Boundaries, the Pomodoro Technique, and Productivity

Warning: I am writing about a topic that I have yet to master, as such these are musings, not dogma.

Some people are more productive than others. I think we can take that as fact.

Sometimes each of us is more productive than other times. I think we can take that as fact too.

Taking these two facts together I think they beg the question: Why?

Why is that one guy a straight A student, on the basketball team, runs his own business after school, and volunteers at the hospital? And all I can manage is to be a B-average student, period?

Why was I am able to do so much last month when I had three projects due, my sister was getting married, and I was helping organize the 5k? And this month I can barely stay on top of my reading homework?

I don't know that everybody faces these questions, but I know I do. I don't really have the answers yet, but I am forming some ideas. These ideas center around the idea of boundaries. Boundaries are those pesky things that have troubled mankind since the beginning. The interplay between structure and freedom has been the quest of philosophers for millennia, and is at the very heart of the American Paradox, of which I have written elsewhere.

But today I don't want to attempt to deal with the large questions, I would rather just think about it on a practical level.

Parkinson's Law:

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." Cyril Parkinson

I'm sure most of you are already familiar with this idea. Why will work do this? I actually have no idea, but it must have something to do with us as humans, since work has no volition in and of itself. I might better read, "humans will take as much time to do work as is available for its completion."

What we find then is that really effective people are often good at setting deadlines for themselves, arbitrary of the deadlines that are actually in place regarding the task. Super effective people seem to take it one step further and have the ability to set micro-deadlines and make themselves believe them.

Pomodoro:
One such system of setting micro deadlines is the Pomodoro technique, which I reviewed a watch app for here recently. The system of 25 minutes on task, 5 minutes on break, creates micro-deadlines by which you know you will stop working on the project. It seems to work even better if you alternate tasks every 30 minutes, so you know you will not be getting back to that project for a while.

I find that when I can get myself to apply Pomodoro I feel more productive. Now I am not 100% sure how to measure that empirically, but feeling that way is at least half the battle. It is sometimes just difficult to get myself to actually do the Pomodoro, because my lazy self knows it will have to work once I do.

So here is my challenge to you, go try the Pomodoro technique to set yourself some micro-deadlines, then come back here and report to me how productive you feel. I think it will help you live better.

Todo List Quest: Recurring Tasks

Recurring tasks have been one of the items on my todo list criteria since the beginning. I think that is one of the main benefits of having electronic todo lists, is the ability to make tasks reappear periodically. There are some things I want to do everyday, some things I want to do once a month, and some things I want to do on a specific day every year.

In the old days of paper planners and todo lists these tasks always had to be rewritten manually every time they needed to be done. That meant that when you finished a task you did every month you would have to go write it down on the calendar for the next month or put it in the tickler folder.

That is exactly what GTD would suggest doing, and I suppose it worked fine. Now there is a faster and easier way though with recurring or repeating reminders. You don't have to go write it down all over again, you just set it an forget about it until you are reminded on the proper day.

Todo List Quest: Gneo and Todoist, where I am now

Alright, it has been a little bit since I have talked about the todo list quest. I am still in the process of going through different apps and putting their info in the spreadsheet. But, I wanted to let you all know where I am now in the aspect of managing my own lists from day to day.

Currently I have separated my day job and the rest of life in to two different task management apps. For work I am using Todoist and for the rest of my life I am using Gneo (the G is silent, but I like to pronounce it anyway :)

These two apps both fulfill different purposes for me. Some people would discourage you from using two different apps and systems to manage tasks, David Allen would probably be one of those. But, at this point in my life it helps me to keep work from invading the rest of my life.

Todoist is for work

I really like Todoist, the system is clean and because of its integration with chrome through an extension it works really well. I do almost all of my work for my day job in chrome so Todoist is always there for me to dump things into. It also integrates with Gmail so that I can turn emails into tasks (one of the criteria I was looking for).

Gneo is for everything else

I have selected Gneo as my first full test for a new personal todo list because of a few features. The first one is its integration with Evernote, Gneo is essential a skin for an Evernote notebook stack. I have long heard of people using Evernote for GTD but I just couldn't get the interface to work for me for task management. Gneo ends up making that interface much more user friendly. I really like the idea of my todo list data actually being stored in Evernote where most of my other project data will also be stored.

