In the previous entry on workflows, I talked about the method I use to capture basic ideas. There is no one way to do it, but the goal at all times is to have capture methods that are simple, available, and fast.
A stack of pink post-it notes next to my computer has a romantic appeal, but it does me very little good if that is all they are. The key here is not to create clutter (although let’s be honest—I create a lot of clutter) but to transform these fast-captured ideas into actual projects and writing at some point down the line.
So the next step in the workflow is to figure out how to position ideas so that they are where you need them, when you need them.
As with the post-it suggestion, I am not a stickler for any one particular method. But for this level of the workflow, there does need to be some differences from the pile of notes I described in the last post.
First of all, it needs to be location agnostic. That pile of post-its is there next to one laptop—but I own (and work from) four different laptops, as well as a computer at my office at school, and other peoples’ machines when necessary. I am a very busy person, with professional and family responsibilities constantly overlapping. So if I find myself in a space where I have time and energy to work on something creative, I want to get to that as quickly as possible. So I need a workflow that allows me to be able to work anywhere.
That means that whatever local information capture systems I have, they eventually need to be able to be incorporated into a more universally-available platform. For some folks, that has meant creating some form of specialized notebook, like a bullet journal. My wife, for example, uses this form of universal capture.
I love notebooks, and I do use them in my workflow (I’ll write about how I do that in a different post). For me, though, relying on a notebook system creates problems, not least of all being that I then am anxious I will forget (or worse, lose) the notebook. This form of anxiety does not help my creative process (though I will write at some point as well about how anxiety does fit into my workflow).
But after years of trying different methods, I have settled on cloud-based methods of universal capture. Basically, any computer I may use will be connected to the internet, so I am fairly confident that I will be able to use this method to both grab ideas, and retrieve them.
Over the years, I have used different forms of cloud capture:
For a while, I used Asana. This was about five years back. What I found, though, was that it was really good (at least for me) at the ‘getting ideas in’ part, but it was not so good (for me) at getting those ideas back out. Part of my problem was that Asana was so geared to setting up complex project planning. That meant that I got more and more involved in wasting time trying to get my project-steps perfect in Asana, instead of doing the projects themselves. It created analysis-paralysis. That doesn’t mean it’s not a great platform—it is! It just was not the right fit for me, given the wiring of my particular creative process.
In 2018, at the recommendation of some smart folks, I tried out Trello. Again, like Asana, I really love some aspects of it. The two are very different—Asana (at least when I used it) was line-based in its organization, where Trello is card-based (meaning you set things up like index cards pinned to a corkboard). For larger projects, I can see myself still leaning on Trello for organizing workflows. The visual metaphor of the cards helped me feel free to rearrange things very freely and quickly, and that supports a certain stage of my creative process. I love that I can grab the card and all the information ‘contained’ under that card jumps with it. But with that said, Trello still did not get me exactly what I needed for my day-to-day workflow.
What I needed, in the end, was a platform that was
Very fast for getting information in—In the same way that my post-its are fast for capture. I need to be able to pause for a moment from what I am doing, capture the idea or the task, and then get right back to the momentum I had.
Very easy to organize—As I am bringing in the idea, I want to be able to categorize it very easily. I often know where this idea will be useful, so I need to be able to label it fast, almost seamlessly, with the writing project or other project that it ‘goes’ with. The other side of this coin is that the organization needs to be relatively weak, overall, to discourage me from diving into the analysis-paralysis that I had with Asana.
Very fast retrieval—When I am getting ready to work on a Late World post (or any writing project), I usually have a certain window of time available, so I need to strike while the iron is hot. So I need a platform that opens fast, navigates easily, and gets me rolling with the prompt (or other info) with very little fuss.
For me, right now, the platform that accomplishes this the best (again, for me) is Todoist. Here’s how that works for me.
First of all, Todoist has good integration with the Google Suite. That means that whatever window I have open, I have a little Todoist link in the top bar. So as I am working, if I get an idea, I can click the icon, and a window pops up for fast capture. I can grab and go.
Even better (for me) is the option in the Todoist window for ‘Turn this website into a task.’ This has allowed me to capture not only verbal ideas, but also tweets, or an article, or any of a number of other items that exist on the web. In the past, these would become part of a sea of endlessly open tabs in my browser, sitting there like the post-its next to my desk, cluttering everything and slowing down my machine. Now, I grab the idea, categorize it, close the Todoist window, and get back to work.
Also, Todoist very easily integrates with my calendar. Now, again, I am sure Asana and Trello do this as well, but Todoist just made it super easy. It was a right-out-of-the-box, one-click solution. I didn’t have to add an integration (Asana) or purchase an add-on feature (Trello). It just worked. Love that.
So, for me, right now, Todoist is the right balance of available, powerful, and fast. It supports my thinking but does not tempt me into over-thinking. It works everywhere I might be working, and does not get in my way. All of this is what I need right now.
But I also realize (having learned lessons from Asana and Trello) is that at some point, the platform might change, and also, at some point, my needs and process might change.
So that is the main takeaway I want to offer you from this post: I have found what works for me, for now. I want you more to learn from my process than to adopt any single platform on my recommendation. I encourage you to do your own process of sifting, and being very honest about what is speeding you up, and slowing you down.
I would love to hear what you have discovered works for you. Please do leave a comment below to let me know.
Before I finish this part of the workflow discussion, I want to give you a screenshot of the way my Todoist looks right now for Late World:
What you’ll see is that all the entries are from December 29th. Basically, I was in a space where, in a couple of minutes, my brain was firing off idea after idea. Todoist made it very easy to grab them, and then I got back to the audio editing I was working on.
And that is the power of this for me. I will be listening to an audio edit, for example, and a guest will say something that I know will be useful for me. So now, instead of simply writing a post-it, I can grab the idea fast and get back to editing.
This leads, of course, to the other piece of the workflow: every so often, I need to go to that pile of post-its and get them added into Todoist. I wish I could say I had a regular schedule for that, and I should, but right now it is more haphazard. But it does happen, and when the idea goes from post-it to Todoist, it becomes more powerful, because the likelihood that I will act on that idea at the right place, and the right time, goes up exponentially.
Whatever you do, figure out what works for you, and build from there.
Courage!
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This continues to be so helpful. Thank you.
Also, I'm borrowing that Hank Green advice.
Lastly, I think you may have alluded to "Angriest Man Alive" in a few tweets. I'm looking forward to it.