Optimizing “My Tasks” in Asana (Legacy v3)
⏱ 3-5 min Read / 3-5 min Setup
📝 Updated 2024 – Simplified setup, added multi-Sort functionality, upgraded to new rule builder.
🥈 We won an award in Asana’s Optimizing My Tasks competition for an earlier version of our approach.
Optimizing My Tasks
Our My Tasks system ensures we have visibility into our own tasks and never miss a deadline. This setup is designed for anyone who wants a simple and fast way to get started in Asana. We’ll be releasing a more advanced My Tasks article shortly. Let’s get started!
Add Custom Fields
Before you begin:
⛔️ If you have or are working with us, you will already have custom Priority [org] and Status [org] fields in your library. Please use those as you follow along below.
⛔️ If you have not worked with us, or your organization is using the default Asana fields, we highly recommend starting with our Essential Custom Fields and Rules in Asana article.
Add Priority [org] and Status [org] to your My Tasks from your Custom Field Library. Always search your Asana Custom Field Library before creating a new custom field. This improves collaboration, automation, and reporting while reducing overall complexity.
Setting your View
We recommend starting with List View. In the top right corner, use Filter to select Incomplete Tasks. Set Group by to Sections: Custom Order. Use Sort to add Due Date, Priority, and Alphabetical (all Ascending) — this is called multi-sorting.
This approach surfaces your most important tasks in each section, maximizes what you can see, and gives us great context for making decisions about your work.
You can change your sort settings any time. Changes are saved automatically.
Setup your Sections
Sections help sort your tasks into more digestible buckets; and emoji help drive clarity across Asana. Rules (which we’ll set up later in this article) automatically sort and update tasks as work accumulates or is completed. Create/Update Sections in your My Tasks by copying/pasting the Section headers hereafter.
🔋 Focus
This section is for tasks you’re working on right now. Move tasks here as you need them and try to limit this to 1-3 tasks at a time. This is great for days where you may have more tasks than you can handle at a given moment.
◻️ Recently assigned
This is an Asana default and the only Section that cannot be deleted. Anything assigned to you lands here. Update and sort tasks as needed by dragging each to the appropriate section and/or multi-selecting and moving them in small batches.
❌ Overdue
Exactly what it sounds like! Overdue tasks are moved here automatically (at midnight in your timezone). Complete overdue tasks as soon as possible, give them a more realistic due date, and/or communicate with teammates in comments to determine next steps or get help.
📗 Today
Anything due today is automatically moved here. Review this section each morning to update deadlines, prioritize your work, and communicate with your team.
📘 Tomorrow
This section shows you what is coming up tomorrow. It gives you a chance to prepare and stay ahead. It’s a great way to avoid surprises!
📙 Upcoming (7d)
Tasks accumulate here seven days out so we can see what’s coming with clarity. Move anything you don’t need to address this week to Later. What remains should be tasks that require extra effort or lack information to complete. Check this section weekly to stay ahead of things.
⚪️ Later
A catchall section for all incomplete tasks not requiring your immediate attention. Feel free to move any task with a due date, blocked tasks, or other long-term tasks here. They will surface automatically using our automations, so you don't have to worry about missing them. Once a quarter, review this section for tasks with no due dates.
🏆 Complete
Anything that is completed automatically moves here. This keeps your My Tasks running smoothly.
🕖 Recurring
Any recurring task is moved here when the next is auto-created after having been marked complete. Setting up the automation for recurring tasks is a small exception to the way Asana typically works. To set up, navigate to: Settings › Hacks › Recurring Tasks in Last Section of My Tasks › Reload to Apply Changes
Set up your Rules
Navigate to the top right corner of your My Tasks and click Customize. A sidebar will open. In Rules, add the following rules using the “Create custom rule” button. See the image slider above to see the rules described.
Task Complete
This ensures that completed tasks are moved out of view and that tasks marked incomplete are moved back into view to triage.
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner. All tasks and subtasks are treated as tasks in your My Tasks, but this ensures things will run as expected.
Trigger – Task completion status is changed
Condition 1 – Task is marked as Complete
Action – Move to section Complete
Condition 2 – Task is marked as Incomplete
Action – Move to section Recently Assigned
Task Due Today
This moves any task due “today” (triggered at midnight in your timezone) to Today.
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner.
Trigger – Due Date is approaching, Due Today
Condition – n/a
Action – Move task to section Today
Task Due Tomorrow
This moves any task due “tomorrow” (triggered at midnight in your timezone) to Tomorrow.
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner.
Trigger – Due Date is approaching, Due 1 day before
Condition – n/a
Action – Move task to section Tomorrow
Task Due 7 Days
This moves any task due one week from today (triggered at midnight in your timezone) to Upcoming (7d).
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner.
Trigger – Due Date is approaching, Due 1 week before
Condition – n/a
Action – Move task to section Upcoming (7d)
Task Unblocked
This rule ensures that any task that becomes unblocked is moved back into view so you can determine the best next steps.
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner.
Trigger – Task is no longer blocked
Condition – n/a
Action – Move task to section Recently Assigned
Task Overdue 3 days
Not all overdue tasks are an emergency right away. Sometimes people just need a moment to actually check them off. This rule ensures that tasks that remain overdue are surfaced for us to take action on.
Set to “Runs on tasks” in the top right corner.
Trigger – Task is overdue, 3 days after
Condition – n/a
Action – Move task to section Overdue
Sections - My Tasks
This rule is triggered instantly when a task is moved to a given section. When we are focusing on work, it is in progress; and when work is complete it no longer has Priority or Status. This helps keep your My Tasks organized and ensures you have accurate reporting.
Trigger – Task is moved to a section
Condition 1 – Section is Focus
Action – Set Status [org] to In Progress
Condition 2 – Section is Complete
Action 1 – Complete Task
Action 2 – Clear Priority
Action 3 – Clear Status
Conclusion: Managing Your My Tasks
With these custom fields, view settings, sections, and rules, we now have a simple setup for managing your tasks. To stay on top of tasks, consider the following:
Check your My Tasks in the morning and leave it open as you work.
Review your Today section and move tasks to Focus as you need them.
Update tasks (due date, custom fields) and/or add comment (w/ [at]tags) where needed; and sort them into the appropriate sections.
“I’ve been putting [your My Tasks recommendations] into practice over the last couple of weeks, and y’all, it really is a game-changer. It makes My Tasks so much more manageable. It’s just way better with those automations.”
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