Calendar / To-do apps and methods for getting things done

After trying lots of different programs over the years, I have recently started using Todoist and am starting to enjoy using the program. It is not a traditional calendar app, but more of a way to just get all your thoughts down in one place. You can schedule events and set it to remind you via text message, email etc. I bought the annual service "Pro" plan and use the iPhone app as well. Everything syncs instantaneously.

Best feature is its natural language parsing. You can type in (or use Siri) "Bank of America credit card payment due every month on the 20th" and it will automatically set up an entry "Bank of America credit card payment due" and schedule it on the 20th of every month. No other button clicks necessary. Crazy world we're living in, eh?


What do you use to keep up with all you have to do? Is it analog or digital?

...I use a custom Filemaker database to track my photoshoots and to generate tags that I use with Lightroom. I'm eventually going to finish upgrading the database so that it will "do everything": but I'm using version 9 and I'm waiting to upgrade to the latest version (14!) before I get started on that project.

So at the moment I use "Tick Tick" for "project styled" grouped To Do's. I use TeuxDeux for my daily To Do list. TuexDeux works fantastically close to how my brain works: its very simple, no date dues etc, you just type in your "To Do" on the day that you intend to do it. If you don't complete the task on the day, it shuffles the task onto the next day, and if you keep putting off tasks you end up with one very big huge long list of tasks to tackle.

I was using anydo, which I really liked for its simple clean interface and "anydo moment". (I tend to get overly focused and forget to check my list so "moment" which is basically a reminded worked well.) Unfortunately I needed sub task and it doesn't have them so I switched to using Todoist. Also a very nice clean interface and the natural language parsing Brisket mentioned.

I have it on my phone and on my laptop, though the laptop version only gets referenced when my phone isn't close at hand (its off recharging).

I also use Today calendar (just a re-skinned version of the stock Android Calendar) because I like the combined month/Agenda view. Both my calendar and contacts are synced with google contacts/calendar. That allows me to share them with all my devices and with the wife (so we can both see what the other will/wont be home for dinner/is available for social/entertainment).

On my laptop I run Thunderbird for my email, with the Lightning calendar plugin (synced to google calendar) and contacts also synced to google.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17866754
What do you use to keep up with all you have to do? Is it analog or digital?

Analog. I write notes in the squares for days on a wall calendar. Reminder cards for dental appointments and such go on a magnetic bulletin board, supplementing the notes on the calendar. To some extent, I create reminders of upcoming or unfinished tasks by leaving the associated paperwork where I'll be sure to see it. I also just remember things.

Most likely, people who keep schedules on digital devices have more-complex lives.

I don't know that they have more complex lives but maybe they aren't tied to one location. Fridge magnets and a wall calendar at home (where I do do a lot of post processing work) wont help me when I go into the office or out on location shooting.

I could take a note book with me but, given that I am already taking my phone, it is just simpler to have that info on the phone - plus it will beep a reminder at me which a notebook/paper wall calendar won't.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #17867976
I don't know that they have more complex lives but maybe they aren't tied to one location.

I work at home, and I don't think of it as being tied to one location but instead as being free from having to run around. Obligations to appear at places X, Y, and Z at times P, Q, and R automatically make one's life more complex.

A speculation: People who manage their to-dos digitally will respond in a greater proportion than those who manage analogically. Writing things down seems unremarkable--that's the way everyone used to do it--but if you can compare digital time-management programs you've used, then you have something to talk about.

I use trello. It's ok.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #17867921
I was using anydo, which I really liked for its simple clean interface and "anydo moment". (I tend to get overly focused and forget to check my list so "moment" which is basically a reminded worked well.) Unfortunately I needed sub task and it doesn't have them so I switched to using Todoist. Also a very nice clean interface and the natural language parsing Brisket mentioned.

I have it on my phone and on my laptop, though the laptop version only gets referenced when my phone isn't close at hand (its off recharging).

I also use Today calendar (just a re-skinned version of the stock Android Calendar) because I like the combined month/Agenda view. Both my calendar and contacts are synced with google contacts/calendar. That allows me to share them with all my devices and with the wife (so we can both see what the other will/wont be home for dinner/is available for social/entertainment).

