¿Cómo afectan los iconos y colores del estado de las tareas a su productividad y motivación?

Our brains process images and color faster than written words. Categorizing clients, types of projects, or statuses with a specific emoji or color (like a brand color) can help you become more efficient with your tasks. Use them in project management tools, Google Drive/OneDrive folders, email labels, etc. Keep it simple and use the same color system or emojis throughout your whole system so your efficiency is streamlined.

Consider using icons or emojis that identify the tools you'll be using for the task. For example, add a phone emoji when you need to call someone. An email emoji for a task involving your inbox. And a car emoji if you need to drive downtown for a meeting. These kinds of visual indicators can be so much more helpful, and communicate more than just colors.

There's just something about a cute planner with stickers and pleasing colors schemes isn't there? I would much rather write something down in a planner that is aesthetically pleasing than one that isn't. So, take this a step further when it comes to task management. When you use icons and colors to indicate certain repetitive tasks you can quickly see a pattern. What takes up most of your time, what doesn't have enough time allocated? Colors used can indicate what time of day they need to be done in, priority level, and where they are at in terms of progress. Your visual cortex is the largest part of your brain so accessing it will make you so much more productive and efficient.

Colored categories for tasks and meetings in Outlook/Gmail etc. I recommend using up to 10 task list categories and using the same categorization in your calendar – and eventually also in your emails. You will feel the difference after 1-2 weeks working with colors and you will notice a better (visual) overview. You start noticing the colors before you read the text. Color coding allows you to find what you need faster and easily identify where everything belongs. It makes planning easier, since we can see briefly what categories demand our time. You may use the same categories and colors for your calendar and your tasks. Categories can be numbered 01, 02 … up to 10 if you do not want them to be listed alphabetically.

Icons and colors can help boost productivity in so many ways. For example if my overall goal is to become fit and lose some weight but I immediately notice that my dumbbell icon is only on 2 days of the week, I will need to increase that so that I can meet my goal. If I have an exclamation point next to a task I'll know right away this is something I need to do first because it has priority. Along those same lines, things in green should be handled first, yellow, next and red last. It is a great way to organize your task list before time blocking those items into your calendar. At the end of the day pick what works for you, colors, icons or both, and stick to it. A system is only as good as the person implementing it.

Using colors and icons can trick our brains into a false sense of urgency or laziness. When I see colors like blue and purple I feel calm and relaxed but when I see green or red it changes my mood immediately. When I look at the color red, I immediately feel like something is wrong and want to do what I can to get rid of it! When I see icons that I may not be familiar with I want to stop and explore what they mean, giving them thought but when I see things that I know and have been exposed to in the past, it helps me to take action. Not only that, as an artist, color coding and putting icons on things makes me happy so I am more likely to complete a task when these things are associated with them rather than not.