Better Choices, And It’s Easy

Jim decided to visit the new restaurant in town. As soon as he sat down, the waiter approached. 

“Could I take your order?” asked the waiter. 

A little surprised, Jim replied, “Well, could I see a menu?” 

“We don’t actually have a printed menu. Some of our items are there,” the waiter said, pointing to a chalkboard over the counter. “We have most of what’s there, although we are out of some things. We have some other things listed on that sandwich board just outside. We have a couple of specials, but I forget what they are. Anyway, we have lots of stuff. What’ll you have?” 

Perplexed, Jim looked over at the table next to him and replied, “I’ll just have whatever she’s having.”Jim never returned to that restaurant. 

When we visit a restaurant, we expect to see a complete, well-organized menu. Why is that tool important? Very simply, you can see your choices.

Therein lies the point of the story and the point of this post: When you can see all of your choices, you make better choices.

If we are to make better choices about how we use our time, we must be able to see all of our choices. Property constructed, our to-do list is that “menu” which makes it possible. Many peoples’ to-do lists resemble the restaurant in the story. The menu is incomplete, and pieces and parts are scattered. Many others wait until the pressure is on, and then stare at a blank piece of paper, trying to pull from their heads the most urgent items. Both approaches are recipes for failure. The pitiful part is that having a good “menu” is easy.

Make It Digital 
In today’s world, a huge percentage of communication, information, and obligations arrive digitally. Doesn’t it make sense to allow what arrives digitally to be handled digitally? My digital to-do list is Toodledo. Remember the Milk, Wunderlist, and Asana are also great tools. Each is web-based, free, and offers corresponding apps which sync the to-do list across all devices. The Outlook task list is also excellent, although syncing with mobile devices can be tricky.

Keep It Simple 
Some well-intending books spend as much as 150 pages instructing you how to set up the software. What I have used for over a decade, and what I teach, is simple:

1. Every task gets a due date. 
2. The due date is the answer to the question, “When do I want to see this item again?” 
3. Sort the list by due date. 

That’s it! While digital tools offer the options to assign a priority, location, context, group, star/no star, color, associated people, and more, you don’t need all of that stuff. In fact, the more of it you use, the more time it takes to get the task in your system.

When you assign a due date to each task and sort by due date, you have one list containing everything you have to do, and it is ordered by when you want to see it each again. To move a task higher or lower on the list, change the due date. It’s that simple.

Search is King 
One of the huge advantages of a digital list is its ability to search, and any good list is going to have that feature. When John comes walking in the door unexpectedly, searching the list for “John” provides a list of every task you need to discuss with him.

When phone calls are added to the list, using the word “call” in the task (Call Jim, Call Mary, Call Bob, etc.) creates a powerful capability. If you want to see every phone call to make, searching for “call” returns a list of every phone call in order by due date.

Repeating Tasks Rock 
How many tasks do you have in your professional or personal life which need to be completed about the same time every year, every month, or every week? Instead of trying to remember them all, add them to the list and use the repeating task function to have them come back to you at just the right time.

When you can see all of your choices, you make better choices. Let’s construct our own “menu” starting today. See how much better your choices become.
New posts will continue to appear on this site for the remainder of June. After that, continue to enjoy new material at http://FrankBuck.org.

The One Question to Ask

You are never at a loss for things to do. The piles of papers, sticky notes around the perimeter of the computer monitor, and notes scrawled across numerous legal pads are monuments to the demands on our time. We know we can only do one thing at a time. Yet, we surround ourselves with everything we have to do. We cannot fully focus on what we are doing because of the all of the constant remembers of what we are not doing.

Let's face it, at the end of the day, most of the papers that are lying around today will still be there tomorrow. Some of them will be buried even further down. Much of it represents things you had no intention of doing today anyway. In many cases, you couldn't do them. Here is a folder you need for the meeting on Tuesday. This folder needs to go with you when you meet with Mr. Smith on Thursday.

Sure, you could put it all away somewhere. But what happens on the day you need it? Will it still be tucked away wherever "somewhere" is?

If you are surrounded by too much to do, there is only one question you need to ask about all of it: "When do I want to see this again?"

I have written often about the benefits of tickler files. Start picking up those random pieces of paper and files that are lying around. Ask the question of each one, "When do I want to see this again?" Put it in the tickler files for that day. The folder you will need for Tuesday's meeting goes in the file representing Tuesday's date. The papers you need for the conference on the 17th of the month go in file number 17. When you start removing the papers on which you cannot act, the ones on which you can act begin to stand out.

Take the same approach with the "to-dos" written on the backs of envelopes, random napkins, sticky notes, and floating around in your head. Put them in a good digital to-do list (I like Toodledo). Take each item and ask yourself, "When do I want to see this again?". Enter the item on your digital to-do list and give it a due date corresponding with when you want to see it again. Keep the list sorted by due date. On the day you wanted to see that to-do, there it will be.

You can't do everything today. So get real about your commitments. Ask yourself, "When do I want to see this again?" and use your system to make sure that you do.

New posts will continue to appear on this site for the remainder of June. After that, continue to enjoy new material at http://FrankBuck.org.

Taking Notes Digitally Using Evernote and TaskClone

For years, I have used a paper journal to record notes from phone calls, one-on-one meetings, group meetings, and workshop sessions I attend. I have discussed that system in both of my books, and outlined how I dissect the "to-dos" from my notes, as well as the system I have to find those notes months or years later.

