There's a chair in the corner of my bedroom (which is also my office) and it's ALWAYS covered in clothes.

I let this thing get mountainous before I finally reach my breaking point.

After working from home for 10 years, for a fact I can say that working in a messy space fuels my anxiety.

And for real, being a freelancer can be super anxiety-inducing.

Being an entrepreneur of any kind is a lot.

I keep telling my friend who's also a business owner that the constant chaos & problem solving is just what it is.

Basically, if you can't handle the heat, get out the kitchen bc if it were easy, everyone would do it.

But here's the thing: having anxious feelings from time to time is mostly unavoidable, but having systems and strategies that work for you to manage it is not.

Making my bed before work and tackling clothes mountain helps, but I'm not perfect. I just know it helps.

Your ClickUp world needs to be tidy too.

Mess of any kind (yes, even virtual) isn't ideal and there's two ClickUp features that I don't recommend.

Aka, they're making your shit feel messy.

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CUSTOM TASK STATUSES

CUSTOM TASK TYPES

The *REAL reason* ClickUp is SUPERIOR to all the other PM tools out there?

Easy. It's the only tool that can roll up ALL tasks, projects, responsibilities into one place.

I'm not talking about the automated home page checklist either.

This is a focused look
Your single source of truth
The "I know exactly what to work on and where I'm at with every single client" home base you rely on every single day...

Nothing falling between the cracks.

No working way more hours than they paid for.

But to really benefit from this kind of ClickUp peace, custom task statuses and custom task types GOTTA GO. 🏃‍♀️💨

Adding these customizations to each client can seem like the right decision.

But when you try to look at it all together... cue the anxiety.

^ That kind of visual chaos is scientifically proven to slow down cognitive abilities. 🧠

Your brain can't help but try and make sense of what it's seeing. All those colours and icons and sections is not the vibe.

Instead of custom task types:

→ Use lists to categorize your tasks and boom, this isn't necessary no mo. (task type doesn't need to be email if the task is in a list called email marketing)​
​→ It's only tasks and milestones (for projects) from here on out. (when its all the same, it comes together cleanly and clearly)

Instead of custom task statuses:

→ Use a dropdown custom field to track the nuances of a specific process within its new process-specific list. (it's most likely only relevant to that process anyways)

→ Managing your time from a high-level means it either needs to be done, its in progress, or you did it. (this is the difference between big picture time management and when you're executing)

Next week on Unapologetically Organized:

Let that idea sink in. It's natural to feel resistance to changing your ClickUp setup.

That's why next week I'll give you more details on the WHY cuz this email is already way too long.

K, love you, bye.

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RBH

Robyn Henke

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P.S. I'm ready when you are to turn your ClickUp into the freelancing powerhouse we both know it can be:

1. “Time Is Money” — how you protect your time and make an hourly rate you feel good about. Grab it here → ​

2. ClickUp Power Hour — what's the most painful process in your business right now? It only takes 60 minutes to co-create a solution in ClickUp that you'll actually like using. Book a Power Hour →​

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