I am one of those using MS at work. I am using “categories” to classify the emails in Outlook. So, I have different colours based on my activity (my calendar uses them as well). To Do can use same categories (labels) to classify the tasks. Very easy for me to track them all. In To Do you can organise the tasks by categories/labels. I am still playing around with the tool.
Thanks Carl! A short tutorial, straight to the point. I've even replicated your lists and already put in the activities that were lurking in my brain. Very well done.
I'd never heard of this software, but so far it looks very useful indeed. It really suits the method I had worked out (very crudely) for myself, using Apple Notes. Thanks!
I use this app to help me keep track of my groceries, especially those perishable items with best before dates... to remind me to consume them before said day. 🙂 I've not thought about using it for my routines, though, so ta for that suggestion. 🤔
@@djs71a What I do is create a list called "tags" and create a task for each tag in the system with the name of the tag. Then you can just go to that list and click on the title of the tag you want to search for.
I love To Do for those rotating tasks that are annoying to write in my planner, such as Garbage Day. I don’t want to spend any time tracking or planning Garbage, and this app does a great job of reminding me only on the day of the task. I get satisfaction from clicking the bell that I’ve accomplished the task, then the app remembers for me when to think about garbage next. My planner is kept for more focused work, but my house stays in order too! I also designed 2 sets of morning stretches, and set them to alternate days. Instead of planning which stretches, I just get to do them first thing. If I don’t get to them, no worries because the app shows me leftover tasks. I just click them as done and they go back into rotation. If I were to miss a week for illness, it’s much easier to pick up where I left off, then in a planning system. Also, I don’t want to think of these things before or after they are done. Simple!
Thanks for video. MS To Do is really rather good -- light and syncs perfectly. It's the only MS product I use, (happy Linux user for *everything* else), and To Do runs in a Linux wrapper called *Kuro* on the desktop. For what it's worth, ToDo really works well as my GTD system. Too long to explain how but it can be done, and really well too.
Thanks for the video Carl. I use MS for work and find it to be counter productive. They have many applications doing similar things but lack proper integration. To do is something I’m trying but find it clunky.
Agreed! Other people can assign tasks to me that show up in To Do, and I have to switch between using the app (if I want to move a task to a different list in the Time Sector System) and the browser version (if I want to apply a category). I’m hoping that I can get away from using categories for this reason.
Thank you Carl for all your video/advices. I love your COD system, etc. My biggest struggle is making the habit of doing the system and using any app. I trying all in paper to force the habit in me and then to go back trying a digital system. Is there something in your book about making the habit of COD? I think is like praying, must do it (want or not) everyday in order to make it a habit. Thanks again.
There's a whole chapter dedicated to COD and how to implement it. Habit development takes time, and you will fall from time to time. Yet, all you need to do when that happens is pick yourself up and take thirty minutes to get things back under control.
Thanks for another great explanatory video Carl! After watching this video, I have set up my ToDo at work in the same manner. Private, I use Evernote for note taking, scheduling, and task and project management. Do you know if I can set To Do in Evernote up the same way as you show here (i.e., with Today, This Week, etc.)?
I've been testing Evernote to see if setting up the Time Sector System there is possible. So far it's proving overly complex and requires a lot of manual organisation (which defeats the purpose). So i would say, at the moment it's not possible.
As someone who's mandated to stay inside the MS ecosystem - thanks for this video Carl! What about MS Planner - have you used that? From what I can see, I get the sense that the "new planner" will ultimately deprecate MS To Do, but it's very much in a half-developed state right now and I constantly run into friction when trying to work between the two.
@@Carl_Pullein Thanks for the reply Carl! I'm a Mac user too - the only way I can access it is by installing it as an app inside my MS Teams application!
@@Carl_PulleinHi Carl - Planner is browser only, so if you have 365 account you can use it on a Mac. Also there are dedicated iOS/iPadOs apps which are free. Planner though is essentially a Kanban board which can be viewed as a list and is better for project management rather than to-dos; however Microsoft are trying to squish to-do and planner together and it’s half-baked at best.
@@jonmartin8151 Hi Jon - you can access through any browser and they have dedicated iOS/ iPadOS apps which are free - you do however need a 365 account. ( I often run planner in `Firefox or Chromium in an Ubuntu based Linux system 😀)
I started using MS Planner before To Do which is giving better result for the Time Sector. I am using Planner for the big picture (projects per quarters).
I don't think so, but it will appear at the top of 'suggestion' when you open 'My Day' the following day - on click on the add symbol and it is back in your day.
@@Carl_Pullein can you make a video about how you would apply the Time Sector System to a daily FP? E.g., where would you capture “Next week” items that have not yet been assigned to a specific day?
