Ultimate ClickUp Tips: Streamline Your Business Today

Welcome to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor, also known as the Geeky Girl. In this podcast, we're going to be talking about some amazing things to help you get over overgiving. Hi, and welcome to this episode of the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. My name is Angela Mondor. I'm also known as the Geeky Girl. We're going to get geeky today. We're going to geeky with ClickUp. It's one of my favorite softwares. A lot of things that I do revolve around ClickUp, and I've been working with ClickUp since 2019. In fact, I've been a vetted consultant since 2020, so we've spent a lot of time with ClickUp. We have a lot of clients in our ClickUp universe, and I want to just share some really cool things for you from a neurodivergent perspective. Obviously, ClickUp works for me as a neurodivergent, so I want to share some of those things with you, some tips, some tricks. That's what this is all about today. Okay, so don't get scared. I will tell you that the ClickUp universe is always ever expanding. One of the things I think is most important about ClickUp that is maybe overlooked sometimes is the fact that they are not the company who gives you features just for the sake of giving you features. They are very, very mindful of the back end of the software. Now, you probably don't care about the back end, but I do as a geek. The databases, the way that's all put together, the stability of the product is really important to me. And I know that they put the time and effort into maintaining that first before adding features. So there may be some features that they're like, hey, we're going to release this thing, and we're waiting and we're waiting. And it's because they are mindful of how it's going to impact the entire ecosystem that maybe some of those things get delayed or waylaid for us to get faster. Okay. So what I will say is that that is more important to me. I would much rather have a software that is mindful of those things than something that's just going to give me a bunch of features that are just going to break. Okay. Between the regular search inside ClickUp, the global search that they have, and now the AI brain. It's amazing. The AI brain is saving us so much time. I can literally say, hey, I left a comment on this task about this. Could you find it for me? And it does. I can tell you that that is brilliant. The AI brain allows us to save a lot of time. There's some, there's some learning curves to it because you got to think about how to ask the questions to get the information the same way when you use Google. You can't just put in random words. You need to be very clear about how you ask Google. Same thing with the AI brain. You got to think about it as if it needs direction like a 3-year-old. Which is great. But when you do that, brilliant time saver. We're not here to talk about that, but I just had to drop it in because we've been having so much fun with the AI brain. Okay. This today is about a comprehensive guide of the ClickUp features that are going to help you as a neurodivergent human being with using a project management system, because sometimes project management systems can be difficult to understand or use. And yes, there's a learning curve to ClickUp. Not going to say that there isn't. However, I will tell you that when you put stuff inside ClickUp, And I say this to my clients all the time, the data is the data. So if you happen to put some things in places and then later go, ah, really, those things should have been laid out this way. Maybe you put things in a bunch of lists and you're like, oh, I actually need 3 lists for this and you need to break out, you just move the tasks around. It's nice and easy. You just, those things you don't have to worry about. If you accidentally put something in a, you know, a task that maybe it's a subtask of something and you've closed that, if you go look for it, you can use your Command K or Control K to look And of course, if you're doing the AI upgrade, use the brain. It'll help you find those things. Okay, so that's the first thing to understand is that the data is the data and you can move it around, no problem. ClickUp is all about helping you to streamline your workflow. We want to be able to make sure that your team members get everything that they need from the tasks that are assigned to them. This is the key importance here. Tasks need to be assigned and they need due dates. This allows your team to be more efficient, more effective in their working. Now your team members can go straight to their inbox or their home and get what they need. So inside ClickUp, when you go to your home, that's going to be all the conversations about the task or all the updates that are happening in the task. Okay. Sorry, we're gonna have to do that part again, Julie, because that's incorrect. In ClickUp, when you go to your home, that gives you the ability to oversee what it is that's happening in your world, what is assigned What's going on? When are these things scheduled? You have different cards you can move around on that home screen. Make it your own and know that that's not just because it works for you today. It doesn't mean to say you won't change it around, which is great because our brains love to have a bit of a different view once in a while. And so the home allows you to be able to do that in your inbox. That's where you're going to see all the updates on the tasks. If somebody has left you a comment or if maybe somebody has changed the status, whatever it is that you're looking for information about tasks is going to be inside that inbox. Those are the two places you want your team to spend time. So in ClickUp, spending time in the inbox and the home is the most valuable time that you can have your team members spend time in, as long as you are assigning them tasks and giving them due dates. Very important. When you have a team member inside ClickUp who's looking through what I call going through the weeds, is that in that space or is it in this list or doing those kinds of things? They're wasting time. Okay, so ClickUp is set up So that we don't have to waste time looking for those tasks in those places. We just go to our home and all of the things are listed there for us to be able to look at. Okay, now when it comes to the versatility that ClickUp offers, remember I said the data is the data, which means we can create reports out of the tasks that are out there. So there's all kinds of things that you can see inside ClickUp. You can see it as a list. You can see it as a table, which is kind of