I have spent a lot of time writing about GTD or “Getting Things Done“ task management and the tools that are available to support that. There is a tool however, that would fall outside the purview of GTD Task Management however, still having the power to make things nicer. That is, whether you use GTD as your model or not, you are better equipped at Getting Things Done if you have a tool to assist. In this case here, I want to write about Swipes, a streamlined yet powerful system for managing your tasks.

One of GTD’s Most Annoying and Time Consuming Problems

The principals of GTD are sound. However, when people go to employ the tool they often get carried away with the implementation. One problem is they get so obsessed with what they have to do and every nuance of the project they begin writing everything down.

One immediate problem is if you are constantly writing down what needs to be done how do you get to everything. The second and possibly more serious problem is the clutter it brings to one’s visual field. Where do I start; am I starting with the most significant item and the one that needs addressing now or the one that seemed to be that when I started.

Clutter is a serious problem. If you’re looking at too much not only do you have an obsessional problem with writing out your tasks, projects and contexts, when you go to look at your task manager you can easily become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of tasks. Which task is important; what needs to be done first; how do I find that first item and on it goes.

Some GTD programs have the ability to prioritize so that you are looking at that which you felt to be the most important. However, things change and in the world we’re in they can change at lightening speed. It’s almost impossibly to keep on top of it.

Enter Swipes

Swipes addresses these two problems very well plus it has the kind of functionality that can grow with you. Swipes encourages one to write down that which needs to be done. It discourages you from writing down every minutiae. This is the first thing it addresses and it addresses this well.

Secondly, Swipes allows you to move things out of your visual field till later. What you can end up with is a very clean and precise visual field. You avoid distractions as you are dealing with what you need to deal with now.

Swipes can be static if you were to make it so but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can always make adjustments to your progam. In fact, something so simple can be ever so powerful. Swipes allows you to defer items removing them from your visual field till you’ve decided you should see it again. If you need to defer the item once again you can do so. If the item just sits there, it can become distracting and if too much sits there to be done, overwhelming.

Swipe away till Later

You can easily complete an item when it’s done by swiping to the right. However, if you swipe to the left, you can defer the item till a later point in time when you can actively work on it. Reducing the amount of work in your visual field can be accomplished by a number of programs, but Swipes does it very easily.

When the item’s time has come about it reappears. Say at this point, you still decide it can wait while you take care of more pressing problems. Swipe it till a different point. You can even make the time more spot on by holding the item you’re going to Swipe and then setting the timer till that point which feels more correct.

Creating, managing and doing your tasks is a very quick when working with Swipes. One of the catch phrases in the productivity world these days is focus. Swipes inherently allows you to focus on that which you deem deserves your focus now and moving items out of the way that can wait. This reduces distraction, tension and increases focus and thus clarity.

Not for Everyone Yet it is a Good Tool

Swipes is not for everyone of course nor is it the right tool for all activities. However, given its cross platform nature and its intuitive operation, it can be an excellent tool for many. On top of that, the creation of the item is exceedingly fast.

Outline the task that needs to be done, state the steps in the task as actions and complete them accordingly and once the full task is completed mark it so.

Integration with Evernote

One of its very cool strengths is its integration with Evernote. Swipes can talk to Evernote and Evernote tasks. When creating a note in Evernote, should it require that something is done, create an Evernote task with checkbox and then in the tags area tag it as Swipes. Swipes will go out to Evernote and import these items in as tasks.

When you complete an Evernote task, you do not have to go searching around Evernote for the task. Simply complete the task in Swipes and it will mark it as done in Evernote. Here not only are you adding a note to explain something but should the note infer something needs doing you can bring easier management to this process by incorporating Swipes. Here you have a free flowing system providing structure to that of the creation of Notes in Evernote thus enhancing your productivity substantially.

A Unique tool for the Times

Swipes brings a very unique approach to the management of tasks. You get things done in a very efficient way without overwhelming yourself.

If you’re very used to GTD programs though, this may seem quite foreign. In reality, you can manage a lot with Swipes but if you’ve used say any of the major GTD programs, it will take a while to adjust to Swipes as your first inclination might be there is not enough horsepower here to manage getting the job done.

In some cases, if the project is of a very complicated nature, another tool, like OmniFocus, might be more appropriate. However, that’s if you know OmniFocus and can resist going to town writing out tasks for every little thing however, even if you do, as long as you know how to filter items carefully so that you’re not overwhelmed by a sea of todo’s, the program can be very beneficial. Knowing how to master OmniFocus in this way though is no small task.