More and more, I am seeing people who would like to take these types of notes digitally. They take a tablet with them everywhere, and would like to use that tool rather than also having a paper tool.

Since November, I have been experimenting with the digital option that makes sense to me...Evernote. One of my notebooks is called "Journal." Each phone call is a new note. Each meeting is a new note. Evernote automatically date and time stamps the note. The methodology is the same, whether the tool is paper or digital. Take all notes in one place. Mark to-dos which arise during the course of the note taking with some special mark. Later, review the notes for completeness, and transfer "to-do" items to the to-do list.

A new service called TaskClone automates the process of transferring the to-dos in your notes to your to-do list. It also automates the process of adding dates embedded in those notes to your Google calendar, and it provides a link from a to-do to the notes in which it was embedded.

I blogged on TaskClone in November. Recently, it is getting attention from such well-respected people as Steve Dotto and Michael Hyatt. Because it is working well for me, and because you are probably going to at least hear about it, today's post reviews my experience.

Two Considerations
Before you move from a paper system to a digital one for your note talking, think hard along two lines:

1. Do you have the facility to key your notes digitally and also be attentive to the conversation or meeting in which you are involved? You can't be so busy with the mechanics of the tool that you aren't fully present in the conversation.
2. How socially acceptable is your digital note taking? People are generally OK with your taking notes during a conversation. Are they going to be OK with your keying information into a tablet?

Of course, another option is to take notes on paper and then enter a summary of those notes into Evernote. If you are OK with the above two points and want to pursue taking notes digitally, read on.

Creating an account in TaskClone
You can create an account in minutes at TaskClone.com. You will supply several pieces of information:

1. Your Gmail address. You will also be asked to allow TaskClone to send email through your account.
2. The email address your to-do list uses to allow email to be sent to it. Serviices such as Toodledo, Wunderlist, Asana, and Remember the Milk assign you a special email address. Anything sent to that email address goes on your to-do list.
3. The name of one notebook or one tag in Evernote you would wish to be used in conjunction with TaskClone. I chose to use the "Journal" notebook.  

In practice, you would take notes in Evernote. Evernote automatically date-and-time stamps the notes. Give the note a name and take your notes. Some of what you enter will actually be be "to-do" items which need to be performed. You will need to enter these items on your to-do list. Failure to do so will result in responsibilities falling through the cracks because they are hidden within notes, but never make their way to the to-do list.

Evernote and TaskClone in action
Each time you find yourself entering something that is not just a piece of information, but is a to-do, precede the item with a check box. Below is a sample of how a note would look in Evernote.

Example of taking notes in Evernote

 Any item preceded by the check box and located in the Journal notebook, is sent from Evernote though my Gmail account to my digital to-do list. I use Toodledo. Here is how the note appears in Toodledo:

How the task looks when sent from TaskClone to Toodledo

If I open the note section of this task, I see a link to the original note in Evernote.

Link to the original meeting notes in Evernote

The task shows up, worded exactly as in Evernote. In the note section of the task is a link to the original Evernote entry. Therefore, when it's time to do the task, you are one click away from the notes which led to the creation of that task.

Note that for your information to appear in your to-do list, whatever device you are using to take your notes in Evernote must have a chance to sync with the cloud. Also, your to-do application will also have to sync with the cloud. Once those two events happen, you will see your results.

Watch this short video illustrating how the service works:



Another feature of TaskClone is the ability to take an appointment entered in your notes and enter it on your Google Calendar. You use the check box, just as you did with tasks, but add the word "Schedule," a colon, and a space. That combination causes TaskClone to send whatever follows to your Google Calendar .

Entering "Schedule: Executive Team Meeting 4/3 3p at Jim's office" will result in an appointment on the Google Calendar called "Executive Team Meeting" scheduled for April 3 at 3:00 p.m. "Jim's office" will appear in the location field. Adding email addresses of invitees will trigger Gmail to send invitations to the meeting. A link to the notes taken in Evernote will appear in the "description" field.



TaskClone offers a free trial. After the trial, the service is extremely reasonable, roughly $15 per year. For those whose jobs involve phone calls and meetings where documentation is important and where dissecting the to-dos from those notes is essential, TaskClone is a winner.

Is anyone using TaskClone already? What are your impressions? If you create an account after reading this post, please come back and leave your thoughts about your experiences.

Android Users: Build Your To-Do List With Your Voice

Several years ago, I authored a post entitled "Play from Your Strengths." One sentence from that post states "...Peter Drucker talks of making strengths productive, and doing so in a such a way that it makes weaknesses irrelevant."

Smartphones offer many great features. Having to type on a piece of glass with two thumbs doesn't happen to be one of them. All the while, voice recognition is becoming more accurate and more powerful. In many ways, the strength of voice recognition is making the weakness of two-thumbs-on-a-piece-of-glass input irrelevant.

While mobile devices which feature electronic to-do lists have been around for nearly 20 years, input has been cumbersome. Input in a paper memo pad has been far faster and easier. Advances in the area of voice input are tipping the scales.

In this post, iPhone owners who use Toodledo learned how they can use Siri's "remind me" command to enter tasks into Toodledo. Today's post is for Android owners. We examine how to use Google Now, to enter tasks into Toodledo. For those new to Google Now (also known as "Google Search"), this video shows over 40 examples of what it can do:



You will notice a "remind me" command is also available in Google Now, but that's not the valuable one for me. I generally don't want audible notification at a particular time. Instead, what I want is a vehicle to simply get a task onto my to-do list as quickly as possible. For that, I use the command "Note to self."