like an Excel document or a sheet. Or you can see it in a calendar view or a timeline or a Gantt view or a calendar. There are so many different views out there. You can also create dashboards, which is another way to see the things that are happening inside your ClickUp. And there's different reasons to use different, but play with those things and find views that you love. Use the filters, use the customization on those, and you can find ways to see the things that make sense to you or that you want to make sense out of your entire ClickUp space. Okay. Now, when it comes to having a system, a process for your clients or for the work that you do inside ClickUp, there are a lot of things inside our business that we do regularly. So, for example, This video right here that I'm recording for you, this is a task in ClickUp, and we do the same things every time we do this video. I record it, somebody edits it, right? There's a bunch of steps that are involved in getting this video to you. But in ClickUp, we have a template for this. So when we are going to record a video, we apply the template to it, or we plan a video, we put it on the calendar, we apply the template, and then The people who are involved in getting this video ready to launch to you or to put this on our podcast, if you're listening to it there, there's a bunch of steps that need to be done. One particular list of things that need to be done for YouTube and another particular list that needs to be done for you to get at this on the podcast. But there are definite steps. Those are templates. So, it works way different than anything else. So, if you are currently in Asana or Trello, typically you would have these processes and you just copy paste every time. This is not how it's done. Done here in ClickUp. We create a template of the things that need to be done, and then we, then we apply the template to that task, the list, the folder, the space, the document. There's all kinds of different templates out there. But the nice thing is about templates is that we can remap the dates really, really quickly, especially when it's a task, a list, or a folder with lists inside it. We can actually choose dates and it'll remap it. So with other programs, you have to copy it paste it, change all the dates. This one, we click on the template, apply the template, and it'll say remap dates, and you choose either the start or the end date of the task that you want and apply it. There's more to it, or there's, there's some nuances in there, but that's the basics of how you do that. This allows you to create a process that is repeatable. Repeatable processes happen in our business all the time, but now you can consistently do these things over and over again. Very, very valuable. And so then you're not forgetting the little tiny details, and when you bring something on, somebody into your team, it's easy to train them because you say, hey, here's the process that we do, and here's your steps in that process. And it's the same every time, you just have to change who's assigned to it. Okay, so templating and creating these processes in these templates is very, very valuable. If you have events that happen quarterly or something, you can create an event list with all the things that have to be done in that event. You create a template for it, so next time you have to run the event, You know all the things that are happening and any pitfalls that happen. You have most of them that you've already organized for, right? If new things occur, you can update and change the template so that next time you're more aware for those things. So templates are really, really valuable for our brains. Help us to not forget these little things. Allow us to be able to recreate these things over and over again without forgetting. The worst thing I remember in my business, this is years and years ago, long before we had a lot of this stuff. And I remember sitting at my desk and thinking, oh, hey, I did this like 3 months ago, right? Like one quarter. I did it quarterly. I did this. Like, what were the steps I had to take? The minute you ask yourself, what are the steps I have to take? The minute you or your team member says those words, you've lost time and you're wasting money and time and assets and resources. Okay? So the templates will help you to remove that nonsense and it'll allow you to be able to reclaim that time and really honestly have more value delivered to the end result of what you're trying to accomplish. Okay, in terms of productivity. Now, here's some really interesting things. So we talk, I talk a lot on this channel about living in your circle of brilliance, doing things that only you are really good at, things that only you can show up for. For example, nobody else can record this for me. I don't have a deepfake somewhere. I can't just type in the words and it just makes it for me. I have to be here in order to make this for you. Okay, nobody else can do that for you. So this is my only task. Now I can have other people edit it, or I have other people do this or that, right? Upload it, those kinds of things. I don't have to necessarily do those parts, but there is the power in automation here. Okay, so there's some things that can be done regardless of whether it's this task or a multitude of others. We can use AI or automations to be able to do some of these things for us. Here's what's really important. If it requires the human brain, then we can't use the automations. So if it's having to say, geez, should it be done this way or should it be doing that way? You can't use AI or automations in order to do that. You have to then add the human element in there. However, if it's as simple as when this happens, do that. If this happens and this is also a thing, then do this. Those types of things can be solved using the automations inside ClickUp. Oh, the tiniest save, let me tell you, because you're now not having to make sure that you remember something. We're humans, we make mistakes. So try to remove as many of those human mistakes out of the equation as possible and make sure that your humans, yourself included, are only spending time on tasks that require them to think. All right, so for example, if I add a new lead to the lead system that we have in ClickUp. I can automatically say if a new task gets added here versus— and this is, these are the situations— then apply this template, or then here's the next step. Okay, instead of having to think, oh, I'm the human, I'm adding this now, what are the tasks I need to have in there? I can do AI, I can do the automations inside ClickUp, and they can apply templates