To-Do Lists, Part 2
Each time you enter a task into Life Balance, it asks you how difficult the task is, whether it is a one-time or a recurrent task, and how important it is, given your overall goals. Acting as a sort of electronic ADD coach, it then sorts and resorts your task list to keep you honest.
Let's say you have no trouble with small, easy-to-accomplish tasks but put off the big, bad, ugly tasks. Using vibrant colors, Life Balance highlights a task and starts marching it to the top of the list, changing the highlight from green to yellow to red as it becomes overdue.
- for Mac or Windows, $64.95 available from llamagraphics.com
MindManager
As I was putting the final touches on this column, I stumbled across MindManager. This software doesn't look or act anything like traditional calendar software or like a to-do list, but it works beautifully. At least it does for me. I'm the sort of person who never really feels in control of things unless they're spread out before me, as I struggle to remember names and dates. (I can picture ideas, concepts, and places with ease.)
Instead of text-based lists or outlines, MindManager organizes your tasks using highly intuitive visual maps. At the center of each map is a box listing its overall theme - in this case, "taxes." Each time you hit "enter," you create a new box on the end of an arm radiating out from the center. Clicking "insert" allows you to add more detail to the new box, such as listing the forms you'll need to fill out. You can add and view as much or as little detail as you'd like, and you can add color, icons, folders, files, pictures, or anything else you'd like to a topic or subtopic.
Once everything is laid out in map form, you can easily see (and remember) all the steps that might otherwise have gotten lost or overlooked. What's more, viewing the map makes it easier to brainstorm new ideas that are related to taxes. I'm not much of an artist, but in just a few minutes, I had made a colorful map of my daily to-do list. The tasks were visually leaping off the page.
The more you use MindManager, the more cool stuff you start to do with it. You can insert pictures to represent tasks (such as a photo of a friend you want to call) or flag tasks with detailed notes, icons, smiley faces, or directional arrows. You can link tasks to e-mails, phone numbers, or Web sites. And everything is searchable by keyword - so you'll never lose track of a task. Finally, the software provides an on-screen countdown timer to help you stick to a schedule and remind you to keep moving from one item to the next.
- for Windows only, $349 available from mindjet.com
ADD Planner, Life Balance, and MindManager: three very different approaches to help you get organized and take control of your to-do's. Make a commitment to any of the three, and you're almost certain to enjoy greater efficiency - and less trauma. At long last, it's a relief to feel organized and up to date on my tasks.