Create a Toodledo Account and Get the App
Toodledo is a free, web-based to-do list. I have written about it often. If you are new to Toodledo, start by reading this post. That post is the first in a six-part series examining Toodledo. After created your account, download the official Toodledo app from the Google Play Store.

Note to Self
"Note to self" allows me to talk, and Google Now translates my speech into text and gives me an option of where to send my message. The options you have will vary according to the apps installed on your device. Gmail will appear as one of the options. If you have installed Evernote, it will appear as one of the options. If you have downloaded Toodledo, it also appears as an option.

After choosing Toodledo as your "note to self" option, you will be presented with an option to to use it as your choice "just this once" or "always." Choose "always."

The task you entered with the "note to self" option now appears in your Toodledo app. Mine is automatically assigned a start date and due date of today, because I established those options in my settings. When the Toodledo app syncs with the "cloud," and you refresh Toodledo on your computer, the new task appears there also.

What if You Use a Different App?
Many apps sync with Toodledo, but do not offer the same integration with Google Now. For example, I had used an excellent app called The Ultimate To-Do List to sync with Toodledo. If you are using an app which does not allow the option for sending Google Now's "note to self" to your to-do list, read this post. It explains how to use a service called "If This Then That" and your Gmail account to send your voice input to Toodledo.

Organization Made Easy
We do what is easy; that's human nature. If keeping a to-do list is cumbersome, the practice will be short-lived. If entering tasks in a digital system is hard, we are going to wind up writing on Post-It notes and sticking them to our phones.

Imagine thinking of something you need to do, tapping once on your phone, speaking the task, and now being able to forget about it. Your phone has now trapped the task on your to-do list, with a start and due date of today. You don't have to remember the task. You will never have to re-write that task. You will never have to wonder on which envelope, napkin, or Post-It you wrote your commitment. All of your to-dos are in one place. Organization just got easier.

Comparing Toodledo With the Competition

I am a fan of Toodledo, and have written about it in this series of posts:

• Adding tasks, sorting the list, and syncing with mobile devices
• Searching, keyboard shortcuts
• Strategies for daily use
• Master list and use of searches
• Getting email from "In" to "Empty" with the help of Toodledo
• Bookmarklet and Firefox Addon
• From Outlook to Toodledo

There is no shortage of available electronic to-do lists on the market. Toodledo maintains a chart which compares it to several other popular options. For me, the ability to import tasks from an Excel spreadsheet was huge. When I transitioned from Outlook to a cloud-based suite including Toodledo for my tasks, not having to rekey tasks and manually copy and paste each one saved hours. I can also export my tasks to an Excel spreadsheet if I ever wanted to more to another platform.

Click on the image below to see the full comparison between Toodledo and some competitors.

Dancing, the List, and a Whole New Resolve

You never know when a quick comment will resonate deeply with someone. Recently, Jennifer Hogan wrote the following words in her post "A Reminder and a Dancing Baby." 

Lately, many days I have been feeling like I did when I had a newborn at home. Then, I would look back at the end of the extremely busy day of changing diapers, feeding, rocking, cleaning (etc!) and think... "What in the world did I get accomplished today? Anything?"

Work has been extremely busy... so much so that there has not been time to sit back and just ponder. To think about the big picture. To reflect.

At home, it's been busy, too, with the girls' basketball schedule, club volleyball practices and tournaments, and just stuff that you have to do at home (cooking, cleaning, paying bills, etc.) I know many of you can relate. Frank Buck tweeted something the other day that spoke to me...

I realized that while I normally have my daily to-do list, I had thrown it out the window with so many incoming emails and situations at work, and I have just been responding. 

And it was sapping my energy. 

Thank you, Frank, for your reminder. 

Today is new resolve. Back to my lists of tasks, back to my new year's resolution to Win the Day. I want to look back on each day and have no regrets. 

That includes dancing, too.

Jennifer's post goes on to feature a video of a dancing baby. You may enjoy checking it out.

My original tweet was a comment I made as part of a Saturday morning tweet chat. It expressed a concept that has made a difference for me. Like most everyone else, I am tempted to drift to whatever is clamoring for my attention at the moment. The world is filled with so many rabbit trails cleverly disguised as treasure. I need something to keep me focused.

The to-do list isn't about drudgery. It's about charting a course. It's about living. Sometimes, it's about dancing.

You've got today, as does everyone else. What will you do with it? Do you have a plan? Is it clear? Is it one you can't wait to begin?

Today can be a whole new resolve.

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 6)

Today, we complete a series of posts about using digital to-do lists in general,and using Toodledo in particular.If you are just joining us, I encourage you to begin reading with the post dated January 7 and work up to this post. Today, we wind up our discussion by showing you shortcuts for getting information into Toodledo.

Bookmarklet
On the Toodledo website, click the "Tools" tab and click on "Browser Plugin." You will see instructions to click on the Toodledo Bookmarklet and drag it to your bookmarks toolbar.

What does this bookmarklet do for you? In short, it provides you a quick way to get information into Toodledo without your even being on the Toodledo website. Simply click the Toodledo Bookmarklet and you will be able to add a to-do, set start and due dates, set a repeating pattern, etc. It also automatically copies the URL you are on and pastes it in the note section.

