How to organise your 'My Tasks' in Asana

We often find that Asana users don't use their 'My Tasks' page properly and can't see what they should be working on next. In this video, I share some tips on how to clean up and organise your My Tasks so you can keep on top of your work and see what to work on next.

0:00 - Introduction
0:57 - The 'My Tasks' page
2:16 - Organising your tasks with sections
3:15 - Use rules to manage your tasks
4:13 - How to manage your tasks
10:31 - Other ways to sort your tasks
12:13 - Mistakes to avoid
14:49 - Outro

[dadainthip]

I created a third rule to move anything coming up within 26 weeks to "Later", and that basically leaves only tasks without a due date in the "Recently Assigned" section. And I'll probably rename that to "Needs Due Date"

[jimgrant]

Paula, excellent video. But consider the following:

Over the last few years, I have watched several YouTube videos and read several articles on “productivity” systems. They are all well-conceived and valuable to users.

Sometimes, they are called “project management” or “task management” systems. Regardless, their focus is on “tasks/activities”. They can cause users to become “masters of the minutia”.

This is in contrast to a person’s “objectives”. Sometimes the word “goals” or the term “end results” is used to mean the same thing as the word “objectives”. Regardless of the word/term used, I am talking about a condition, a situation, or a state of affairs that a person wants later in his/her life. That may be wanted just a couple months from now or many years.

“Tasks/Activities” are merely the “means to the ends”. It is your “objectives” (end results) that are far more important than “tasks/activities”.

Consequently, I highly recommend that people who develop “productivity” systems incorporate the development of “objectives” into the design of their systems and encourage users to start by defining their “objectives”.

And therefore, each person should spend a fair amount time defining his/her “objectives”, both short term ones, preferably medium terms, and maybe even long term ones. Add them to whatever “productivity” system you use. It is important to write them down, because, over time, you will modify / refine your “objectives” and it will be important that you explicitly acknowledge those changes and modify your “tasks/activities”, accordingly.

To help with defining your “objectives”, I’ve created a list of “categories” of objectives to get your thinking started. I believe it to be a comprehensive list. Here it is.
* Personal / Professional Relationship
* Physical / Health Condition
* Mental / Intellectual Condition
* Emotional / Psychological Condition
* Spiritual Condition
* Wealth / Financial Condition
* Security / Safety Condition
* Fame / Reputation
* Power / Influence
* Skill / Capability
* Possession / Property (Things you have / own)
* Location / Place (Where you primarily reside)
Again, note. These are “categories” of “objectives”, not “objectives” in and of themselves.

Finally, the “tasks/activities” in whatever productivity system you use need to be in support of and linked to one or more of your “objectives”. If some “task/activity” isn’t, you need to ask yourself, “why am I doing this?” - - - In some productivity systems, it is easy to create the links by adding tags to your “tasks/activities”.

[stephenzeoli]

This video has been very helpful to me for creating a strategy to stay on top of my tasks in Asana. Thank you.

[SpryTini]

I have been using ASANA for approx 4 years now. When I first started using it, I sorted all My tasks to view by due date and that's how it has been ever since. It's awesome! I have not created any rules. There's no way I would have time to "triage" tasks into the appropriate sections. I've been encouraging my staff to do the same, but only recently learned that they don't have this option. So I'm guessing what they are seeing is more like what is in this video. Is there a way to keep this simple and sort by due? That's the only way I see it working for me and my team. THANKS!

[StuartAmis]

Great video - just one question - what rule do you have to move your Next Week tasks into This Week?

[christianwelsh]

Great perspective - I think I'll give it a shot.

[KellanJames]

This is amazing, thank you. Question - why isn't there a rule to move tasks from Next Week to This Week?

[JoaquinMarv]

THANKS FOR YOUR VIDEO, HELP ME A LOT!

[AlexandreLopez-fy]

Hi Paul, very nice content. How do we do if we classify the tasks in This month, next month and this year also? How to set up the due date rules in order to work automatically? Thank you!

[madisonmullins]

Hi Paul, this is such a helpful video, thank you! I recently helped one of my team members better organize their My Tasks page before watching this video and we did some of what you suggested already. One thing I did differently was had him sort the tasks by type, and they pull them into his "Today" section when it's time to start on them. This person has a ton of tasks because of their important role on our team. To help with this, we also added a "Delegate" column for him to know what tasks he needs to delegate to someone else. However, sorting using Rules (in your video starting at 3:15) is genius!

The question: Do think there's any advantage to sorting by type of task rather than due date? I find that I have more energy for certain tasks at different times of day, so it can be helpful to browse that way. Perhaps it varies by person, but if you've been using this method for 10 years, something must be working well for you. I love the automation of the rules, which would be a little different to assign dates when sorted by type.

[marketacomorkova]

Very Handy! is there any place for finished tasks?

[BartKool]

Thanks for the video. Strangely, recurring tasks do not appear in the today section when they become active, but in the assigned to me section. Is there a way to change that?

[guatemalad]

Thanks for such a great video and workflow. Is there is a way to "reset" My Tasks homepage? As I am using tags to set priority, my home page looks very messy. In fact I do not have the "recently assigned", I do have lots of section which I didn't create and I eve have "No value" sections which have no idea what that means and how to remove them. Also, I have tried to select NONE at "sort" but don´t even have that option.

Thanks!

[paulahols]

Thanks, Paul. Great video! On the rules, did Asana change how they apply to a date range? I seem to remember that previously they moved according to due date and not start date.

[daripec]

Hi Paul, thank you for this video, it's very useful! I have a question: what is the correct way to move automatically all new tasks in "my tasks" specific folder? Is there a specific rule? In my Asana, not all new tasks go in the same folder. Thank you for any suggests.

[noindoorvoice]

Paul, nice video. Thanks for sharing.
Can I ask with what program/tools did you create the screen share video.
I am looking to create like training videos for my team.
Thanks again,

[troelsvinding]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for a great video! I'm new to Asana but have been using Trello for years.
Your methodology with Today, This week, Next week etc. leaves me with one question: Where do you put the tasks that's partly done? You have done some of the work but are waiting for fx input from someone else. When the due date was met, you began working on the task and now you are waiting for something to get going. And you don't know when that nescessary input comes.
In Trello I simply have lists like "To do", "Doing", "Waiting for input" and "Done". How is the best way to handle tasks that's waiting for input in Asana?

[smartypantscoder]

Now, Asana has the "Group By" option right inside My tasks. You can group by due date, and it'll instantaneously arrange all tasks in Today, tomorrow, Next 7 days, Next 30 days sections. No need to create rules.

[ЕленаДементьева-бч]

Hi Paul! Thanks for the video it is very useful! I just started working in Asana and I am simply amazed by its capabilities. But I just can’t find how to set reminders for a task. I don’t have an “Add Reminder” icon located at the top of the right-hand sidebar like you have on your screen, either on the desktop or in the mobile app. I can not find the reason why. Please, can you tell me how can I find this function? thank you in advance))

[gustavovillanueva]

Hi Paul, quick question:
I have another section named completed. Is there any rule to automatically move a completed task to the completed section?