The second reason is that Gneo uses the Covey matrix as one of its task views. I am a huge fan of the work of Stephen Covey and I love the way the matrix organizes things. I didn't put this on the criteria because at the time I hadn't ever seen an app that did it.

A third reason is that its integration with Evernote allows me to use it with Drafts for quick input. I find this to be super useful for the capture step of GTD.

So there you have it, for now I am using these two apps for work and personal life. I am still testing others and adding them to the spreadsheet. I will right more full reviews of the apps in the future.

Both apps are nicely put together and have responsive teams. If you have used either of the apps please tell me what you think of them and any tips you have for using them.

Todo List Quest: Technology and GTD

So I said yesterday that we could actually use anything that allowed for the basic structure of lists and folders as a todo list for GTD. That is true, but I also said that technology has morphed some of the application of GTD.

Here is what I mean:

• Technology has made it possible for an inbox(like email) and a todo list to be integrated together.
• Technology has made it possible for items on a list to have reminders, thus blurring the lines between Calendar, actions list, and tickler. 
• Technology has made it easier to use the concepts of context because of multi tagging. In a tag where I can multi-tag I don't have to choose to put an item in the @home or the @high energy contexts, I can tag it as either and search on one or both of the criteria. 
• Technology has changed the way in which we keep reference material, how much of it we keep, and made it possible to attach reference material to a particular task or project.

The list could go on, but you get the idea. Essentially the buckets of GTD, some of which David Allen specifically wanted to have hard lines, aren't so much buckets anymore. They are more like sections on a cafeteria tray.

The question then becomes how distinct do you want those buckets to be? Do you want the clarity of distinct buckets and therefore will use a different app for each one. Or, do you want the convenience of one integrated system where things might get a little blurry?

Clearly looking at the todo list quest criteria it seems I want an integrated system. I still like the idea of distinct lines, but the ease of moving a piece of information from one bucket to another appeals to me. That being said I am now at the point where I don't think there is anything wrong with pursing using a simple system that is lists and folders if that suits you. What I hope is that both you and I find a way to live better.

In the comments below let me know what changes you think have come to GTD from electronics and technology.

Todo List Quest: GTD requirements

As you know I am on a quest to find the most sophisticated todo list app (based on my own criteria) in the world. One of the things I have really been wanting is what I called on the spreadsheet "GTD ready."

I started with an idea of what that meant pretty abstractly in my head. But as part of this quest, and also as part of my own personal search to be more productive, I have been reading "Getting Things Done" again. My hope is that by rereading it I will get a better grasp of what the actual requirements of a good GTD todo list are.

Here is the secret then: It's pretty Simple. David Allen talks about all different kinds of systems from low-tech to high-tech. Of course because he wrote this book before the advent of the iPhone and the smartphone revolution that followed, what he means by high-tech is a palm pilot.

The requirements:

• Lists
• Folders

That's it, that is all he says you need for your lists.

By this criteria almost every todo list app out there qualifies to be used for GTD. All it needs to do is let you create lists and let you separate those lists into different sections. In this regard the app that most mirrors David's examples of the low-tech pieces of paper in a manilla file folder is the app Clear. And even it does more than that.

That is it, most apps can be GTD ready by the book's definition and the problem is that technological advancements in the last 10 years have changed a lot of our perceptions and the actual practice of GTD has morphed for a lot of people accordingly. 

But that is a discussion I will save for tomorrow. For now know that whatever app You choose you can probably use it for GTD exactly the way that David Allen intended when he wrote the book. And that can help you remember to live better.

Todo list quest: Why you have to trust the system

As part of this todo list quest I have started rereading David Allen's book Getting Things Done. This book expounds the GTD method of productivity which I try to follow. I think that rereading will help me to actually identify the app or apps the will help make up my system.

The system must be trusted
One thing he stresses a lot is that you have to trust the system. The point of GTD is to get the "stuff" off your mind so that you can get things done. If you don't actually trust the system to bring you the information when you need it then your mind will not let go of trying to keep track of that item.