On my laptop I run Thunderbird for my email, with the Lightning calendar plugin (synced to google calendar) and contacts also synced to google.

Have you figured out a way to keep a "real" calendar hooked up with Todoist? When I first tried the app I was disappointed it wouldn't show me a calendar but quickly overcame that frustration simply by using the app.

OhLook wrote in post #17867943
Analog. I write notes in the squares for days on a wall calendar. Reminder cards for dental appointments and such go on a magnetic bulletin board, supplementing the notes on the calendar. To some extent, I create reminders of upcoming or unfinished tasks by leaving the associated paperwork where I'll be sure to see it. I also just remember things.

Most likely, people who keep schedules on digital devices have more-complex lives.

I was mostly analog up until a certain someone in my life refused to collaborate on a calendar for our household. After finding Todoist I am really getting into digital lists. I use Todoist for 1)recurring items that are too tedious to write on a calendar and 2) things that don't need a schedule to complete. In fact #2 is really the reason Todoist was made, rather that fart around scheduling and pushing back things that didn't get done you can choose to let them float. Of course you can schedule them too.

banquetbear wrote in post #17867286
...I use a custom Filemaker database to track my photoshoots and to generate tags that I use with Lightroom. I'm eventually going to finish upgrading the database so that it will "do everything": but I'm using version 9 and I'm waiting to upgrade to the latest version (14!) before I get started on that project.

So at the moment I use "Tick Tick" for "project styled" grouped To Do's. I use TeuxDeux for my daily To Do list. TuexDeux works fantastically close to how my brain works: its very simple, no date dues etc, you just type in your "To Do" on the day that you intend to do it. If you don't complete the task on the day, it shuffles the task onto the next day, and if you keep putting off tasks you end up with one very big huge long list of tasks to tackle.

Big fan of FileMaker, been using it since version five I think. I am by no means a master but have come up with some pretty good solutions, including using the Pro version to compile some simple solutions for customers who would otherwise be clueless.

Think I have version ten now, probably wrong about that. On phone parked on the couch for the night or I'd check. The stuff they have done to publish databases and allow online data entry and searching is simply amazing. I've done some of that but only for my own uses. My needs changed so I stopped using the web publishing.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #17874223
Have you figured out a way to keep a "real" calendar hooked up with Todoist? When I first tried the app I was disappointed it wouldn't show me a calendar but quickly overcame that frustration simply by using the app.

I don't tend to use my to-do as/with a calendar. I use the calendar for events/appointments. "Car to garage for service", "James Bond movie at 8.00", "photo shoot at studio x at 10.00am". Wife and I have several shared (via Google calendar) calendars - home, culture/entertainment, social. So if she arranges for the repair man to come it appears in my calendar too.

The to do list is just a list of projects with tasks and sub tasks. If I am doing a particular shoot I will list that as a project and add all the tasks needed to get it done. I tend to focus more on priority rather than dates.

Dan Marchant wrote in post #17874257
I don't tend to use my to-do as/with a calendar. I use the calendar for events/appointments. "Car to garage for service", "James Bond movie at 8.00", "photo shoot at studio x at 10.00am". Wife and I have several shared (via Google calendar) calendars - home, culture/entertainment, social. So if she arranges for the repair man to come it appears in my calendar too.

The to do list is just a list of projects with tasks and sub tasks. If I am doing a particular shoot I will list that as a project and add all the tasks needed to get it done. I tend to focus more on priority rather than dates.

I just need to get used to this methodology. It's not like I can't have a calendar window and to do list open at the same time. Use to use "At a Glance" brand printed calendars that held to do and a calendar in one book. Old habits die hard.

Further to the calendar issue Todoist doesn't include a calender but does allow you to show your to-do tasks in your calendar app (google calendar, outlook, probably thunderbird/lightning) if you prefer (via settings).

Just last week I was browsing for a calender-program. Now I use the calender-template of Word. Nothing fancy, just simply add events.