A Journey (Back) to Google Tasks

Whoa. 

I thought I had it all worked out for a while. I had my Best Self Journal for my planning and daily gratitudes. I had my Inbox Zero on lock. I had my Airtable database set up with some cool little bells and whistles. I could choose my top 3 rocks/priorities and plan them into my calendar (by the way, can anyone point me to a good Big Rocks video? All the ones I found on YouTube stunk). 

Then, of course, pandemic.

I fell way behind on all of my processes. My journal and task management setup got a few cobwebs on them. My inbox started to get longer and more daunting.. So did my to-do lists. And it makes sense - the world is upside down, and one way my family has been able to work in the circumstances is for my wife and I to split the days between work and being with our two young kids. So time for all organization and planning got cut by way more than half.

Hopefully you aren’t reading this post to hear about some redemptive turn around I figured out to get 100% back on track with everything and be frikking crushing it in the world, because on the real that is just not where I am at right now. This post is actually just about how I started using Google Tasks (again) to help me manage my inbox a little bit better. 

I have tried out Google Tasks in the past for things like quick notes and to-do lists, and even some light task management. But really what I ended up using it the most for was being able to quickly share links and quotes and things across my devices. For instance, if I was scrolling on my phone and found a link that I wanted to open on another device or a quote that I copied on my computer but wanted to use from my phone in an IG post, I would save it as a task in Google Tasks and open up the Tasks app on whichever device I needed. It is actually a nicely seamless and inbox-clutterless way to do this.

Now with so many fewer hours for me to take action on any emails I receive - particularly to read through all the amazing resources coming at us all right now - my inbox seemed to be getting cluttered and heavy again, even if I used the Snooze button in gmail liberally to boomerang emails back at myself. And I didn’t love adding the subjects and links of the emails to my task management setup in Airtable, because the due dates I could put on those were never realistic. 

Then I saw that gmail had a new little button for “add to Tasks”. I had no idea what it would look like, but I was curious, and I clicked on it for one email. The email subject line became the task title, and there was a little button with an image of an envelope to click on which brings you right to the email which I have learned to archive immediately after making it a task. Instead of the email cluttering my inbox, it is in a neat list on the right side of my gmail screen, or in a neat list in my mobile app on my phone and iPad. I used it side-by-side on my iPad to write another post recently about Nonprofit KPIs.

What has always given me the best outcomes in email and task management have been leaning into mindsets of flexibility, change management, and trying things out (new things and things I’ve used before, in a new way). I like how Tasks is helping me keep my “things I want to read from my emails” organized in the gmail screen but not cluttering up my inbox. And the longer that we are in pandemic the more things I am trying to manage. New processes, new tech, old processes, old tech - it’s a journey.

Another resource for getting back on track with email management is Kelly Harris Perrin’s new course, Email Overhaul. Full transparency - I have not taken this course. But I have spoken several times with Kelly about email management, and I know that her reputation for excellence precedes her. That is why I can confidently endorse her course and her coaching for mission-driven folks. 

Any new or re-visited tools that you are using to be on track right now?