Stay On Top of Your To-Do List

Computer programs that help you create, manage and complete daily to-do lists.

by Joe Hutsko

Any ADDer, or parent of one, knows that sticky notes are great for jotting down reminders, phone numbers, to-do lists, and other bits of information.

Alas, my handwriting is so bad that I often have trouble reading what I’ve written. And because I spend most of each workday face-first in a laptop, it seems silly to spend time transcribing my thoughts onto paper when it’s so easy to record them directly on my computer. Why scribble when I can cut-and-paste?

Why, indeed! Now that there’s a wide selection of on-screen sticky-note programs, it’s easy to stay on top of all kinds of important information.

Sticky-note software

Some on-screen sticky notes look so real that you’re tempted to reach into the screen and peel them off. As to this category, I’d be remiss if I didn’t list the virtual version of the real deal, 3M’s Post-it Digital Notes ($19.99, with a 30-day free trial; PostIt.com), for PCs.

The program plants a little Post-it dispenser onto your screen. One click of the mouse, and a fresh Post-it appears on the desktop, complete with an animated twirl and satisfying “ffffwisk” sound effect. The brightly colored notes are handy for recording to-do items — and they can stay on top of other windows, so you’re sure to see them. You can color-code the notes or add alarms to remind you of important events.

Mac users get a free sticky-note program as part of the Mac operating system. Mac Stickies can be color-coded, stacked, and resized. I keep several in the lower right region of my screen—green for miscellaneous info, pink for must-do-today items. Another option for Mac users is the sticky-note “widget” that works with the Mac Dashboard (Apple.com). This tool, which is hidden unless you move your mouse to an “active” corner of the screen, is also great for checking the weather or looking up a definition.

An add-on program called Amnesty ($19.95; MesaDynamics.com) overrides Dashboard’s hide-and-seek nature, keeping some or all of your widgets on screen at all times. For PC and Mac users, Yahoo Widgets (Widgets.Yahoo.com) is a free alternative that also offers always-on widgets.

Web-based notes

The Internet is the world’s greatest information source — and, for someone with ADHD, also the world’s greatest time-waster. One way to stay focused is to use a Web-based notepad tool like Google Notebook (Google.com/Notebook), which is an add-on to Gmail e-mail accounts. It installs a notebook icon in the lower right corner of your browser, and you can use it whether or not you’re signed into Gmail. To add an entry, simply highlight anything you read on a Web page, such as the name and author listed in a book review, then right-click “Add note.” Voila!

Another Web-based service, Backpack (BackpackIt.com), keeps you on track all day. Users can create and store notes, to-do lists — and up to 10 reminders that can be set to ring a cell phone or send an e-mail alert — on “pages” that can be accessed from any Web browser. The free version gives you five pages; for $5 to $14 a month, you get 1,000 pages, 300 reminders, plus the ability to create and share calendars and upload and share files and digital photos.

Sticky notes that stay in sync

On-screen sticky notes are certainly handy when you’re seated at the computer. But I need to be able to take my notes with me when I’m out and about — to remind me of books I want to buy, movies I want to rent, or maybe the ingredients for tonight’s dinner.

I use a Palm Treo 680, a combination cell phone-personal digital assistant (PDA) that syncs easily with Macs and PCs. I can create, view, edit, and delete contacts, calendar items, to-dos, and sticky notes when I’m in front of the computer, hook up my phone, and then hit “sync” to bring everything up to date on the phone before I head out. When I’m out and about, I can view and edit the same info on my phone, then sync again when I come home, to bring everything up to date on the computer.

Don’t have a Treo? No problem. Most PDA-cell phone combos, like the BlackBerry and the Moto Q, offer the ability to stay in sync with your computer.

Keeping important information “under my nose” has dramatically boosted my effectiveness, both personally and professionally. Before, I often lost track of ideas and to-do items under a mound of paper. Now, I simply tap them into my computer or smart phone. I guess you could say I’m stuck on sticky notes.

This article comes from the February/March 2007 issue of ADDitude.

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