To Do Lists are My Life

Why I love to do lists

I am one of those people who cannot function without some type of schedule. If I’m not organized, I will lay around all day marathoning shows, reading mangas, snacking on junk food, or all three. I am only productive when I’m following a list, and I like to list everything. Well, except small things like bathroom breaks.

Good old agenda

It all started in middle school. Every year our school would hand out agendas to write out our schedules and to add homework assignments. This will continue all the way through my college years

After college, I thought I would never see an agenda again. Fast forward to when I was working in accounting, I had so many different projects to take care of that I bought an agenda and started writing everything down. Marking off everything on my schedule became a game, but I quit when I stopped working in accounting.

When I started going to school again, I went from using agendas to downloading apps. While I love having a physical agenda, it’s cheaper to use apps.

(Update: I started using an agenda again, here is an affiliate link to the one I’m currently using. I love it because it’s a coloring book too!  2017 Calendar – Adult Coloring Calendar/Planner – Spiral Bound – Designer Organizer 8.5″ x 11″ Planning Calendar and Coloring Book)

My favorite apps

I use a variety of apps to keep lists. I like to use Google Keep for ideas, Any.do for my daily life, and Asana for my projects and blogs. All these apps can be used on your desktop/laptop and they are all FREE!

Google Keep

This isn’t really something  I use to keep schedules, but ideas or things I need to look up when I’m not busy. I like it because you can make a to-do list or you can just make lists in general and check off items when you are done with it.

When I was going to school, I would create different notes for different sections of my classes. The teacher would give us a lot of resources, so I would copy and paste a video or article and save it on on Google Keep. When I’m done, I archive it.

I also use it to keep track of snacks, diets, exercise, projects, project ideas, and so on.

Any.do

I use Any.do for my daily life. You can create daily tasks and then check them off as you go. You can also repeat tasks. Any.do will also show your calendar appointments along with your tasks.

I like to add homework assignments, workouts, and projects. I just check off things as I finish them or rearrange the things I am not able to do. You can make these tasks recur or move them to the next day/week.

Asana

In Asana I create projects. For example I currently have  a project called blog. I list the blogs by name, and within each blog I list tasks to complete the blog. Then I add due dates and try to finish each task before they are due. I also use this process on client projects and other projects I’m working on like free resources to add to my website.

I add these tasks to the Asana calendar, which can be synced to your google calendar, as well as your Any.do daily list.

How many of you are like me and can’t function without a to-do list? What apps or methods do you use to get things done? Let me know in the comments below.
-Natasha Lane Design Co.

Similar Posts

Brand x web design process
· · · ·

Inside look at my Brand x Web Design Process

Below is an inside look at my brand x web design process. This is an update to my previous blog post on my design process. In this article, I will outline my step by step design process. This doesn’t include my client process, but in the future, I will post a separate post on my client process. Read More “Inside look at my Brand x Web Design Process”

How my wrist injury helped me revamp my business
·

How my wrist injury helped me revamp my business

Before I get into how my wrist injury helped me revamp my business, I want to give you a peek inside how I was living before my wrist injury happened. I was working more than 12 hours every day. Since I was working so much, my health took a back seat. I already gained like 30 lbs because I started eating foods that were more convenient to save time. Not only that, but I was exercising less. I use to exercise 4 to 5 days a week for about an hour a day, but now I was exercising for 30 minutes for 2 or 3 days a week.

I had the mindset of ‘If you’re not hustling, you’re not succeeding’. My butt was in my chair all the time and my family was definitely annoyed because I was spending less time with them. Then, one day, I was doing a wheel pose after a cool down, and I hurt my wrist. I didn’t really know until the next morning, but I brushed it off and kept working, so the pain increased. It got to a point where I couldn’t do anything. I had to quit working.

I’m a failure

Not working, made me feel like a failure. This was the lowest point in my life because I had to depend on everyone to do everything for me. Not only wasn’t I working, but I couldn’t do any household chores or cook. I was useless. All I did was sit around the house feeling depressed while watching TV. To make things worse, I gained another 20 lbs.

While I was in my depression, I realized I needed a change. I started hanging out with my family more and I was becoming more of a human being instead of a robot who was always working. I also decided to work on some courses that I bought, but hadn’t finished.