I have seen Youtube videos in which the title might include something like OmniFocus Ninja tricks to get something done. Swipes either makes you a Ninja almost from the get go or it is just not a program that even begins to need this word to describe how to effectively use it.

Knowing that we’re in a world that requires assistance for controlling it; that requires the use of these kind of tools to Get things Done is more than half the battle. The other part though is being able to effectively use the tool to truly assist in the process. This often requires trying different things to determine what works best for you and just using it. If it’s right, the outcome will determine that. You’ll know whether Swipes fills the bill for you or whether you need to apply something different. Regardless, know that there are a slew of tools to aid in the process, use that which feels right and the rest will take care of itself.

The move to cross platform – that is, beyond the Apple ecosystem – to Android, Windows, OSX and IOS can be accomplished however, this can be either difficult or not so bad. Exchange, provided there is support for Exchange in your ecosystem, is one way to do this and it can work well. Yet, not everyone is equipped with Exchange. iCloud though and very unfortuntely, is closed to anything except iCloud. It doesn’t have to be so however, to get around this you look for bridges to cross the chasm.

There’s another service that I particularly like called Fruux and it can pretty well tie everything together. Your Android calendars, contacts and tasks can all be in perfect sync with your OSX and IOS systems. I’ll primarily address these two (Android and iCloud) as they are the major systems that need tying together. You can either use sync agents to do this but iCloud is not very amenable to this or switch to either Exchange calendars or something like Fruux. What I particularly like about Fruux is that although it is based on Caldav and Carddav, like iCloud, it has native support for a variety of platforms. Everything you run Fruux on as say your calendaring system will be identical and it runs on almost everything.

Just as an aside, Microsoft has announced a Very New Platform

Microsoft logically has decided if you can’t beat them join them. This is a very different Microsoft that only a little while ago. Is what they’re doing logical. Very. I would say Microsoft has embraced what the world wants but is not going to be a follower but a leader.

This puts them in a very unique position. You might get your Smartphone as an Android or iPhone but Microsoft will be managing the flow of your activities. Called the Fall Creators Update it is intended to follow your workflow making your life far easier but more on this later.

Everything in Sync: Fruux

The idea behind Fruux is to run it in place of say iCloud. You can still have your iCloud calendars but then you’re back to the problem of external sync. Rather, create your calendars in Fruux and run them on your various platforms.

You might have Fruux calendars for IOS, OSX and Android but in some cases you will have to run Fruux calendars right in certain products like Busycal or Fantastical. Fruux even has a plugin for the Windows version of Outlook but not the Mac version.

When configuring your Fruux calendars, the Fruux website will give you instructions for the configuration of the product in all the areas you’re going to use it. Since your settings are your settings, no matter what product or environment you run in, if you have enabled Fruux calendars those calendars will all be in sync and rapidly. This is ideal for the perfect, cross platform environment.

Fruux available at the Right Time

With so much operating in different environments, Fruux presents a good solution to pull everything together at just the right time. The iPhone is popular yet so is Android and some still like their Blackberry‘s and even though Windows phone seems to be non-existent, people when they come together don’t want to give up their devices to work on a team. Thus, cross platform solutions are very in vogue.

There are the hold outs. Who knows why. Money, ideology or what have you. As an example, if you want to use OmniFocus or DEVONthink you will have to stick to the Mac ecosystem. However, if your team is made up of a variety of platforms you will have to get a solution that spans the platforms such as Tick Tick or 2do for task management, Nimbus Notes or Evernote for Information Management and on it goes.

There may come a time when no vendor, if they really want to remain viable will be able to operate in only one environment. For now, there are enough solutions, including Fruux, that doesn’t necessitate a one environment operation. For years, I.T. has wanted to do this but it is now possible; made possible primarily by the cloud.

I have never really been a Things fan; till now. Things 3 has changed this all for me. Not only is it wonderful to look at, it is fantastic to use in either OSX or IOS. Being productive doesn’t have to be the thing of drudgery. Things 3 definitely assists you with your productivity or Getting Things Done as it just simply works so fluidly.

Culture Code describes Things 3 as a complete Rework of the System

Culture code describes Things 3 as a complete rework and rethink of the system and it shows. It’s wonderful to work with as it is so clean and looks beautiful. However, more than that it is such an improvement in the way it works.

