Getting Organized With Google Tasks

Do you struggle with keeping your ideas organized?

Today we’re talking about getting organized with our tasks. I have been using Google Tasks for this for a while now and it has become a very important tool for me in terms of tracking all of the fleeting thoughts / tasks that come into my head throughout the day. I love anything that helps me get organized and Google Tasks has been tremendous in this capacity. Of course since it is based on the web I can access my tasks from my Motorola Android Phone which makes it that much better. Between this and Evernote I have really been able to keep to my 1 basic rule of organization: If I cannot find something in 30 seconds or less then it’s not organized. Earlier today (the day I am writing this not the day you are reading this) my wife asked me for a copy of her stock certificate evidencing her ownership in Nerd Enterprises, Inc. I didn’t have to go far, I had it scanned and right on my computer and I found it in less than 30 seconds even though it has been probably a year since I made her a shareholder and this was the first time I needed it. So I did not have an independent recollection of where I put it, but I have my files and folders set up so that I can find things very easily based on logic. This is where the last segment on Organizing your files in Windows comes in. So when it comes to my tasks I need to have them organized and in one place and set up in a way that makes it very easy to move them around from a particular list to “Today’s” List. My rule on tasks is that if you want to get them done you have to do it one of two ways. Either you transfer your tasks into a calendar appointment so that you literally schedule the day and time to get that task done, or you have a “Today” list and transfer the items on to that day. I have a multiple level structure on this – an ‘A’ List, ‘B’ List, and today. Then I have lists for certain clients and other projects that are sort of on the backburner.

One of the problems I find for myself is that with all of the constant stimulus, especially being in front of a computer all day I am frankly frequently inspired to write a blog post or record a web cast, or any number of other things. I was finding at one point that I would get a fleeting thought about a task or “to do” item and get distracted with it. Now I just go to my Google tasks which by the way there is now a Firefox Extension that gives you access to the same Google shortcuts that the chrome extension mentioned in the video gives you (it wasn’t available yet when I recorded the video). It’s simply called “Google Shortcuts”. So in order to prevent myself from getting distracted and while the concern was that I would later forget that idea that just popped into my head and became an important task or “To Do” item I realized I had the perfect solution. Just keep a master list of these ideas and Google Tasks is the perfect place for that. Then I found that many of them were ideas for web casts so I created a list especially for that. Now I just schedule time in my Google Calendar (are you seeing a pattern here?) to record a web cast and when that time arrives I have a long list of ideas to choose from. Of course you can keep reading lists, movie lists, vacation lists – for any kind of list, Google Tasks is really the perfect place to keep them.

The video web cast here gives you a tour of Google Tasks right from my screen and you will see firsthand how I am using it and why I love it so much!

Please enjoy the video web cast:

Please leave your comments here with any questions or share your experience with the tools you use to manage your tasks..