18 - Basic Trello

All of the lists your heart desires

What is it?

• Trello is a [free] product management tool that some teams use to keep track of assignments, projects, and deadlines and that I use to keep track of all my lists. You may already have your preferred digital catch-all organization tool, in which case, great! Either way, using trello or any similar tool will give you a place to keep all of those miscellaneous notes, thoughts, and pieces of information floating around your head. If you remember all the way back to step 3 when we created our monster to-do list, trello is the perfect palace to store something like this.

Why should I?

• We are all about cleaning up mental clutter. I love the quote “Your mind is for having ideas not for holding them”. You probably know people who are proud of the fact that they can remember everyone’s birthdays, their grocery list, deadlines, credit card due dates and every other tiny piece of information ever. I, on the other hand, am proud that I save my sacred mental space for having big ideas, leaving all the rote storage to our dear friend trello. Seriously, once you can start storing all those extraneous thoughts somewhere you will feel so much freedom and clarity in your mind.

How do I start?

• Create one board, call it “Backlog”. Then create a list called “backlog”. Anytime something you need to do, research, or remember pops into your head, add it to your backlog list. Throw your monster to-do list on there, if you like. Now you know exactly where to look when you need to find something. Because let’s be honest, our minds are not the most reliable storage lockers.

• You may find yourself wanting to create new boards and lists over time. That’s great! Let your lists evolve with you.

18 – Practice recording all those pesky thoughts and reminders in your trello. When you’re a pro at getting everything down, move on to step 19.