It is one of the most fluid task management applications I have ever worked with. It works to prevent excessive changing of screens and enhances movement between operations. This kind of functionality is not easily overlooked. As a result, things flow faster. The system itself also seems faster. Here, I think you could easily say form follows function.

Efficient Use of Collapsible Windows

In the creation of a Task, Window space is used very effectively. You can quickly glance at the outline of your task to determine what is required. Getting the information into the task simply involves clicking on the task and it opens and lets you put the information in where required. Instead of bouncing around to put the information in the right spot, the spot opens before you. You are saved the time of searching. It comes to you.

The Best of the Task Managers

Things 3 has moved up a lot for me. The clean look. The fluid design. The efficiency of actions. It’s ease of use make this the perfect task management app even for the GTD’r. It can be a simple app or structured to handle a GTD project. It looks well done with a quality build and it’s there.

If this were a cross platform app that ran under Android this would be my app of choice. For now, it is the perfect app for the Apple user no matter what they want to do. If it ever does go cross platform it will be my perfect app of choice.

In my travels, I have come across a brand that doesn’t seem to get the market recognition it deserves. It seems like all there is to choose from these days is Samsung and Apple’s iPhone. Both of these are good phones there is no question. The choice of which phone, one the Samsung being an Android and the iPhone being IOS, largely depends on the applictions you intend to run. If you are heavily embedded in the Apple ecosystem and want your phone to be a part of that ecosystem, your simplest and best choice is the iPhone.

However, with cross platform, you can marry your Android phone to a large part of the Apple ecosystem. Doing this though does currently imply much could be lost. Yet, there is plenty of software that runs cross platform flawlessly, leaving you the consumer with a larger degree of choice.

HTC

With this narrative that your choices are delimited to Apple and Samsung you are potentially losing out on alternate opportunities that could prove beneficial and cost effective.

HTC is a company not as well known as Samsung but they produce extremely high quality hardware. Not only that, they produce an interesting range of phones that might fit needs more adequately with costs and outcome.

As an example, HTC’s mid range phone is definitely more than that. They are extremely high quality and you’d be hard pressed to demonstrate otherwise. Yet, as every vendor is doing these days, they are producing newer, more powerful phones at ever increasing speeds leaving you the consumer more than bewildered. To this the common answer is I have to have the best or do you. It certainly keeps companies flush with money and you the consumer somewhat tight.

iPhones are Pricey so Competition is a Positive Thing

The top of the line iPhone 7 with 128 megs of memory (we’re talking the 7 and not the plus) in Canadian dollars is going to set you back around $1000 with taxes, no small sum to reckon with. Depending on how you use your smart phone, it might either need to be tightly integrated into the Apple ecosphere, somewhat or not even. If it has to be tightly integrated, the iPhone is your smartest choice for ease of use, consistency and platform consolidation at the software level.

Yet, not all things are so cut and dry. Some fall somewhere in the middle while others use their smartphones quite independently of the ecosystem. They are looking for functionality not necessarily tied to that ecosystem which then allows them to approach things quite differently.

Three Types of Smartphone Users

I would like to suggest that there are three types of smartphone users:

• The highly integrated
• Integrated yet independent
• Smartphone stands on its own

The above users can acquire their smartphones based on how they intend to employ it. This is where HTC, as an example, can step in and step in nicely. They have a range of phones that operate to handle needs in differing yet sometimes the same way. All of the phones I’m going to discuss come in at different price points but are bar non of exceptional quality.

The phones I want to quickly look at are:

• HTC a9
• HTC 10
• HTC U11

Not are they only all excellent in their own right, they have different design qualities that will appeal to people in different ways. Is one better than the other or is one the best? It depends on how you look at it.

HTC A9

The HTC a9 is a great phone with good specs and oddly enough an iPhonesque type of look. It is 5” phone with an Amoled. The display of this phone is one of its great strengths. But there’s more. This is weighted like the iPhone but it’s not an iPhone and it is about half the price. The price has nothing to do with either its function or performance.

On Youtube, some have been so impressed they have trouble not saying its a flagship phone. It’s a performer and if you like the iPhone style you will like this phone.

The HTC 10

HTC had a bit of a slump with it HTC one m9. As such, they put a lot of effort into the the HTC 10 to come out with not only a dazzling phone but that one that was ranked at the top of phones. The difference though for you is the design symmetry of the phone. Not an iPhone look a-like, it came put together with a unique, high quality design. A little larger than the HTC A9, it’s style and design were immediately noted. It was HTC’s turnaround from a very short slump indeed.

