I’ve been learning about the wonders and usefulness of a Kanban board.

This idea was inspired by successful indie author Sarra Cannon. I took her HB90 online course a couple years ago and it has really helped me to create small tasks around each project… which has really lessened my feelings of overwhelm when I start a new book project.

If you feel like you need help to organize your writing to help you reach your book deadlines, I encourage you to check out Sarra’s new HB90 course which begins June 12, 2022.

I hope this course is as helpful for you as it’s been for me, as I continue to go through the videos every 90 days to help me reach my deadlines. Disclaimer: I love this course so much and found it so helpful, that I decided to share her course as an affiliate, which means I make a small percentage of the sale if you buy through my link. I use this course myself and only recommend those I trust, so I hope they are useful to you.

As a writer, making my own Kanban board has really helped me get organized. I’ll show you what I did below…

What is a KanBan Board?

If you’re wondering what a Kanban board is, you’re not alone.

I didn’t know either until I watched some youtube videos showing how this project management tool helps you get things done.

A Kanban board is a simple and visual way to organize your projects that will help you limit how many many works you have in progress as well as give you the maximum efficiency for the time you put into your projects.

You can use a Kanban board for any projects that you’re working on and they are really a useful tool for creative entrepreneurs to help motivate and help them reach their goals.

I share my tips on setting up your kanban board below.

3 Tips to Setup Your Own Kanban Board to reach your writing goals

The reason I decided to make my Kanban board, was because I was so tired of writing goals each year that I never reached. It was discouraging to write a list of books I wanted to write and then maybe only get one book written by the end of the year.

I was desperate to make this year, a year where I could look back and say I not only enjoyed writing those wonderful book ideas I had written down, but I also reached my goals.

If you’ve had similar struggles with reaching your goals, you might find using a Kanban board really helpful for you too.

Here’s the KanBan Board I created to help reach my writing goals in the next 90 days…

As you can see by the above picture, I have my “to-do” list cluttered with sticky notes. But the really fun and motivating part is that I can break the tasks down into small goals that I list on small sticky notes.

Here’s how it works…

1. Divide your board into 30, 60, 90 day goals.

What you do, is write down the tasks that need to get done during that time. I find it helpful to use sticky notes for each task. For example, if you’re writing a book, most likely that task will include both 30 and 60 days(unless you’re a really fast writer). Include both writing, editing, self-publishing as well as book marketing, newsletter and social media tasks in your goals too.

2.Use different colored sticky notes for each type of task. 

As you can see in the above picture, I used 3 different colours. The green sticky note is for my writing tasks, the pink sticky notes are for writing email newsletters and blogging goals. The purple sticky notes are for book marketing and social media goals.

It can be really helpful to separate out by colour what task you’re working on at the time. That way, all you need to do is glance at your Kanban board and you already know what is on your to do list that day.

3.At the top of your Kanban board is your “To-Do” items; in the middle are your “get-it-done” tasks; closer to the bottom is your “awesome-job” items that you’ve finished. 

So the way it works, is after you’ve written out all the tasks you want to work on for the next 90 days and you’ve put them in small sticky notes as small tasks – you put those on the top of the board under your “To-Do” List.  Then about 1/3 of the way down the board you move one of your “To-Do” sticky notes down the board into your  “Get-It-Done” List. When you’ve finished with that “Get-It-Done” task, you can then move that task down into the “Awesome-Job” List.

Just a quick note: you can name the different lists whatever name that will inspire you. The really helpful part of this is that you continue to move your tasks from your “to-do” list all the way down until it’s in your “awesome-job” list.  I find this visually motivating for myself as I work on writing my book.

What helps me, is that I’ll write down as a task: “I will write 6 pomodoros(25 minute focused writing time-slots) today in Book 1”. Then when I’ve finished those Pomodoros, I can put that task in the “awesome-job” list… which I find is quite wonderful for encouraging myself in the writing journey.

If you’re ready to begin using a kanban board and would like some help to get your writing organized into smaller chunks to help you reach your writing deadlines, I encourage you to check out Sarra’s new HB90 course which begins June 12, 2022.

Registration is only open for a limited time. I hope the course is as helpful for you as it’s been for me.  I continue to go through the videos to help me get organized quarterly to help me reach my deadlines. Disclaimer: As I mentioned above, I love this course so much and found it so helpful, that I decided to share her course with writers I know. I’m an affiliate, which means I make a small percentage of the sale if you buy through my link. I use this course myself and only recommend those courses I trust, so I hope this is useful to you.

I hope this Kanban board is helpful for you too and that you find that it simplifies your writing process and motivates you toward reaching your goals!

 

Have you used a Kanban board or something similar to reach your writing goals?  Please do comment below, I’d love to hear what you find works for you as you write 🙂