After years of using digital planners, I figured out a process for getting things done that works for me and could well work for you.
In this blog post, I’m delighted to share my four-step Amazing Marvin planning process, which includes recurring tasks, monthly planning, weekly scheduling, and managing and completing daily tasks. This process could work for other planners, but Marvin includes unique features and strategies, such as smart lists, that make planning and scheduling easier.
Step 1: Setting Up Recurring Tasks
The first step in my Amazing Marvin workflow is setting up recurring tasks. These tasks include checking emails, updating project statuses, reviewing my financial budget, and preparing for weekly or monthly meetings.
In Amazing Marvin, I can set these tasks to automatically appear in my daily schedule at the desired frequency. This feature ensures that these tasks don’t fall through the cracks and become a consistent part of my routine. It also saves me the time and effort of manually adding these tasks to my schedule each time.
Note: For those still deciding between a paper planner and a digital one, a key benefit of the digital option is the convenience of setting up and handling recurring tasks, eliminating the need for manual entries in a paper planner.
Step 2: Monthly Planning Using Smartlists
I set aside each month’s first day or week for monthly planning. Monthly planning gives me a bird’s-eye view of the tasks and projects I want to complete.
In Amazing Marvin, there’s a difference between planning and scheduling tasks and projects. In the monthly planner, you add (and create) the tasks and projects that you want to complete for the month. The items in the Monthly Planner are not scheduled; they are simply planned.
Like other digital planners, Marvin has a master list of tasks and projects that you can access from the left panel in the Monthly Planner. However, what’s most unique about Marvin is that it includes a smart list feature that allows you to set up filtering rules for different lists of tasks and projects. For example, I have one smart list for all my planned monthly tasks and projects and another for my Most Important Projects (called MIPs in Marvin.) I access these two lists when doing the next step of Weekly Planning.
My productivity goal is to complete, delete, or replan the tasks and projects in my monthly planner. Monthly planning ensures that tasks and projects won’t be forgotten, and I can review all my completed tasks at the end of the month.
Step 3: Weekly Scheduling
With my Monthly Planning done, I’m ready for weekling task scheduling. With Amazing Marvin’s Weekly Planner feature, I can easily drag and drop tasks onto specific days of the week. This feature is particularly useful for breaking down larger projects into smaller, manageable tasks that can be tackled throughout the week. It also allows me to adjust my schedule, accommodating unexpected changes or tasks.
As with the Monthly Planner, I get a bird’ s-eye view of my week. I try not to overschedule tasks, but the weekly planner makes it easy for me to move tasks around.
I typically divide my daily schedule into morning, afternoon, and evening categories. I often try to get two hours of deep work done each day, surrounded by meetings, daily routines, and unexpected tasks.
Amazing Marvin also has a Week Review strategy that, if enabled, appears in the Day View every Monday. The Review strategy lets you list reminders of what you want to do to review for the week.
Step 4: Getting Things Done!
The final step in my Amazing Marvin process is managing and completing daily tasks—getting things done! This is where the rubber meets the road, and all the planning and scheduling come into play.
Scheduled tasks appear in Marvin’s My Day and are ready for me to complete, reschedule, or delete.
Marvin’s pop-up Action Buttons make it easy to manage daily tasks. I often add unscheduled and unexpected tasks to the Day View and even add significant unplanned tasks to the Monthly Planner so that I can keep track of what I’ve completed.
Conclusion
My four-step Amazing Marvin planning process has been instrumental in boosting my productivity and keeping me organized. By setting up recurring tasks, planning monthly and weekly, and diligently managing and completing daily tasks, I’ve been able to stay on top of my workload and make the most of my time.
If you’re looking for a way to streamline your productivity, I highly recommend trying Amazing Marvin (here’s my referring link). I also offer tutoring on how to set up Amazing Marvin and other Mac applications.
