Todoist: Task, Project, and Time Management

ever feel like you're drowning in a sea of tasks. Work deadlines, personal errands, that never ending to do list. - You're not alone. And that's exactly why we're diving into To Do Is today. It promises to help tame that overwhelming feeling, whether it's work projects, personal stuff, or let's be honest, that blend of both that most of us juggle daily. - So for this deep dive, what sources are we looking at to get a handle on To Do List? - We've got a great mix. We'll be pulling from Becky's super practical YouTube tutorial, a detailed PC mag review by Jill Duffy and Gabriella Vatu. And of course, we'll be referencing the official To Do Is To website itself. - Sounds comprehensive. - So what's our mission today? What do we want listeners to walk away with? - We really want to give everyone a solid understanding of what To Do Is brings to the table. How it actually works in practice, it's standout features, and ultimately, whether it lives up to the hype as a top productivity app. By the end, listeners should be able to decide if To Do Is has the potential to streamline their day. - Makes sense. So let's jump right in. First things first, with any new app, getting started can be a hurdle. - Totally. A clunky sign-up process is a deal breaker for me. - So what's The To Do Is Experience Lake? - Thankfully, signing up as a breeze. As Becky showed in her tutorial, The To Do Is website gives you several options. - Oh good. Options are always welcome. - Right. You can use your Google Facebook or Apple login so it's super convenient. Or if you're old school like me, there's the classic email and password route. That's what Becky did, and it seemed pretty painless. - So no roadblocks there. Once you're in, what's the setup like? - There's a short onboarding process. It lets you personalize your profile, add your name, and even a photo. - Is the photo just for team stuff? Or is it helpful even if I'm mostly using it for personal tasks? - Becky mentioned it's particularly useful for team projects. But even for personal use, it's a nice touch. It makes the tool feel more like your own. - I can see that. Speaking of teams, you mentioned there's an option for a team workspace. - Yep. Right at the start, you can choose to create a team workspace alongside your personal one. But for this deep dive, we're laser focused on how to manage your personal and work life efficiently in one central place. So we'll stick with the personal workspace for now. - Makes sense. So once you're past the sign up and setup, what's the first thing you see? - You land in the Today view. That's the default starting point as Becky highlighted. And there are helpful tool tips sprinkled throughout to guide you around. Plus you'll find some pre-filled sample tasks and even a sample project. - That's smart. It gives you a feel for how things work. - Yeah, it's like a little starter kit to get the ball rolling. - Okay, so you're in the Today view, ready to conquer your chaos. Where do you even begin? - Well, the logical first step is to start populating to do is with your own tasks and projects. And Becky jumped right into showing us how to create a project in her tutorial. - Ah, projects. Those are essential for staying organized, right? Like having those mental buckets for different areas of responsibility. - Precisely. Instead of one giant overwhelming list, projects let you group tasks logically. Think about how you naturally categorize your responsibilities. Do you already have these mental buckets? - Absolutely. Work deadlines, home stuff, creative projects, it's all categorized in my head. Having a way to mirror that structure and an app sounds incredibly useful. So how do you actually create a project into duest? - It's really simple. You just click on the plus icon in the sidebar, then select Add Project and give it a name. Becky's example was Life Admin, which let's face it is a universal category for those recurring personal tasks, bills, appointments, all those things we can't ignore. - Life Admin, yep, that's a project in everyone's life, whether they acknowledge it or not. Can you customize those project buckets at all and make them stand out visually? - Definitely. You can assign a colored each project for visual distinction. Becky chose Teal for Life Admin. And remember that workspace option we mentioned, that comes into play if you're sharing a project with a team. For personal projects, you'd probably keep those private. - So a nice visual cue and you can keep things separate. Okay, so the project's created, what else can you do with it? - A couple of things. You can mark frequently used projects as favorites, which pins them to the top of your sidebar. Also, to duest offers different ways to view your projects. You can stick with a list format or switch to a board view, which organizes tasks into columns, kind of like a can-ben board. - Ooh, I love a good can-ben board. Is that for all plans or just the paid ones? - The board view is available for everyone. There's