@@username00009 I use the Franklin Planner as a planner. Collecting tasks that are is generally done digitally. Assigning into my FP is done when I plan the day.
How do you handle multi step tasks then? @Carl_Pullein I'll have a task prepare xyz for production. There maybe 3 or 4 tasks associated with that.. setting up the request..sending out the related email...moving files to the staging environment, etc. Depending on what is moving and when,the sub-tasks are diff. How do you handle that to make sure you don't miss something along the way.
I really appreciate your videos Carl, but To Do isn't brilliant. I have to use it at work and I use Todoist for personal use. Todoist has so many features (filters, tags, comments, subtitles, text recognition of appointments, hierarchies for projects/lists, ...) that To Do doesn't have. And yes, the "My Day" function is good but I have no way of planning the order of tasks for the next day. Todoist is constantly adding new features (like Due Dates now), but nothing happens with To Do. To Do is just bad. You only notice that when you compare it to tools like Todoist.
True, it's not fully featured, but that's its brilliance. In a world of massive distraction and over-featured apps, a simple traditonal to-do list is refreshing.
@Carl_Pullein To some extent, I can agree with you. But only partly, because the missing features sometimes take away my possibilities and even cost me time. Happy New Year Carl.
yo please don't wast your time on microsoft to do I was a havy user of it it in the past it garbage the free plan of to todoist is better 10x than the Microsoft todo
At my new job I have discovered that finely tuned time management is necessary and your video has been immensely helpful thank you.
Thank you for sharing. Glad to have been able to help.
You can pre plan tomorrow by setting a due date for the task to tomorrow. Then there is a setting to put tasks with due dates on the day they are due
Thank you for the heads-up.
Great info, thank you.
Yes I've been doing this for years to help me plan the next day
But you cannot plan the order of the tasks for the next day. If yo will use Todoist you will recognize who bad To Do really is!
I am one of those using MS at work. I am using “categories” to classify the emails in Outlook. So, I have different colours based on my activity (my calendar uses them as well). To Do can use same categories (labels) to classify the tasks.
Very easy for me to track them all. In To Do you can organise the tasks by categories/labels.
I am still playing around with the tool.
Thanks Carl! A short tutorial, straight to the point. I've even replicated your lists and already put in the activities that were lurking in my brain. Very well done.
Thank you and glad to have been able to help :-)
I'd never heard of this software, but so far it looks very useful indeed. It really suits the method I had worked out (very crudely) for myself, using Apple Notes. Thanks!
You're welcome.
I use this app to help me keep track of my groceries, especially those perishable items with best before dates... to remind me to consume them before said day. 🙂
I've not thought about using it for my routines, though, so ta for that suggestion. 🤔
Also MS-ToDo have Tags, for example #Waiting, which is one more layer to filter
I use them to give me the ability to prioritise, seeing as the app doesn't have priorities.
#p1
#p2
etc
Can you see a list of all your tags? Or do you have to remember the tag name to search for it?
@@djs71a What I do is create a list called "tags" and create a task for each tag in the system with the name of the tag. Then you can just go to that list and click on the title of the tag you want to search for.
@@djs71a I think you can create an open task with all your tags listed? maybe
I love To Do for those rotating tasks that are annoying to write in my planner, such as Garbage Day. I don’t want to spend any time tracking or planning Garbage, and this app does a great job of reminding me only on the day of the task. I get satisfaction from clicking the bell that I’ve accomplished the task, then the app remembers for me when to think about garbage next. My planner is kept for more focused work, but my house stays in order too!
I also designed 2 sets of morning stretches, and set them to alternate days. Instead of planning which stretches, I just get to do them first thing. If I don’t get to them, no worries because the app shows me leftover tasks. I just click them as done and they go back into rotation. If I were to miss a week for illness, it’s much easier to pick up where I left off, then in a planning system. Also, I don’t want to think of these things before or after they are done. Simple!
I found something similar. Digital to-do lists are great for reminding us of repeatable tasks that can easily be forgotten.
Thanks for video. MS To Do is really rather good -- light and syncs perfectly. It's the only MS product I use, (happy Linux user for *everything* else), and To Do runs in a Linux wrapper called *Kuro* on the desktop. For what it's worth, ToDo really works well as my GTD system. Too long to explain how but it can be done, and really well too.
Thanks for the video Carl. I use MS for work and find it to be counter productive. They have many applications doing similar things but lack proper integration. To do is something I’m trying but find it clunky.
Hi Dave, I noticed that. Microsoft's tools are becoming a bit confusing.
Agreed! Other people can assign tasks to me that show up in To Do, and I have to switch between using the app (if I want to move a task to a different list in the Time Sector System) and the browser version (if I want to apply a category). I’m hoping that I can get away from using categories for this reason.
Thanks for showing this app!
