Personalize your task list: 4 my task setups to suit your work style

There’s an Asana superpower right under your nose, and it’s called my tasks. My tasks is more than a daily checklist. It shows all the tasks assigned to you in one place, no matter what project they live in. That means you can organize to-do’s your own way, and make sure nothing falls through the cracks. 

If you can master my tasks, you’ll be well on your way to better focus, prioritization, and peace of mind—knowing you’ve checked every box and gotten your best work done. And the best part? My tasks is fully customizable. So no matter how you prefer to work, there’s a way to make my tasks work for you. 

To help you get started, we’ve outlined the best my task setups—tried and tested by Asana employees—for four common work styles. So all you have to answer is: which work personality are you? 

• The prioritizer: You’re ruthless, you’re efficient, and you’re on it. 

• The scheduler: Your calendar is your best friend.

• The day-by-day planner: You thrive tackling things one day at a time. 

• The cross-functional worker: Your responsibilities are varied, and every team knows your name.  

Read on to explore each style in more detail, or mix and match tips to fully customize your to-do list. 

Work style: The prioritizer

Key traits: You work on many tasks every day, and new assignments are constantly coming in. You need a way to prioritize and focus on the most high-impact work, not just your latest to-dos. 

Features to use: Custom fields, custom sections, rules, Kanban board view

My tasks is built for prioritization, so there are many different ways to label and sort your work. Here are some ways to get started.

• Label tasks by priority with custom fields. In order to prioritize effectively, you need to stay organized. Create special custom fields in my tasks so you can label incoming tasks—like “P0,” “P1,” or “P2.” 

• Sort tasks into custom sections according to their priority. It’s tempting to jump on the most recent thing, but if you’re a prioritizer, you know that isn’t the best way to work. Instead, create a “high priority” section so you always see your most pressing work. 

• Automatically organize tasks with rules. Instead of manually sorting to-do’s, let my tasks do the work for you. Create automations to instantly sort work into sections according to project, assigner, custom fields, and more. 

• Visualize to-do’s on a Kanban board. Sometimes you need to see every task laid out in order to choose what’s most important. Switch between views to see your assignments as a list, Kanban board, or calendar—then drag and drop tasks to sort them according to priority.

Work style: The scheduler

Key traits: Many of your tasks require a hefty time commitment, like writing a blog or coding a web page. You can’t schedule too many on the same day, and need a way to visualize and plan everything out. 

Features to use: Calendar view, time tracking, Clockwise integration

My tasks can play double duty as a scheduling tool, with calendar functionality that lets you pick an ideal deadline for each task. Here’s how it works. 

• See how your work is distributed over the course of a week or a month by switching to calendar view. Then drag and drop tasks to adjust due dates, so you’re never working on too many things at the same time. 

• Record how long each task takes and estimate time requirements with Asana’s time tracking functionality. With better data, you can schedule the right amount of time for every assignment. 

• Automatically schedule time blocks for each task with Asana’s Clockwise integration, which syncs to your Google Calendar. This lets you set aside the time you need for every assignment, without letting meetings cut into your focus time.

Work style: The day-by-day planner

Key traits: You have lots of assignments, but due dates vary widely—from today to months from now. You need a way to narrow your focus to what’s due today, tomorrow, and this week. 

Features to use: Custom sections, rules

You don’t need to plan far into the future to get the most out of my tasks. Here’s how to set it up if you prefer to tackle work one day at a time. 

• Bucket tasks by due date. Create custom sections for “today,” “tomorrow,” and “this week,” so you always see what’s most pressing and what’s coming up. You can also create an “overdue” section to make sure you see and wrap up important work. 

• Automatically sort tasks with rules. Instead of manually rearranging your to-do list every day, rules do the work for you. Use them to instantly organize and update tasks as you work, so you can spend less time maintaining your task list and more time getting work done. 

• Use rules to send notifications to yourself when due dates are approaching or tasks are unblocked. That way, you’re never taken off guard when new, big tasks are on the horizon. 

Work style: The cross-functional worker

Key traits: You work on many different projects, and need a way to visualize and capture your responsibilities within each one. 

Features to use: Sorting, custom sections, Zoom integration, Slack integration

Let’s face it—cross functional work is a core part of many jobs. That’s why we built my tasks to help you optimize your workload, regardless of how many projects you’re on at once. Here’s how. 

• Sort your tasks by project to see how your work is divided between different cross-functional initiatives. With better visibility, you can make sure you’re tackling all your responsibilities. 

• Create custom sections for different work types, like “emails,” “web pages,” and “ebooks.” This helps you visualize all the different types of work on your plate, so nothing falls through the cracks.

• Automatically capture action items from stakeholder conversations with Asana’s Slack integration. Assign them to yourself so they appear in your my tasks, and you never miss a beat. 

• Create action items from meetings with Asana’s Zoom integration, so you can always stay accountable for next steps. 

Work smarter with my tasks

No matter what your work style is, my tasks can help you stay organized. Learn more about how to personalize your task list, save time with automations, and manage work seamlessly across different tools. 

Want to dig deeper? For a detailed look at how to use my tasks, check out our guide article.