That last trick comes in very handy. Think of how many times you are visiting a website and want to read the page you are on at a later time. Clicking the Toodledo Bookmarklet copies the URL in the note section. You can then word the task accordingly, something like, "Review this article about productivity." Set a date, save, and you don't have to think about it anymore. On the appropriate date, you will see a reminder to read the article. The URL, a clickable link, will be there for you to access your reading material.

Firefox addon
If you use Firefox as your browser, there is a Toodledo add-on which may be of interest. Click the "Tools" tab and select "3rd Party Tools." On the next screen, click the link for "Browser" and look for the "Firefox Addon."

With the addon installed, I can create a new Toodledo task from anywhere in my browser. I hold the "Ctrl" and "Alt" keys and hit the letter "a." A new task is created. The basic differences between this and the bookmarklet are that with the add-on 1) nothing is automatically copied to the note section; and 2) no default dates are added. You must remember to complete them.

One of those little rules of life is that which is easy gets done. So, our challenge is making getting habits as easy to do as possible. If we want people to use a to-do list, then we have to make input easy. Either one of these two tools is designed to do just that.

Now that you have read this series on digital to-do lists, focusing on Toodledo, I would be happy to entertain questions, hear your suggestions, and respond to your comments.

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 5)

If you are finding this blog for the first time, I encourage you to scroll back to Monday of last week and read each of the posts between that day and today. We have been using Toodledo as an example of a good digital to-do list. The data lives "in the cloud" and can be accessed from your computer, any of your mobile devices, and can be accessed from any computer with Internet access by logging into your account.

Get email from "in" to "empty" every day
Too many people suffer from an email Inbox that resembles a bottom-less pit. Much of the email represents things they need to do, even though what needs to be done won't happen for days or weeks. So, the email sits there, a constant reminder of what can't be done right now.

Toodledo offers a very simple way around this problem. When you create your account, you are assigned an email address. You will find this address by clicking on the "Tools" tab, then clicking on "More." One of the choices you will see on the next page is "Email Access." Click the "Configure" link you see on that panel. Here you will see your Toodledo email address. Be sure the box marked "Enable e-mail importing" is checked.

You will want to highlight and copy that email address. Go to your contacts and add a new contact called something like "Toodledo Tasks." In the email address field of this contact, paste your Toodledo email address and save.

From this point on, when you receive an email that embeds a "to-do," forward the email message to that Toodledo email address. The information shows up in Toodledo. The subject of the email will show up as the name of the task. The entire body of the email shows up in the note section of the task in Toodledo.You can use this technique whether you are reading email on your computer, one of your mobile devices, or from a public computer. If you have the ability to forward an email message, you have the ability to get that email into Toodledo.

Before sending, you can do some editing which gets the task to show up in Toodledo the way you wish. First, you can edit the subject line so that it better spells out what you need to do. Secondly, you can instruct Toodledo as to what start and due dates to assign. If I include in the subject line >1/21/13, Toodledo assigns a start date of January 21, 2013. Including in the subject line #1/21/13 sets a due date January 21, 2013. If I do not specify a due date, my due date defaults to today. Finally, I can edit the body of the email so that when I start to do the task, I will have the information I need. I can add additional information, delete superfluous information, and leave intact the information from the email which will help me complete the task.

The concept is that when you identify the emails that contain "to-dos" and get those into your to-do list, you have all the reminder you need. You no longer need to have the email in your Inbox as a reminder to do the task. You can file the email if you need to retain it for documentation purposes or simply delete it.

If you are an Outlook user, there is a similar technique. Read my post on "Getting from 'In' to 'Empty.'" If you use another web-based to-do list, look for a way to forward email to that list.

On Friday, we conclude this discussion with a couple of tools which make it easier to get tasks into Toodledo.

How many emails do you have in your Inbox right now? How do you keep from being overwhelmed by email?

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 4)

Today's post is the 4th part in a series on Toodledo. Last week, we discussed how to create an account and download apps to mobile devices, examined the mechanics of entering tasks, and began looking at strategy you will use on a daily basis. Today, we continue that discussion on strategy.

We all need a "Master List"
We all need a place for those tasks for which there is no particular date associated. We don't have to do them today, this week, or possibly even this month. We simply want to accomplish them sometime and need a place to record them so we don't forget them.

My "Master List" is simply part of my one and only list on Toodledo. I assign a due date of the last day of the month for these types of tasks. When I find myself with extra time, I can scroll to the last day of the month and see a host of low-priority items I can tackle. There is no chance I will forget them, because when the last day of the month comes and their due dates have arrived, those items will be staring me in the face.

In much the same way, we have those items that do not have to be done today, but we hope to accomplish them this week. I tend to assign a due date of Friday for those items. If I am working ahead during the week, I know that scrolling to Friday will provide low-priority tasks which I can tackle.

What's a good day of the week for you to run errands? Perhaps Saturday? Or perhaps it's a weekday between the time you drop the kids at an activity and return to pick them up an hour later. Whatever the answer is for you, when an errand comes to mind, put it in Toodledo and assign a due date of whatever day is generally your best day to run errands. When that day arrives, all of your errands are together.

Searching
Perhaps the chief way in which a digital list separates itself from a paper one is the ability to search. I may add tasks to my list to discuss with "Jim," not knowing exactly when I will talk to him. That's OK. When Jim comes walking through the door unexpectedly or calls on the phone, I can quickly summon every task I wish to discuss.