You're very welcome.
Thank you Carl for all your video/advices. I love your COD system, etc. My biggest struggle is making the habit of doing the system and using any app. I trying all in paper to force the habit in me and then to go back trying a digital system. Is there something in your book about making the habit of COD? I think is like praying, must do it (want or not) everyday in order to make it a habit. Thanks again.
There's a whole chapter dedicated to COD and how to implement it. Habit development takes time, and you will fall from time to time. Yet, all you need to do when that happens is pick yourself up and take thirty minutes to get things back under control.
Thanks for another great explanatory video Carl! After watching this video, I have set up my ToDo at work in the same manner. Private, I use Evernote for note taking, scheduling, and task and project management. Do you know if I can set To Do in Evernote up the same way as you show here (i.e., with Today, This Week, etc.)?
I've been testing Evernote to see if setting up the Time Sector System there is possible. So far it's proving overly complex and requires a lot of manual organisation (which defeats the purpose). So i would say, at the moment it's not possible.
As someone who's mandated to stay inside the MS ecosystem - thanks for this video Carl!
What about MS Planner - have you used that? From what I can see, I get the sense that the "new planner" will ultimately deprecate MS To Do, but it's very much in a half-developed state right now and I constantly run into friction when trying to work between the two.
MS Planner is not yet available for Mac, so I have not been able to test it out. I will as soon as it's available.
@@Carl_Pullein Thanks for the reply Carl! I'm a Mac user too - the only way I can access it is by installing it as an app inside my MS Teams application!
@@Carl_PulleinHi Carl - Planner is browser only, so if you have 365 account you can use it on a Mac. Also there are dedicated iOS/iPadOs apps which are free. Planner though is essentially a Kanban board which can be viewed as a list and is better for project management rather than to-dos; however Microsoft are trying to squish to-do and planner together and it’s half-baked at best.
@@jonmartin8151 Hi Jon - you can access through any browser and they have dedicated iOS/ iPadOS apps which are free - you do however need a 365 account. ( I often run planner in `Firefox or Chromium in an Ubuntu based Linux system 😀)
I started using MS Planner before To Do which is giving better result for the Time Sector. I am using Planner for the big picture (projects per quarters).
Are you saying for managing daily person workflow you can replace using ToDoist with Microsoft’ ToDo?
Ooh no not at all. This was a requested video. How to use To Do with the Time Sector System.
Is there a way to have a task that wasn’t completed automatically update and rollover to your day tasks the following day?
Good question. I'm not aware of a way to do that. Part of the daily planning is to reschedule overdue tasks.
I don't think so, but it will appear at the top of 'suggestion' when you open 'My Day' the following day - on click on the add symbol and it is back in your day.
How does this fit in with the franklin planner?
It doesn't. This video was done for those who have to use Microsoft tools and don't want to use an FP.
@@Carl_Pullein can you make a video about how you would apply the Time Sector System to a daily FP? E.g., where would you capture “Next week” items that have not yet been assigned to a specific day?
@@username00009 I use the Franklin Planner as a planner. Collecting tasks that are is generally done digitally. Assigning into my FP is done when I plan the day.
Are you concerned that one cannot assign due dates to subtasks (called steps) ?
No. I would never advise using sub-tasks. They are another layer of complexity you don't need.
How do you handle multi step tasks then? @Carl_Pullein I'll have a task prepare xyz for production. There maybe 3 or 4 tasks associated with that.. setting up the request..sending out the related email...moving files to the staging environment, etc. Depending on what is moving and when,the sub-tasks are diff. How do you handle that to make sure you don't miss something along the way.
@@arubafanatic That additional information would be in the project note. When I do step one, I can then decide when step two needs to be done.
nice
5:29 this is where they lost me.
I really appreciate your videos Carl, but To Do isn't brilliant. I have to use it at work and I use Todoist for personal use. Todoist has so many features (filters, tags, comments, subtitles, text recognition of appointments, hierarchies for projects/lists, ...) that To Do doesn't have. And yes, the "My Day" function is good but I have no way of planning the order of tasks for the next day. Todoist is constantly adding new features (like Due Dates now), but nothing happens with To Do. To Do is just bad. You only notice that when you compare it to tools like Todoist.
True, it's not fully featured, but that's its brilliance. In a world of massive distraction and over-featured apps, a simple traditonal to-do list is refreshing.
@Carl_Pullein To some extent, I can agree with you. But only partly, because the missing features sometimes take away my possibilities and even cost me time. Happy New Year Carl.
I dont use microsoft at al, i use only opensource software
yo please don't wast your time on microsoft to do I was a havy user of it it in the past it garbage the free plan of to todoist is better 10x than the Microsoft todo
Some people don't have a choice, sadly.