While it’s an amazing platform for organizing your business, it’s also such a good way to organize the little areas of your personal life.

It’s my personal favorite way to productively procrastinate because adding labels and making things look pretty and organized is such a vibe.

ClickUp is a free platform that allows you to organize your projects or ideas all in one place.

Let’s dig into 29 ways to use Clickup for personal productivity

Want to snag over a dozen ClickUp templates? Head over to ClickUp for Creatives, where you’ll receive dozens of ClickUp tutorials and templates for organizing both your life & business – including a lot of what’s mentioned in this article like budgeting, weekly planning, reading logs, social media content calendars, a habit tracker & tons of business templates. Become a ClickUp pro in just a couple of hours!

1. Weekly planning

In the board view, organize your week with a column for each day. Or, recently I’ve been using the list view and using the columns to add categories based on what I’m working on and whether it’s business-related or personal – and what kind of task it is. I also have the option to time-track each task.

2. Quarterly & monthly goals

We love planning quarterly and working our way from there. Set in those Q3 plans into action and make them happen. Break them down into monthly actions.

3. Meal planning

Whether or not you’re a meal prepper, you can organize your recipes and create statuses for “breakfast meals” and “dinner ideas.” Add tags to indicate whether it’s 20 minutes or less or to indicate if it’s vegan. And then you can use the filter to pull up only quick meals or vegan friendly options.

4. Budgeting

It’s time to get those numbers in check. I love ClickUp’s feature that allows you to add up expenses. You can add categories for the time of expense – and then see how much you’re spending in each category every month.

5. Social calendar

Have a busy Summer ahead? Who says you should just plan your business calendar on ClickUp? Use it to plan your social events too!

6. Reading log

What’s your 2022 reading goal? One of my favorite things about finishing a book is being able to add my book to my reading log. I use the rating system to give it 5 stars – or less.

7. Wish lists

Instead of going on a shopping spree, what if you intentionally planned what you want to buy in advance? That way you can really think about the purchase and make sure you really want it before you impulse buy (guilty!)

8. Gift ideas

Whether it’s for the holidays, or for birthday ideas, it’s nice to plan ahead and add to this list whenever you think of something. Plus, keeping track of everyone you need to buy for over the holidays helps with the overwhelm of everything that needs to get done.

9. Courses/study material

Are you studying something right now? Whether it’s just for fun or you’re in school, you can use ClickUp to keep track of your studies. See how I’m doing that for an Enneagram course I’m in right now.

I just make cute covers in Canva and inside each task, I include bullet points from what I’m learning and attach any other related information I’ll need, like worksheets or presentation slides.

Then, I can refer back to whatever topic I need to study.

10. Movies

Ever said the words, “I really wanna watch that!” after a friend recommends a movie or TV show? Create a list to keep track of them.

I made a list of RomComs – what I’ve already watched, what I want to see, what I rate each of them, and where to watch them.

I also did this for holiday movies in December as well, so I could log all the cheesy Christmas movies that rarely win more than 3 stars.

11. Bucketlist

Have dreams you want to make happen? Put it on a list, and start checking those goals off! What are you waiting for?

@lifegoalsmag link in bio for clickup for creatives course & templates! #clickup #2022planning #obsessedwithit ♬ i am obsessed with this – mallorie

12. Moving checklist

Moving? When I made the move from SoCal to Portland, Oregon, I created a moving checklist with everything I needed to get done. And then I made a “to buy” list as well with everything I wanted to purchase for my apartment. I included info on cost and links to what I wanted to purchase.

13. Travel planning

Planning a road trip or heading to an exciting destination? Use ClickUp to plan your itinerary, add all the research you’re doing and invite friends or family (if applicable) to share with them!

14. Coffee orders

Or, really anything that someone you love says they’re into. Start keeping tabs on them when they say they like something. Who doesn’t love someone taking the time to remember their go-to order? You’ll be everyone’s favorite, thoughtful friend.

15. Address book

If you’re like me, you don’t think about having an address book until you need it – and while you’re probably not sending regular snail mail (although why the heck not?), it’s always a good idea to have contact info & mailing addresses all in one place.

16. Vision board

I use the Dashboard on ClickUp to write down my vision and hopes for the year, along with an image I mockup in Canva with inspiring graphics I find on Pinterest.

17. Recommendations

Compile recommendations – categorized by city, type of place, etc. I made one for Portland with categories like breweries, brunch spots, dinner recs, hikes, coffee shops, and more. It’s such a fun board to share with friends and to keep track of all the fun things you’re doing!

18. Journaling

Keep track of how you’re feeling. I use the docs in ClickUp for this, but there are so many different ways you could do this in ClickUp – whether it’s setting a recurring reminder or just having one running document.

