Photo credit to Andreas Klassen

I've tried a lot of ways to keep my todo-list in check. I've tried Trello, I've tried the Bullet Journal, I've tried a notebook. Everything has had its problems that have not passed the "make or break" test. Well, everything but one.

If you just want a recommendation then it's Todoist. Want to know why? Keep reading.

The bad parts of other methods

Trello

Trello was really cumbersome to use on mobile. In addition to that, handling tasks that were done was not really thought out well.

Bullet Journal

It's a physical thing. You have to invest time into keeping it maintained well and you have to plan ahead for spacing, etc. In addition, It is very easy to miss a small detail or task, which can cause problems down the line.

The good parts of other methods

Trello

It's wonderful if you use it on a desktop and have a large screen to use it on. You can see a lot of information in parallel and don't have to go through menus to see more information.

You can also organize the cards and dragging them around is great. Most of what you need for keeping a team organized is already available in the free version, so that is good as well.

Bullet Journal

You decide what it looks like and what you need to keep track of in it. This is something that no digital solution has been able to provide.

In addition, when you migrate from month to month, it has a built-in way of judging if a task is worth keeping on your todo-list.

It has a built-in index, which allows you to doodle all you want. You can even find the doodle afterwards because you will have to put it into the index. If you get an idea, you can write it down into any free page and you can find it afterwards without it messing up your entire journal. This means that a bullet journal can become your central information storage place and that's wonderful.

My choice

I used Trello, then I used the Bullet Journal and now I use Todoist. It's been great so far.

The good parts

Projects

Being able to separate out tasks into different categories is incredibly important to me because I have different things going on in parallel all the time. This is handled well in Todoist in the way of projects. You can add tasks to projects and still see them all in one place afterwards, which is wonderful. It saves me a lot of time when I need to check what tasks I have to do by some due date.

Quick task adding

Just press q and start typing away. If you want to add a due date, you don't need to even move the cursor, just type the date or day and Todoist will recognize it. If you want to add the task to a specific project, just type a pound symbol and start typing the name of the project, it will give you autofill options.
All of this speeds up the task adding process by a huge margin, which is important as your todo-list tracker should be a tool and as such, it should only be there when you need it. At other times, it should get out of your way.

Smart scheduling

Todoist suggests a due date for tasks when you're adding the due date based on how many tasks you already have in a day. It also gives you the option to bulk-reschedule your overdue tasks, which uses the same system to spread the tasks out.

The bad parts

Some essential features are locked behind a premium paywall, but the product is still incredibly powerful when you have not paid for the premium version. The premium is not very expensive either, so I'd say this is a good thing. All companies need to make money somehow.

Why I chose it

It works the way I work and gets out of my way when I don't need it. I can add tasks quickly and the mobile app actually makes sense as a mobile app.

Conclusion

I use Todoist, it works for me and it could work for you. Check it out, this is not sponsored.

Call to Action

What do you use for your todo-list and why? Do you prefer an analogue or a digital system? Let me know by replying to this post, I'd love to hear about your choices.