Trust is the important issue here. This is the reason that skipping from one system of task management to another is not advisable. If you have pieces of your information stored in several different systems with no process of reviewing them effectively your brain will assume that it needs to tack back the responsibility of tracking those items.

The future value of trust
When you trust the system enough to put everything in it you gain a lot of peace of mind now, and a lot of focused productivity in the future. GTD contains several processes for saving information for the future: the Someday/Maybe list, the Tickler, the Calendar, and the Reference System. When all of these items for the future are safely stored in a trusted system you not only gain peace of mind now, but you are more likely to accomplish your goals and dreams in the future.

The tickler folder is particularly important because it is where you store information that you cannot act on now, but you want to act on at some future date. The tickler is the trusted way of brining that to you when you want it and not wasting brain power on it now.

When trust is broken
The problem with movement into digital systems of management from the old analog styles is that trust can be broken. You can invest time and effort to make your system complete and then it can disappear.

This happened to me with Producteev. I put everything into there and trusted the system, although system wasn't even a very sophisticated at that point. Still, I trusted it and it kept me on track. Then they released a major update that they weren't ready for and I got locked out of my account.

Changes can happen suddenly in the digital space, fortunes rise and fall overnight, a stray bit of code can break an app. This can make it hard to put all of a trust in a system. I am not sure that even the Todo List Quest will find an answer to this problem.

In order to effectively use concepts like the Someday/Maybe list and the Tickler file, things have to be put far out, and everything has to go in, but that can be a lot of upfront work which can be frustrated by a break. Fortunately most companies will try to fix things as quickly as possible, so maybe it will end up not being that big of a deal.

I don't know, I don't have an answer and that is probably part of the reason I am still on this quest. If you have thoughts let me know in the comments below, or tweet me. We can help each other as we try to remember, to live better.

The Todo List Quest: The Spreadsheet Comparison of Todo List Apps

I have always known that there are a LOT of todo list apps on the market. I have no idea how many but even among the top ones it can be hard to get a sense of how they compare to each other. So, in order to make comparison of todo list apps easier I have created the spreadsheet below.

As you can see I list the criteria I am looking for across the top and the apps I am looking at down the side. I then list the details in the corresponding sales. A Y means yes and an N means no. The $ sign means that a feature is paid.

I am hoping that this chart will be helpful to others. I know that not everyone is looking for the same features as me, but I think this will give you a good idea of what's what. I should also clarify that I am not against anyone charging for their apps, I understand that developers have to make money, I just prefer to look for free, or at least non-SaaS solutions if I can find them.

Note: some of the items are factual (like whether it works offline or not) and some are subjective to my opinion (like how GTD ready it is and how nice the UI is) these I have a rated on a 10/10 opinion scale.

Note2: This is a work in progress, some apps listed have not been evaluated yet, and more apps will be added as I go along.

If you want to view in Google Drive click here


If you know of anything on here that is inaccurate please let me know in the comments below, or tweet me @halduauthor. Also let me know if there are any apps you would like to see on here.

Thanks much, and I hope this helps us to live better.

This has been a post in the ToDo List Quest, if you would like to read the other article please click here.

The Todo List Quest: life without a list

Sorry for my absence, I was busily graduating and visiting family over the past weekend and consequently have had a lot to catch up on.



But I have learned something from this time away, and that is that life without a list is no good. The number of todo list apps on my phone currently sits at 15. But none of them have been functioning as my list over the past week. It is very hard to know what to do and when to do it without my lists.

Fortunately at work I have been using todoist and it seems to be working well there. At work we are all google apps and todoist's gmail intergration and chrome extension are great. But personally I haven't yet hit on a solution that I just love. I also want to make sure that my quest is comprehensive for all of you following. The spreadsheet which will allow easy comparison is in the works.

The problem is that I need to have something now because I am constantly finding my self not knowing what to do. I found that some list is better than no list, and that one place is better than fifteen places.

So, temporarily, I have returned IQTELL to my dock and will be using it for now (as of this writing they have not forced payment, but I'm not sure if that is because it hasn't been implemented or if I am still in the "trial" period).

