Serving Two Masters: Why one to-do list app might not be enough
To-do list apps used to frustrate me terribly. They’d sound great on paper, but when I tried to put them to use to keep track of everything I needed to do, they'd fail me. Or I’d fail them. One way or other, it just wasn't working out. Me and to-do lists were apparently just not meant to be.
Of course, if you follow me online, you'll know that I'm pretty devoted to my to-do list apps these days. It's worse than that: I practically couldn't live without them. So what changed?
To-do list apps. That's what changed.
Turns out, all tasks aren’t equal, and neither are all to-do list apps. If one doesn't fit, perhaps you need two. Or three.
Learning to Love the Lists
Tools are only useful if you have something you need them for. We’ve all got stuff we need to do, but all of us don't have the same tasks, and we definitely don't all work and think the same way, so we each need different tools. That, more than anything, is why some people swear by OmniFocus, while others couldn't imagine life without Things, and others get by with just a simple plain-text list of stuff to do.
Spoiler: none of them are the wrong way to manage tasks.
There's tons of great to-do list apps out there, each of which have their strong points. That's not to say you won't hear me waxing poetic about the ways OmniFocus is better sometime in the future - but really, there's a lot of good ones. You don't really need to over-think it.
What you do need to think about is what you need from a to-do list app. Personally, there's three main types of things I need to keep track of: appointments on specific dates, things I need to do on specific times (complete with notes about them, ways to sort and categorize them, and make them repeating easily), and random small things I need to keep up with that aren't urgent or tied to a date or project.
An App Apiece
Let's break that down. Appointments are simple; they go in the calendar, and you've likely already got an app for that. When you need to make note of your nephew's graduation or your upcoming vacation, a calendar just makes the most sense. No need to stress that one.
The second one is where the advanced to-do list apps like OmniFocus and Things - or even the built-in Reminders app - come in. These are the tasks you must do, whether at work or home, and you need a way to get them out of your head and categorize them by project, location, due dates, and more. You want to add notes to them so everything's together in one place, and if they’re things you'll need to do over and over, you’ll want the app to automatically recreate them for you. This is what the majority of major to-do list apps aim for, and there's tons out there you can try. Pick one, and stick to it, and it'll simplify your life. Really.
But don't put absolutely everything into it, because some things shouldn't go in you main to-do list app. They're the random little things - movies you'd like to watch some day, the stuff you should pick up at the store next time you're out, apps you want to try - that don't really fit in your advanced to-do list app without cluttering your inbox, and they most certainly don't go in your calendar. They’re what lite list apps come in handy for, or even just your notes app. Jot them down there, and you’ll still have them saved, but they won't make you feel like you're losing your mind in your advanced to-do list app.
Find Your Three
For me, the three magical apps are Fantastical for calendar, OmniFocus for projects and scheduled/advanced tasks, and Clear for my simple lists of random stuff. They're each great, and I'd highly recommend them each. But you can accomplish much of the same with the built in Calendar, Reminders, and Notes apps if you’re just getting started.
Just keep things separated, and you'll find each app and system makes a lot more sense. OmniFocus never did make sense for my bucket lists and grocery lists, but it keeps my work at AppStorm and Techinch manageable. I couldn't live with just Clear, but I'd be a mess with just OmniFocus, too.
Use the right app for the right tasks, though, and everything works so much better.
Originally published on July 1st, 2013 in Techinch Magazine Issue 1
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