also a calendar view, but that's a pro feature. The cool thing is you can toggle between these views anytime without affecting your tasks. You choose the view that works best for the project or your thinking style at that moment. - Nice. So we've got our projects, those mental buckets in place. Now, how do you actually fill them with tasks? - A couple of ways. You'll see an ad task button within each project, but for speed, Becky really recommends using the keyboard shortcut Q. This pops up a quick ad menu so you can jot down tasks without interrupting your flow. - I love a good shortcut. That speed is crucial when you're juggling a million things. - Absolutely. Now, what about deadlines? Those are make a break for a lot of tasks. - Tell me about it. How does to-do-us handle due dates? - This is where to-do-us shines, according to Becky. You type the due date naturally, write in the task description, like, "Meet Sarah tomorrow," call the doctor next Wednesday, submit report June 3rd, or even follow up in five days. - Wow, follow up in five days. That's brilliant for those less defined deadlines. - Right. To-do-us just gets it. It recognizes those phrases and it automatically sets the due date. - It's like it speaks our language. What about recurring tasks? The ones that haunt us endlessly. - Recurring due dates are a life saver for those. You can set them using simple language, like pay bills monthly, water plants weekly, every two weeks, renew parking permit, or even for specific dates, like every January 1st file annual report. - So you set it once and it just takes care of itself? - Exactly. No more manually adding those tasks each time. Becky mentioned the piece of mine this gives her. Knowing those recurring tasks are handled. It's one less thing to remember. - Piece of mind is priceless in this day and age. So once a recurring task is complete, it just pops up again at the next scheduled time. - You got it. When you mark a recurring task as done, to do as doesn't delete it, it resets it based on your recurrence pattern. So monthly report reappears next month, Grocery Run is back next week. - Okay, that's genius. And now, what about those massive tasks that are actually made up of several smaller steps? - Ah yes. The dreaded multi-step tasks. That's where sub-tasks come in. Within the task details of any task, you can break it down into smaller bite-sized chunks. Becky used filing my taxes as an example, breaking it into steps like, "Find my W2, download tax software," and so on. - That's so much more manageable than facing that giant task head on. - Right, it makes it less daunting when you focus on those smaller components. You check them off as you go, and for recurring tasks like our tax example, there's often an option to complete and reset tasks. So everything's ready for the next time around. - Love that. So the sub-tasks are nested under the main task rate. - Yes, neatly nested in the project view. And you can collapse them if you need a cleaner overview. - Organized and clutter-free. Now what about organizing things within a project? Like in that life admin project, you might have different areas of focus. - That's where sections come in handy. Within any project, you can create sections to further categorize your tasks. So in life admin, Becky has sections like dogs, finances, and cleaning. You can add tasks directly to a section or drag and drop them. - So sections are like sub-categories within your project bucket? - Precisely. It's a more granular level of organization, especially helpful when you're managing a wide range of responsibilities. - Got it. Okay, so we've got projects, tasks, sub-tasks, sections. How do you actually view all this information in a way that helps you get things done daily? - To do this, has several task views in the sidebar to help you focus. First up, the inbox. This is a catch-all for tasks you add without assigning them to a project right away. Becky talked about using it to capture quick thoughts, then organizing them later by dragging and dropping. - The inbox sounds like a mental dumping ground. In a good way. - Exactly. It's about getting things out of your head quickly. Then, for the must-do-day items, there's the "Today" view. - That sounds self-explanatory, but tell me more. - It gathers all tasks due today, letting you prioritize. Becky said she spends most of her time here. You can even close the sidebar for a distraction-free view. And, completing all tasks in today, earns you a to-do-est-zero celebration. - Ooh, a virtual pat on the back. Love that. - If you don't get to everything, you can simply drag tasks to reschedule them. No pressure, just flexibility. - I like that. - So, we've tackled today. What about planning for the future? - That's where upcoming comes in. This view shows tasks for the week, month, or even the year. It defaults to a board view, like we talked about, with tasks as cards and date columns. You can drag and drop to adjust dates. If you prefer a list, that's available too. And pro and business users get a