I’m a pretty detailed oriented person and try extremely hard to never forget to do something. When a person forgets to do something they said they would, they are not only hurting themselves but many times they are hurting the progress of someone else. I learned this early on in my marriage, and even though I still mess up, I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at it. I’ve even been able to use the same techniques at my job.
Here’s how I get things done.
First, let’s talk about software. Getting things done is mostly a mental thing, but without some great tools to help you along, it would be a lot harder. I use three programs on a daily basis aside from my calendar. They are:
Each of these programs help me with a different type of task, and I’ll explain each quickly.
Clear is a simple program that is very reminescient of Mac’s built in reminder app. It’s a “todo” list if you will. You add tasks to it, then either mark them complete or remove them as time goes on. You can have multiple lists and all the other goodies that come with lists. How I use it is when someone, co-worker or wife, askes me if I will do something, I put it on that list. It syncs nicely with my phone and computer so I always have those lists in front of me.
While a small todo list is great, sometimes you need something a bit bigger. Something you can assign due dates to and add some simple notes to. For me, this is where Wunderlist comes in. When a task is something that might span over a few days or needs to be done a very specific way, I add it to Wunderlist. This is also the place in my opinion for on-going tasks. For instance, I track all of my new years resolutions here. I also add birthday/anniversary ideas here. This way I always have a place to go when I need an idea. I also track “things to blog about” and “things I should do for my wife” here.
Lastly, enter Trello. In case you didn’t already know, I love Trello. One thing to note, I do not track tasks here, but rather projects. These projects may have tasks assinged to them, but I never add something like “buy milk” to Trello.
Whether I want to get something done right away, add it to a list to do in the future or create a larger project out of it, these three apps help me get a lot done.