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We all have lots of goals in our lives. To be healthy. To be wealthy. To be wise. We don’t always admit them to others, or even to ourselves! But researchers have found that if you write a goal down, you are much more likely to achieve it. TaskAngel helps you manage your goals – to write them down, to plan how to achieve them, to keep them under review, and to enjoy the satisfaction of achieving them. Some goals might be things you hope to achieve within a few months, and others can take a whole lifetime. With TaskAngel, you can have three levels of goals: Lifetime goals Long term goals Short term goals How you use these levels is up to you. For me, a lifetime goal is something that is going to take 10 years or more. A long term goal will take between 1 and 10 years.  And a short term goal should take less than a year – perhaps a lot less. You can link goals of different levels. A lifetime goal can be supported by one or more long term goals, and they in turn can be supported by short term goals. One of my lifetime goals is “Support my family”. This is supported by a long term goal, which is to help my grandson with his maths, by providing a tutorial every week. And this, in turn, has a short term goal, to prepare him for his maths exam next year. To achieve the goals, you have to actually do things. In other words, put tasks on your todo list, and complete them. Every time you create a new task, you have the opportunity to assign it to a goal. And you can edit a task to change its goal. You can review progress towards the achievement of a goal by selecting it using the Filter. You will then see a list of the tasks assigned to that goal. The list also includes any tasks assigned to shorter-term goals that contribute to it. If you add a new task when you are filtering on a goal, the new task will be automatically assigned to the goal. When you have finished with a goal, you can archive it. Then the goal will be hidden, and all tasks that are assigned to it, unless you go to Settings and check “Show archived goals”. Goal setting helps you maintain a sense of direction and focus. But don’t overdo it! You don’t need very many goals. Between 5 and 10 should be quite enough. Any more will most likely confuse you, instead of helping. TaskAngel will help you set your goals and achieve them. Please let us know how you get on – leave a comment. Andrew Boswell July 2016

You can use emojis in TaskAngel to add extra sizzle to your tasks ❤️ . Emojis can go anywhere – in tasks,  and notes, or in the titles of folders, goals, contexts and tags. You can even search on emojis. When syncing across to other devices, the emojis show up only if the other devices support the same emoji codes. For example iPhone to iPhone or iPad, or Windows to Windows. The Process Street blog has an excellent guide to using emojis in business. Enjoy! 😃 #blog

Is your email a nightmare? Do you spend too much time doing email? Do you have hundreds of unread emails in your inbox? This blog post will help you. Despite the rise of social media, email is still by far the most common method of written communication. Radicati’s Email Statistics Report estimates that over 200 billion emails are sent every day. This compares with 23 billion text messages per day, and ‘only’ 500 million tweets per day! There are less than 5 billion email accounts out there, so on average each email user is sending and receiving 40 emails per day. When I was a programme director I used to get around 150 emails a day. Some of my colleagues got a lot more. Here are my 10 best does and don’ts for getting on top of your email. 1. Do look at each email once only There are basically 4 things you can do with any email: trash it, archive it, action it, or forward it. It should only take a few seconds to decide what to do with an email. Practice your rapid reading skills. If it is trash, move it to your Trash folder immediately. If you need to keep it, but it requires no action, just move it to your Archive folder. If you need to take action in response to the email, perhaps you can do it immediately, if it will only take a minute. For example, accept or decline a meeting invitation. Do it now if you can, otherwise create an entry in your todo list. Then move the email to your Archive. If you need to forward the email to someone else, do that, then move it to the Archive. 2. Do empty your inbox Sort your emails by received date & time, with the most recent ones at the top. Then even if you have a huge backlog in your inbox, you will still see the most recent – possibly urgent – ones first. Most emails have a limited shelf life, so if you are moving backwards in time you will find that less and less of them require you to do anything other than archive them or trash them. After you have gone back a few weeks, most people will have given up on you, so you might as well move all older emails to the Archive. 3. Do keep your inbox empty Inbox is for new email you haven’t read yet. When you have read an email, move it out of your inbox. Otherwise, you will find yourself reading the same emails over and over again. Not good. 4. Don’t use lots of folders If you have lots of folders, you will be forever hunting through them looking for emails you remember seeing. Don’t do it. Just put all the keepers into Archive. Then you can easily sort them all by date, or by the sender, or use the searching and filtering features of your email app. 5. Do forward with respect Every email in your inbox is a burden because it is demanding your time and attention. If you forward the email to someone else, you are giving the same burden to that person. Don’t forward an email to someone unless you are sure they need to see it. And when you do forward one, add a comment so they are clear why you have forwarded it. If you need them to take action, say what you want them to do, by when, and add “For action please” to the start of the subject. If it is just for information, add “For information”, and say why it’s relevant. This will help them when they are scanning their inbox. If it’s important, talk to them about it as well. Their inbox might be in a worse state than yours! 6. Do use a small number of words When writing an email, think about its purpose. Write the minimum words necessary to achieve that purpose. If you write too many words, people will skip them or trash the whole email. Or they will leave it ‘to read later’ which is never going to happen. They really mean ‘trash later’. People can’t see your face when they are reading your email. They don’t know if you are smiling or frowning. They can easily take offence. Never write an email in anger. Clear the air by talking, face to face if possible, or pick up the phone. 7. Don’t cc your emails When I was a senior manager, some of my team used to copy me on emails they sent, particularly if they were complaining about something. As if copying me conferred some added authority to their complaint. That made me really mad! Never use cc unless you really have to. 8. Do turn off unwanted email If you are repeatedly receiving unwanted emails from the same source, add them to your “Spam” filter if you have one. If they have an ‘Unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of the email, use that. (But beware of spammers who exploit ‘unsubscribe’ to get you onto their web site.) Some email sources have messages you want to see and others you might not. For example, Amazon sends you a receipt if you buy something, but they also send you lots of marketing stuff. I contacted their help desk and got them to unsubscribe me from all their marketing emails, but they still send me receipts and information about my orders. 9. Do limit your email time Some people seem to spend every spare minute doing their emails. That’s no way to live! Allocate some time for looking at your inbox. Perhaps 30 minutes at the beginning of the day, 15 minutes after lunch, and 30 minutes at the end of the day. Go through your emails as quickly as you can, remembering that most email is trash. But just occasionally something vital will arrive. Concentrate so you don’t miss it! 10. Do use a good email app When I worked for a company I used Outlook because the company paid for it. But now I read my emails on my iPad and iPhone. There are many good email apps, including the built-in one. I like Spark from Readdle, because it has lots of really cool features. You can swipe left to trash, and swipe right to archive. And Spark will automatically filter your emails, using rules set by you. Great! To manage the actions arising from your emails, use a good todo list manager like TaskAngel. You can try it for free at taskangel.com. Feedback Did you find this post useful? Please share it with your friends. Do you have anything to add? If so, please leave a comment. You may also find this article useful: Thou Shalt Not Use Email Notifications! SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave #blog #email