In other news, today the google fiber truck will be coming to out house, so we should be restored to the internet soon after 9 months without it.

That's all for now, but remember, live better.

The ToDo List Quest: Is there an update in the house?

Since I have mostly pulled myself off the todo list market since I started actively using IQTELL, I have not seen much of the others on iOS 7 which came out several months after that. Of course now that I have started the quest and one of my criteria is nice UI I have become aware that a lot of apps have been left behind.

Now I know this is going to seem nit-picky on the surface, but remember that your task management app is one that you use everyday, multiple times a day. When you open it up you don't want to feel like you are taking a step backwards and using a clunky tool. That is how I feel when I open an app and the old iOS 6 keyboard pops up.

My thought immediately upon seeing an app that has not been updated is: "well I guess I won't be getting any help from this developer, they haven't even taken time to change their keyboard, this app must be on the way out." That is why I was so surprised when some widely used and highly recommended apps were not up to date.

Remember The Milk

Both "Remember The Milk" and "Wunderlist" have been given some great reviews in the past and are used by some people that I highly respect. So you can imagine my surprise at encountering a clunky design from them. But there it was plain as life.

Wunderlist

So imagine my surprise when I sent out a tweet asking for information on these two apps and I quickly got responses from both of them. In fact Remember the Milk responded in just a few minutes. The developers of these apps may be slow, but whoever is running their communications is on top of it (always a big plus with me).

Both apps assure me that they have new versions in development and that they hoping they will go live "soon." I guess we will just have to wait and see on these. Hopefully they get them done before the quest is over.

The ToDo List Quest: The Criteria

When you set out to do something it is best to have a plan to get it done. Since I have set out on the todo list quest and started looking at various different programs I decided I need a list of criteria to judge them against, and "ideal" if you will.

Now it is always good to have your ideal in mind when you set out to find something, but you cannot expect your ideal to exist unless you make it yourself. Since I am not a software programer I cannot make my ideal todo list program, but I want to find something that is as close to a match as possible.
Here are the important factors I have come up with so far:

iPhone app:
This probably goes with out being said, but whatever program I use must have an iPhone app, that is how I handle most of my todo list management.

Works offline:
I mentioned this as one of the killers before, I can't have a list that won't work without internet because I spend a good chunk of time without internet and still have to be able to add things to my list and check them off.

Email Integration:
One of the best features of IQTELL was the ability to manage email from the same system that managed your tasks. That type of close integration is rare in todo list apps, but I would like to find it if I could. The next best alternative is to find an app that I can add to via email. Then I can at least forward from which ever client I am using straight into the todo list.

Recurring tasks:
There is a lot that happens in life that is routine, so it is helpful to be able to make tasks that recur at given intervals.

GTD Ready:
I try to follow David Allen's "Getting Things Done" methodology even though I am not great at it. It really helps to have a system that is already ready for that. Perhaps I was spoiled while using IQTELL but it was great to have a system that already had concepts like the "tickler" and the "someday/maybe" list built int.

Nice UI
This is being picky, but it is important. When you have an app that you are going to be using a lot everyday it is very helpful to like how it looks and be able to navigate it easily. If the UI is bad you are less likely to actually use the system.

Multi tagging
This goes along with being GTD ready, in order to do the system you need to be able to tag a todo with multiple criteria such as context, time needed, energy required, etc. Along with being able to use multiple tags on a task I also would like to be able to search on multiple tags with both AND and OR functionality so I can bring up exactly the set of tasks I need at that moment.

Syncing
I work on several different machines and I like to have my tasks available on all of them, so I need syncing between devices. Obviously along with that I need a system that has apps on all devices as well.

Price
And here is the kicker, I would like something that works really well with all the features that I want, but I don't really want to pay for it. Well, that is not quite true, what I don't want to do is pay for a service I find that annoying and beyond my budget (remember I don't even have internet at my home or on my phone). I would be willing to pay a one time upfront price, but paying month by month to write down my tasks is a little more than I want to do.

So there you have it, the (current) criteria for my quest. I don't ask for much, just perfection. In all reality I know I will not find the perfect app, but I like to know what it looks like so I can aim for it. These are the items I am listing across the top of my spreadsheet. They are the functions that I think will help me to remember to live better.