During this time, I had an epiphany. There were so many things that I wanted to do, but couldn’t because I was always busy working. What’s the point of working all day, every day if I wasn’t happy? Because of this, I decided I needed to work smarter not harder to create a balance.

How my wrist injury helped me revamp my business

It’s all over

The first thing I realized after my wrist injury was my business is nothing without me. I couldn’t do any work without my wrist. If I can’t work, I can’t make any income. This was an eye-opener for me. How can I take days off, have sick days, and so on if my business can’t survive without me?

At this point, I can’t say that my business will survive without me, but I have systems in place so I don’t have to work as hard as I did when I first started. Read More “How my wrist injury helped me revamp my business”

Graphic Design on a Budget: A list of free products to get started
·

Graphic Design on a Budget: A list of free products to get started

I know what it’s like to be on a budget and have a dream. That was me throughout my whole life. BUT just because you don’t have money, doesn’t mean you give up. I grew up thinking there is always a way. Graphic Design software is expensive, and the industry standard is Adobe. Although I am a big fan of Adobe, it’s expensive especially if you’re learning and experimenting for fun. Read More “Graphic Design on a Budget: A list of free products to get started”

How to make time to create YouTube videos when you have a crazy schedule
·

How to make time to create YouTube videos when you have a crazy schedule

About a month ago, someone on Facebook asked how they could create videos consistently when their schedule was out of control. This person was a student who was juggling classes and work, but this pertains to entrepreneurs too. I gave her a short, simple answer, but I wanted to go into more detail about it here. Here’s how to make time to create YouTube videos when you have a crazy schedule.

How to make time to create YouTube videos when you have a crazy schedule

The easiest way to create videos consistently for YouTube is to have batch days. If you don’t know what batch days are, it’s when you group similar tasks together so that you’ll get things done faster and more efficiently.

Even though I haven’t created videos in a while, I want to share how I batch tasks. This even works for when I’m working on my client’s videos. Pay attention, because if you want to save a lot of time and be more efficient this is for you.

Planning

Before you hit record, plan your videos in advance. If I’m creating a video or even a blog post, I already have a list of titles to choose from. In fact, I have a list of a year’s worth of blog posts and video ideas (I thought I was going to start creating videos, so I already started planning them).

Preparation is the key to everything. Here’s the easiest way to create a list of video content ideas.

 

Planning

 

01 Braindump everything

If you just start out making a list of ideas, it can be too much. Before you start brain dumping all the things you want to create, first start with categories. Come up with 3 to 6 categories that you want to stick to for your videos. For example, if you’re a coach for entrepreneurs maybe you want to stick to motivation, productivity, and planning. If you’re a fitness vlogger you could create videos that pertain to food, fitness, and motivation.

Once you create your categories, then start listing ideas for each category. Let’s use the fitness vlogger as an example. Under the category of fitness, you can list:

  • 5 ways to a smaller waist
  • My gym routine
  • Get rid of those chicken wings
  • How to stretch before you exercise

The fewer categories you have, the more you have to braindump because you’re creating a year’s worth of content. If you only have 3 categories, and you’re making 1 video a week, then you would have to create 13 ideas for each category. 6 categories would make 9 ideas for each category.

02 Create an editorial calendar

Now that your list is ready, you can create an editorial calendar. You can write out which video you want to create for each week. If you don’t have time to plan out too far in advance, then at least do a month. 1 month should equal 4 or 5 videos if you’re creating 1 per week.

You can also look at your schedule and find a 2-hour time block so you can start recording. If you’re creating short videos, you should be able to record 4 videos back to back. I’ll get into this more after we finish planning. Read More “How to make time to create YouTube videos when you have a crazy schedule”

How to Stay Motivated When You are EXTREMELY Unmotivated
·

How to Stay Motivated When You are EXTREMELY Unmotivated

There are days that I feel like doing a whole lot of nothing

We all have those days when you don’t want to go to work. We are EXTREMELY unmotivated. For the average person, they get in their car and drive to work anyway. But what if you work from home without anyone to watch what you’re doing? How do you stay motivated? Read More “How to Stay Motivated When You are EXTREMELY Unmotivated”

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments