This is a guest post by Tor Refsland. Tor decided to leave his six-figure job in order to follow his passion – to help online entrepreneurs SAVE TIME and INCREASE RESULTS. Want to become more productive? Download his free eBook and learn how to DOUBLE your productivity in 7 days.
You’re frustrated.
No matter what you do, you can’t keep up with your never-ending growing to do list.
You’ve spent WAY too much time searching for the ultimate to do list app…
And have nothing to show for it.
And now your to do list has turned into a giant monster.
You know if you don’t do something, your to do list will eat you alive.
If you can relate, no worries. We’ve all been there.
I’d like to show you why Google Calendar is the best to do list app around.
But first, let me explain…
Why You Must Use A To Do List App
When I worked as a SAP system administrator for one of the biggest companies in Norway, I observed the employees that the company perceived as the most valuable employees.
When I started to study them, I found that they all had a few things in common:
- 90% of their work time were spent on meetings.
- They were all working insane amount of hours, and there was no real line between work and private life.
- They had multiple to do lists.
I asked them if they had full control of ALL their to do list tasks divided among a gazillion different to do lists.
They all gave me the same answer.
Can you guess their answer?
If you answered that they said “no,” then a high five to you. SLAP
What’s the takeaway from this experience?
You need to use ONE master to do list.
If you don’t, you will basically never stop working because the tasks on your multiple to-do lists simply won’t get done.
If you don’t keep track of ALL your tasks, then what’s the point in having a to-do list?
You might as well go around with a crystal ball chanting some weird old wizard spell from The Lord of the Rings.
It will just be a matter of time before your to do list tasks will drive you CRAZY.
Before we dive into Google Calendar, let’s look at the problem at hand.
What Other Apps Are Missing
I have tested most of the to-do list apps under the sun, including Wunderlist, Remember The Milk, etc.
However, I found that each lacks one or more of the features below:
Deadline with alert
You must be able to know the date and time your task is due, and you need to be able to set an alert in advance.
What is the point in getting an alert when the deadline is over?
You might as well get a notification of a laughing leprechaun saying: “Ha ha, you just missed the deadline, sucker!”
Subtasks
A good to do list app must include subtasks. Many of the tasks on my to do list have dependent subtasks.
For example, let’s say the main task is to create sales for your business, and it consists of the following subtasks.
Subtask 1: Find leads that are within your target market.
Subtask 2: Research your leads.
Subtask 3: Create pitch.
Subtask 4: Call leads and book meeting.
If the meeting is booked, then:
Subtask 5: Prepare for the meeting.
Subtask 6: Attend the meeting and close sale.
All the subtasks must be completed in the order from subtask 1-6 in order to complete the main task.
History log
You want to be able to keep a history log of the tasks you have completed.
Why?
If you want to be successful with time management, you need to track how your time is spent.
When you practice and improve this skill, you can be able to estimate planned tasks very accurate (+/- 10 minutes).
Imagine how much better your planning skills would be if you set realistic deadlines for your tasks.
And if had a rough week where you did not accomplish much work, you now how the ability to review which tasks were the problem and adjust accordingly.
Calendar
You want your tasks to appear on a calendar so you can easily see when a task should be started and completed.
A calendar allows you to plan several days, even weeks in advance, where you can immediately find free blocks of time in your calendar.
Looks alright
You’ll be spending some time with this app, so why not choose an app that is pleasing to look at? It doesn’t have to be perfect: just alright will do.
Easy to use
If the app is not easy to use, you will not use it, right? It should have an intuitive feel, meaning there is no need to read a manual or go through a tutorial.
In addition, since this is a work tool, you need the app to be efficient. You want to be able to create tasks with deadlines and get an overview of your to do tasks FAST.
Synchronization
You want the app to be able to synchronize to other devices like Macs, PCs, tablets, mobile phones, etc.
This means that you are not depending on any specific device, and if you lose one of your devices, you still have your to do list.
Are you still there?
Awesome.
The time has finally come to reveal…
Why Google Calendar Is The Boss
Google Calendar is a part of the Gmail bundle, which is free. If you don`t have a Gmail account, you can register here.
