The first thing I needed was a To-Do List app and a Calendar app. I now use Google Contacts, Calendar and Google Tasks- LOVE Google Apps! I will address how to use a calendar effectively in another post; for now I will just talk about task lists. I took a big gulp and switched from my paper calendar to Google Calendar on my computer. One of the Google Calendars that’s available is Tasks.
See the pink hand in the Google Calendar image below? When you enable the Task Calendar (just click on it) your tasks will show up at the top of your calendar. Hover and click on the drop down menu to the right of the Task Calendar and you can change the color of your Tasks- very cool!
You have several options for viewing your Tasks: by day, week, 4 day, month or agenda- see the green arrow? The image below is a day view. I use the week view and day view most of the time.
You will also see your Tasks to the far right- see the pink hand below. At the bottom of that list there are different expandable menus for creating different categories of Task Lists, renaming, deleting, sorting etc. You just need to go in to all those menus and discover the possibilities.
Here’s a screen shot of the Action menu opened up. See the green arrow.
Cherice has coached me with her organizing skills for a long time. Trust her…she is knowledgeable when it comes to managing time and tasks.
She has helped me immensely. Believe me, I ill be reading and studying this blog post for a while…. What a tutorial!
In addition to all of that she is a dear and trusted friend. I will add her to my blog list!
Thanks so much Cynthia for the strong endorsement. Your kind words mean a great deal to me.
Great post Cherise – I’ve struggled with calendars for years and I used to carry a similar planner around for years (though mine had Dilbert cartoons!). But I just couldn’t stick with it until I got my Smartphone. Now I’ve actually managed to stick with the calendar habit and I check it daily. Now I need to start working on the to-do list aspect of it – if only to get it out of my head and sleep better. These are some good tips.
Thanks for the kind words Adrian. I’ll be following up with more posts that go beyond the mechanics and I will post about which mobile apps I use and how using Task lists the right way can save lots of time and headache.
I am a huge GTD fan and use OmniFocus to manage all my tasks. I love reading about how others do it. Great, detailed post!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment Alison. Stay tuned for several more posts going into more detail about how to actually use your To-Do list.
I’m adding you to feedly. Will be watching. :)
Thanks so much Alison.I take requests- tee hee.