This phone can do no more than the HTC a9 it can just do it fast with it’s Qualcom 820 processor and generous memory. This for all intents and purposes was a winner for Android and the rest of us.

HTC U11

The HTC u11 marches to the class of any of the finest Androids including the Samsung S8. In fact the specs around this device are second to none. It is the 2017 flagship but it in no way does away with the HTC 10 and for that matter the HTC a9. However, in all of these phones we are talking high quality, beautiful design but with a significant cost effectiveness edge against an iPhone.

How is this possible. Because they are all excellent in their own right.

The u11 is nothing less than a piece of art as robust as anything on the market. It is beautiful to behold and use. Does this fit into the Apple ecosystem. Absolutely, as well as the HTC a9 and the HTC 10. Really, in their own way, they are all stunners just designed for different purposes and at different price points.

Again, if your phone does not have to be a replica of the Apple ecosystem, these phones will do the job all very well and yet still let you by and large work within the Apple ecosystem just not with every piece of software.

Let’s look at your task manager. TickTick is an ahead of the game task management system that is powerful yet intuitive. It will run in all our environments.

Things 3 is the new kid on the block and it has been met with rave reviews. Currently, for the iPhone this might be the task management system to beat. However, TickTick is so similar in operation and functionality that you can have the best of both the phone you desire but a fully integrated, intuitive and powerful task manager.

Journaling

To carry this a step further journaling is probably something that you want to work on your phone but sync from there to the primary environment. This is the case for many an app. Fortunately this can be done too either with one of three very good apps.

• Day One classic on the iPhone w Narrate on the Android
• Journey
• Diario

And there are some others which bring function to a heterogenous environment which allows you choice and the ability to save you some money.

I could go On

An Android phone will work with a lot of software you’re likely using on your Mac such as:

• Evernote
• Onenote
• Outlook
• SimpleNote and other note services
• Social Media
• News Services
• Photography
• Video
• Browsers
• Planners such as Informant and Planner Pro
• Mail Apps
• Music – Apple, Google, Spotify and on it goes
• Financial Services like Quicken
• Android Wear
• Almost any cloud service
• Direct Sharing services between devices
• Weather
• and on it goes

So there isn’t currently 100% coverage but every major category is. This means teams using different devices can work together, you as a consumer have broader choice and the potential to save a few pennies but most importantly competition keeps everyone on their toes.

Even though Blackberry decided to get out of the handset business and concentrate on software, they in many ways just turned their handset business over to a third party who was interested in continuing to build the handset. There remain, to this day, devotees of the Blackberry. The major thing that keeps users coming to the Blackberry is the keyboard.

The Physical Keyboard as Prime Driver

TCL signed an exclusive deal to be the sole provider of blackberry labeled Smartphones. They were the company that built the DTEK 50 and 60 and these phones did better than their predecessors. One of the major problems for Blackberry built handsets were, in some cases, they were just late to market and in other cases they held odd designs. The DTEK 50 and 60 was more of what one would expect from modern Smartphones in the way of design and function.

The Blackberry Keyone is yet another phone that is getting good reviews. The design of the entire phone is just what the market is looking for. It is a phone that is well designed, with a solid build and an excellent keyboard. People who like the keyboard swear buy it in terms of the speeds they can get to, the reduction in mistakes and just having a nice tactile feedback system.

Initial Review of the KeyOne by Jan Ole Helmbold

In this video, Jan Ole Helmbold provides his initial review of the Keyone. In my next Blackberry article I will have an overview video of Jan Ole as he is one of the very few that still reviews Blackberry and if you’re a Blackberry fan you might want to get on his subscription list.

The video is titled “The BlackBerry KEYone WAS LAUNCHED!”

In a previous article titled “JOURNALING REMAINS A COMPELLING REASON TO USE YOUR MAC” I outlined a number of Journaling apps that most specifically related to the Mac ecosystem. However, cross platform is now becoming quite the reality so you might want to Journal on your Mac but use an Android phone for your mobile journaling all the while keeping everything in sync. This is now a reality and I have two favourite apps for doing the job. Yet, we are relatively at the beginning of this trend so it is well worth taking a look at this for various reasons.

Cross System Functionality enabled by the Cloud

The ability to be able to do this totally relates to the cloud/internet and software that leverages these services. You can have an app sitting on your Mac connected to the cloud, such as dropbox, an open platform and easily have a journal app on your Android that is identical to the one on your Mac.