The ToDo List Quest: Part 1

I have recently embarked on a quest of sorts. It is a quest to find the perfect todo list. When a person like me decides to, or has to, change their entire task management structure it is a bit of a big deal, which is why I am calling it a quest!

What Happened
As most readers probably know I have been happily using the IQTELL platform for some time now, particularly since the added their email integration to the mobile app. I have had my problems with it, which I have discussed on this blog, but overall it was a good system. Particularly it worked well because it was made with David Allen's GTD system in mind.

However the IQTELL team just recently announced their new pricing model, which I am currently unable to afford (my twitter followers will know how I feel about budgeting). This is sad because I really did feel that it was a good system and it may actually be worth the money, I just take an issue with SaaS generally though.

Can't Go Back
My thought upon needing to leave IQTELL was that I wound just return to my previous system with Producteev. However, after redownloading the app I encountered a problem: It No Longer Works Offline! Now this would be a problem for anyone because even in this era there are still times when we have no connection or want to be off the grid but still need to get things done. It is though a particular problem for someone like me that has no internet connection at home. So going back doesn't seem feasible.

The Quest
So I have started a quest to find the right todo list. I am going to be testing apps until I find the right one. You can follow my adventures here on this blog, or in real time on twitter, I will be using the #todolistquest on all tweets involving this topic.
You can let me know which apps you have liked by leaving them in the comments below or by tweeting @halduauthor and using #todolistquest. My next post will be on the criteria that I am looking for.
We will see what happens on this quest and if I can find a way to live better.

Your desktop is also not a todo list

Often times one of the first problems people have with task management (I know I do) is that they use tools for the wrong purposes. They try and force things to be task managers that were never intended to be. This is especially true of digital spaces but can also happen to physical tools.

The trouble with this is two fold because not only do you try and force the program to be something it is not, a todo list, but you also cripple it for the purpose that it was intended for. I have written in the past about not abusing email or your web browser this way. Today I would like to talk about a third space that is similarly misused: the Desktop.

Does yours look like this ever?

Both Physical and Digital
Remember that the digital desktop is skeuomorphic in its origin, meaning its form and function were set up to resemble the real world. It is essentially suppose to be a virtual representation of an actual desktop, similar to the one your computer is probably sitting on.

The trouble is that when the digital desktop was created the physical desktop was already being abused as a task management system. This abuse was transplanted the the digital version, and both physical and digital continue to be abused to this day.

The thought process behind it goes like this: Oh I have here a [document, or a file, or a picture, or a video, etc] that I need [to do something with] I will just set it here [on my top of my desk, or on my desktop] to remind me to do [that thing]. The result of this process whether physical, digital, or both, is a cluttered unusable desktop which increases stress and lowers productivity.

It is a Workspace
It is important to remember what the purpose of the desktop actually is: it is a space to be doing work, not a space for work that could or should be done. The things there are suppose to be being worked with. If you aren't working with it now or in the immediate future that it should go into you actual task management system and the resource you were going to use to remind yourself should get filed away in a place you will find it when you need it.

Your physical desktop was not meant to hold all the papers in you filing cabinet. Your computer desktop was never intended to show you all of the programs and files on your computer. This false notion was propagate by all the computer programs in the 90's that on install came with a pre-checked box that said "place shortcut on the desktop."

Generally when you are done working with something on either desktop, one of two things are suppose to happen: it gets filed or put away, or it gets thrown away. The real key here though is that the items that should go on your todo list go there to remind you in the proper way to get them done, and that your desktops stay clear for working.

Now I would hate for anyone to think that because I write about this that I either am, or think I am perfect at it. I have been actively working at this for over a year now and I still struggle with it. Productivity is not something most people are natural at; if it were, it wouldn't be productivity it would be normal. As we are trying though it is important to remember to live better.

Thanks for reading, and if you found this helpful please share it with others. And if you have thoughts on the matter please comment below.

App Review: IQTELL (with email integration)

Note: I have previously reviewed this app here, in that review I talked about how I wished that the email integration from the web service would come to the iOS app, well it finally has and that is why I am doing an updated review of the updated portions. 

