25 To Do Lists to Stay Productive

I come across many services a day while researching for Solution Watch, and as many of you know, I takea lot of notesto organize my thoughts about them. Until recently, the only methodthat I used to keep organized with the services I wanted to write aboutwas by reviewing my notes and email, then selecting one from the list.Now, I’ve learned to review all my notes at the end of the day and addeach service that I would like to review to an organized to do list.
The problem I was having was that I would write all these notes, butI wouldn’t always get to writing about the services I wanted becausesometimes I simply forgot (A Not-To-Do List)or the service got carried to the bottom of my notes archive. I thenstarted to use a to do list and now I am much more organized and everyday open my to do list and get a clear overview of what’s on my plateto review. All products are clearly listed all with open check-boxeswaiting for me to check them off. I really didn’t think at firstsomething so simple could help so much, but it really did. In fact,even this very post was marked on my to do list to write which I added a couple days ago.
There are a few things I look for when working with an online to dolist. I like the service to be clean and organized displayinguncompleted/completed tasks. It also must allow for simple adding andediting of tasks. And lastly, don’t hate me for this, but if I am goingto be using this to do list every day for who knows how long, it mustbe attractive. The way it appears may not matter much to some of you,but it does for me because if I want to get in to the habit of usingit, I have to be comfortable when using it. Other then that, any extrasare welcome as long as they don’t cause a loss of focus on the to dolist itself.
Top 5 To Do Lists: (No Specific Order)
Orchestrateuses a unique method to help you ogranize your to do lists. Rather thensimply allowing you to create a list, it lets you create multiple listseach with their own name. Orchestrate then allows you to select theones you want to see and display them in your little workspace. You canhave them all open at once or just a select few, as well as get a basicoverview of all lists. Orchestrate has a neat interface with a lot ofyour usual Web 2.0 type design elements with Ajax and Javascriptanimations, although it took me a minute to understand how to use itbecause the way you manage your lists is fairly unique.
Ta-da List, a37signalsproduct, has always been at the top of my list. It’s strong point isthat it’s a to do list and nothing more. It’s clean and simple, getsright to the point, and only provides feature that you actually need.You can create multipe lists and add, edit, re-order, and remove tasksfrom each list. You also have the ability to share your lists to friendor by using a public address. There’s not much more to it and that iswhy I like it so much.
Wallnotecaught my interest because it allows you to manage your to do list intwo ways. You can either access your to do list online at the Wallnotewebsite or you use it on your Windows Desktop. The creator of Wallnotehad the idea that, why limit users access to a web browser when theycan easily included on their Windows desktop using Windows ActiveDesktop. It’s a neat idea and effective because when a user starts uptheir computer, they instantly see the to do list. Wallnote has yourbasic to do list features where you can add and edit tasks, althoughthe only way to get a task off your to do list is by completing it (noremove option). It also has a little notes area on the left of the tasklist which I found to be helpful at times.
Remember the Milkis a more feature packed task management solution. It allows you toorganize your tasks into tabs and tags, make time specific tasks withautomatic reminders and repeat intervals, and even has collaborativefeatures. Remember the Milk may have a lot of functionality, but I feltit did a great job at allowing you to keep the service as simple asyou’d like, not making you feel forced to use the extra features.Although, even if you use it with the bare-minimum functionality,you’ll eventually start using all the features. I started testing theservice out with my original intent of just using it as a basic to dolist without using anything special. As the days passed I found that Istarted to use the extra features more and more and I found it’sbecause they really did help me with productivity. Because of this, Idecided to make it a top selection.
Rough Underbelly is on my favorites list because it is the only one that really got me motivated to use it. It’s entirely based on thePrintable CEO,an idea that has proven to be effective where you give yourself pointsfor completing a task. Rough Underbelly took the Printable CEO a stepfurther and created it into a Ruby on Rails based to do list. You addtasks to your list and set a specific amount of points to each. You cancreate your own measure of importance for each point amount or usepoint system provided as example on the left. You then want to make agame out of your list by trying to knock off as many tasks as you canin a day and seeing how high you can get your score. It’s a greatfeeling completing a task, especially ones with high points!
More Online To Do Lists:
Now, I know many of you know of other to do lists and feel they maybe better options then the five I have selected, and that may very wellbe true. The above five are my personal favorites and everyone hastheir own preference with these sort of things and because of this, Ihave decided to list other web-based to do lists that I know of. Andyes, I’ve tested every single one and more.