Once you have created your Gmail account, you can access the Google Calendar in the top right corner of the screen.
Click on this icon
A dropdown menu will appear.
Click on the “Calendar” logo.
Congratulations! You have now accessed your Google Calendar.
Note: When you use Google Calendar as your to do list, DON’T delete the tasks you have completed.
If you scheduled a task for 30 minutes and it actually takes you 1 hour to complete, change the duration of the task to 1 hour. You will let the tasks in the past REFLECT the actual time spent.
Let`s cut to the chase and take a look at the features of Google Calendar.
Deadline with alert
First, I will show you how to create a new task with an alert.
Click on a free spot on your calendar.
Enter the name on the task in the “What” field, choose the calendar you want to add the task to and click “Edit event”.
Note: For more information about how you can use the calendar function to categorize tasks, look for the extra tip at the end of the post.
The most important parameters are:
– Name of the task
– Start time and end time
– Notification
Note that you can get notification X amount of minutes, hours, days or weeks before the deadline is reached.
Email sends a reminder to your email.
Popup makes a popup appear on your screen if you are logged on Gmail or if you have a calendar that is synchronized with your Google Calendar.
Subtasks
Check.
History log
Check.
Want to see past history?
See the top left corner.
Click the “Previous Period” button
Voila! You can see the exact tasks you have completed last week, and how long it took for you to complete every single one of them.
Calendar
Check.
Looks okay
Check.
Easy to use
Check.
Synchronization
Absolutely–you can access your Google Calendar through Gmail.com via any device with an internet connection.
Regardless of your phone using Android, iOS (Apple) or Windows operating system, you can download a calendar app for your mobile phone that will synchronize with Google Calendar.
Extra tip: Categorize your tasks to different calendars
You can have different calendars, where each calendar will have its own color and represent a category.
Take a look at my categories:
Your calendars will be represented on the left side.
Do you want me to show you something REALLY cool?
Great.
You can click on the calendars and choose to only display a few or one calendar, giving you a great overview over the tasks connected to a certain category (calendar).
Example – displaying only one calendar/category.
I have now only selected the “Promotering” (this is the Norwegian word for promoting) calendar, which displays all the tasks connected to this category/calendar.
It looks like this on my calendar:
What to do next…
Now you have the recipe for how Google Calendar can help you save your sanity and take control of your to do list.
Regardless, it doesn’t matter how good the recipe is if you don’t implement it.
So start APPLYING it now and get control of your to do list!
How do you keep track of your to do list?
Put YOU first.
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Great post Tor,
I’ve been hearing about Google Calender for a a very long time now and i even downloaded the Android app few months back but has never used it for once.
However, i can see that its a must have app and its really very handy. I never imagined that it has all these awesome features and like you mentioned…. Its really the king :).
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting, Theodore.
It`s really easy to use. In order for a good to do app, you need simplicity and efficiency.
However, the most important thing…
is that you ACTUALLY are using it 🙂
Best,
Tor
I don’t get how this is any different to any other calendar?
What i am looking for is calendar, where you could check our Dates and Tasks as “Done”.
Is there anything like this out there?
Calendars aren’t generally designed for that sort of thing – task apps are. But Google Calendar’s mobile app does allow you to complete “Goals” now. It’s a start, I suppose.
I don’t agree with this post in its entirety as I think the calendar plays one part of a productivity framework. I think a to do list app plays a detail-oriented role – one that allows you to check off tasks as you complete them as well.
Thanks for chiming in, Luke. I wish I could point you in the right direction for the calendar app you’re looking for.
Luke, Did you ever find what you were looking for? I am also looking for something like that.
Luke, you may want to try out GQueues (www.gqueues.com). It’s a task app that bi-directionally syncs with Google Calendar. I use it in tandem with Google Calendar myself.
I use Gqueues too! it is great but not as good as some full blown task manager like myLifeOrganised. Gqueues sync feature is not free but cheep. I decided to go back to Gqueues because of the sync and web interface.
