I find that writing down things that I have to do not only keeps me on track but also insures that things I have set out to do are actually accomplished. In keeping with the spirit of the coming new year, I started searching for a new method of collecting, maintaining, and updating my new year's TO DO LIST.
Gottabemobile offered several alternatives on how to do just that. The only problem is although I have, and still use, most of the softwares they were recommending, the methods were Tablet PC centric. Here is their list:
- MindJet's MindManager - a very popular application for brainstorming, managing projects, managing to-do lists, and integrating with Outlook. They also make a Mac version
- Outlook 2007 - The To Do list in the side bar is a great way of staying on top of emails that you've flagged or tasks you've created. To ways to keep tabs on an email: drag it to your Task List button to create a task from the email; or, flag it for follow up so it shows up in the To Do list.
- Create a to-do template in OneNote 2007
- Franklin Covey's PlanPlus for Outlook
- Create an on-the-fly To Do list in Windows Journal
I know for a fact that either one of the above methods is an effective way of handling even the most complicated of TO DO LISTs. Even if I don't carry the HP 2710P tablet PC that much anymore, I can still run all those Windows software in the Macbook Alum or even in the MacPro under Parallels. But what I need really is just a simple system that no matter which of my computers I happen to be working on, I will have access to my To Do List. I have found the Google App TASK to be good enough for my needs but that is only accessible everytime I am connected to the web.
Enter OmniOutliner 3.0 (OO3). It is a very powerful outlining software that may not be cheap at $69.95. It just so happened that it came bundled in the Macbook. I have barely scratched the surface of its overall functionality. I simply opened the provided ToDoList template and found it to be exactly what I was looking for. OO3 comes with a very well written user's manual that any user wanting to dig deeper into OO3 will find useful.
After typing my initial list, I simply saved the document inside my Magic Briefcase folder. I then created a 'trigger' (CTRL+SHIFT+T) in Quicksilver to automatically launch my newly created ToDoList.
Here is my workflow: 1. CTRL+SHIFT+T to open my List; 2. Type in any updates in my list;3. Hit CMD+S to save the file; and 4. Hit CMD+Q to quit.
Now, to be able to access this list in any of my computers, I would need SUGARSYNC and OO3 running in all of them. SUGARSYNC is a no brainer since it does not limit the number of computers syncing with Magic Briefcase. For OO3, I would need to buy a license for each of my computer. I settled for a trial version and installed that in the MacPro. Sure enough, after replicating the above steps in the Macbook ALUM, whatever changes I make in the ALUM is automatically (assuming that SUGARSYN is connected online) visible.
This system will be my primary mode of handling my ToDoList for 2009 or at least until one of the trial version expires.
What system do you use to handle your ToDoList?
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