Last night we recorded an upcoming episode of Mikes on Mics with Mike Rohde, author of Sketchnotes. I’m not going to spoil all of what we talked about – the episode will be available for you to listen to soon enough – but I am going to share with you how I use a form of sketchnoting for task management — specifically in the capture phase.
The image below gives you an idea of what this looks like…
As you can see, I vary up the size of the lettering to illustrate the importance of tasks. I try to mix it up to make capturing fun for me, and if other tasks get captured that take precedence over ones that are already captured in fairly large lettering, I’ll bring images into the equation. For example, you’ll see that I use arrows to draw attention to the task of writing this post which was captured in smaller type. I’ll also vary the width of the lettering to make sure that something important – but not too important – doesn’t get lost in the shuffle (like I did with my task of reviewing email).
I use a combination of upper and lower case letters, making the sketchnotes as “artistic-looking” as I can. I also try to fit the letters in a Tetris-like fashion, allowing me to play while I capture and fit more on each page at the same time.
Taking notes like this gets me excited about keeping up with the habit of capturing – and even though I’ve been capturing tasks for years, I keep using this method so that the process is still as fun and fresh as it was when I started.
What I do may not be the purest form of sketchnoting, but it works for me. If you’re new to the idea of capturing your tasks – no matter how big or small – then you might want to give this method a try. And pick up Mike’s book while you’re at it – it’ll get you set on the right path. Sketchnoting may just help you connect with your tasks better than ever before – and I think that it’s a fun way to connect with them at that.