I click in the search window (or simply hit "f" for"find") and enter the word "Jim." I now see a list of every item containing "Jim" in order by due date.

If I want to make a series of phone calls, I can easily pull all of the phone calls from my list. I am consistent about putting the word "call" in every task that involves a phone call. Searching for the word "call" gives me a list of all of the phone calls I need to make.

In my community, Walmart is the place to get...well...just about everything. When I realize we are low on AA batteries, I add a new tasks which says: "Walmart-AA batteries." Saturday is a good errand day for me, so I add a due date of Saturday. But what if we happen to be running errands another day? I search for "Walmart" and see a list of everything I need there, sorted by due date.

Other people owe us things. They borrow our belongs, and we expect them to be returned. We order goods from companies, and expect to receive those goods. We leave phone messages and email messages. We expect those messages to be returned.

In each of those examples, the responsibility belongs to someone else, yet we want to be able to hold them accountable if they don't come through in a timely fashion. How can we keep track of what other people are supposed to do?

Thirty years ago, my organizational system consisted of tickler files and a memo pad in my pocket.  Whenever someone owed me something, I jotted on the next blank sheet in the memo pad the words "expect to receive" along with the name of the person and what they owed me. I then threw that little piece of paper in the tickler file for when I wanted to see it again.

After a while, "expect to receive" was shortened to "ETR," and that abbreviation has lived on until today. Now, when I want to see a complete list of everything everybody owes me, I enter "ETR" in the search window. There's my list in order by due date.

Realize the strategy I am talking about can be used not only with Toodledo, but with any good digital to-do list. All you need are the ability to assign due dates, sort the list by due date, assign repeating tasks, put additional information in a note section attached to the task, and search. If you are using another list manager and like it, simply incorporate the strategy I am giving you with that software.

Is email overwhelming you? In the next post, we will show you how Toodledo can help you get from "in" to "empty" every day.

Do you use a digital to-do list? If so, please tell me about it.

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 3)

This post is part of a series on Toodledo. In Monday's post, we discussed how to create an account and download apps to mobile devices. On Wednesday, we examined the mechanics of entering tasks. Today, we begin looking at strategy you will use on a daily basis.

The most important thing is to assign a due date to every task. You will sort your tasks by due date, thereby putting those with the oldest due dates at the top of the list and those with due dates the farthest in the future at the bottom of the list.

When it comes to completing what's on our plates, our eyes are often bigger than our stomachs. The same holds true with our to-do lists. Tasks can take longer to complete than we thought. Interruptions happen. At the end of the day, tasks that were due today remain undone. Do we reassign due dates?

My answer to that question is "no." The due dates I assign are self-imposed. In assigning them, I leave myself some cushion, so that if I get behind, I am still OK. If there is a true deadline for a task, I include something like "DEADLINE JANUARY 25" in the task line. I even put this notice in capital letters.

Look for the "Fab 5"
At the beginning of each day, I scan the list, starting with items due today and working my way up to the very top. What I am looking for are the "Fab 5," the five items most critical for me to accomplish that day. Generally, I am going to find those items in one of two places. I usually find them already towards the top of the list. They were the top items which were left undone from yesterday. The other "Fab 5" candidates tend to come from those items due today. Sometimes tasks cannot be done until a certain day, yet when that day arrives, it is important they are done on that day. I simply change the start and due date on such an item so that it sorts to the top of the list.

Group related items
As for the rest of the items, I want to group them so they get done as quickly as possible. Making a number of phone calls back-to-back as businesses are opening would be one example. Running a number of errands would be another. I would like to see these similar items grouped together. Assigning the same due date to the group achieves this end. When you look at my list, you may see the "Fab 5" with a due date of five days ago, tasks I want to handle during the early morning assigned due dates of four days ago, tasks I want to accomplish as a group in the late morning given due dates of three days ago, etc.

As you see, I am not terribly concerned with having tasks appear as being past due. The dates simply serve as a way for me to order the list.

Next week, we will discuss those items which do not have a firm due date associated with them. We will examine how to find anything easily and how this capability will help you throughout each day. Finally, we will examine a couple of neat tools which allow you to get information into Toodledo without even being on that site.

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 2)

In the last post, we discussed why you need a digital to-do list, how to establish an account with Toodledo, and how to acquire apps for your mobile devices which sync with Toodledo. If you are transitioning from another digital list, you saw a link to a post which will help with the transition. In this post, we examine some basic navigation.

Entering and searching for tasks
First, how do you get tasks into the software? Click on the box marked "Quick Add Task." Key your task and hit "Enter." That's it. Start dates and due dates are automatically assigned according to whatever you put in your settings. I have mine set to the start and due dates defaulting to "Today." If you click the "Add Task" button, you have the ability to assign a start date and due date, as well as enter as much information as needed into the note section.

Second, how do you find something you have entered? On the right-hand side of the screen is a search window. Enter your search term and press "Enter." Toodledo filters the list to just the tasks which include the search term in the name of the task. Erasing your term from the search window returns you to the full list.

A much more robust search is available by clicking "Search" in the left-hand pane. Here, you can look for text that is in the note section of a task, find tasks with a certain repeating pattern, or use any combination of filters. Clicking on "Main" and "All Tasks" returns you to the normal view.  

