I’ve tried many task management apps. The only one app that I have stuck with fairly consistently is Things by Cultured Code. There are several apps available right now for list management that are free. Things is not one of them, but I do think it’s worth the investment – specially if you use multiple Mac devices because everything syncs so well together.
I use Things on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Here’s a look at what it looks like on my Mac. The main areas of Things that I use the most are Active Projects and Areas. Active Projects, like my PDP Rewrite project below, enable you to add multiple tasks with deadlines, reoccurring tasks, etc… per project. Areas enable you to tag something with an area. I like these because it helps me see how many tasks I have per responsibility areas.
Here’s a look at Things on my iPad. Depending on how you hold your iPad (horizontal or vertical), it will look like this:
or this:
And finally a look at Things on my iPhone:
Here’s how I use Things:
- I start off by adding everything that I’m thinking about to my Inbox – like a virtual brain dump. I prefer to do this on my computer because I can type faster than I can tap on my iPad or iPhone.
- Then I add dates and decide if anything belongs to a Project or should be tagged for a specific area. For example, visiting Longwood Gardens with my hubby would be tagged as “Couples Time!”.
- I check Things throughout the day – from my devices if I’m out and about or from my computer while I’m working
- I add more content as I think of it – I’ve been known to add a lot of ideas while working out on the elliptical machine!
I still use my paper planner each day, but Things is very helpful in getting everything out of my head and organized into projects and areas. I find that ideas and plans floating around in my head tend to cause me anxiety if I don’t have a plan for acting on them.
Do you use Things?
Or another Task Management App?
What do you think?