How to properly manage your personal projects & time?

Hi friends,
I'm struggling a bit with managing my personal projects & every day tasks.
My project management is kinda all over the place, but it might be because I do plenty of different things that require some kind of scheduling.

Currently it looks like this:
- I run a few YouTube channels & websites and got a trello board for each of them
- I develop on multiple software projects and usually manage tasks via GitHub projects
- For university related stuff, I use Microsoft To-Do
- At work, we use JIRA and Microsoft Planner (and I do some home-office so I gotta implement this into my daily schedule as well)
- For personal stuff I also use Microsoft To-Do or my Gmail Calender

The problem is that I really struggle with structuring my days. I tried making notes on a physical notebook but it took so long because I always had to check 10+ different platforms to even figure out what I got to do.

How do y'all do it? Any advice you could give me?

I'm not sure it'll help you or not, but I personally make notes on paper, a day before. I don't like all those electronic planners. It takes me about 30 minutes or so every evening. You can also add some tasks for the next day while you're working on the project, it'll save you coming back to it while you're making a to-do list for the next day - you'll already have it, if it makes sense.

Sam Zadworny said:

I'm not sure it'll help you or not, but I personally make notes on paper, a day before. I don't like all those electronic planners. It takes me about 30 minutes or so every evening. You can also add some tasks for the next day while you're working on the project, it'll save you coming back to it while you're making a to-do list for the next day - you'll already have it, if it makes sense.

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Thanks a lot for your reply! I actually like notes on paper alot, it feels way better than typing them on a smartphone or PC. The problem I got is portability tho. You always carry around an A4 format notebook?

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But honestly, I think u have havoc in your life with all this planning. You use different planers at different life roles... Try using 1 planer for everything.

I personally like using a huge whiteboard. I like to structure it between daily, weekly and monthly tasks/goals.
Feels great checking each task off after finalizing it.

I finding writing out what I have to do for the day is helpful.

I struggle with adding structure to my day - it apparently takes 30 days before you can build a habit, so I'm trying to set a specific routine to my work day and trying to build that into a regular habit.

I'm actually working on a project to fix exactly this issue. I'll shoot you a pm once its done!

KidHotel said:

I'm actually working on a project to fix exactly this issue. I'll shoot you a pm once its done!

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I need a chrome extension that limits how many tabs and pages I have open.

MisterF said:

I need a chrome extension that limits how many tabs and pages I have open.

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What about a chrome extension that forces you to open a new window with each new tab so if you have too many open your computer just crashes because Chrome has eaten up all the ram

I have tried lots of different project management systems but my preference is pretty much folders and files. I keep a "projects in progress" folder with all on-going projects and then within each folder I have a folder system for files relating to the project - for example I might have an images folder, reports folder, documents folder and so on.

Then I have a "notes.txt" file with a short detail of what's going on with the project, the key details, the goal and so on. Then I have a "tasks.txt" file and in that I keep a full list of all tasks relating to the project (If its a project with clear goals and a beginning and an end) then I "tick off" each task as I complete it.

If its an on-going project - for example an SEO client project - then I will have a "timeline.txt" file or similar, in which I keep a timeline list of past events as well as a "Next steps" list of events that I can run through in sequential order.

That makes for a fairly modular system and allows me to work on projects ranging from on-going SEO work for clients to sharepoint migrations, each of which I can jump into, and out of, at any point during the project without getting lost or mixed up.

To support that I also use a diary system so that I can schedule in work periods for particular projects throughout the week - perhaps breaking a day down into 2 hour slots, one slot per project, and then rotating through projects accordingly.

Once upon a time I used to do all of the above using pen and paper and it was a nightmare; I was stressed out all the time. Now I have everything fully modularised and I easily shut off from any particular project whenever I need a break and I don't have to try and keep track of where I got to, because its all detailed down.

Then I keep all of that stuff in a cloud sharing platform so that I have all of the information synchronized across all of my devices and I can pick up from where I left off regardless of where I am or what device I am using.

I usually send myself an email or an SMS message of things I need to do, and only read it the next day or go through it the next day, I add priority on each task so I can focus on the most important stuff first.

Nonilol said:

Thanks a lot for your reply! I actually like notes on paper alot, it feels way better than typing them on a smartphone or PC. The problem I got is portability tho. You always carry around an A4 format notebook?

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To be exact, I put my notes on an A4 sheet (standard one for printers) and when I work away from home, I just put it inside of my Mac (between the lid and keyboard)

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