This post comes right from the thick of the COVID-19 2020 global pandemic. In March, COVID forced to leave my college and return home. I scrambled to find an organizational method that fit my new, complicated needs.
All of my assignments and due dates changed, and it was too complicated to fix my outdated Excel spreadsheet. Let alone the fact that it wasn’t responsive at all.
My paper planner seemed so exhausting and so final. I thought I’d found planner peace with my Hobonichi Cousin, but I needed something fast and intuitive.
Now enter Todoist.
Why Todoist Works for Me
- It works in Chrome, and has an app for my Mac, iPhone, and Apple Watch
- It automatically gives me all my tasks to focus on for today
- I can easily reschedule tasks
- Effortlessly categorize by project, tags, and priority
- It’s smart and intuitive
- It’s focused and rewards me for productivity
Now let’s break down how I actually use it.
The Inbox
The inbox is perfect for dateless ideas. It’s a catch-all for every detail floating around in your brain.
I’m a strong supporter of writing things down instead of allowing them to live rent-free in your head. If you’re thinking it, dump it in your inbox.
The “Today” View
The “today” view is my home base. Every single day, it automatically updates with everything that’s due. From there, it’s easy to add subtasks, assign priority, reorder tasks, and more.
Right from the “today” page you can reschedule to any other date. At midnight, Todist marks all remaining tasks as “overdue” for your tomorrow.
Next Seven Days
In this view, you can scroll through all the tasks due for the next seven days for an easy overview of your week.
All my professors are handling this differently. Some update us for the week on Mondays, some give us tasks the day-of, some gave everything at the beginning of this crisis, and all add/change what’s due regularly, so I tend to spend time adding tasks on Sunday evening/Monday morning, and then double-check daily to make sure I’m not missing anything.
Projects
“Projects” is one of my favorite Todoist features. You can also create sub-projects that can collapse.
For example, I have one ovearching project for “school.” If I have any tasks that aren’t for specific classes, like advising meetings, planning for next semester, or signing up for housing, tasks go in this main project.
Each class then has its own subproject that I color-code accordingly.
There are limitless options for how you organize the various aspects of your life.
Productivity
Color-coding all those projects makes it easy to see where you’re spending the most time. You can edit your daily goal, schedule days off, and take vacation as needed. I find this tool extremely helpful for seeing the patterns of productivity and which classes require more work than others.
Next, you can also view your productivity on a weekly basis. This is an even better way to see how much time you’re spending on which project.
Finally, Todoist has this interesting feature called “Karma,” and you can earn points by completing tasks and maintaining your streaks.
It’s just for fun, but you can rank up as you continue to work hard. Seeing growth as a visible demonstration of your productivity is a wonderful motivator.
Labels
Labels are a Premium feature that I’m still learning, but find extremely usefull.
- Dateless – Tasks that are still important, but don’t have a specific due date. If I find I have extra time or not many dated tasks, I tackle this label
- Low Energy – Tasks that I can do while watching TV/won’t drain me too much.
- High Energy – Tasks that require higher focus and extra time. Labeling tasks by the energy they require helps me to plan my time, and still accomplish valuable tasks while taking my energy level into account.
- Weekend – As a college student, you can’t waste the weekend. I tag anything I should work on throughout the weekend, even if it’s not due then, with this label.
- Ongoing School – If there are tasks I should work on throughout the week, I label them here. Just because they’re due on Friday doesn’t mean I want to do 100% of the work on Friday. It helps me keep track of what needs extra time over multiple days.
Filters
Filters are another Premium tool. I mainly use priority to order my tasks throughout my day.
The “Eat the Frog” method encourages you to tackle your hardest tasks first. Read more about how that can work for you!
Quick-Add Tasks
Finally, this is my favorite feature of Todoist: it’s intuitive and fast.
If I type “Reflections, #school, @high-energy, p1, due every Mon and Wed at 9 am” Todoist takes care of adding it to the correct project, labeling it correctly, marking it as priority 1, scheduling it by date, time, and repetition.
Be Kind to Yourself
The world is extremely strange right now. When your entire life is disrupted, it’s hard to bounce back and maintain the same level of productivity when everything else shifts.
Organizing all your tasks is an act of kindness. Give your mind a break, and dump everything you have to do in a tool that’s designed to help you.
How do you stay organized in college? Let me know in the comments below, or feel free to email me at greyzonepages@gmail.com, or DM me on Twitter @kamrynkoble. I’d love to hear from you!
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