I operate in an industry where I have 37 balls in the air all the time (more or less). Unfortunately, because of that, I occasionally drop a ball or two or possibly more. If I go on vacation, which I always try to do during the year, I come back to a pile of more balls with a few razor blades thrown in. I am always trying to find better ways to manage my lists and plans.
Years ago, I started with Microsoft’s OneNote as my go-to project list keeper/time manager. It worked great for years, until one day my file would no longer open. All the balls just floated away in the beyond. Nuff said I was done with OneNote. It is a useful project manager and I probably should have not had several years’ worth of data in it, but I did not and quit. Also, it would do many things with its many features available.
Next, I tried Evernote, which was like OneNote; however, I just never got comfortable with it. I do not believe it was the fault of Evernote. it was just not what I was looking for.
I am one of the few people in the area that is a certified trainer for Microsoft Project, and you think I would use and recommend that; however, it is too large. It would be like using a nuclear bomb to kill an ant in my driveway. Way too much power.
Then Trello.com another excellent manager with many ways to deal with all the details of keeping up with things. I used Trello for several years and also enjoyed it.
Then I saw an online review of a tool named Todoist (check that spelling, as there is no “L” in the name). You can find it at Todoist.com. For me, it is one of the better organizers I have used. It does not have as many “buttons and bells” as the others, but Todoist fits me perfectly.
You can organize by Projects, and under each project you can have as many tasks as you want. They can also organize tasks. Date, time or even you can tag it with other items like people, places, etc.
Another thing that I really like about it is that I can also link it with my calendar. If I set a date and time for a task, it will automatically enter it into my calendar and set a notification there. I can change anything about it from my calendar if needed, and it will also update Todoist and vice versa.
It also keeps me very “on time” for meetings and things I need to get done. If you want to give it a spin, you find it will also allow you to email a Todoist Project. What that means is that I can simply email something I need to put in my list and calendar to Todoist and will get an almost immediate copy sent to Todoist to be added to a new or existing project.
I know it may not sound like much, but this program is a definite need for me. I may find something else that is better in the future, but not yet.
There is a free version, a single user version with more options ($36/annually) and a team version for $60/annually for multiple users.
Let me know what you use to keep track of your “things to do”…ok, except for a small notebook and pencil. I did that also, but many years ago.