By Debb Hackett @debb_hackett

Any Steven Curtis Chapman fans here? I’ve loved his music since my late teens. One of my many favorites is King of the Jungle. Are you familiar with it? There’s one line in there that is sort of the thinking behind my post today:

“I’d be pulling out my hair if I could just get one hand free, and I’d stop this world if I could find the key.”

 Increasingly, a writer, even one with a big traditional house behind them, is multi-tasking all the time. The marketing, the launch team recruiting and running. The social media managing to maintain your readers interest between books. Working on your craft. Signing, conferences. Endorsing, merchandising… the list is virtually endless. But I’m missing something… oh yes, the writing. And all this is without considering family life, household chores, parenting, exercising. Oof.

We all have our ways to get through what needs doing. Some are list lovers (high five from me), time blockers (also legit), planner users (now we’re talking), or (shudders a bit) pantsters. These are the folks who get up and do what they reckon is the next thing, either from memory (I am in awe of you) or by using logic (this idea terrifies me).

My youngest has ADHD and an adult friend mentioned finding a KanBan board helpful for managing her own symptoms and I have seen this simple idea make a huge difference for us. So much so, I’m deploying it for my writing.

The term comes from Japanese, and more or less means the card you can see. Kanban project management is the brainchild of a car manufacturing exec in the 1940s. It’s basically a more visual to do list, But so much cooler. You can spend lots of money on a ‘proper’ board or use Post Its and a piece of card, a kitchen cupboard or (my favorite), a magnetic whiteboard.

What you need:

• A legal or slightly bigger surface – like cardstock, your cupboard door, or a whiteboard. We use a whiteboard – easily portable and reusable.
• Notecards, Post Its or magnetic Post Its (who knew?) We use the latter
• Pens, markers or dry erase pens. Dry erase all the way here.

The Process:

• Make three columns: TO DO, DOING, DONE – use whatever color combo you like
• Add the things you need to attend to underneath TO DO
• Get started. Move what you’re working on to DOING and then park it in DONE when complete. Often, you’ll have more than one thing in DOING, and that’s fine.

Kanban really is that simple. It seems silly. But more than anything we’ve tried, this is working. It helps to see what needs doing. It’s good to be reminded what you should be doing when distractions come. Then when you move something to the DONE column, there’s that little boost of happy hormones when you complete a task.

There are so many time management tools out there. I hope this one might be helpful for you. I know it’s making a real difference in our house, and not just for my little love.

My prayer is that this simple technique will be a blessing. Psalm 31:15 says this

‘My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.’

Busyness and lack of clarity are both enemies of our work. Let’s stand strong and strike ahead for the Kingdom.

Writer, broadcaster and speaker Debb Hackett has been a radio journalist for more than twenty years. Married to a Royal Air Force test pilot, Debb has written a Bible study for military wives.

A regular contributor to the Advanced Writers and Speakers Devotional Arise Daily, she’s also been privileged to writer chapters for Write Well Sell Well. For now, based near London, England she’s having lots of fun working on a contemporary romance series and was an ACFW Genesis award semi-finalist in 2020.

When she’s not writing, Debb can be found leading worship, playing bass or skiing. If you can swing by her house while she’s making scones, that would also be a win.