Takin' care of business...

[terra]

Being busy is relative.
I have a shitload of stuff to get done.

Currently building a business on my own, as my own boss I am 'answerable to no-one'.
Motivated, passionate, knowledgeable and able but have many tasks at different stages. Looking for tools to help put it all together and manage time in an elegant yet simple manner.

I'm old school in that I have a hand written diary and 'to do lists'...
(call me a late adopter with this sort of stuff, or maybe just distrustful of digital age).

There must be something better nowdays...
Thinking something like a clever personal planner .xls spreadsheet that allows you to keep tabs on "s.m.a.r.t" goals etc.

As I said i'm pretty old school in that the paper diary is my current method.
There may even be something on my P.C. that i'm not using. Also have a very under-utilised android phone so a phone/P.C. linked app would work well.

Basically looking for a simple to use task/goal/time manager that actually helps with organising.
Something where using it doesn't become another task in itself.

Do the assemble brains trust of IGx have a heads up on good tools for managing time/tasks?
Professional, homemade, freeware, app etc??

Thanks in advance.

[Kraj 2.0]

Is this a poem?

[Kazuya Mishima]

Read 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen.

If that book doesn't work for you, then just quit and get on welfare.

There are lots of tools and Apps that have been created around the GTD methods and philosophy.

[Protobuilder]

You don't need an organizer unless you know what you want it to do for you. The personal organizer industry didn't see billions of dollars each year because picking up the newest and coolest did anything for anybody. Now, apps are even worse as everything promises to do fantastic things - and many are telling the truth.

If you want to read and reflect before you jump in, read this book then set up a system - paper-based or otherwise, centered around his general principles.



EDIT: OK, I was beaten to the suggestion.

[Turdacious]

http://www.transhumanism-russia.ru/docu ... tivity.pdf

[baffled]

In terms of outlining stuff to keep thoughts and tasks straight you may like carbinfin.

[terra]

Thanks Baffled... That's the sort of thing i'm looking for but I don't use ipod/ipad.

BTW free Allen stuff here on his website: https://secure.davidco.com/store/catalo ... -c-254.php
Best time management benchmark: Time wasted on IGx per month.

Bottom line, i'm looking to move from paper based diary:
- Simple, electronic diary app/software with a few useful helpful features (auto update for things not done, timeline etc).
- Basic set-up that doesn't actually start taking more time to use.
- Android/PC based.
- Free is good.


Cheers again.

[Protobuilder]

Bottom line, i'm looking to move from paper based diary:
- Simple, electronic diary app/software with a few useful helpful features (auto update for things not done, timeline etc).
- Basic set-up that doesn't actually start taking more time to use.
- Android/PC based.
- Free is good.

I played around with a few PC-based organizers some time back - didn't like any enough to use on a regular basis and decided to sync such things from my Mac to a mobile device. However, the following four were promising in one way or another and I believe they all meet your basic criteria.

http://www.toodledo.com/
http://www.mylifeorganized.net/
http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
http://www.wunderlist.com/

You usually get what you pay for - free versions generally don't have what you want. However, for this kind of thing, starting with an app that does less rather than more is probably a good idea - I kept things on Palm's basic list manager forever and it worked fine.

[terra]

Thanks Terry.
Yep, simple is good. I'll check them out.

[DrDonkeyLove]

An organization/productivity system is only as good as what you'll be faithful to and I'm too disorganized to use something that's demanding and restrictive.

Since I'm rarely in an office, what I use needs to be portable and handy. The one thing that is at hand constantly in my life is my phone so I use it as much as possible. I've become a huge fan of Wunderlist on my iPhone. It's a terrific (and free) task manager App that reminds me to look at my task list every time I use my phone. It also allows you to add notes to any task and you can monitor multiple task lists simultaneously. One of its coolest features is that you can shuffle tasks manually making sure that the most urgent stuff is always at the top.

They also have a beta App (Wunderkit) that handles much more but it doesn't feel ready enough for me to use for general notes. Also, I can scribble much faster than I can input info digitally so I prefer to write on paper.

For notes I'm very faithful with a small Moleskine notebook with blank pages. I try to write every note in this book so everything I write is in one place.

