Peace of Mind Organizing

Paper vs electronic task management

22 November 2021

I made the switch from paper to electronic task management many years ago. I love that my tasks are always with me on my phone and that I can add to them with ease. As I blogged about last year, I created a Daily Task Management Trello board that was working really for me.

But then I started creeping back toward paper and pen. Since I’ve taken up hand lettering as a hobby, I enjoy hand writing things more and I enjoy looking at my handwriting. I find when I’m working at my desk (which is when I’m mostly using my task list) that it’s handy to have a paper list by my keyboard, rather than having switch to another program on my computer.

I turned off the automation for daily tasks in my Trello board, but I still use my Trello board for capturing tasks. I create a new hand-written task list every day, in consultation with my Trello list, either first thing in the morning or the night before.

A couple of weeks ago when we were recording our episode on Gamification for the Getting to Good Enough podcast, my co-host Shannon Wilkinson reminded me about To-Do List Bingo. I used to use this method regularly (and blogged about it quite a bit). But I had completely forgotten about it!

So I immediately started creating a hand-written Bingo board for my daily tasks. I have found it so effective and motivating. It takes a few minutes to create the board, which I don’t mind at all. I create it in the Rhodia Dotpad top-bound A5 spiral notebook where for the last six weeks or so I’ve been trying to capture everything I write down in chronological order (rather than on scraps of paper).

I use Mildliner dual-tip brush markers to create the grid and check off completed boxes (I switch up the colors every day for the fun of it) and a black Pixma Micron 01 Fineliner to write the tasks in the squares. If I need to change the contents of a square, I use Post-It® cover-up tape. If I want to highlight a task that’s especially important, I outline that box in a different Mildliner color. As the photo above reveals, it might look a bit messy but I prefer to think of it as beautifully imperfect.

This hybrid paper/electronic method is working well for me (for the moment anyway). It has the elements I look for in a system:

• I can add new tasks on the fly (in Trello)
• It motivates me to do tasks (who doesn’t want to get a Bingo?)
• I’m creating a new task list each day, which has me evaluating my daily tasks
• I can easily indicate the most important tasks
• I get satisfaction at the end of the day

Anything that helps me plow through tasks when I am at my desk is great. My Daily Task Management Trello board worked really well for me for a year a half but I’m okay with stepping away from it for awhile since it has stopped motivating me.

If you struggle with task management, I encourage you to find a way to make it fun! Perhaps a Bingo board is worth a try.

Tagged with: bingo, motivation, productivity, task management, time management, trello

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