It’s a lot of fun trying different techie tools. It seems like there are new things to experiment with every day; you can SO easily succumb to squirrel syndrome/shiny object syndrome and lose track of what’s important.
Every once in a while I have to de-clutter my laptop from such fun but not-so-useful internet goodies. But there are five tools I will never be without – Google Calendar, Trello, Email, TeuxDeux, and a new addition, Toby.
Google Calendar
It’s so good at doing what it’s supposed to that I’ve practically ceded control of my life to it. Well, not totally, but it’s liberating! I swear, it thinks for me. The key is to set it up so that it works for you, not the other way around. Because I work at home, wasting time can happily suck me in. But Google Calendar keeps me focused and on schedule.
Planning every week as a subdivision of your year allows you to think logically. Not in the moment, but in anticipation of it. Winging your days as you go along, within the moment, will enable you to negotiate with yourself and procrastinate. Granted, emergencies and unexpected urgent situations will happen, but having a daily framework already in place saves you from the stress of making constant decisions.
This is where Google Calendar saves the day. Account for every minute of your day to stay disciplined and on track. Create “Tasks” for everything you do, and set reminders – either email or notifications. The great thing is, you don’t need to think or make decisions. Just follow your daily plan! Set reminders, and you’re good to go.
Trello
Since Trello is so hugely popular, you might already use it, or at least be a little familiar with it. It’s a set of tiles that you can arrange to suit your needs. It’s great for lists, workflows, notes, projects, ideas…
Remember using Post It notes for projects, or if you were in the corporate world, “brown paper?” Every project or workflow or list would be a different board. And the cool thing is, boards are shareable if you choose. There are lots of boards available that you can download that have been made shareable by their creators.
My boards are Tala Arts Control Center that has on it cards (which act as sticky notes) containing samples of my branding, mentors I’ve subscribed with, affiliate links, digital products I’ve bought (they get lost so quickly!), courses (for the same reason), swipe files, a description of my ideal client. Everything in one secure place.
Then there’s the Ellen’s Control Center board, with cards such as insurance info, repair people I’ve used, words I always spell wrong, dates of hire for past jobs, medical info, essential numbers. Pretty much anything you get tired of continually having to look up. Once in Trello, you can stop looking stuff up!
There’s a Reading Log containing past, present, and future reading. It keeps my reads top of mind!
I also have a renovation project, with “after” photos (still a dream), with steps broken down into manageable tasks.
The beauty of Trello is that it allows you to stop trying to remember the details of daily life.
It’s excellent for non-email things too!
~Notes to self
~Backup copies of documents I’ve written; cut and paste blog posts, for example
~Quotes to remember
The key is to make a subject line that will make it easy to find later. I know there are probably better ways to accomplish the above (such as Evernote), but quick and easy emails to myself work for me.
I’d be interested to know other unconventional uses for email.
TeuxDeux
Teux Deux is a paid app/website for managing your to-do list. I consider it very affordable and worth every penny at $24./year. I’ve hunted extensively for a replacement for Seize the Day that was free and worked great, but alas, the developer abandoned it. Eventually, it became unusable. Most of the to-do list managers out there are more like project managers; way more complicated than what I need. TeuxDeux is simple to use, nothing fancy or complicated. Simply type your task in the day you need to do it. Once completed, just click on it and it gets crossed off – and a cat flies across the screen! Silly but makes me feel extra good about “done” tasks. Those you don’t get to carry over into the next day. Day after day until you mark it done.
Toby
The latest addition to my internet toolbox. Because Chrome’s Bookmark Manager is ending soon, the search was on for a bookmark manager that does the same job. I’m convinced there’s some law out there that says simple computer tasks will become more complex with time. Just like what happened with simple to-do’s, I found incredibly complex bookmark managers that were all fancy. There are some that will link and post automatically to your social media accounts, manage photos and videos; essentially manage all sorts of files. All I wanted was a way to keep my bookmarks saved and categorized!
I settled on Toby, as it’s relatively simple as Chrome’s was, and does nothing I don’t need. It’s not that I dislike complicated apps, but I don’t have the required time to learn it. Been using it for about a week, and don’t miss my previous bookmark manager, so that’s a sign of a good choice.
There are two drawbacks so far: there doesn’t appear to be a way to import your existing bookmarks. I had to enter all 750 of mine manually. Most of those I considered DO allow importing. It’s crazy that Toby doesn’t. The second is, when you have a site open already bookmarked (or after you do bookmark a site) there’s no little check mark or color change to the plugin avatar. So I’ve found myself trying to bookmark sites without knowing they already are. It’s not that big of a deal, an inconvenience really, but the star in Chrome’s manager icon turned yellow for bookmarked sites.
Hope you picked up some new tips and tricks that can make your internet surfing more fun and efficient!
Photo by Tran Mau Tri Tam on Unsplash
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