Every day, millions of people go to work in the morning. What’s the first thing they do? Come up with a list of tasks that they need to complete. Keeping track of these tasks can become a struggle as work and life get hectic. Luckily, we live in an era with technology available to facilitate almost all aspects of our lives – including the organization and prioritization of our to-do lists. There are quite a few apps on the market to help you manage time effectively and prevent tasks from falling through the cracks.
Microsoft OneNote
OneNote is a note-taking application offered by Microsoft that is one of my personal favorite applications due to its versatility. It is primarily aimed toward someone sitting at a desktop or laptop who needs to take notes, but has some cross-device functionality that makes it useful as a portable reminder system. For instance, it links notes to Outlook calendars, which facilitates keeping up with major events. Additionally, its mobile versions allow for taking quick notes that can be later accessed on the desktop version. This powerful application escalates note-taking to an increased level of productivity, as well as sending reminders as needed. The fact that OneNote has applications for all major mobile operating systems makes the tool a good productivity app contender.
Google Keep
Google Keep is a quick note-taking app that syncs with your Google account, giving you the ability to write and access notes on both your mobile device and your desktop. Google Keep is organized like a board full of sticky notes, with one key advantage – it’s searchable, so you don’t have to spend all your time scrolling through an endless array of haphazard writings. Google Keep is not the most robust tool for checklists, but the app is lightweight and quick to open, making note-taking a breeze. Although its interface can look cluttered when used extensively, it is a good fit for taking down quick notes to refer back to at a later date.
Any.do
Any.do is an app aimed at organizing anything that could be put in a checklist, and entries can easily be set in the “Today,” “Tomorrow” or “Next Week” categories. The initial creation of tasks involves simply writing what the task is and setting when it should be done. Once the task is entered, there are options to add a notification reminder based on time or location. However, it is another part of the notification reminder system that makes this app so useful. You could set it to remind you to do something when you get home or arrive at work, or to bring up a shopping list when you visit a specific store. As with the other offerings mentioned here, Any.do provides computer access to checklists through its website. This app combines the Outlook calendar reminders of OneNote with the ease and speed of Google Keep to help you with both note-taking and keeping up with needed tasks. The major downside to Any.do is that for anything beyond the basic features, you need a premium subscription. The premium account facilitates sharing checklists, offers recurring task setup and location-based reminders, and supports unlimited document attachment sizes.
Regardless of which app you choose to download (and there are so many more than the three covered above), adding a tech element to your task management routine will be a huge help in keeping you organized and on-task.
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