Name: IQTELL
Price: Free
Stars: 4
Type: Productivity









IQTELL has been my todo list manager for quite a while now, and I feel like this update has been long in coming since representatives from the company have been assuring me that it was on its way since the app first came out. I am happy to say though that it has not disappointed now that it is here.

Email Integration
The powerful concept here is to integrate email and your todo list into one app that you have with you everywhere. It is not to make email your todo list but rather to closely integrate them so that the information from emails that should become todo items or resources can do so easily and go into the proper form to get them out of your inbox and off your mind when you don't need them. 



How does this help you get the tasks off your mind? By putting them into a system that you know will surface at the proper time and place. That way you no longer need to try and keep track of them mentally. For a full explanation of this you should read David Allen's book "Getting Things Done". 

Swipe Controls
There have been a lot of todo systems that have used email as a way to add items. In fact IQTELL has offered this for a long time through their email gateway option. So, what is special and different about this new option? The answer is the ease with which it can be done now by using swipe controls.

I have written before about the usefulness of managing email from your phone, partially because of the swipe controls built into iOS directly by Apple. Last year the app Mail Box pioneered a more complete set of swipe controls for better email management. Much of that philosophy has made it into this IQTELL email app with, in my opinion, better execution.
You have two options:

• Swipe to the left: receive a set of email tools. Delete, archive, move, and reply/forward. I lave having all these options available without ever opening the email itself. Even if this were just an email app it would make reaching inbox zero much easier.
• Swipe to the right: receive a set of "macros" that will take various actions on that email, such as turn it into a action on you todo list or into a project. 

Another nice addition is that a menu hand gesture has been added when you swipe from the left edge of the screen it will pull out the menu allowing you to quickly change the area of the app that you are in.

Still Waiting
Not everything in the world of IQTELL is perfect, I am still waiting on several of the features I noted were missing in my last post, such as calendar and contacts integration which would help to really get everything in one place. I would also like to see full functionality of the web app brought to iOS, for example I still can't do things like make a repeating task or a custom macro in the app and it is annoying to have to go to my computer for these things. Of course I may just be missing how to do these, in which case I am sure someone will let me know in the comments. 

All in all this is a great app at the right price. If you need a way to integrate email and todo list I suggest you look at it. That's all for now. Remember, live better.

Podcast Review: Beyond the To-Do List with Erik Fisher

Stars: 4
Type: Productivity
Runtime: approx. 30 to 45 minutes
Release Schedule: weekly

I love podcasts, as most of you know, and Beyond the To-Do List is one of my favorites. I have been listening to it since episode 00 and I haven't missed an episode yet. The podcast is hosted by Erik Fisher whose day job, like my own, is in social media. Erik moonlights as what I would call a productivity/entrepreneurial curator.

The podcast takes the form of interviews between Erik and the "people behind the productivity" as he calls them. There have been a lot of big names on the show (at least big in my world) including Michael Hyatt, Andy Andrews, and David Allen to name just a few. The interviews go into how the principles the teach are actually applied in their lives and gives you a personal look into who they are as individuals.

In the podcast you learn tips, tricks, and tools that can help you be more productive as well as regular reality checks on principles like saying no and sharpening the saw. This is one of my go to podcasts and I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to get more out of life.

Erik Fisher is also the author of a book on goal setting, so of course I also have to plug that, you can find it here.

That's all for now, check out the podcast and remember, live better.

Yeah, your web browser is not a todo list either

Quick, how many browser tabs do you have open? Have any of them been open to the same page for days? How about weeks?
If you have a lot of browser tabs open, and they have been open for a long time, you may be falling into the common trap of the "browser todo list" of which the mental process goes something like this:

"Oh, I need to research that thing,or I need to figure out that event,or I need to find out more about this person,let me just open a browser tab with that websitethen I will remember TODO it"

Oh No! You just asked the browser for something not in its job description!

Sorry, but the web browser, like your email, was built for a certain task, and letting you know what to do and when to do it, was not it.

These are not ToDo lists

Now I will admit that I am guilty of this very often, that's why I am writing a post on it, as part of my recovery therapy. It's an easy trap to fall into, but here are the problems with it.