Learn the keyboard shortcuts
Learning common keyboard shortcuts will save time every single day over performing those same functions with the mouse:

• f moves the cursor to the search window. Think of it as standing for "find."
• n moves the cursor to the new task box. Hit "n," start typing, and when you hit "Enter," the task is in Toodledo. The start and due dates will be automatically assigned according to what you established in your Toodledo settings.
• z opens/hides the note section of the entire task list. For me, this feature is a great help. By hitting "z" once, I can scroll down the page and see all of the notes which accompany all of my tasks. 
• r reloads the page.
• ? opens the list of shortcuts. You do not have to press "Shift" when pressing the "?" key.

Other shortcuts are available; however, the ones I have listed are enough for me.

What about speed?
With a web-based tool, you may be concerned with the time required for the site to refresh when you make changes. This area is another where Toodledo shines. Toodledo only writes back to the server when you manually refresh the page or when you close the window to exit Toodledo.

• You will notice when you add a new task, it is placed right at the top of the list in green, regardless of the start and due dates. 
• When you check a task off as "done," a check appears in the box, but the task remains visible.
• When you change the due date on a task, you see the new date, but the task remains in the same position.

When you manually reload the page, the changes are read by the server, and you see a very different look when the page refreshes. Tasks which were marked complete have now disappeared. New tasks now appear in correct chronological order by due date. Tasks whose due dates were changed now appear in the correct chronological positions.

In the next post, we will begin examining strategies for using Toodledo on a daily basis.

Get Organized With Toodledo (Part 1)

At the heart of any good time management system is a "to-do" list. Having one central place which traps all of our commitments prevents missed deadlines, forgotten items, and the embarrassing moments which accompany them. It allows us to see our goals and the steps toward their accomplishment, make choices as what to do in what order, and even decide what commitments need to be postponed or eliminated so that good work can be replaced by better work.

What form should my list take? 

The debate over paper versus digital systems continues. I was a paper planner devotee for over a decade and then adopted a digital system over a decade ago, so I have lived in both worlds. In today's world, I could not handle the volume and complexity of my work without a digital system.

The advantages of a digital system
Much of the information which in turn triggers action on our part arrives digitally. It arrives in emails. It arrives in articles read on the Internet. It arrives in social media. With a digital system, what arrives in digital form stays in a digital form. I can copy and paste a URL into the note section of a task. When it's time to do the task, I am one click away from seeing the supporting information. I can take emails which embed something I need to do and quickly move them to my task list.

With a digital system, no task is ever re-written. My list is sorted by due date. As plans and priorities change, changing the due dates of tasks rearranges them so that what I need to be doing now is at the top of the list.

To-do lists which are complete also tend to be long. That's simply a function of lives which are rich with plans, and it's certainly not a bad thing. When you want to find a particular task, or check to be sure you added a particular task to your list, how can you find it amongst all of the other tasks? A digital system allows you to search both the task line and information in the note section so you can put your hands on any piece of information instantly.

The case for Toodledo
There are plenty of good digital to-dos lists. Outlook was my preference for over 10 years. I wanted to move to one which is cloud based, would sync easily with any smartphone, and would be as powerful as Outlook. Toodledo fills the bill, and does it on my computer for free. The tablet and phone apps with which it syncs are only a few bucks.

You can go to Toodledo.com and set up an account in a few minutes. If you have your list in another digital list manager and want to move it to Toodledo, you will find helpful information in a post I wrote in August 2012. The software offers a number of features I do not use. The "priority" field, "hot list," and "starred items" are available, but I don't find I need them. If I look at my list daily and edit due dates to move items up or down the list, that's enough for me.

Click on "Settings" in the upper left corner of the Toodledo screen, and you can set the controls as desired. Here is how I have set mine:

The only other settings are located on the toolbar next to the "Quick Add Task" blank. You probably want to uncheck "Recently Completed Tasks" so that your view is not cluttered with tasks you completed days ago. Go ahead and check "Negative Priority Tasks." Even though I don't use priorities, checking this box might keep some tasks from being filtered out. Do you want your list to show items whose start dates have not yet arrived? If so, leave "Future Tasks" checked. If it is unchecked and you search for a task, the search will not find it if its start date is sometime in the future. As a general rule, I leave that box checked.

 

To the immediate right of the "Show" dropdown is the spot where you will tell Toodledo how to sort your tasks. As already discussed, you are going to want to sort by due date.

Syncing Toodledo with mobile devices
Once you have created a Toodledo account and established your settings, download to each of your mobile devices an app which will sync with Toodledo. On the Toodledo website, click the "Tools" tab. You will find apps for each platform which sync with Toodledo.

My choice for the Android is the Ultimate To-Do List, which I purchased from the Google Play Store. This app was $5, although you can try it free for 14 days before purchasing. It is highly customizable, and I have been happy with the choice. Since that time, Toodledo came out with its own app for Android. On my tablet, I have a Toodledo app at a cost of $5.

If you are going to use a digital to-do list, being able to sync it with at least one mobile device is essential. You do not want to be tied to your computer in order to see your list. You also do not want to be required to print or hand-copy items from your computer in order to have them when you are out and about.

The information in this post gets your account established and software available to you on your devices. In the next post, we will look at basic navigation in Toodledo.

Navigating the Digital To-Do List

The last post talked about the digital calendar, the extent to which I am seeing them used among the people attending this summer's workshops, and recommendations for how to move to better productivity with them. This post looks at a second pivotal part of the organizational system—the digital to-do list.