Do you work hard all day but feel you’re achieving nothing? Do you lie awake at night with all your unfinished tasks swirling around in your head? I can help you. Read this post to see how to boost your productivity and reduce stress. The good news is that you aren’t alone. It’s the human condition. Back in the 1940’s, the psychologist Kurt Lewin developed his Field Theory. According to Lewin, our behavior is a function of our personality and our environment. Pressure from the environment pushes us. Another psychologist, Bluma Ziegarnik, applied this thinking to the tasks we perform. She found that we live in a state of tension caused by our unfinished tasks. When we finish a task we forget it. Unfinished or interrupted tasks stay in our heads and give us grief. I am no stranger to pressure. I spent over 40 years in high tech companies, pushing forward advances in technology, and finding ways of harnessing it to improve the lives of ordinary people. Along the way I learned a lot about how to cope with a strenuous workload. In this blog I’m going to share how to get back in control and get the right things done. Here are my ten steps to fix your todo list. Step 1 – make some time When you are overloaded, you never have enough time. You’re constantly in meetings, or doing your email, or chasing your tail. You have got to break out of the cycle. To start, carve out half a day to get yourself back together. Choose a time when the pressure is low. For me, Sunday afternoon is good, because I don’t have deadlines due then. I’m still feeling rested from the weekend, but I can feel the pressure of Monday morning reaching for me… Sit down in a place where you can avoid distractions and interruptions. No TV. No music. No conversation. Step 2 – make one list Do you have lots of post-it notes with reminders of things to do? An Outlook task list? An inbox with loads of unanswered emails? A pile of paper waiting for attention? Is your voicemail full? If so, you’re normal. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Now it’s time to take control. Make one list. And make it a new list. Don’t just add to a list that’s already out of control. There are lots of todo list apps out there. But now is not the time to start playing with them. Keep to the job in hand. Make your list on paper, or start a spreadsheet. Start by listing what is on your mind. Don’t look at emails or text messages. That comes later. For now, just drain everything out of your brain. Trust it to know what really matters. Every item on your list is a task. Describe it as an outcome. How will you know when you have done it? If it’s a promise you have made, write down who it is for, and when it’s due. But don’t give it a date at all, unless the task absolutely must be done by then. Step 3 – scan your inputs Now you can look at your emails. Don’t start answering them! Just scan them, looking for action items, and add the actions to your one task list. Remember most emails are unnecessary. People telling you stuff you didn’t need to know. Asking you to do things you don’t want to do. Delete anything you don’t need. Only accept new actions that are important. Forget the rest. Do you have a lot of papers? Gather them all into one big pile. Sort them into three smaller piles – Action, File, Trash. Add the Actions items to your one task list. Put the Trash pile in the trash. Leave the File pile for later. Review your other inputs. Voicemail, social media, post-it notes, Outlook, or whatever. Have a look at your appointments for the next few weeks – what do you need to prepare for? Again, be selective. Only accept things that really matter. Add them to your task list. Step 4 – prune your list Review your task list. Is it a long one – too long? Are you really going to do everything on it? Do you have the time, and the energy? Now is the time to admit defeat, and take out anything you are never going to do. Step 5 – renew your promises What if you have promised to do something, and you now realize you can’t do it? That’s bad news for the person that is waiting for it. You’re going to have to tell them. Maybe you can do it, but to a new deadline? Maybe you can do something less hard on you, that allows them to make progress? Make a note to call them, or send them an email now. Step 6 – think about fun We don’t live to work – we work to live. Make sure your task list includes the fun things in life. Things to do with your family and friends. And tasks that look after your personal health and well-being. Get them all onto your one task list. Step 7 – break down big tasks Now your task list is taking shape. You probably find some tasks are small and easy – like ‘Buy AA batteries’ – and some are much bigger and more complicated – like ‘Fiona’s birthday party’. Some tasks are so big, it’s really hard to get your head round them. When you are faced with a big task, break it down into manageable steps. Or if you can’t see all the way to the end, just write down the first step, to get you started. Step 8 – make a schedule You’re coming to the end of your task planning session. You have one big list of everything. Now make some choices. What are you going to do tomorrow? And the rest of the week? Pick out the most pressing tasks, and make time for them by adding them to your calendar, as appointments with yourself. Be realistic about how long they are going to take. If you’ve broken down your big tasks into smaller ones, you should be aiming to get each task done in less than an hour. “How can I schedule my tasks? My diary is full already! I’m in meetings all day!” It’s a familiar cry, but it won’t do. You must get back control of your own time. Bail out of any meetings that aren’t vital. For the ones you can’t escape, talk to the meeting organizer. Can the meeting be shorter? Can it be a phone call? Can you attend part time? Maybe the meeting organizer is also waiting for you to complete an action. Negotiate! Step 9 – do what matters If you have had a good task planning session, it should last about a week. Use your task schedule. Pick from your task list, and get the most pressing tasks done. Remember to pay attention to the nice, easy tasks too – it’s a great way to make your todo list shorter, and it makes you feel better. Progress at last! No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. It’s the same with task plans. You’re just tearing into a nice juicy task, and the phone rings. Panic stations, drop everything! But now you have a handle on the ‘everything’ you are dropping. Just park what you were doing, add the new task to your list, and keep going. Step 10 – do it all again After a week, you may have drifted a long way from your original task schedule. But you will have the satisfaction of knowing you did the right things. Now reserve another hour or two to review your one task list again, and get it back under control. It will be easier this time, because you are only looking at changes. Now is the time to think about using an app for your task list, instead of just paper. It makes your task list easier to maintain. There are lots of good apps out there. One of the best is my own TaskAngel, which runs on iPhone, iPad and Windows. It keeps a single todo list in sync across all your devices. Give it a try – it’s free! Summary Here again are the ten steps: Make some time Make one list Scan your inputs Prune your list Renew your promises Think about fun Break down big tasks Make a schedule Do what matters Do it all again Good luck! Andrew Boswell June 2016 TaskAngel is available on iPhone, iPad and Windows. To try it for free please visit taskangel.com Did you find this post useful? Please share it with your friends. See also: How to delegate tasks How to decide what to do next Access your tasks wherever you go Convert emails to tasks #blog #Productivity #todolist