Currently I’m trying something like this. I put a [] at the begining of the description so I know it’s a task and not an event. When I’m finished I put an “X” in the middle – [X]
This doesn’t work for me on my android google calendar. Is this method done on a desktop because when I open my google calendar on my mobile android phone I don’t get a task looking screen only a screen for a calendar entry. After you post a reply could you please email it to me as well. I’m at work and may not be able to get back to this post. Thanks,
Check out the new app hashtagtodo.Com .it seriously enhanced the calendars todolist capability without having to use another app.
Oooh…. Me likey! 🙂 Just enabled on my account and planning to take it for a test run.
Haha, I had that tingly feeling as well. So simple and elegant. I use it with a more full featured task app and ifttt. Helps meplan my day better.
Have you figured out an easy way to do sub-tasks with HashtagTodo other than as described in this article? I rarely assign time slots to to-dos, and don’t really want to start now as a way to handle subtasks. Seems messy… Time slots are for meetings and/or specific events. Tasks/to-dos are things that need to get done, but not necessarily at a particular time. 🙂
We don’t currently have a system way of doing subtasks (yet) but one “hack” that some users have done is create a main #todo. Then in the body of the calendar event, list out the subtasks. You’ll have to manually track the subtasks your self but at least its captured in the main #todo.
Or you could set it up as P/ BILLS: SUBTASK A and so on
Thanks for commenting Peter! I like your subtasks “hack”. I’m going to test out a hybrid approach of what I’m doing now, with some of the ideas from Tor’s article, in conjunction with #todo. So basically, I will enter all my tasks as all-day events and mark them with #todo. Subtasks will be tracked in the body of the main task as you suggested. Then, as I plan my day, I may take certain tasks and give them a start & stop time on the calendar for that day. Or, when I complete ad-hoc tasks throughout the day, I’ll edit them and specify the start & stop times for historical/tracking purposes. I think this could work! I love that #todo will keep moving all uncompleted tasks forward to the next day.
Thanks for commenting, SM.
I might test it out.
Tor
Thank you,Sir. This is really a game changer.
I’m playing along here with this concept but can you let me know where you put your tasks that do not have a deadline or where the deadline is unknown or TBD?
Thanks for commenting, Tim.
The tasks that have no deadline, I put in my schedule a few weeks ahead.
You can always rearrange them, when you find a deadline.
I know many people who have a gigantic lists of tasks without a deadline…and their lists are years old.
Remember, that it`s important to set deadline on tasks, even if they don`t initially have a deadline.
If you don`t really put a deadline on a task, it most likely won`t get done.
Tor
What if you are working on a task that is like a project and you don’t have deadline for the project but you keep working daily on it making progress until it’s end which will take let’s say 2 weeks, are you going to put a task with 2 weeks end time which will take a huge amount of reserved space on your calendar?
and what about having personal tasks and work related tasks and you have 2 emails one is yours and other is work’s email. will you put both work and personal tasks at one of both emails or use just one email for both tasks and why?
Thanks for your helpful post.
Hi Abukamel,
thanks for commenting and for your great questions.
First, if you don`t have a deadline for a project you are working on, you should set a deadline.
Why?
Because it will make you work more efficient.
Set a deadline that is have a realistic deadline with milestones you need to complete each day.
To your question number two. I would have have all work related tasks attached to your work email and your persona tasks attached to your private email.
You should separate work and private life, as well as the emails.
When you are at work, use the work email and do work tasks. You can check you private email when your workday is over 🙂
It`s all about focusing on the task that is at hand. The best way to procrastinate is when you lose focus.
Hope that helps.
If you need to improve your productivity game, I think you might like my eBook “Insane Productivity Hacks” where you learn to DOUBLE your productivity within 7 days.
Best,
Tor
Interesting article. But I’m curious, why not just use Google Tasks? It allows you to set a due date for each task, add notes for each task (where you could track duration, etc), sub-tasks are built in, and all tasks appear on your Google Calendar automatically. Completed tasks stay on your calendar with a strike-through indicating they are done. And there is a nice mobile app (GTasks) for Android, and I’m sure there is something iOS too.
Dave, Google Tasks… I wondered the same. Although there is no official Google Mobile App for Tasks, they can be managed in your mobile browser at https://mail.google.com/tasks and they do show up on Google Calendar and notifications in Google Mail.
