Hey, what is going on guys?
As you can see, the set is finally rebuilt
and along with it to my new studio slash office
is coming together quite nicely.
Over the past couple of days have been able
to check off many different items in my little
studio rebuilding project in my to do list.
And speaking of to do lists, well we've got
to talk about those because I get a lot of
questions about which app or tool out there
is the best one for managing your tasks.
In today's video I want to try to answer that
question.
And to do so I'm going to be sharing my top
three to do list applications that I think
are going to be the best options for most
people.
And I'm also going to throw in one kind of
oddball recommendation that doesn't really
fit in with the other three but might be useful
for certain viewers, so let's get into it.
All right, so the number one app on my list
which you've probably seen if you've ever
looked at the resources page and my website
or ask me about it on Twitter is Todoist.
Now, back when I was in college I used to
use a task management app called Wunderlist
and I absolutely loved it, but a few years
ago Microsoft actually bought it and they
made the announcement that it was eventually
going to be going away and as a result I moved
over to Todoist.
And just to kind of spoil this video a little
bit for you, I think that to Todoist is probably
the best to do app out there in terms of features
and capabilities.
And the number one feature that offers something
that I find invaluable in my workflow is natural
language processing, which means that you
can add tasks along with all the details needed
for those tasks, such as tags and due dates
and assignees and things like, that just by
typing what you want in the main task bar
or by saying it.
I'm also a big fan of the quick add feature.
When I'm using the app on my desktop or in
the browser, I can just have the letter Q
or I can just hit the plus button on my iPhone
and I can easily enter a task in seconds,
and that reduces a lot of friction in my system.
Additionally, I'm a big fan of its integration
with voice assistance.
It's got Siri integration and it's also got
Amazon Echo integration.
Don't worry, I'm not going to say the A word
in this video.
But if I want to I can easily tell my Echo
to add a task and it gets automatically added
to my inbox, and I love that since I have
several of them in my house.
That being said, not everything is perfect
with Todoist.
I do think that the way it handles sub tasks
is a little dated.
I'm not a big fan of how you just indent things
in your main task list instead of having a
real subtasks view.
And additionally, the windows app doesn't
work quite like the desktop app, the Mac app
or even the mobile apps.
It's got kind of a different UI, and it doesn't
work quite as well.
Additionally, Todoist is not the cheapest
app and the personal productivity space, especially
since they just raised the prices to $4 a
month, so that might be a bit of a turnoff.
Though it is worth mentioning that there is
a student discount, though they did make the
baffling decision to require people to sign
up for a business account before asking for
it, but even still, it reduces the price down
to about a 1.50 per month, so if you are a
college student that is an option for you.
However, if you are a price conscious person,
or you're just somebody who doesn't want to
pay a monthly subscription fee for your to
do list app, then there's something else that
you're going to want to look at, and that
is Microsoft To-Do.
Let me level with you here.
If you're somebody who just does not want
to pay for to do list application and you
have simple needs, then I think Microsoft
To-Do is the absolute best option on the market
right now.
A couple of years ago, I would not have made
this recommendation as when it came out as
the replacement for Wunderlist, there were
a lot of missing features.
But over the past couple of years Microsoft's
team has added a lot of needed features to
the app and honestly it's pretty darn good,
especially for having absolutely no premium
tier whatsoever.
You've got the ability to make multiple projects.
You can color code those projects.
Subtasks actually work like they're supposed
to, and unlike Todoist's free plan, you can
add comments and file attachments to your
tasks in Microsoft To-Do without paying anything.
This is actually the main reason why I recommend
Microsoft to do over Todoist, it's a free
plan if you just don't want to pay.
I do think Todoist is more powerful overall,
but I think a lot of people are going to want
the ability to add descriptions and comments
to their tasks, like say if you want to set
up a PO box, and you need to put the address
of the post office box in the task, you have
to pay for that with Todoist.
Now, granted Microsoft To-Do does not have
natural language features, so you do have
to set your due dates and stuff like that
manually, but if you want something simple
I think it really works.
And it also has some pretty cool features
that you're not going to find an other apps,
such as the My Day feature which doesn't pull
tasks based on due dates but instead lets
you manually add tasks from your list.
Now of course, there are some things with
Microsoft To-Do that I don't like.
For instance, there isn't a dedicated Mac
app right now, so just like To-Do is on the
Windows side, I've got to use Microsoft To-Do
in the browser.
Additionally, like I said earlier, it is not
quite as powerful as other apps like Todoist.
You don't have the natural language features,
you don't have tags and filters and smart
lists and things like that, but again, if
you don't want to pay and you want something
simple, I think it is a very compelling option.
That brings us to my third recommendation
on this list, which is an app called TickTick.
And if you've ever used TickTick before, you
probably know that it is eerily similar to
Todoist.
Just like Todoist, it's got those natural
language features which allow you to get tasks
into your system very quickly and have it
just parse all the information you want instead
of having to set it yourself.
It's got tags you can add to your tasks and
it's got something called smart lists, which
function basically the exact same way that
filters do in Todoist.
But there are some features in TickTick that
you're not going to find in Todoist.
Just for example, there is a built in calendar
view, so if you want to look your tasks on
a by week or by month basis, you can actually
do that.
There are start times, you can add your tasks,
which I don't personally use, but some people
find to be very useful.
There is a builtin pomodoro timer which can
actually be tied to your tasks, so if you
want to do pomodoros throughout the day and
actually bind them to the tasks you have in
your system, you can do that, and sub tasks
actually work the way that they should.
