I’m a hard-core list person. I’ve been obsessively tracking every book I’ve read and every movie I’ve watched since 2004 (151 and 524 respectively). I recorded every song I listened to for 6 years with last.fm before realizing that the top 10 artists hadn’t ever changed and finally deleting it (Fleetwood Mac was #1. By a lot.). And then, of course, the to-do lists. In every notebook, on loose paper, on napkins, on scraps and post-its and the backs of envelopes.
I’d looked for and used a number of sites and softwares to keep track of things, but none really worked for me until I found TeuxDeux. My main problem with services like Evernote and Google Docs (which I still use for other purposes) was that items too easily fell down the list – out of sight, out of mind. TeuxDeux constantly pushes forward my goals – anything on the list for today that I don’t accomplish will automatically be moved forward to tomorrow. At the same time, I can cross out the things I have accomplished – very rewarding – and the previous days are greyed out to take up less visual space. It’s in the cloud, so I can’t lose my list if I have computer problems (a big feature of last year, albeit one that had better be fixed by my new Mac!), and also syncs to my iPod app in case I have ideas on the go. (Note: the browser version of TeuxDeux is free, but the app is not.)
Maybe my favourite feature of all, though, is the “Someday” goals. This is where I log the things that have no particular due date, I just don’t want to forget them. I log blog post ideas, my New Year’s resolutions, things on my business to-do list, even things I want to eventually check out from the library… and of course my 30 before 30 goals. This way everything is together and stays at the forefront of my mind… after all, I can’t achieve my goals if I forget what they are.
And yeah, it’s pretty.
How do you stay organized?