Tor, for more info checkhttps://support.google.com/mail/answer/106237?hl=en
Thanks for commenting, Dave and John.
I don`t use Google tasks, because it doesn`t let you set a specific start and end date on your tasks.
The reason I use my Google Calendar as my to do list app, is so I can plan my day minute by minute. I can see overlapping tasks side by side.
But more importantly, I can see (visually) how long I have estimated each and every task.
When I have completed the tasks, I will still let them be in my Google Calendar.
Why?
Because I use it to TRACK my time as well.
In order to improve your productivity, you need to track your time.
Furthermore, since I often look at my Google Calendar, it`s more efficient to just add tasks directly in the calendar.
Have a great day.
Best,
Tor
Thanks for the reply Tor! Actually, Google Tasks does allow for a start/due date, but not an end date. There is also a nice app for Android called GTasks, but it’s not from Google. I’m not sure about iOS, but I’m sure there is an app there too.
I guess I would have to give your method a try and see how it works in practice. I just feel like I’d have to be SUPER disciplined to schedule all my to-do’s like they are appointments on my calendar, and then stick to that. My days just never seem to work that way. So, when my days do blow up and don’t go according to plan, I’d have to go back to all my tasks and adjust the dates/times. I can see that quickly getting out of control and becoming a mess that I wouldn’t maintain.
To me, a task/to-do list is just that… A list of things I need to do. They are not meetings or appointments with specific dates/times. I tend to keep a master list of everything, which I review daily and decide what I’m going to do that day. So maybe I could continue that and then schedule the tasks I plan to do into my calendar for tracking purposes. I do like the idea of tracking my time on the calendar.
Thanks for your long reply, Dave.
I think I understand your situation.
If you don`t need a start and end date on each task, but just a to list containing all your tasks.
I would suggest that you use the following approach:
Use one master to do list that will contain ALL your tasks (ex. excel spreadsheet).
Prioritize your tasks using the ABCDE method:
A tasks – are tasks that you must do today, if not they will give you serious consequences
B tasks – are tasks that you should do today, if not they will give you mild consequences
C tasks – are tasks that you could do today, if not they will give no consequences
D tasks – are tasks you delegate to other people
E tasks – are tasks you eliminate. You never do them.
When you start your work day you will always start with your A tasks, which are your most important tasks.
The real trick is to never do a B task before you have completed all your A tasks, and never do a C task before you have completed all your B tasks.
By following this system you will be working at your most income generating tasks at any given time.
Use the 80/20 rule to identify your most important tasks, which will be your A tasks.
Hope that helps.
Best,
Tor
Tor, you must have a sixth sense! LOL! You just described a very similar prioritization system to what I’ve been using with todo.txt. 🙂 For almost a year now, I’ve been using a simple todo.txt file and the system described by Michael Descy in his “Plaintext Productivity” blog post — http://plaintext-productivity.net/1-03-how-i-organize-my-todo-txt-file.html
I use todotxt.net on my Windows computer, and the todo.txt Android app from Gina Trapani on my phone to update my todo.txt file. Everything stays in sync via my dropbox account. In a pinch, I can open my txt file with a simple text editor like Notepad.
So basically, I dump all my tasks/to-dos into my todo.txt file as they come up. If I know their importance at the time of entry, I give them a priority right then and there. Otherwise, they stay un-prioritized until my next daily planning session where I move things around by simply using ALT-up arrow/down arrow in the todotxt.net.
Dave,
I have similar observations to yours, I think. I use my google calendar for appointments and things that actually are time dependent. I use google tasks for tasks that are time dependent or otherwise important. I used to use tasks for other things that were not specifically time-oriented or high priority and I’d keep kicking tasks down the road when I didn’t get them done, which was quite annoying. I found that tasks with no due date just got lost because they were not on my calendar. Anyway, that was before I discovered google keep. Now I use that for any task or things-to-do list that I don’t want in my face when I look at my calendar. It provides categorization of lists (ABC, etc) and checklists, etc., very cool. Everyone has their own sweet-spot I suppose – I cannot imagine scheduling my every minute.