The same goes for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. In fact, all these devices can be fully in sync as long as there is a client in each that is identical or mainly identical or at least pulling the right information and you are doing full cross platform journaling.

The Benefits of Journaling

As I discussed in the article I highlighted but which is discussed at length in different contexts, journaling can be a very beneficial activity. It can lead to overall health and wellbeing and in some cases success.

In terms of health, it can be very valuable just to journal to externalize the way your thinking and feeling. Thus, it can drastically improve one’s mental health so to speak. It can allow one to not only externalize feelings but then to sit back and reflect on what has been written. The process of reflection is very healthy for putting values into context. Knowing yourself better both can be relieving but lead to self direction.

The art of good journaling can provide context in time. So it can have spatial implications. As an example, you could look over the last year of your journal and see that you have been very active or not, quiet and reflective or outgoing and jumping into knew things. Journaling can help as your guidepost and complement the way your feeling or more importantly put it in context. You might be able to see things that make sense, are part of what you need to be happy and healthy or not and allow you, like a motivator to get on with something all the while bringing potential rationality to the front.

Harnessing your emotions in a health way can have numerous rewards one being better physical health. The more destructive self thoughts are, say put in context, the better you can feel. These are all important, in the long run, for having the sense of living a full and useful/meaningful life again very valuable in both mental and physical health.

Why the Cross Platform Approach

There are both technical and logical reasons for having a journal that can go far a field with you. Your journal is just that – your journal. The more it melds into your life and the more it works with you, the more likely you will be to keep it up.

This having been said, one of the most valuable aspects of journaling is consistency. The more you journal and the longer you journal, the better you’ll get at it and the more its benefits will accrue. It’s a shame when people put their journal aside because they find it to encumbering or lacking in value. The value is there and it grows with use and time. Thus, cross platform journaling just ensures the more the tool to journal with will fit with you.

Thus, you’ll want a journal or software that does exactly the same thing. So the hardware is important as this fluxes in your life and if the software can too you’re laughing.

Two Very Good Journals for a Cross Platform Approach

There are a lot of journals on the market. Some are definitely very beneficial whereas others can be gimmicky. The key thing with a journal though is that it flows with you and simply allows you to get down your thoughts and feelings.

A journal which is fluid in this approach, allows you to easily rediscover what you‘ve written and reflect is all you need for an effective journal.

A journal that is timeline oriented makes sense as your life follows a timeline. The journal should have a reference calendar, be oriented to writing in a timeline sort of view, easy to rediscover the past and preferably be multifaceted in what it can store (text, diagrams, pictures of where you’ve been or what you see as important, flexibility in its storage and very reliable).

The Two Journals – Journey and Day One Classic with Narrate

There are numerous journals for both the Apple system and Android. However, what I want to look at here is that which is considered the best currently and how well they do what we want, their plans and potential time frames for implementing any missing links.

Day One with Narrate

Day One is considered probably the best of the Journaling programs for the Mac. However, it currently only works in the Mac ecosystem. There is a Mac, iPad and iPhone/iPod touch clients in the system. All client sync seamlessly with each other using Day One Sync (v2 and this had many users upset who used use Dropbox or iCloud in v1).

Day One is a nice looking, robust system with many tools to assist with your journaling. You can have one or many journals for different purposes. You can basically comfortably write anywhere if you have all the platforms as it can be fully mobile or stationary or a combination thereof.

Finally, the other nice thing Day One does is incorporate photos from your library or directly from your camera. This adds a nice visual touch to your journal and aesthetically it can make it very attractive and yet meaningful. Record things like tags, moods and map locations to round it out.

However, if you want to currently go cross platform there is one very effective way to do this and that’s using Day One Classic with Dropbox and on Android, Narrate a nice Material Design journal that works seamlessly with Day One. It looks different of course but is very easy to use. What you are doing here is simply ensuring your words and pictures end up equally in both places should you use an Android. An Android can be very powerful, cost effective and nice looking tool. With cross platform in the mix there is no way you have to miss anything on your devices.

Voila now you have a robust, cost effective journaling system that is fully cross platform. The one thing though you can’t do is migrate to v2. For the short term I see no problem with this. However, you may have a need for the functionality of Day One v2 and to do this Day One needs to be cross platform.

