ToDoist is my task manager of choice. I’ve been using it for about 8 years now, with brief interludes where I used things such as Omnifocus or 2Do. I even tried to build a full task and project manager in Notion. I always come back to ToDoist.
Why I believe ToDoist is the best task manager
ToDoist has 3 big things going for it that make it stand out in a crowded market. Yes there are task managers with more features, and yes there are some weaknesses in this fantastic application, but overall, these 3 things are what really make the difference.
1. Simplicity & Power
ToDoist is not a complex app on the face of it. It has a very intuitive interface. It’s my view that anyone could open up ToDoist and even without any knowledge of how the app works, could use it effectively to get stuff done – even if they ignored 3/4 of the features. It is incredibly easy to use. That being said, it is also incredibly powerful. Natural language parsing means that setting things like due dates and priorities is incredibly straightforward and fast. Keyboard shortcuts, some of which are global (you can use them no matter what app you are currently using) mean that entering new tasks, thoughts and ideas is near frictionless. Lastly, the searches and filters that you can create with the application mean that you can actually create multiple different views to present your tasks to you however you want. This is really helpful as you organise your work and plan your time.
2. Accessibility
ToDoist is available everywhere and is reasonably priced. There are native clients for Windows, Mac & Linux. There are iOS and Android apps, apps for smart watches and a web app. When I say accessible anywhere and everywhere, I mean it. It’s also fairly reasonably priced. A basic user can get by with the free version but the paid version is not excessively expensive. Moreover they operate a legacy pricing policy at present. This means even when they increase the price for new users, as an existing subscriber your bill will remain the same.
3. Beauty
Part of the apps ease of use is the aesthetic of the interface. In the past I tried ToDoist’s closest rival, TickTick. To me, the interface in TickTick is cluttered and it makes it harder work to see and read your tasks. With ToDoist, the app is clean and un-cluttered and the fonts and colours available make it pleasant and easy to use and work with.
If you want to try out ToDoist – you can do so here.
How I Set up ToDoist in 2023
The Time Sector System
The main element to this is Carl Pullein’s Time Sector system. That link goes to a video explaining this but the main idea is that I don’t have projects in my task manager. Instead I group my tasks by when I plan to do them. So my ‘projects’ as the app calls them are This Week, Next Week, This Month, Next Month, This Term and Future. Any task goes into one of these ‘buckets’ based on when I actually plan to complete it. I have a separate group for Routine tasks, split into Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly. This contains tasks like ‘Sweep the Kitchen Floor’ or ‘Renew Breakdown Cover’. These are tasks that need to be done, there will be problems if they are ignored, but they aren’t my key work or focus.
Within my ‘This Week’ bucket, I have a separate section for tasks that are important and key work but that recur every week, a few times a week or every month – this is a key part of Carl’s Time Sector set up. This is where my weekly content creation tasks go.
I only assign due dates to tasks in my This Week bucket and to my routine tasks.
Prioritisation
Carl Pullein uses something he calls the 2+8 prioritisation system. My work in the past has been very different to Carl’s and so I went for 3+12. The basics of this are that I have 3 objectives for the day. These I set as Priority 1 and that turns the task red. These are my 3 must do tasks for the day. If all else fails and I get nothing else done, it will have been an effective day if I do these 3 things. How I choose these varies. They tend to be based on what I think is most important and will have the biggest impact. Sometimes, on what is most urgent. Once, it was ‘Get a haircut’ – it had become very urgent!
The 12 other tasks are tasks I select from what I have allocated to today that I intend to get done if all goes to plan. As per Carl’s system, the Priority 2 tasks will be for the morning and the Priority 3 tasks for the afternoon and evening. Normally, there would be 4-6 in the morning and 6-8 for the afternoon and evening.
Filters
I use filters to guide me through the day. I have one filter for Today’s Objectives. This shows me my 3 objectives for the day and nothing else. My next filter is Today’s Focus. This begins with my Coram Deo. This is taken from Tim Challies book – Do More Better. This links to a short checklist I have which goes through my plan for the day and gets me set up. Then I have my P1, P2 & P3 tasks listed in 3 different sections of the filter. Lastly, in a 5th and final section I have my End of Day Planning & Close Down tasks that link to other checklists to help me plan tomorrow.
I have another filter for my core work today. This just brings up a list of all tasks due today excluding my routine tasks.
My last 2 filters are all about planning tomorrow. I have Tomorrow’s Focus (like today’s focus but for tomorrow) and Tomorrow, which is all tasks due today or tomorrow. Using these two filters at the end of the day, I can see any tasks for tomorrow, plus any tasks left over from today and assign priorities to those tasks. I can also move tasks away from tomorrow if for whatever reason I feel the day has too much planned.
How I manage projects
At present I manage projects in Notion. I’ll explain how this works in a separate post. All the tasks related to the project are in Notion. Largely that’s where they stay. I will create a task in ToDoist which is just the name of the project and contains a link to the project in Notion. I will label this task with a project label to make it stand out. So, when it comes to work on the project, the task in ToDoist takes me to Notion. The exception to this is where I do not intend to spend focussed time on a particular project but a single tasks needs to be done – then I will copy that to ToDoist. An example of this would be the task to set up a new bank account within a larger project of organising finances. I will elaborate on how I use Notion and ToDoist together in future.
How I use ToDoist every day
Once a week in my weekly review and planning session I will organise ToDoist for the week ahead. This will often involve creating a lot of tasks for projects and processing other things that have come in. Most of these go into This Week, but some will go to the other Time Sectors. I will review all my Time Sectors to decide what needs to be moved up to the next Sector. Then I will go through This Week and, based on my project focus plans, my calendar and a few other things, I will allocate every task in This Week to a date within that week.
My working day begins with my Coram Deo – the key tasks within this are to pray for the day ahead, that I would honour Jesus in all I do and then to review my objectives for the day to set myself up on what is important. Often I will seek to complete the 3 objectives first, though some days they are better suited to later in the day. I recorded my first podcast in the evening when everyone was asleep and it was quiet – despite that being my main objective for the day. Normally the morning will involve at least one, though more likely two, of my objectives and the tasks allocated to the morning. Then I go through the afternoon tasks in the afternoon. I tend to schedule my objectives on my calendar/daily plan so I know when I will be doing them.
Periodically I check my whole today list to make sure there no tasks that are time or location sensitive.
Towards the end of the day I open my today list and will work through the remaining tasks. Completing them or rescheduling them as appropriate.
Then I run through my end of day planning between 9pm and 9:30pm. It takes about 10 minutes to run through this. This is where I set my priorities for tomorrow.
Of all the ways in which I have used ToDoist this is the one that so far has provided the most clarity and focus for me whilst requiring the least amount of management. I’ve been using this method for over a year now and it is working really well. I miss having projects in ToDoist in some ways but this set up keeps ToDoist from becoming an overwhelming sink of tasks that hang around and never get done. Check out Carl’s Youtube channel for more on this fantastically simple system for getting things done.
