I have a confession to make. I’m an Asana addict. I don’t know what it is about it. Maybe it’s the organization or the sections of tasks that I get to check off.
If you use Asana, one of your biggest joys is probably checking off tasks. I know that it’s one of my favorite things, especially when it involves little surprises like happy unicorns jumping out of nowhere when you’re on a roll with completing tasks and projects.
Yes. I’m a bona fide Asana nerd. I love clicking on that check mark to say I’m done with each task. It’s liberating.
But when I go to check off several recurring tasks all at once, they regenerate and sometimes I end up checking off the wrong one. It’s one of my Asana pet peeves so I’ve come up with a solution to this problem.
Check out the video demo below:
How to Create Recurring Tasks
While this little problem can be frustrating and may seem confusing, it’s an easy fix. Let me show you what I mean. If you didn’t know that you could make recurring tasks in Asana, you’re in for a treat because I’m going to show you how to do that so you know exactly where to click and what to do.
First, you’ll click on the task and on the right-hand side click due date. Once you click on due date, look down where you can choose set to repeat. I usually choose set to repeat periodically.
One of my favorite ways to use Asana is to manage my bookkeeping. I have a bunch of tasks that recur, like payments that I need to make monthly or tasks that I need to do weekly, etc. I check them off as they come back from the last time I’ve completed the task so that they can regenerate for the next time that they need to be done. So, when you click on set to repeat, you click on a little drop down and you can choose how often something will regenerate.
For example, my task can be to pay a specific bill every 30 days or on the 4th of every month. You can even set something for every 3 months or 6 months. You can set a task to recur everyday or for an interval as easy as every 7 days.
This means that every time you check off that task, it will regenerate for 7 days from the day that you check it off.
Here’s the Problem
In the video above I show you how I make a few recurring tasks and the pet peeve I have with recurring tasks. Then you’re going to understand the solution in just a second.
If I go and check off one or all of the recurring tasks they start to immediately regenerate. They start popping back up right as the previous one gets checked off. If they pop up too quickly and I’m still checking things off, I might accidentally check off the next task that’s coming up in the near future.
For example, if I had five or six tasks in a row and I start completing things like check, check, check and they’re regenerating, then they might get in my way and I might check off the wrong one.
Here’s the Solution
To get over this pet peeve, check off your tasks from the bottom. I know. Mind blowing right? It’s changing my life right now. Instead of going down the list, you go up the list.
Watch what I mean in the video. Now, because my mouse is moving up, they will regenerate only below where I am.
Wasn’t that easy? So, the solution is to simply check your multiple items that are going to regenerate from the bottom up. I know it’s such a silly little thing, but it’s one of those things that I discovered and I couldn’t help but share it with you. I hope that was handy. Now that you have that tip you can go check off those recurring tasks like a pro!