Day One is currently working on their own Android platform which will provide seamless cross platform functionality. This ensures the future growth of your system a long with the ease of use of learning one interface. The interface of Narrate and Day One classic are both very intuitive to use in their own right. Yet, there can be nothing better than when the vendor provides the complete system.

Journey

Journey is an award winning journaling app on the Google Play store. It has been designed from the ground up to run cross platform. Sync’g between devices is a breeze. This is a very nice looking Journal regardless of where it’s being run.

The Mac version, downloaded from journey.cloud, is easy to use and visually very appealing. At Journey.cloud you will see a number of platforms that the system runs on including Windows, the Mac, the Web, Android and Chrome. What you won’t see yet though is IOS native apps. However, these are being worked on and if they are anything like the Android version, they will be impressive.

For now, the way to do journal entry from an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch you need to use the web. Although not as pleasant an experience as a native IOS app, it provides a concrete manner of getting your words and images down while mobile. In fact, the web version provides maximum flexibility in that you can look at your journal from any browser, on any platform and anywhere.

It will be very nice though when the makers of Journey, which is Two App Studio, have native apps for IOS. It makes a large difference in the manner in which you write and record things. All the apps will sync so your data, thoughts and reflections will equally present themselves on a platform regardless.

To Conclude

Cross Platform, not only in journaling but pretty well any significant app, is the way of the future as it is very liberating bringing people and teams together who can work on their platform of choice. It encourages innovation and both functional and cost competitiveness.

As described, Journaling, has numerous psychological and physical benefits. It can help you sort through problems by reflecting. It can lead you in the direction you were meant to go as it easily pulls from you your inner most thoughts, feelings and desires. However, journaling further goes on to describe what you like doing. When you put these two things together it is incredibly powerful.

Confusion is ameliorated, emotions are dealt with or least brought out and your goals become eventually highlighted. In many ways, Journaling helps you get to know who you are.

In some ways, we have distorted images of what journaling really is. Some of the most successful men and women journal. Those with depth are often found to be journalizers. Journal in the way it rewards you best. If that’s pen and paper go for it but don’t be dissuaded from using a computer. The benefits remain the same.

I spend a lot of time looking at Task Managers and Management Systems for a variety of reasons but the most important being I need them. When I was younger, I think I used to use a lot of memory power to keep it together and fortunately either the times were a bit simpler or my memory was stronger or possibly a combination of the above. Now I tend not to leave things to memory generally but rather write what has to accomplished down to either just get things done that have to be done or possibly meet some longer term goal.

Initially, I was quite taken with the GTD model. My academic background was in Psychology as is David Allen’s, the creator of GTD. The idea of a model to guide the way seemed right on to me.

I started to use the big GTD apps of the day:

• OmniFocus
• the Hit List
• Things
• Todo

  And with good results.

Time Passes and so Do Approaches

Although GTD seemed to be working for me as did the apps, I also started thinking is all this necessary. I started questioning, at first, the applications especially OmniFocus for being extremely rigid, complex and obtuse. It seemed to considered the GTD leader but what I began noticing with many an OmniFocus user was the insane creation of numerous Projects and Tasks with subtasks.

In fact, the odd user never seemed to get anything done and it struck me for a couple of reasons:

• they were too busy writing down tasks to the nth degree
• when they approached their projects and tasks they were overwhelmed as to where to start

I’m definitely not saying this was everyone’s blight, but the more I looked at it, the more obvious it was becoming. It wasn’t necessarily just OmniFocus that was producing these skewed results but other GTD type programs also.

Questioning Success

Did success, as David Allen suggests, depend on using the GTD methodology. It reminded me somewhat of the 60’s psychoanalyst. The only way to deal with your neurosis was to confront issues after extensive analysis. Today, we know this isn’t exactly true. In fact, maybe a person became completely messed up as a result of their psychoanalysis and we know that to be true and that’s why it really doesn’t exist anymore.

When Freud developed psychoanalysis it was based on:

• the socio cultural aspects of Vienna at the turn of the 1800’s to 1900’s
• medicine had not advanced enough to deal with the complications Freud was seeing (he was a neurologist by training)

What this tells us is that certain things are right for certain periods based on the parameters of the period.

Can Simpler Not be Better

The approach that Things from Culture Code took consistently is that simpler is better. Although it was more loosely based on GTD than OmniFocus they were too very different beasts and for a while OmniFocus seemed to be the way to go. For this discussion I will use OmniFocus as the example to have one extreme looking at another approach.