I’m with Mark and Dave on this.
I like what was written here because – as you put it – “everyone has their own sweet-spot” but I am very much opposed to “hyperscheduling” myself. Theming my days is about as close to that as I get!
Thanks for chiming in, Mark. Appreciate the commentary here!
This is me as well. I have all kinds of tasks, from my book reading list to places I want to visit around the world ( someday/maybe tasks ). Putting these in a calendar would not work.
Thanks a lot for commenting Dave, Mark and Mike.
They key to continuously improvement is to learn, apply, adapt and keep. The last part is where you decide whether the newly applied activity works for you, and if you want to let it be a part of your routine / system.
The most important thing, as you said Mark, is to find your own sweet-spot.
Thanks for chiming in guys. I really enjoyed this conversation.
Stay awesome!
Tor
This is very inspiring and a interesting take on GCalendar as a todo app. One point to emphasize: breaking down tasks into subtasks in every important indeed, no matter what tool you are using.
Thanks for commenting, Steven.
I really appreciate your kind words.
I totally agree with you on the importance of breaking tasks down into manageable subtasks.
Best,
Tor
Hi, Tor,
Ever since you coached me and taught me about Google calendar, it has really helped! My schedule is so much easier to “figure out” and to accomplish.
Great article on a system that really works!
Sue
Hi Sue,
thanks a lot for stopping by to comment and for your kind words.
Have an awesome day 🙂
Tor
Thanks Tour,
I have seen Google calendar icon many times but never having this idea that it can be used as to-do list. After reading your post I have under stand it very well and will soon start it using for my task management.
Thanks again for explaining in such a nice way.
Ranveer Singh
Great write-up! I wish my needs would allow me to switch over to using Calendar as my task list. However, a large chunk of my tasks need to be set up to be “repeat” based on the date I complete the latest occurrence. Not even Google Tasks has this functionality. So I’m stuck with using a cross-platform app like Todoist or Astrid.
An example will help, I think. My dog needs to take a pill every three days. Yes, it’d be easy enough to create these tasks in Calendar… but here’s the rub. I often am late by a day, and when I am, I need the next reminder/checkbox to be set for three days after the day actually I last gave her the pill… not three days after the last scheduled day I was supposed to give her the pill. I also use this for tasks like draining my hot tub. I need to do it every four months, but I am often late by a month or so… and need the next occurrence to be set from the date I actually do it… not “every four months.” I guess if I did everything on time, I wouldn’t have this problem. 🙂
If there’s a workaround to this, I’d love to hear it. Again, great write-up! I’d love to switch to Calendar for everything!
Great post! Thank you for sharing. I will definitely use this to help me jump start some new projects this year.
Sorry I respectfully disagree. I did an analysis a while back and came to the conclusion that ticktick beat the pants of of the competition. Granted I haven’t used google tasks in a long time, but what I wanted from it was:
* recurring reminders
* snooze reminder
* alert on phone, desktop with google chrome (with persestant popup so if you’re away from your computer you see it when you return and you dont have to keep looking at your phone)
* drag and drop reordering of tasks (why I abandoned RTM)
* separation of concerns: detach the tasks from the calendar. Not every task needs a date, needs to be on a date or even connected to a calendar
Here’s my analysis from a few months back:
http://i.imgur.com/y7zjvjo.png
I have recently tried many to-do list methods and apps and I can agree that TickTick is by far and away the best. I have ditched Wunderlist and wasn’t willing to pay for ToDoist (seriously, notifications behind a paywall?!). It really does have everything required!
Hi Tor, thank you for taking the time to create and post this. I wanted to add that I also use Google Tasks with multiple Google Calendars (one for each client). Your method is great, but like others, it can get time consuming to change dates for tasks that fall behind. I wanted to remind everyone that each piece of Gmail email can be sent to both Tasks and/or Calendar. Also, I label each piece of Gmail in one of the following 5 categories: Today,ToDo, NeedsReply,Comments,Done. I also label incoming mail to search for “Unsubsribe” to weed/cut out recurring garbage.
