How to organize a million tasks, contacts and calendar events?

Question

iPhone

I understand that the question is hackneyed and has already been asked, but I have not yet found an answer to it for myself either in the search on Habr, or somewhere else. How to deal with the endless stream of tasks that bombard us daily?
1) There are different tasks - personal / work, with a deadline / without a deadline, recurring / one-time, related to a specific project / not related, etc.
2) There is mail. Each letter is also a task.
3) There are various devices - iPhone, iPad, poppy
How to organize all this in such a way as not to get confused, and so that you always have an up-to-date list of tasks for today? And now I'm not talking about business solutions such as project management systems and CRM, I'm talking about my personal tasks.
Who uses what?

Answer 1

Many to-do lists are a guarantee of problems. These lists should not be viewed as "to-do" but as "inboxes" (see Getting Things Done).
The to-do list must have one single one, possibly synchronized between different devices.
There are cases that are strictly tied to time (i.e. they have a deadline, and at the same time they cannot be scored on). If there is a deadline, but you can score, this is not a deadline, life is arranged in such a way that not all tasks are completed, some are canceled. Therefore, tasks with a hard deadline, but which can be ignored, are written to the general TODO list. Rigid tasks are written to the calendar (google calendar, for example).
For everything else, you can use Mark Foster's "autofocus" system. It's easier than implementing GTD.
The daily routine, which indicates the time of work on "autofocus", as well as the time of work on key long-term projects. It is convenient to have separate to-do lists for them.
Look at Evernote. For storing related information, that's it.
It is better to disassemble the mailbox as a whole. I now have rules - at the end of the day, the mailbox should be empty. If the letter requires a response, it is placed in a separate folder, and something like “having completed the task ..., unsubscribe ...” is written in the task list.

Answer 2

I use outlook + plugin to synchronize gmail calendar, from google and mslive / fb / twitter / linkedin events, meetings and birthdays are spreading to phones (wp private + android corp)
At one time in the morning I just took a printout of the calendar / ticket system and went to complete tasks , after which he returned and put marks on completion / made comments

Answer 3

In my humble opinion, the emphasis should still be placed on the principles of organizing time, and secondly, choosing the tools. It is known that for some (and very busy people) a simple notebook will be enough. As a result of a long evolution, I myself have converged to 2 online mailboxes (google with multi-colored stars), a simple TODO application on a smartphone (can be synchronized with Google Tasks), and a piece of paper on the desktop. The process is described in more detail below. Of course, it may not work at all for your case, but it will be great if at least some elements will fit.
1. In order not to drown in the flow of tasks, you should separate them in space and time. So, you should have at least 2 mailboxes: one work, and the second personal. Under no circumstances should both of them be attached to the same Outlook. You shouldn't use Outlook at all :) At work (and only at it), you work with your workbox (and only with it). Accordingly, at home (and only there) you interact with your personal box. Probably the advice will seem strange, but still worth a try - as a rule, productivity increases. A reflex is developed to focus on tasks appropriate to the situation.
2. In mail, if it is gmail, it is enough to set up the use of multi-colored asterisks - the methodology for using colors will develop by itself. For example: red - answer urgently, yellow - not urgent, blue - keep under control.
3. For a variety of spam (notifications, mailing lists, unique offers), it is better to have a separate box in general. For example, the one you use to register on dubious sites. If you do consciously read something, it is better to redirect it to a separate folder, and be sure to bypass Inbox - in order to read it in the allotted time.
4. There should be a time for everything. For example, for mail - 3 times a day, each time after a meal. It is better to turn on instant messengers only before rallies. If you are not a hot support employee, it is highly recommended not to keep the same Skype turned on. Anyone who really needs something will find you by mail or phone. However, they should also be kept away from you if you really are going to do something :)
5. A piece of paper is extremely useful on the table. Separate thoughts, promises to colleagues, especially important tasks constantly get there. During the day, it is worth using only it, and it is they who are guided. Inbox, let me remind you, is cleared only 3 times a day. If “thick” problems come across, then they go either on a paper sheet or are marked with an asterisk.
6. For serious work tasks, of course, a tracker is used. But in the tracker, it is useful to look only at the current iteration (everyone knows about agile?). And then, you need to look there only once a day, during morning coffee, selecting tasks for yourself on a piece of paper.
7. On the phone (or in your pocket), a simple TODO-list or a text file is useful, where thoughts that have not yet become a letter to someone, a task in a full-fledged tracker or an inscription on a paper sheet get.
8. Long-term home projects and personal goals can be stored in Google Docs in spreadsheets like Excel, sorted by priority or urgency.
In total, 2 gmail and a sheet of paper (+ a full-fledged tracker and google docs) may be quite enough for personal self-organization. And I feel sorry for you if you have to keep your Skype green all the time :)

Answer 4

I use omnifocus . And this is actually the best GTD program. And there are clients for iPhone/iPad. True, it will take at least 2-3 hours to figure it out.

Answer 5

I use evernote

Answer 6

Anything with a date goes to the calendar.
Anything without a date is in a GTD-like list.
If you like everything to be detailed and accurate, use a sophisticated detailed system.
If you are prone to spontaneity, it is better to use a zen-simple (up to a sheet of paper for a day)
I use Google Calendar for the calendar.
For tasks checkvist.com/ (used to use www.vitalist.com/ ).
For the initial cleaning of the GMail inbox, you can put www.activeinboxhq.com/ (after a month, the need for it disappeared, I use tags :).
ps: I have been experimenting with TM\PM techniques for more than six years :)

Answer 7

To manage my affairs, I use a bunch of Todoist + Sunrise Calendar. Todoist picks up tasks from Gmail, I add sites to it as tasks (to look at later), and Sunrise Calendar supports synchronization with Todoist, and you can set not only the start time for each task, but also its end time.
So far, this is the most convenient of all that is. I also recommend LeaderTask. It also supports creating tasks from emails. It is convenient that you can set your own color for the markers. A very useful thing is the ability to display overdue tasks and quickly reschedule them to a suitable day.
In general, the fact that not a single program is completely satisfied led to the fact that the development of its own began. :)