1. It increases your subconscious load and makes you feel guilty
2. It hampers the two minute rule
3. It is unreliable

Lets talk about these, and then we will look at some solutions to help with the problem.

First, It increases your subconscious load and makes you feel guilty

Here's what happens, you open up a browser tab and go to a website so you can remember where to go. Now every time you are working in the browser there is that nagging little tab open, saying, "you haven't done this yet, you haven't done this yet" it's annoying and you can't get it off your mind because you didn't unloaded it into a system you trusted for a time that was appropriate. You don't need that kind of mental baggage dragging down your productivity, so don't do it.

Second, It hampers the two minute rule

Most of those things that you open a browser tab for a simple information tasks that could be completed in two minutes or less, so you should just do them and not try to remember to do them at all. Thinking your browser is your todo list and will remind you to do them encourages you to put them off when you really shouldn't.

Third, It is unreliable

Ever had a browser crash? How about your computer? Yeah, I figured you had. Or how about just leaving something in the browser tab so long that it became irrelevant? The browser is not a good system because it to easily loses information, and it is to easy for it to get lost in the shuffle of the day. Let's face it, you have a lot going on in that web browser.

So now that you know there is a problem, what can you do about it? Well fortunately for you I have the same problem, so I have been coming up with a few solutions. But I still have a long way to come so please also leave you suggestions in the comments below.

1. Copy and Paste
2. Reliable information storage (ie Evernote)
3. Read it later 

This first one, Copy and Paste, sounds simple, and it is. Cntrl-C and Cntrl-V are probably the two most commonly used commands in all of computing. So here is the secret, you can copy and paste URLs, into the notes of your ToDo list,

Why would this be a useful thing? Well it gets the task where it belongs, on the ToDo list, while allowing you still feel confident you will be able to access the resourse when you need it. So copy and paste away.

You may not always need to access the whole web page, there may just be some information you were looking for that you know you will need later on. This is where number two, Reliable information storage, comes in.  

Instead of leaving the whole page open in your browser you can just take the information you need and put it into your information system so that you can find it later. In the old days this was called a filing cabinet, now it is called Evernote. There are other services you could use, but Evernote is the one I think is the best.

To make the system reliable you will need to develop a system of organization that allows you to find the information you have stored in the future when you need it. If the system is not reliable, you will not want to close out the web browser because you won't know if you will find the information again.

The other reason people leave pages open in their browser is because they find an interesting article and the simply want to Read it later. That's good, while browsing social media or news sites we often find articles we want to read, but don't have time to right then.
Leaving those articles open in the web browser is not the best option. A much better choice is to put them some place that is designed for reading later. It is especially useful if it can be stored for offline reading.

There are many programs that let you do this. If you want the simplest one you can use the one built into the Safari browser, called Reading List. I prefer to use the application Pocket because it integrates with both twitter and flipboard, and you can also email article you find elsewhere to your Pocket for later viewing. If it is an article you need to read for something make sure it also makes it onto you todo list.

There you have it folks, 3 problems with the web browser being a todo list and three solutions you can implement today so you won't do it anymore. It is not easy to break out of this habit; I've been notorious for doing this for years. I still struggle with it. If you have any tips that could help or questions about anything I have said please leave a comment below. Thanks for reading, and remember, live better.

5 reasons your email cannot be your todo list

email can easily get out of hand,
because it is controlled by others

I've talked about email productivity before in my post on inbox zero. This particular post is about the very common email productivity  mistake of using your inbox as your todo list. This mistake is, in fact, so common that I find myself doing it every couple days.

You may be having this problem if you:

• Find yourself continually marking emails as "unread" so you will come back to them
• You tell people "send me an email" even though you already have all the information so you will remember to do it
• You send yourself emails to remind you to do things

You are probably saying to yourself, so, what's the problem? If email works as a todo list why shouldn't I use it as one? There are several problems:

1. Other people have control over it
2. You didn't write it down
3. It discourages the "2-minute rule"
4. You do not get an email about everything you need to do
5. You can't trust the system

Review: IQTELL (GTD app)

There has been an update to this app and my review of those updates can be found here. This article still has my feelings on many of the other features.