Lastly, as a contractor that bills my clients, using your method allows me to track my hours along with tasks completed (in notes field), eliminating the need for yet another app or spreadsheet. For me it is all about consolidation and simplification. Thanks again.
Still the best way I think is using GQueues (www. gqueues.com). It is a task management system that fully syncs with Google Calendar (2 ways)! It shows your tasks inside Google Calendar. I’ve been using it for over a year now and I couldn’t do my work without is. Also has Android and iOs apps.
Google is very important for Android mobile. I am also use this social media app in my phone. Nice article. well explained :)Thanks
How can I do a simple re-arrangement of my tasks in the side bar on the right?
You can’t use it offline (no app), it doesn’t support sub-tasking (lack of features), and less importantly it looks bad/unpretty.
Wunderlist is better by far.
I use apps Days been since it was published and I’m perfectly happy with it.
I do not need a pile of useless features that just annoy. I love the clean design and user-friendly interface.
Do you know how to prioritize a Google Task List when you add the Due Dates to them – it wont allow me to drag and drop and reorder within the due date field.
This may solve some folks some time with calendaring and time management. Forget the google calendar app. Instead, use http://www.calendar.google.com — This is the web based calendar platform — not the pre-loaded app.
Why use web based app? The main reason is the ability to immediately synch calendar events created from any device accessing the calendar via the web. I tested it, Any new cal event instsnstly displays on all devices — since you’re accessing a portal. I had to readjust the cal times in the settings to have them synch with my mobile device, but that trial and error was well worth the effort.
So, forget the app and go with http://www.calendar.google.com.
I love this article because instead of searching for another productivity app I am going to stick with google calendar. Especially how you showed the division of labor. As a very small entrepreneur my biggest lack has been in time management. So I very much appreciated how you showed your calendar with the division of labor.
Now I have my google calendar set up like you show, but I’m finding that going back in and changing the time to actual time is not working for me.
I found Zaps and IFTTT and can now use my Toggl app to track my actual time and what I was working on versus my planning calendar (google). The Zap puts each toogl time entry into my Google “Toggl” Caldenar. Now I can just click the calendar on and off to see how much i’m aligning with my plan.
I am also hopeful for Google’s Keep (keep.google.com) which a lot of us are hoping can replace the google tasks soon.
Will you update this article with more tips?
Thanks a bunch!
I like Business Calendar Pro it integrates all of your calendars with Google tasks. You can set dates, times and notifications and check things off your list
To do list apps are better than google calendar
Thank you
It’s important to create an action plan that helps you handle the situation. Arrange your calendar in a way that makes sense to you.
Hi,
Gcalendar is a great tool for events for me, not for tasks, correct me if i am wrong or if you found a solution for this use case :
1. Whenever your dont do a task, let s say it was planned for monday two weeks ago, it will get forgotten on your calendar and you ll never complete this task. The advantage of such todo list app such as Todoist is that it allows to show overdue task all in one and re schedule them.
If there is such feature in gcalendar ill switch ! thx to let me know
google calendar needs a function to roll over to the next day tasks that are not completed, then it would be fantastic.
Thor, thanks a bunch!
I only learned to use a printed / hard copy planner when I was 27 (late bloomer, yeah) thanks to hubby’s insistence; those planners always ended up being festooned with post-its. Fast forward 2015, I started dabbling with Togl, Droptask, Trello, Slack, Basecamp, & Kanbanflow (desperate). I stuck with Kanbanflow for over a year but shifted to Trello the last few months because of the Calendar view (powerup). BUT now find myself frustrated at the context switching–because I inhabit the Googlesphere more often. SO YOUR POST IS A WELCOME EYE-OPENER AND INVITE TO TRY OUT WHAT’S BEEN AT MY FINGERTIPS FOR SO LONG (all caps=very, very thankful). Q, though: is there a way to use Google calendar as a “repository”/digital archive of (a) lists of reference materials (e.g., links, book titles, etc.) and (b) sundry ideas for future drafting, etc.?
Nice article, but it lacks one main feature of a to do list. The actual LIST. There would be no why that I can think of to actually have a list of items to do.
I hear the Wunderlist now has integration with Google Calendar.