calendar view. - So, you can switch between daily focus and broader planning. That's versatile. Now, let's talk mobile. How does to-do-est work on the go? - They have mobile apps for iOS and Android. And they mirror the web and desktop versions, so you're not limited to your computer. Becky raved about the quick-add widget, calling it her absolute favorite. This lets you add tasks from your phone's lock screen. - Wow! Right from the lock screen, that's convenient. You tap the widget and type or dictate the task and due date. Natural language input works here too. Just say, remind me to call Sarah tomorrow morning and to do as it handles it. - That's impressive. And it all syncs seamlessly across devices. - Everything syncs in real time. Whether you're on your computer, the desktop app, or your phone. Start a task at work. Check it off on your commute home. - Awesome. So, to recap the key benefits. - Quick task adding with natural language, recurring due dates for peace of mind, [BLANK_AUDIO] breaking down large tasks with subtasks, clear organization with projects and sections, focused views for daily and long-term planning, seamless syncing across devices, and that amazing quick ad widget unmoble. - That's quite a feature set, but the PC Mag review hinted at even more to uncover. - Right, Jill Duffy and Gabriella Vatu highlighted some other cool stuff. They praised the offline functionality, so you can keep working even without internet access. And when you're back online, it syncs everything. - That's essential these days. What about integrations with other apps? - To do this is big on integrations. There are plugins for Gmail and Outlook to turn emails into tasks. Sinking with Google and Outlook calendars, browser plugins to save web pages as tasks, and integrations with tools like Slack. - Turning emails into tasks, I can already see my inbox becoming less scary. - They also like the interface, which is customizable with color themes and a dark mode. And to do this has a template gallery with pre-built project setups for things like accounting, travel packing, goal tracking, meeting agendas. - Templates are a lifesaver. No need to start from scratch. What about collaboration features? - You can share projects, assign tasks, add comments, and upload files, but the free plan has some limits on these. - That's fair. And what about those productivity reports in that Karmascore I've heard about? - The Karmascore is a fun way to track progress. It's like a point system for completing tasks and staying on track. - I like a little gamification that keep me motivated. - Did the PC Mag review touch on the company behind To Doest? - Yes. They mentioned that To Doest has been around since 2007 and is committed to staying independent. That can be reassuring for users looking for a long-term solution. - Longevity and tech often indicates a good track record. Now the big question, what about the cost? - To Doest has a really good free version with plenty of features. Five personal projects, five collaborators per project, three filters, list and board views, five maybe file uploads, one week activity history and many integrations. - Not bad at all, but I'm guessing the pro plan unlocks the good stuff. - It does unlocks some powerful features, like the AI assistant, multiple calendar layouts, task duration tracking, custom reminders, 100-biddle puploads, 150 filters, unlimited history, and up to 300 projects. Then there's the business plan, which is geared towards teams. - So there's an upgrade path as your needs evolve. The PC Mag review did mention some drawbacks, right? They pointed out that some key features are pro only. And for very complex team projects, they suggested dedicated tools like a sauna or trello might be better. Also, there's no built in time tracking and fully mastering all the features might take a bit of exploration. - It sounds like a solid tool with a few trade-offs, like any app. - Right, it's about finding the right fit for your needs. - So to sum it up, To Doest seems like a very versatile tool for personal and work tasks, offering flexibility in how you organize and view your work from capturing quick thoughts to you planning your week, month, or even year ahead. - Absolutely, it covers a lot of bases. From that natural language input to robust organization features. And that cross-platform availability, especially the mobile quick-add widget, is a game changer for staying on top of things. - For those of us who constantly feel overwhelmed, the ability to break down tasks into smaller steps and set those recurring reminders could be a huge help in redaining control. - Couldn't agree more. The free version is a great starting point, and if you need more, the Pro tier is there. - We hope this deep dive has given everyone a good understanding of what To Doest can do. - And to leave you with a final thought, since To Doest is all about quick task capture, what's one thing you've been meaning to do but haven't written down yet? Maybe it's time to add it to your To Doest inbox.