Are you someone who doesn’t use a to do list? Then I am in awe of you. I blame my Type A ways, but not having my tasks on a to do list gives me anxiety. As part of my New Year, New You series, I’ve been working behind the scenes testing some task management methods. The most important part of any to do list is actually doing the things. You can have the best to do list, most effective workflow, but if you’re not motivated or active, well, the best app in the world can’t help you. (PSA: if you’re not motivated because you suspect you may be suffering from depression, please seek help. Depression is not a joke, and there is no shame in getting help in whatever way works for you). Today, before Monday’s post reviewing the first method, I want to talk about how I keep a to do list. I’ve used various apps over the years, and I know there are three things that are “must haves” for me:
WUNDERLIST - Wunderlist is NOT a bad app. It’s easy on the eyes, and fairly robust. It doesn’t work directly with IFTTT, which is unfortunate, but there are some workarounds for that. My main concern with Wunderlist is it was bought by Microsoft. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know I’m Team Apple, but that isn’t my issue with Microsoft-owned apps. When Microsoft bought Sunrise, a calendar app that was damn near perfect, it killed the service. I use that harsh language because it FELT harsh. Sunrise was a kick ass calendar, and Microsoft put it to rest because (they claim) you can use many of its features within their Outlook app. I’m not a fan of the Outlook app, and I didn’t find it brought enough of Sunrise's features to be worth it - they basically put a decent calendar app within Outlook, but nowhere near as awesome as Sunrise. For that reason, I just don’t trust Microsoft, or Wunderlist. That being said, it does do the trick for lots of people, and it is free. iOS REMINDERS - Since I picked on Microsoft, it’s only fair I pick on Apple some, too, right? iOS Reminders DOES sync with IFTTT, which is nice. It’s not a terrible app, and it has gotten better over the years. That being said, it’s still not as robust and feature packed as I need. I do use it for general lists (groceries, for instance), but that’s about it. It’s a little too clunky for anything else. I have lots of roles - small business owner, blogger, auntie, etc. I prefer to keep my tasks sorted by role, and iOS doesn’t provide for sorting or displaying tasks in a way I need. TODOIST - Todoist isn’t perfect, but for me, it’s close. They’re fully set-up on IFTTT, it’s easy to use, and they’re cross platform and found on most devices. Besides having all of my must-haves, it also has other Premium features I find myself using frequently: recurring tasks, color coding, labels, filters, and sorting. They also offer Karma, which is a nice way to keep track of my goals and productivity in the background (okay, fine. I also love the little pop up when I level up in Karma). They also have a decent blog that covers ways to use Todoist and other tips. My only gripe for Todoist is that I’ve found new features are announced and then users find they just don’t work right, at least immediately. Todoist is a freemium service, and some features that are Premium should, in my opinion, be free. That being said, I believe most people can make do with their free features. And at $28.99 annually, it’s not terribly expensive (that’s less than $3/monthly, which is far cheaper than many apps). Join me Monday, when I’m going to give a review of the Eisenhower Matrix and my experience using it for a week. In the meantime, let me know your task app of choice, or your thoughts on what I shared here today. You can subscribe to my mailing list here. You can also follow me on Twitter or Pinterest. If you’re in need of a virtual operations manager, check out my FAQs or available services, then head over to my consultation page so we can connect.
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