Eliminate confusion and increase efficiency.
How to express yourself

This is Wada from the creative department.

I joined the direction team this year and work on projects while communicating with clients, and I am also mainly involved in production-related work. Recently, I have been outputting more in both my work and personal life.

The reason for this is that I began to have multiple projects with completely different production methods, and I needed to organize my thoughts for each project. Also, various things happened outside of work, so I had more to think about.

So, I would like to introduce the output method I use to organize the various thoughts in my head.

Output using three tools

In order to organize my work and personal life, I use three different tools to output my thoughts.

Now, let's take a closer look at each tool.

・Task management table

The task management table I use

First of all, I use the "Task Management Sheet" to output the tasks for the work I am in charge of. When I was working on multiple projects in the direction team and I couldn't keep up with them all in my head, Nakagawa from the same team gave me this tool.

Until then, I used to write down things I heard at work and things I had to do in a notepad, but when I used a notepad, I would often end up writing things in different places, and I would have to go back and look at things I had written down before, so I felt like the information would get scattered. This task management sheet solved that problem of scattered information. ( Click here for a detailed article on how to use it)

By outputting the information on this task management sheet, I can now see at a glance which tasks need to be completed and by when.

・Handwritten notes

Next, I use this handwritten notebook to organize my thoughts, both at work and in my personal life. Unlike a task management sheet for organizing work tasks, I use this notebook to organize my mind and emotions.

The contents I write are various, such as daily events, things that make me anxious, things I think about, and records of my hobbies. I don't write every day, but when I'm thinking about something or feeling anxious, writing those feelings down in a notebook helps me to see myself objectively and calms down. (When I put together this article, I wrote it down in this notebook once and then thought about the general outline.)

・App (Day One)

Last but not least, there is an iPhone app called " Day One ."

This is a simple app that lets you keep a diary. Blogs and social media are great for sharing with others, but I use this tool because it lets me keep a diary for myself.

I mainly record my daily life with photos and text. If I take a photo and write a few words about what happened or what I thought at the time, it's fun to look at it later. Of course, you can also record just text, so sometimes I use it as a memo.

I'm especially enjoying my current obsession with embroidery (I'm embroidering game characters) because I can take photos of my progress. I can add tags to each post, so I've organized them into categories like "embroidery," "diary," and "movies."

Two benefits I felt from outputting my thoughts

In this way, by using a variety of tools such as task management sheets, handwritten notes, apps, etc. to output my work, I have realized two benefits.

1. It clarifies what needs to be done

By outputting the tasks you have, you can organize what you need to do and prioritize them. I used to work as a junior high school teacher, and I was in charge of social studies and Japanese language. Since I had experience teaching different subjects at the same time back then, I can do things in parallel at the same time, but I'm actually not very good at it. So I've been thinking about how to do it more efficiently and exploring it.

At the time, the output I used was to end each class by taking notes on what to do next. By doing this, I didn't have to think about what to do next, and I was able to move on to the next class smoothly.

Even in my current job, I write down what I'm going to do next every day. I use a task management sheet to manage the tasks for each project, and I write how I'm going to proceed with each project and how I'm going to allocate my time in my weekly schedule.

By viewing the weekly schedule, you can see the availability of resources at a glance.

Each project is color-coded so that I can see at a glance how much time I'm dedicating to each project. I fill in the weekly schedule with the events that I've already decided for the week, so that I can see at a glance how much free time I have and when.

I came across this method after searching for the easiest way to get things done and organize my thoughts so that I could get things done smoothly.

Even when I have multiple projects going on at the same time, being clear about what I need to do now and what I need to do next reduces the time I waste wondering, and allows me to focus on my work.

2. Your thoughts will become clearer and you'll feel calmer.

By writing down everything in my head, I was able to clarify what I was thinking. By taking my thoughts out of my head and looking at them outside of myself, I was able to make calm judgments.

Also, from a psychological standpoint, by clearly writing down what I'm thinking, I can confirm that this is the cause of my frustration, which gives me peace of mind.

In my personal life, my partner was recently hospitalized due to illness, and I was able to calm down by writing down my feelings of anxiety and thoughts at the time. I realized that this record might be useful for something when I look back on it later, and that was the moment I felt the need to write it down.

It's difficult to completely separate your work and personal life. Having a clear mind has a positive effect on both your work and personal life. By outputting my thoughts, my mind becomes clear, I can face things calmly, and I can look at the situation more calmly. Organizing my mind in this way is very helpful when I'm working on many projects at the same time.

Output is key when times are tough

In my case, I write down my work details in a "task management sheet" and a "weekly schedule," and I write down my emotions and feelings in a handwritten notebook, and for things with photos, I record them in an app. Looking at it this way, I have recorded a lot of things, from work to daily life, but I realized that this is not something that just started happening, but is also due to my past experiences and my anxious nature.

When working as a director, you need to concentrate on each project. There are many situations where you have to think about what to do and who to communicate what to and how to communicate it. But the same is true in everyday life.

If you have too many things to think about, you won't know how to act and your judgment will be impaired. Therefore, I feel the need to always keep my mind clear and tackle things, and I think that doing so makes things turn smoothly. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to output my thoughts, but I want to continue doing it in a way that suits me.

When your mind is full and you feel exhausted, or when you're overwhelmed with tasks that need to be done, why not try out this method of output?