Note: This review is for the universal app IQTELL for iPhone and iPad, it is not a review of the complete IQTELL System which involves a web app.

Name: IQTELL
Price: Free
Stars: 4
Type: Productivity




The IQTELL app is an app based on the GTD method originally conceived by David Allen (you can read my review of his book here). It was the first app to come out to claim to be a complete GTD system. Of course I was excited when I first heard that a company was actually going to release a GTD app, but I always have some initial hesitation at switching to a new system when you already have a working one in place. I was very happy with my Todo list manager Producteev, so I did not download IQTELL right away.

Switching Over
Not long after the IQTELL app was released Producteev came out with a major new update. Unfortunately they released a little too soon and they did not migrate users fast enough, as a result after updating I was unable to access my account or even use features offline.

Well I couldn't be without a todo list so I decided to give IQTELL a trial spin while I needed something anyway. I really enjoyed it. The app lacks a little personality; it's pretty bland and flat in style. What it lacks in visuals it makes up for in functionality though.

Everything in one Place? Almost.
The IQTELL motto is "Everything in one place" and it almost is, on the web app they are really almost there. On the iOS app however there are still some features lacking:

• Email integration
• Calendar integration
• Evernote integration
• Contact integration

Once it has these features it will work very well. As you can see from the screen shot there are a lot of different options for how to mange your lists. That is a good thing but it can be a little bit of overkill and David Allen would probably say take the one or two that work for you and ditch the rest, don't get hung up on the system. You can us the configure button (red arrow) to remove most of  these options from your screen, but unfortunately on the iPhone version it does not seem  to stick once you close the app. Hopefully this will be fixed soon.



The IQTELL Team
Let me just say a word about the IQTELL team. They seem like great developers who really want to make the best productivity app out there. They are responsive to emails and really want to make the experience better. I expect to see a lot of improvements to the app in the near future.

The Good

• An app that is really based on  the GTD system
• True someday and tickler options to get stuff off your mind
• Correct use of context and projects
• Responsive developers

The Bad

• Current lack of integration (this is suppose to be fixed soon I am told)
• More robust than some people need or want
• Hard to get each of the sub apps arranged the way you want them on the page
• Slow loading time and sync
• Very tied to the web app (I wish they would just make a native mac app)

Overall the app is very good and has a lot of potential. I recommend that if you want to be using the GTD system that try out this app. It is free, so the barrier to entry is much lower than an app like OmniFocus which has been pretty much the only option in the past. I am excited about the way this app is going and expect some big updates to come soon.

What is your favorite To Do List app? Share it with us in the comments section below.
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Thanks for reading, and remember, live better.

Review: Producteev

Name: Producteev
Type: Todo list manager
Price: Free
Stars: 4

Producteev is the best todo list app I have ever used and believe me I have used a bunch of them. Producteev is great because it lets you do exactly as much as you want with your tasks. There are a bunch of metadata options, but you don't have to use all or any of them if you don't want to. There is only one problem with Producteev and that is the fact that they have not developed a native iPad app for it. In order to use it on the iPad you either have to use it in mini mode, or 2x mode. It is not too bad, since it is just a task manager the graphics aren't super important but it would be nice to have a dedicated or at least a + app. However, one of the nice things is that it syncs seamlessly across devices and so when I create a new task on my iPod touch it automatically appears on my iPad, my Macbook, or even on the web.

Lets look at the different options for setting up a task. Click the add a new task button (red arrow).

Then you will be shown the following screen. First you enter the name of your task (orange box), and that is the only thing required to create a task, you can then click add and it will appear in your list. But if you like to have some other information you cans as well. Personally I usually set a star for priority (yellow arrow). Sometimes I also set a date if there is a specific day the item is due (green arrow). The other two buttons I never use but they allow you to assign the tasks to different people and add tags to your task.

You can go into your task later and change anything and also add a reminder via push notification or email for a specific day or time. Anyway its a great app to keep you on track and I hope we see an dedicated iPad app for it soon.

That's all for now and remember, live better.

Apps used in this post: Producteev, Skitch, Blogger