for me. They can change due dates, they can change assignees, Oh, it's massive what can happen inside there. So the automations inside ClickUp can actually save you a whole lot of time in these repetitive tasks and can also help you to save time and spend time only on the things that really matter for the human brain. So the automations are super, super amazing, saving you time, energy, and the ability, of course, to be able to deliver something repeatable. AI, the automations can actually be helpful in those situations. There's some really cool things that we have done using the automations inside ClickUp. The other nice thing about ClickUp is that you can be working with people live inside ClickUp and from all over the world. So all you have to do is either grant them a seat inside your ClickUp installation, or you can invite them as guests if you like. Guests can only be invited to tasks, lists, and folders. They cannot be invited to spaces. So it depends on what you're doing with the person that you're bringing in, whether or not Maybe they just need access to a folder and all the lists and tasks inside there. Maybe they need to access just a list. You can bring them in at those levels. Okay. And there's a lot that they can do as guests. So they're a very valuable seat, but the paid seats of course have access to the entire workspace that is publicly available to the team. All right. Now you can also work collaboratively on things. So when you are on a task, you'll see these little binoculars or when you're in a document, you can see who's same as Google. You can see who's there on the document with you. You can see where people are clicking, the comments that they're making as they're typing. So it is a very collaborative way of getting things done inside your ClickUp. Really great if you are trying to get something done together, whether you're on a call with them or whether you're just doing it collaboratively on the internet. So there are some really, really great ways to collaborate with your team members inside ClickUp as well. Now, time tracking. Time Like, I don't know how many times I have to— I'm going to say it every day. Time is my number one love language. And so we can track time inside ClickUp, which allows you to track time on a task. It always has to be on a task. They do have some random time tracking, but if you want any good reporting, you always want to make sure that the time tracking happens on a task and you can actually see what's happening inside your system. So my team tracks their time on their tasks, which allows them to be able to create a report which allows them to be able to bill me for their time, right? If you're looking at where you're spending your time, the way you lay out ClickUp matters in terms of your reporting. But you can say, hey, how much time was spent on this folder, for example, in the month of May, or how much time was spent on this list, or those kinds of things. Like, so you can get that information out in the dashboards section for time tracking. So you can do all that inside ClickUp with time tracking. They make it really easy to be able to track your time. There's literally time tracking buttons all over the place. You just need to go look for them and you can track it directly on the task or you can track it in the top bar that ClickUp has and you just have to enter in which task you're in. There's some great ways to track time inside there, but it allows you to be able to see where all the time is going in terms of not just your own, but also your team members, where the time is being spent on the work. So That's a dashboard view that you would create with the time tracking information. There is so much inside ClickUp. I could go on and on and on, but I just wanted to give you a few little bits and pieces to show you that there's some really great things here as a neurodivergent entrepreneur, that there are some really great ways to see things in terms of your projects and the work that you're doing, not just for clients, but also for your own business as well. Give you some tips on how you can use it. Remember, the data is the data. So just because you put it in the wrong— in one place doesn't mean to say you can't move it to another place. There is no wrong place here. We can just move them around once it's ready. Okay, so ClickUp integrates with all kinds of other apps. We use Make a lot. It's make.com. It is a software program much like Zapier, but better. Sorry, Zapier. It allows us to do even more automations outside of ClickUp, which is great. We integrate with our Google Calendars. We do global Google Drive searching inside ClickUp as well. There's some great things inside there. I used ClickUp just by myself in the very beginning, and then I integrated it with my team. So you can use just yourself. I have clients who use it just on their own. They don't have a team yet, and I have clients with lots of team members. So it's great either way. Okay, in terms of what sets itself apart with complex projects is it allows you to be able to be super customizable about it. Think about how much room anything takes. You know, a lead process can just all work on a task, but if you have a project, it might need a whole list on its own. Or maybe it's a project that has multifaceted pieces to it, or maybe multi-levels to it. Then maybe the project needs a folder with a bunch of different lists in terms of what those levels are. There are so many ways to set it up. So you can— it can be used as a very complex system, or it can be used as a very simple system as well, because you're building it from scratch, which allows you to build it for your own brain, which is the best part. I hope you have a fantastic week. I hope you have some time to play with ClickUp if you don't have it already. If you are struggling a little bit with ClickUp, please don't hesitate. You can reach out to us. We've been helping people with their ClickUp systems for— oh darn, it's 4 years now. So we've been involved for a long time with ClickUp. We spend a lot of time here. Sometimes you just need a little push to help you get on the road. Hope you have a fantastic week. I'll talk to you next week. Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the Overgivers Anonymous podcast. Your support means the world to me. You can find show notes for this episode and other goodies at overgiversanonymous.ca. And if you enjoyed this episode or you enjoy the podcast in general, why not join us in the Overgivers Anonymous Facebook group where you can connect with overgivers from all over the world? Head on over to geekygirl.ca/group.