While audiences are approaching a 50/50 split between those who keep paper calendars versus those who keep digital ones, far fewer are keeping to-do lists digitally. In an average group, less than 20 percent raise their hands when asked who keeps the to-do list digitally. I believe several factors contribute to this relatively low number.

We have always been better with calendars
Our ability to use a calendar effectively has always been superior to our ability to construct a to-do list, regardless of the form in which it is kept. The average person can pull out of a pocket or purse a calendar, navigate quickly to a date, and read to you any appointments on that date. When adding a new date, the average person can flip to the correct date and quickly jot the new commitment.

When it comes to the to-do list, ask someone what tasks are scheduled for next Thursday, and you likely receive a blank stare. To-dos are jotted on scraps of paper. Many claim they can simply remember their to-dos. Is it any wonder when our ability to organize a to-do is weak using paper, it will also be weak with its digital counterpart?

The literature on time management reveals conflicting strategies on how to construct the to-do list. Some authors recommend ABC priority codes. Others recommend scheduling tasks for specific times on the calendar. Still others recommend listing to-dos according to the contexts or locations where they will be performed. We have none of this conflict with the calendar.

Digital to-do lists can be confusing
The methodology for using a digital to-do list has been lacking. The flexibility offered by the software adds complexity. When entering a new task, we can select a start date, a due date, and even set a time. We can set a reminder, a context, and a repeating pattern. We can add tags, indicate the task's status, specify a location, and add an expected length. We can add contacts to that task, as well as related notes. Sometimes, we feel it would take less time to do the task than to enter it in the first place.

Which fields do we really need to complete? How can we get in and out of the list as quickly as possible? Until we can answer these questions for ourselves, we are likely to resist the digital list.

Syncronization is more complex
The ability to synchronize our phones with our computers presents a second challenge. Synchronizing calendars and contacts has been something the makers of smartphones have made easy. The task list has been a different story. Those who use the Outlook task list have always been able to sync with a Palm, and later, the BlackBerry. Syncing with the Outlook tasks list with the iPhone was a challenge until iCloud, and syncing with Android devices requires third-party software as a go-between.

Many people have been on their own to figure out a solution. The Catch-22 situation is to make a good choice on software, one needs to have some experience with digital to-do lists. But how do you get experience without using the software? Rather than wade through a research project on available options and the nuts & bolts of making synchronization happen, it's simply easier for most people to stick with paper.

Finding direction
I made the transition from paper calendar and paper to-do list to digital calendar and digital to-do list almost 11 years ago. The software then was good and had all of the components I would look for today: start and due dates, the ability to handle repeating tasks, a note section to record details about the task, and the ability to search the list for a particular word or phrase.

The thing that made the digital system work was the ability to synchronize data from the computer to the mobile device. I could type on the computer with all of my fingers and make small additions with two thumbs on the mobile device. When I got up from my computer, I was taking all of my organizational information with me on my mobile device. As smartphones have become more the norm, more people have the ability to do what I was doing way back then.

In the next post, I will share suggestions for those getting started with a digital list. In the mean time, I would welcome your comments. How to my observations stack up with your own? What parts of your system are digital and what parts are paper?

Change and "Crystal Clear Task Lists"

I recently read Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, written by Chip and Dan Heath. They are also the authors of the bestseller Made to Stick.

In the book, the Heath brothers say we must do three things for change to occur:

1. Direct the rider
2. Motivate the elephant
3. Shape the path

Directing the rider and motivating the elephant are metaphors for appealing to the intellect and appealing to emotions, respectively.

What strikes me is the wording used to describe what one must do in terms of directing the rider. The authors state on page 17, "What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. So provide crystal-clear direction."  We read on page 72, "Clarity dissolves resistance."

In the September 2010 issue of Fast Company, the Heath brothers further explore this concept in their article "Tase the Haze." One of their examples sounds exactly like a line out of the Get Organized! workshop:

Imagine that you have two items on your to-do list. One is "pick up AAA batteries". The other is "deal with tax issues." Guess which one is still unchecked four weeks later?

Replace "AAA batteries" and "deal with taxes" with the examples "buy shoestrings" and 'improve the math curriculum" and you could be sitting right there listening to me!

In both Get Organized! and Organization Made Easy!, we talk about the elements which go into making an "organized task list," a list that stands a chance of having the items on it accomplished. The first rule of an organized task list? Make the next step crystal clear.

Eye on Education featured this idea on their blog in November of 2009. You can read that post here.

The fact that the same idea shows up again worded in virtually the same way is simply evidence of its truth. Before we can make progress, we have to define what progress looks like. We must know exactly what is being asked of us. When worded in a crystal-clear manner, tasks become easier to do. Mountains become easier to move. Wasted motion goes away. Stress goes down. Productivity goes up. Take a look at your own to-do list with the filter of clarity in mind. How could you re-write so that items which have been sitting there suddenly start to get done?

 

Have you ever had an item that sat in your to-do list for what seems like forever? What did you finally do to get it moving?

When Will I Get It All Done?

If you are like me, you look at your to-do list and ask, "When will I get it all done?" At what point will we get up one morning and see that there is nothing on the list? More importantly, if that list was blank, would that be a good thing? Would if represent freedom? On the other hand, would it represent a life for which there is no longer a purpose?