To delegate tasks, write the person’s name at the start of the task title: Kevin, pay phone bill Kevin, mow lawns Kevin, fix tap These could all be in different folders. Then if you tap Kevin into the search field at the top of the task list next time you talk to him, TaskAngel will gather all those delegated tasks into a single list. Good news for you. Bad news for Kevin. Enjoy, Andrew

Often we put off important tasks because they are too difficult, or too complicated, or we just don’t want to think about them. Every year I have to do an income tax return, and I always hate the idea of it. Subtasks are very helpful for breaking down these horrors into much easier, simpler steps. For my income tax return, the first task might be ‘Find tax form’. All versions of TaskAngel provide subtasks. But if you are syncing with Toodledo, you need a subscription account to use subtasks, as their free account doesn’t support subtasks.

Contexts are used to help you choose a task that is suitable for where you are and what you are doing. What context you are in, in fact. Here is a suggested list of contexts to get you started. Calls Computer Errands Home Work School You can give all your tasks a context, then filter on all the tasks to be done at work, for example. Divide and conquer! Then you can stop stressing about tasks you can’t do at the moment. Now pick a task you can do, and just do it!

You can make convert an email to a task instantly, by forwarding it to a special Toodledo email address that comes with your Toodledo account. You just have to set this up once to get started, as follows. When you create a Toodledo account, you get a free email account to go with it. Sign into your Toodledo account using your web browser, click on the “Tools” menu and select “More”. Then go into the “Email Import” section. Make sure the checkbox is checked, and then click the “Save Changes” button. This will enable email access to your account. You will be given a secret email address that you will use to communicate with Toodledo. Now you can create tasks by forwarding emails to the email address Toodledo gave you, using your normal email app. Wait a few seconds for the email to get there, then sync TaskAngel and the task appears as if by magic. Email to task in one step. It’s there in your TaskAngel inbox. Now you can give it a deadline and priority, put it in a folder, choose a context, and get it done! #emailtotask