There's a question that's been on my mind for a while...
The question of how to manage one's shit (ie: work obligations, projects of varying detail and timescales, social engagements, artistic adventures, getting to the dentist, etc) keeps coming up.
Over a glass of wine with a friend, I sheepishly admitted that I needed some help with managing my.... everything. I explained that I'd been taking on more freelance work, while juggling my full-time job and a travel-intensive season of life.
I was expecting her to flash me a fancy project management app, bedazzled with colour codes and notifications.Instead, she gave me a slow, knowing nod and a big sigh.
With multiple creative and academic projects on the go, and a complex web of collaborators, she too was in search of a better way to manage her shit.
I brought the question to a networking group of super accomplished women. Again, there was a similar vibe of wishing we could this time and project managing a better. For the most part, our approaches were ad hoc and using simple tools: index cards on a bulletin board, weekly to do lists (analog) paired with a master excel task list, a very big calendar.
In my little survey, there haven't been any serious proponents of the endless list of digital tools and apps one can use to manage one's shit (and pay handsomely for the privilege).
Cal Newport, Oliver Burkeman, and others have written at length about how the lack of a perfect management system is not the problem.
The shit is the problem.
There's too much of it and it's not going to stop coming your way.
How do you manage your shit? A Comic
So….how do you manage your shit?
As I build DTM Studio, I know I will need to figure out a new shit management system that can grow with me.
When wise people advise you to ask for the things you want, they don't always remind you that you need a system in place to manage it!
I'm considering starting a short comic series about how people are managing their time and projects, as well as how and where they are struggling.
If you're interested in sharing your shit management system (or SMS woes), send me a quick email. I'd love to include your experience.
P.S. I still have a few spots available for live event illustration and infographic projects this spring. If you have an idea, let’s chat!
