules and activities. When it comes to professional task planning and management, it's better to rely on a multifunctional project management software with visual timelines, task dependencies, milestones, deadlines, etc. One of the best solutions for these aims is GanttPRO https://ganttpro.com/.