To understand the point, let's substitute the term "restaurant menu" for "to-do list." When I go into a restaurant, I am presented with a lengthy menu. A large menu selection is a positive trait. Am I going to order everything on the menu? Of course not. Even if I visit that restaurant a dozen times and order something different each time, I will still not have tried every choice on the menu.

Ordering everything is not what a menu is for. It is not something to be "finished." It presents choices for me, enjoyable choices. The longer the menu, the more things I won't choose. The longer the menu, the greater the chance that what I do choose will be delicious! I won't eat everything, but I like the fact that the menu puts it all in front of me.

I walk into a library. There is no way I am going to read everything from the vast array of books that occupy that building. But that's not what a library is for. It presents me with wonderful choices. The organized way in which books are shelved and the comprehensive card catalog provide me a total picture of my choices.

We can view our to-do list as something that must be finished, or we can view it as something to be enjoyed. I propose that the attitude we take toward the length of our list may well shape the quality of what we put on it, and in turn, the quality of our lives.

If my aim is to finish the list, then my temptation is to add only those items which can be finished quickly. I will limit my goals. I will resist adding items to the list, looking at each additional item as an enemy standing between me and a list that is "done."

I can take another view of the list. I can view it as a place to trap all of the worthwhile opportunities that I can't take advantage of at this very moment. It is the menu that lists 50 different varieties of cheesecake. I will eat one today, but I sure would like to keep a list of the other 49 for the next time I am hungry for cheesecake. It is the library which houses all of the classics. I can only read one at a time, but I am glad the shelves house many more, because I will be back.

The older I get, the more I realize that I will never "get it all done" and neither will you. With all of the opportunities that are available to you and to me in this great age in which we live, to be able to "get it all done" means we must ignore the mere existence of a wide array of wonderful choices. What a sad existence that would be.

The length of my list is a testimony to the wide variety of interests I have, my thirst for knowledge, and the overall outlook that tomorrow will be better than today. As long as there is a healthy list of opportunities, there is a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to "seize the day," and an attitude that when the night comes, I can say that I did something to make today count.

When will I get it all done? I hope the answer is never!

Crystal Clear Task List

When I talk about composing a task list where the items will actually be accomplished, wording the tasks so that they are crystal clear means the difference between the desire to dig in and the tendency to procrastinate. The Eye on Education Blog highlights that concept. The post can be found here.

“Simplicity allows people to act.”

The November 2007 issue of Fast Company included an article by Dan & Chip Heath entitled, “Analysis of Paralysis.” The essence of the article is captured in the sentence which ended the article’s first paragraph: “Simplicity allows people to act.”

I find that when I look at to-do list, I gravitate to the tasks which are easy to do, and you probably do as well. We like that which is simple and easy. When complexity and ambiguity set in, we procrastinate on that activity and choose something which presents a little more clarity.

Perhaps the answer is to make everything simple and make everything clear. The paradox is that some work is required in order to make things easy. The work consists of thinking a project all the way through from beginning to end. The work consists of figuring out all of the steps as well as knowing when it may not be possible to know all of them. Furthermore, keeping all of the notes and documents related to that project neatly organized takes some thought.

The good news is once we have structured a system and are willing to spend a little time keeping it clear, the rest becomes easy, incredibly easy.

Imagine looking at your list and knowing in which order to tackle the items and exactly how to proceed on each one. How simple that would make your day. Simple enough, you would actually act.

Sorting your tasks

Click on “Options” and choose “Due Date” as the way you want to sort your tasks.

Hide Completed Items

Click the track wheel and select “Hide Completed.” This will keep all of your completed tasks from continuing to show in your task list.

Creating a Master List

Take a look at your to-do lists from the last few days. How do you feel about how they were organized and what you accomplished? For the most part, are your tasks grouped by context—phone calls listed together so that you can run through the list when you pick up a phone, errands grouped together so that you can run them all when you are out?

The problem all too many people face is that they try to list everything they have to do on tomorrow’s list. At the end of the day, most of those things remain undone and are rewritten on the list for the next day. At the end of the next day, the same thing happens. The avalanche begins as tasks are rolled from day to day. Soon, we dread all of the re-writing we will face at the end of the day. Some may give up on the idea of making a to-do list altogether.

One simple way around this cycle is to compose a “master list.” The master list is a page (or several pages) in the back of your planner. When a task comes your way that does not have to be completed in the next few days, add it to the master list. Each week, look at the master list to see which tasks you want to “feed into” to-do your lists for this week.

You will not forget any of the tasks, because they have “trapped” on paper. You are also free from having to decide on what day you will accomplish each task. Because you look at the entire master list each week, you are giving it the kind of regular review which will keep tasks from slipping through the cracks.

Go ahead and block out an hour or two in your planner when you can really concentrate on composing this master list. Maybe Saturday morning is a good time for you. Maybe a weekday evening is best. Your first master list is an opportunity to “download” everything that your brain has been trying to keep up with—the plans for your vacation, the Christmas gift ideas you are coming up with for your relatives, ideas for your Professional Development Plan. Let your pen flow as you empty those thoughts on your master list.

In the end, it is the attention to detail that makes all the difference. It’s the center fielder’s extra two steps to the left, the salesman’s memory for names, the lover’s phone call, the soldier’s clean weapon. It’s the thing that separates the winners from the losers, the men from the boys, and very often, the living from the dead. Professional success depends on it, regardless of the field.
-David Noonan