19. Habit tracker

Use our habit tracker template to keep track of all your habits, like going for a daily walk, making the bed, working out, and any of the other habits you’re working on.

20. Steps for your hobbies

Starting a new hobby? As you’re learning new things, keep track of it all. What have you been learning? Need to reference back to some notes? Keep a log of it.

21. Articles to read later

If you use the chrome extension, you can bookmark articles to save them to read or reference later.

22. Self-care checklist

Sometimes self-care isn’t top of mind, and you have to give it some extra intention to make it happen. Create a running list of all your go-to self care activities that make you feel like your best self.

23. Masterlist

This could be a list of things that you think of that you need to get done at some point. Remember to sort this out later into the actual projects. Or, create a life admin or GYST day where you get all those small tasks done!

24. Cleaning list

You can categorize by the areas of your home: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, living room and what needs to be cleaned, and how often.

25. Plant watering & care

Remembering how to take care of each of your plants can be difficult, when they all have their own regimen. You could take a picture of them, and put in instructions on how to take care of them and their watering cycle inside the task.

26. Job hunting

Apply this same process on Job Hunting with Trello, and use it in the Board view on ClickUp. You can keep track of all the companies you’ve reached out to, when to follow up, etc.

27. Launching your side hustle

Create a launch plan to make that side hustle happen! Before you’re in planning mode, it can feel a little overwhelming to get started on a business, but when you get it all into ClickUp, you’ll feel so much more put together and ready to make things happen!

28. Appointments

Keep track of dentist, doctor’s, and beauty appointments, so you always know what’s coming up! You could create recurring tasks, so you stay up-to-date on everything.

29. Party planning

There’s no doubt that there are a lot of steps that go into throwing a party or event. Use ClickUp to help you when it comes to organizing the guest list, menu, and all the nitty gritty details that go into party planning. Whether it’s a wedding, a bachelorette party, or a party for your kid, ClickUp is the perfect place to map it all out.

I’ve tried a lot of the competitors like Trello, Asana and Monday to run my life and business, and there’s just no comparison in terms of what you can do and how you can customize inside this project management platform.

And you don’t have to be operating a team or even have a business to use it to get yourself organized.

I’ve been with ClickUp for over a year now and they just keep getting better and replacing more of my outside needs. It’s fully customizable, and really is an all-in-one productivity platform.

I’m just going to let their features speak for themselves because honestly, it has features you didn’t even know you needed in your life. And once you go ClickUp, it’s hard to go back to anything else.

But, don’t worry, if it feels like an overwhelming platform, because we have a course called ClickUp for Creatives that breaks it all down for you (and it’s only $97). It gives you ClickUp tutorials and a bunch of done-for-you templates to make it easy peasy to start using ClickUp like a pro to organize your life and business.

Once you start organizing your life with ClickUp, it’s hard to go back. So let’s dig into all the reasons to love this productivity platform.

1. ‘Home View’ flexibility

ClickUp recently made changes to their main “home view” section, and now it’s more flexible than ever. You can organize your day’s tasks and move around the order, so that you can time-block your tasks. Add a specific time and you’ll see it add to the sidebar calendar.

The home view is currently broken down into “Today, Overdue, Next & Unscheduled” so you can see what to-dos you have for the day and what’s coming up next.

2. Folders for your lists

I love the way that you can create a list and see it in individual views – and also view them all together at the “folder” level. They also recently made folders color-coded too!

So if you want to break down your social media plan into social channels – you could have a separate list for YouTube, Instagram, and Tiktok. And then at the folder level, you can view them altogether! And in the folder view, if you set dates for your social posts – you can see all the things inside one calendar or you can view them on calendars independently. Sweet, right?

3. SO MANY view options

You can view your tasks in a variety of styles: board, list, calendar, table, GAANT, timeline – just to name a few. I love how you can switch views with the click of a button and see all your tasks in multiple view options – and then pin the views that you want to see when you first click through.

My most used views are board, list, calendar & docs! But I also LOVE the mind mapping view. More on that in a bit!

Plus, you can save your favorite lists & views inside the “favorites” tab.

4. Templates

Not only can you use templates from other people (like we’ve created for you in CFC), but you can also create templates for yourself to reuse. You can add templates inside task descriptions too!

No more doing the same things over and over again, the templates feature is a total time saver!

5. Google Cal (2-way integration)

One of my big draws to the app was the way that it syncs with Google Cal. You can sync your tasks with 2-way integration, so that when you add a task to your calendar, it will sync over to Google Cal and vice versa.

I’d say they’re still working on perfecting this, but I love being able to sync my tasks into Google Cal, because that’s usually how I manage my schedule via my phone when I’m on the go.

