Breaking Tasks Down To Manageable Levels

Productivity Tips

Photo credit: Keyvan Mansouri

A Guide To Simple Micro-productivity For Content Creators By: David Thrift

In this article I will be discussing a simple way I have found to maximize my productivity when managing several projects.

Being a content creator can become overwhelming if you are someone who is managing multiple projects such as ebook projects, and several different blogs all at once like me.

For several years since becoming a content creator, I have tried sitting for many long hours working on a single project to try and get it finished as fast as possible. I felt like if I’m going to start a new project like an ebook for example, then it had to be the only thing I worked on until it was finished, and I needed to go balls to the wall 12 hours a day if I could to get it done. What I have realized from doing that after a long time, is that with so many projects I have going on at the same time, and the fact that I enjoy doing some of them more than I enjoy doing other ones, it can cause a huge amount of stress and lack of motivation. These are two emotional issues a content creator does not need to feel if he or she wants to put out his or her highest quality of work possible.

What I’m about to share may be nothing more than flat out common sense to most people, but if you know me, you’ll know that I’m the first to admit that myself and common sense have not always made a great team. I’m a slow learner sometimes, but when I click with something that works, then my love for repetition kicks in and I turn into a mass content and work producing machine.

What I discovered is that you have to break all your projects down into small manageable tasks which allows you to cover a little ground in each project each day. This is a great way to stay in touch with each project individually while staying focused on all your projects throughout the course of the day, and not get burned out on them.

This is how I do it:

First step is making a list of all tasks I need to do. In this list I keep tasks in order by name of projects.

Second step is labeling each task as daily, weekly, or monthly task. I work these tasks accordingly.

If that sounds like a simple process, it is. The only thing hard about it is just the work your projects require.

The tool I am currently using for this process is the note taking app, Google Keep. I make a task list with check boxes. As I complete my tasks, I’m able to check them off and clear them off the screen. If there are any weekly or monthly tasks I don’t need to do in my daily routine, then I check them off so that I don’t get distracted. Also with Google Keep, you can copy a note to work with. So I can copy my checklists into a new note for each day I’m working, pin that copied note in the app so that it stays at the top all day for easy access, and that allows me to keep my original note untouched while I’m working in a copied note for checking off tasks. At the end of the day, I can just delete the copied note, and do the whole process over the next day. I love the simplicity of using this process in Google Keep. It’s kind of like checking off items on a shopping list as you go along.

My first day doing this started on Monday, September 7th, 2020, and it was a great experience. It kept me in line with what I need to accomplish and I completed more work on multiple projects than I probably would have done any other time.

I’m anxious to see how this new routine in my task completion and time management works out. I will come back and update this article soon with how this works out for me. I hope that this article may help someone who may also feel overwhelmed with managing multiple projects and time.

UPDATE: Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020 – Since writing this article, I have also tried an app called Todoist. That app has some great features, however didn’t work out for me due to how it handles, or I should say mishandles completed tasks (they disappear once completed, and for me that is a big no no). I’m also trying to my task management in a simple to do list in Google Sheets, and I like it, but I’m not sure I like it “a lot”.

Buy My Ebooks

Find and purchase all of my ebooks here in my ebook store at Gumroad. You will find my MUDPIX MAGAZINE photo ebook series which features hundreds of my outdoor photos taken at Lake Harding, and West Point Lake in Alabama and Georgia. You will also find my Encyclopedia Of Wikipedia (great for Wikipedia buffs), and also my UNSPLASHED photo ebook series, a free ebook series, which features photography from great photographers at Unsplash. Your purchase of my ebooks and support of my work is very much appreciated!!

I Was Just Thinking

On my blog there is a category called Just Thinking, and in that category is where I occasionally write about things in the news or various other things including random thoughts, or something about productivity and trying to keep up with getting things done. Below are some recent topics I wrote about that you may interest you.

Random Things Digests

I continuously find interesting links to share with my website viewers. I share these links in the form of “Random Things”. Random Things Digests contain collections of various internet content I’ve found to share with you that you may find interesting. You will find Random Things always posted first in real time, as I discover them, on my home page. Each week I post the Random Things from my home page in a blog post to the Random Things Digests Archive so that you don’t miss all the great shares and information.

Lists

A large part of what makes DDAVIDD.com a great resource for information, are the lists I write and maintain. Check out the lists below that may interest you.

Podcast Spotlights

Podcast Spotlights are a new thing I started doing in September 2020. I have to admit that I don’t listen to many podcasts myself personally. If I do listen to one, it’s usually the Armin Van Buuren’s ASOT (A State Of Trance) podcast. My Podcast Spotlights are a way for me to connect with more favorite Podcasts, while also highlighting some that you may enjoy. See the list below of the current Podcast Spotlights.

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Published by David Thrift

I am an artist of sorts (in my beanie making and digital art, a amateur photographer, craftsman, and blogger. I am also a U.S. Army Veteran residing in Southeast Alabama.