You click into a task and you can see your
sub tasks along with all the related information
like file attachments and comments.
Beyond that there are even more features in
TickTick such as desktop widgets, which I
kind of irrationally love.
Not sure why I liked them so much, but it's
kind of cool to have like a semi-transparent
box on my desktop with all my tasks.
And on the mobile side there's a feature called
Plan My Day, which helps to intelligently
plan out what you want to get done on a given
day.
Given all these features and the fact that
TickTick is cheaper than Todoist at $28 a
year versus their $36 a year, it might seem
like TickTick is the better option, and for
some people it might be, but there are a few
caveats.
For one TickTick does have those natural language
features, but they're not as strong as the
ones found in Todoist.
For example, I can't use T-O-M for tomorrow,
I actually have to type out the entire thing.
And when I'm using a really complex request,
like having a task with a specific first due
date along with a recurring option, it can't
really parse it.
Todoist handles it like a champ, but I have
to go in and manually set that kind of thing
up in TickTick.
Additionally, there is no two way Google Calendar
sync in TickTick, so while you do have that
built in calendar view, if you want to actually
look at it on your Google Calendar, you can't
quite do that as well as you can on Todoist,
and perhaps most importantly of all, their
free plan is very limited, you can only have
nine lists.
That brings us to my oddball recommendation,
which really isn't that odd, it just kind
of exists outside of the realm of the simple
to do list style apps that most of you guys
are probably familiar with.
My final recommendation for this video is
something called ClickUp, which is an app
that you have probably categorize as project
management software instead of a simple to
do list app.
Project management apps which, don't really
include tools we've already talked about but
do include tools like Asana and Jira and ClickUp
are a little better suited for managing really
complex projects with lots of moving parts,
different tasks, statuses and for managing
teams.
Now for a long time I was a big Asauna user
mainly because my friend Matt got me on it
and it was pretty useful, but after testing
ClickUp, I think it is probably the most useful
and most full feature project management that
I've ever tried, and it might also work for
personal productivity.
ClickUp gives you a ton of different ways
to look at your tasks.
You've got a normal list view, you've got
a board view, it just kind of Trello or Kanban
style.
You've got a calendar view or you can go full
project manager and even look at Gantt charts.
When it comes to creating tasks.
You basically have all the options.
There is a full fledged hybrid markdown editor
for descriptions that rivals notions or slights.
There's the ability to add sub tasks and checklists,
and you can generate these checklists from
templates, in fact, you can generate entire
tasks from templates.
And of course you got your due dates, recurring
due dates with more options than you can shake
a stick at.
There's task watchers and you can even assign
multiple people to one task.
And then there are the tools.
There's the ability to minimize tasks to a
task tray, which kind of gives you the ability
to make a little daily list of tasks you're
going to work on.
There's a notepad feature built into the app
for making just scratch notes, and possibly
my favorite additional tool is their Chrome
extension because it lets you take a screenshot
of a webpage and append it to an existing
task or make a new task out of it.
And when Martin and I were working on fixing
some bugs on the college [inaudible 00:08:28]
website, this was actually really, really
useful.
So if you're the kind of person who wants
incredibly fine grained control over every
aspect of your life, where you want to take
heavy advantage of templating and team features,
then ClickUp might be something to look at.
And that being said, after testing ClickUp
extensively for a couple of weeks with my
team, I ended up making the decision to move
us all back to Todoist.
And the main reason for doing that is that
ClickUp just gives us too many options.
And we found that there was a lot of friction
involved and adding new tasks to the system
and out where they should go.
Whereas in Todoist, we can use those natural
language features to get something into the
system really quickly.
However, during that testing period I was
really impressed with all the different features
they're offering, and I do think that it offers
a lot more flexibility and capabilities than
similar apps like Asauna, so for a certain
kind of person, it's going to be a pretty
compelling option.
That brings us to the final question which
is: which of these apps is the best one?
And it's kind of hard to answer that question
objectively since everyone has different needs,
so I'm going to give you a couple of different
recommendations.
First and foremost, if you don't want to pay
for your task management software, then Microsoft
To-Do is really compelling.
If you really want the natural language features
then maybe Todoist's free plan is for you.
Otherwise, if you want something simple, you
want something that works and has some pretty
cool features all of its own, then Microsoft
To-Do is pretty cool.
If you are willing to pay a few bucks a month
for a subscription though for my money at
least Todoist is the best general task management
app out there for most people.
Now, TickTick is really compelling.
It's quite similar and it does have a few
additional features like that pomodoro timer,
but at least for me, the superior natural
language processing, which allows me to get
tasks into my system more accurately and more
quickly, gives Todoist the edge.
Now, regardless of which task manager app
you end up going with, one of the tasks that
you should put on it and do as soon as you
possibly can is getting yourself a domain
name.
It's no secret that more and more companies
are relying on the Internet to find their
job candidates, so if you want to position
yourself as the best possible person for that
job you're looking for, then you should be
looking to establish a strong personal brand
online.
And a really important part of that process
is building yourself a website where you can
communicate your skills, show off your portfolio
and make it really easy for people to contact
you.
And of course the first step to doing that
is securing a domain name for yourself, something
that you can link to from your online profiles
and you can put on your resume and business
cards.
And the best place on the Internet to get
that domain name is Hover.
Unlike some other places, Hover makes the
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And once you've got the domain name you can
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Head over to hover.com/thomasfrank to get
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And if you use that link, which you'll find
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Big thanks to Hover for sponsoring this video
and being a big supporter of my channel and
as always, thank you guys so much for watching.
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