6. Subtasks

You can create subtasks within each task you create and plan mini-deadlines for all the little to-dos you have within a task. I love breaking tasks down into tasks that take less than an hour, so subtasks can help with that.

7. Time tracking

You can estimate the time a task will take you, and then track it! You might be shocked at the difference between how long you estimate a task to take and how long it actually takes. You can time-track within an individual task in the platform.

The Google Chrome extension is also awesome for time tracking, because it allows you to stop and start your tracking within the Chrome browser.

8. Dashboards

Dashboards are a way to view almost anything you want from your workspace in one view.

You can even create a banner for your dashboard and embed YouTube videos! There are infinite ways you can set up a dashboard and you’re allowed to set up more than one!

9. Goal tracking

Set targets and deadlines, and track your progress along the way with ClickUp’s goal tracking feature. You can do this either manually or set it up so that when you check off certain tasks, it’ll automatically update your progress.

10. Automation

If you find yourself repeating the same tedious things inside ClickUp, chances are there’s an automation for that. You can automate from all levels to trigger events to occur. So if you want to create subtasks every time a task is created or when it’s moved to a new status, you can set it up to automatically bring in that template. You can even automate emails!

11. Save tasks to ClickUp within your email platform

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the to-dos that land in your regular old email inbox, which is why I love the way the Google Chrome extension allows you to add to-do tasks within your email. With the click of a few buttons, you have a task added to your inbox inside ClickUp with the subject line of the email and the email attached inside the task. Boom!

12. Emails within the app

Yep, you read that right. You can now SEND emails within ClickUp – from your normal email address. So if you’re working with someone on a project inside ClickUp, you can send over a quick email to let them know it’s ready without leaving the platform.

They even added automation, so you can set it up to automatically send your employee an email anytime you mark a task as “closed.” Or you can set it up to send an email to yourself when someone fills out a form.

13. Dependencies

Make tasks dependent on each other, so that you can make sure they’re completed in the right order. What I love about dependencies is that you can set it up so that when you set a due date that is “blocking” other tasks, and you move the deadline, it’ll automatically move all the rest of the dates over. 

14. Chrome extension

Along with time tracking in the Google Chrome extension, you can also take screenshots via the extension and save them to a task, as well as bookmarking a website. You can add to your notepad and also add a task. It’s a quick way to add to your ClickUp while you’re just on your computer doing your normal work things.

15. Custom fields

One of my favorite parts of ClickUp is the custom fields. In list view, you can add custom fields to your task with labels, checkboxes, ratings, dates, texts and so much more. It’s completely customizable – and I love using brand colors to make it even more personalized.

16. Mindmapping

If you love a good brainstorm session, you’ll love the mindmapping view. You start with one idea and then branch out from there. I love using it for building out content ideas.

17. Screen recording

Say goodbye to Loom videos, because you can use ClickUp for your screen recordings too. I haven’t tried this feature yet, but I love the option and definitely see this being a useful feature for clients.

18. Docs

This feature isn’t nearly as robust as it could be, but what I love doing is embedding Google docs into the Docs section on ClickUp. You can embed YouTube videos, Looms, and even your favorite Gifs. You can insert images, tables, checklists, and so much more. I love that you can view Docs both within a List and all together in the Docs section.

19. Collaborative editing

You know how on Google docs, you can write at the same time as someone else and you’ll see those changes happening instantly? Welp, you can do that within this platform too!

20. Forms

We use ClickUp forms for our contributor applications – and I use them for my other business as well. I love that you’re able to keep a client’s form with their other client info. They make it super easy to organize and you can export all the data you collect from your forms.

21. Recurring tasks

You can add recurring tasks, so that you don’t have to keep duplicating your process and remember to do things every single week. Ask yourself, what do I do on a regular basis that I can set up a recurring task for?

22. Share outside the app

Want to share and get comments from someone who isn’t using ClickUp? No problem! They allow you to share a link with people outside of ClickUp. You can share the docs and dashboards you create – which definitely comes in handy!

23. Spreadsheet alternative

You can do things like budgeting, and all kinds of stuff that you’d ordinarily use something like Excel or Google Sheets for. They have a “table” view where you can look at everything in an organized table view style format. Plus, it even has a calculations and formulas feature! I wasn’t kidding when I said this platform is robust. 

Nine times out of 10, I’ll opt for using ClickUp to make something I’d normally use a Google Sheet for. And when I am using a Google Doc, I’ll often embed it – so that everything is in one place.

24. Relationships

Sometimes you’ll have a task that relates to another task that’s living in a different board or space within ClickUp, and it makes sense to link them together. You can do that with their “relationship” feature inside any task.

25. Labels and tags

I mentioned labels above in the “custom fields” section, but I feel like it deserves its own spot here because I love using labels and tags. You can add labels and tags to any list to add more customization and a better ability to categorize and search. You can use any colors you want for these two features, and I’m obsessed with making the space feel completely customized.

Call me obsessed with aesthetics, but I’ve had so much fun with creating spaces that look and feel so freaking fun! Because organizing can feel monotonous but when you have super cute boards that are organized, it’s a different story!

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Want to get started? Create your free ClickUp account. If you’re ready to dive into ClickUp and want a full rundown of how to use ClickUp with tons of free templates for weekly planning, budgeting, running your business and everything in between – it’s all included in ClickUp for Creatives.

*This is a referral link. The platform is totally free, but if you decide to go on a paid plan, we’ll get a small commission for referring you.

You can set goals and track them automatically or manually based on your tasks, you can use different views like board, list, calendar, mind map, or tables. It’s so customizable, and best of all, you can use most of their features for free.

Pssst. We have an entire course on ClickUp, so if you want to get trainings and done for you templates for ClickUp to manage your personal and professional life, check out ClickUp for Creatives.

So, let’s get into some areas that can make ClickUp extra fun – and stuff you might not already be doing to organize your life.

1. Use Canva to keep the boards aesthetically pleasing

I like to create board cover images to keep them organized and fun.

All you have to do is go into the Canva website, create an image that’s around 500 x 280 px with whatever fonts and colors you’d like to decorate them with. For the Life Goals Collective Business board, we stuck with our brand colors and fonts.

2. Save and organize your screenshotted photos

One of my favorite tips for using ClickUp on my phone (which is rare, because the Desktop version is so much better IMO) is to save my screenshotted photos.

I don’t know about you, but I find a lot of inspiring images/ideas online that I want to save for inspiration. Whether it’s an outfit or a caption I love, I like to keep them inside ClickUp so I can reference them later. I find that it’s best to save them there than leaving them sitting in my Photos app, where I’ll likely never use them again.

3. Create an “Uplevel” space for inspiration

I have a section in ClickUp dedicated to up-leveling. It’s built for inspiration, which is always a good idea when you have goals.

Inside my Uplevel space, I have a vision board and a “want” board with the things that I’m saving and working toward. I’ll include the price of the item, a photo, and any other details. This reminds me about what I truly want and have been saving toward – so that I can bypass any frivolous shopping sprees and really be intentional about what I’m spending my money on. 

4. Add to-do lists to ClickUp from your email 

Instead of letting tasks sit in your inbox, and forgetting about half of them, I like to add them to my ClickUp tasks while I’m going through my emails if it’s going to take more than five minutes to complete. Then, I can sort those emails into the appropriate folder and come back to the task without forgetting about its existence. If a task takes less than five minutes, I’ll opt to complete it right away.

5. Create mind-maps for brainstorming

ClickUp’s mindmapping feature is excellent if you’re into visual brainstorming. If you’ve never mind-mapped, I highly recommend it as a way to braindump and expand on your ideas – see above for an example from using this feature inside ClickUp.

6. Use documents to replace your Google docs

I still haven’t fully navigated to using ClickUp docs, but I love that you’re able to look at your docs within ClickUp inside the categories you’ve set as well as in its own section. They’re constantly adding more details to the docs section – and this is where I’ll keep a lot of notes when planning out content ideas, jotting down any notes for courses I’m creating, etc.

You can also embed Google docs, which is really handy for accessing those files within your ClickUp.

7. Use them for spreadsheets

I love a good spreadsheet, but I also like having all of my organization in one place, which is what I love about ClickUp over other options. There are two different approaches that you can take within ClickUp for spreadsheets – using the ‘List View’ with customized fields or through the newest update, you can now create a ‘Table View’ as well.

I love this addition because, with ClickUp’s features, you can add columns for phone numbers, names, etc. And even create forms, so that when someone fills out your form on your website or wherever you have it posted, they’re automatically added into your designated ClickUp space as a task – with all of the information they filled out. It’s an easy way to automate the details of clients, if you have them.

You can also use the spreadsheet-style options for budgeting, keeping track of podcasts or publications you pitch to, or any other variety of things you’re currently using spreadsheets for. It can totally take away your need for Google drive – but, like mentioned above, you can always embed your Google Docs and Sheets too. 

Pssst. Want a complete guide to Clickup and more than a dozen templates to make it super easy to get started? Learn more about our course with everything you need to get organized with Clickup called Clickup For Creatives.

Daily Organizing with ClickUp

Learn about ClickUp for Creatives – our course with 20+ videos and templates to walk you through organizing the heck out of your life & business within ClickUp.