I still use a laptop, but for keeping track of stuff, almost everything is done via Wunderlist, iPhone & Moleskine. Essentially, my personal and business worlds fit in my pocket.

[TerryB]

I keep everything in a pile.

Need last month's receipts? They're in the pile.

Need your to-do list? It's in the pile.

Need to review your purchase agreement? It's in the pile.

It's basically a down-to-earth version of the Cloud (tm).

For $19.95, i'll send you an e-book on creating an effective pile.

[Mickey O'neil]

Haha!

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

Look-up Shaggy's thread on productivity hacks. In fact, when you find it, bump it. IIRC, there were a lot of options discussed.

Personally, I'm with the donkey WRT Moleskin....to include a 'what got done' list vs. a 'to do' list. "Getting Things Done" is a good system, but it's got a lot of moving parts, IMO. If you want down and dirty shortcuts, read "The Question Behind the Question!" and "Constructive Living" and see if you even need a software to help you manage your day once you're done with either or (ideally) both of those books.

[Mickey O'neil]

I like the Moleskine. I need to get another one.

[buckethead]

I really like this. Doesn't get any simpler.

http://www.markforster.net/

[TomFurman]

Composition books,. with graph paper, [cheap now because of school starting,.. check Staples] are what works. I have lots of old notes in Moleskine's but they are overpriced BS. Graph paper allows you to draw, design, organize workouts, task lists, budgets, shopping lists, etc.
You can label the front,.. put them on a shelf side by side,.. and have your life organize by year, month and day.

[Protobuilder]

I like the Moleskine. I need to get another one.

You are turning me on.

[Protobuilder]

Actually, regarding my Moleskines, the one that gets the most use is the smallest they make - think that it's called the 'cahier'. If I am wearing pants, it is in them. Simply writing shit down as it pops into one's head or as a commitment arises ('capture' for you GTD nerds) is something that could immediately increase productivity and decrease stress for most people. I know a couple of people who are fairly productive and don't have a system that much more complicated than this plus a calendar.

[The Venerable Bogatir X]

Composition books,. with graph paper, [cheap now because of school starting,.. check Staples] are what works. I have lots of old notes in Moleskine's but they are overpriced BS. Graph paper allows you to draw, design, organize workouts, task lists, budgets, shopping lists, etc.
You can label the front,.. put them on a shelf side by side,.. and have your life organize by year, month and day.

Yeah, those marble composition notebooks look great at client/sales meetings. Add crayolas for writing and a kettleball sticker on the notebook's cover for the win.

Otherwise, you're right.

[cleaner464]

I have used the 7 habits filler for my day planner since 98' and I have never regretted the decision.

http://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/store ... kuId=40050

[The Nightman]

I use Google Calendar and block out time for my task categories, then write the specific tasks to need to do in a steno pad or something of the like.

I try to schedule the same task catagories at the same time every day/week, like staff meetings, my training, staff inservice, return calls, marketing, reading, etc. I like patterns and consistency, like a high school schedule. From 1-2pm is math class, this is no question what you'll be doing in math class. If you just have a list of shit, when to do what becomes a struggle.

Hire an admin and learn to delegate, this was hard for me, but there are certain things you are doing that your shouldn't be doing as your time could be used for more profitable actions. I still struggle with this.

Set deadlines.

Plan you next day the night before.

EDIT: in addition to struggling with delegating, I struggle with typos.

[terra]

Thanks again.
Good stuff.


Proto, after the berries incident I thought you'd be be sick of having piles.

[stosh]

Getting Things Done (you don't have to implement this to the letter to get cool results), Evernote, and a Moleskine. To echo Cleaner though, I actually use Seven Habits thinking in planning my weeks.

evernote.com

[Pinky]

I use Wunderlist and Google Calendar a lot. I use Toodledo only for the few recurring tasks I have. I use Evernote mostly for keeping track of papers, blog posts, etc. I want to talk about in classes.

For capture, I either use whatever's convenient on my desk, a voice-to-text app on my blackberry, or a text-based note-taking app when the note would be too complicated for the voice app.

I think the important parts of GTD are capturing thoughts, tasks, etc.; and then reviewing them to think about when/how they should be done. However you manage to do those things is probably fine.

The big problem I had with paper organizers was that they wouldn't beep at me. I would forget they're there.