Microsoft came out with their own version of a task management system called “Microsoft To-do”. Carefully looking at this product, it incorporates concepts of GTD such as lists in which tasks sit. However, when you really look at the product and use it, the product is extremely easy to use. It is really all most people need. It integrates with their larger product (Outlook) which is probably extremely valuable but you don’t need a manual to use nor does it make you feel you need to get carried away with it.

Why, if you were to use say David Allen’s concept of a brain dump (externalize that which has to be done on paper or whatever as your brain can’t hold anymore than 7 or 8 things) do you not feel compelled to write down every little aspect of what needs to be done for any project or thing. It might actually go back to this concept of 7 or 8 things. In psychology, an experiment demonstrates we can retain by rote memory 7 digits but not more.

There’s nothing to dispute this except one thing. Observing something can generate a whole new pile of stuff and stuff that needs doing. This hasn’t been defined with a limit. In essence, these are two kinds of memory functions – one which is pure recall and one which is stimulus recall.

Two of my Favourite Task Managers Currently

There are two task managers which are my current favourites, one which has a history but has been reworked extensively and one which is new but is oddly very similar to the other. TickTick is currently my favourite task manager as not only does it work in an extremely fluid way it is fully cross platform (runs on Android and the Apple environment).

The other task manager which I’m very impressed with is Things 3. It only works on Apple products but it is a much nicer iteration of v2. As mentioned, there are certain architectural similarities between these two task managers even though they visually look different.

Things v3

Things v3 is a beautifully reworked system. It is clean, elegant, intuitive and with that easy to use. It uses space efficiently on the screen by hiding what you don’t need to see until you need to see it and it has implemented the concept of a checklist right within a task. That is, the task might say grocery shopping but in your checklist might be all the items to be picked up. These can be checked off within your task and the task brought to completion.

Things can be as simple as that but if you need it to be a little more extensive it can be. In fact, it could be a full on GTD system or some variation of that which might suit you better.

You can have a project such as build a garage and with the project a variety of tasks to accomplish what you want to do. In those tasks can be checklists so that you don’t forget something.

Things has always used the concept of areas of responsibility. I’ve tended to think of these as Folders, a way of further delineating your projects and tasks.

At it’s highest level, this is Things but you have to see it to appreciate it’s clean lines and subtle colours. It is not overwhelming but almost spot on. It could be your very simple task manager to todo list right on through to a full fledged GTD system with project management capabilities.

Add to Things tags and you can further delineate your items. A tag can be used for priority such as High, Medium and Low or to identify an items function spread across tasks thus pulling them together. Flexibility and ease of use is the name of the program.

TickTick

TickTick interestingly is not much different than Things except it works cross platform on Android. It uses Android’s concept of material design and is, like Things, clean and easy to use. It can be a simple task manager right through to a full on GTD program.

TickTick also uses checklists within a task and Projects or a primary list that tasks can be part of. Add to this a true priorities system, the ability to set due dates and add tasks and you have a very robust system.

Instead of areas of responsibility you use folders but I look at the two and they mean the same to me. If you look at these two programs, the are uncannily similar in functionality to each other.

Recommendation

There is not one over the other program I would recommend here. If you are using an Apple environment say with an Android phone, something which is growing in popularity, TickTick would be the way to go. If you’re at work and you expect to be a part of a team to solve problems, you might want to recommend TickTick as these days it is very likely your room will consist of iPhones with Android phones. Even your Blackberry is based on Android.

I don’t think you can go wrong with either of these programs provided you take into consideration your hardware mix. Things is no reason to run out and buy an Android if you’re happy with your iPhone. Much to Apple’s dismay, the LG G6, Samsung S8 and HTC u11 likely can’t be beat for power and elegance. I tend to prefer the LG G6 but this is the beauty of Android – there are styles that can suit your needs without blowing the budget. Further, software is becoming more and more cross platform all the time.

Things v3 and TickTick are perfect examples of how you can have high quality software fitting into a homogenous environment vs that of a heterogenous environment. Both these programs can suit you well.

You might have extensive knowledge with OmniFocus but there is a way to work with that in a heterogenous environment also. However, I think there might be a trend or at least consideration towards the move to more conducive software that frees you up to do work instead of you becoming a slave to your software.

This tech has many benefits with many to come. There is a downside though when our social systems deter us from true socializing and our systems enslave us to a system making us less productive than more.

Task management is as good as any example I can think of around this. There is nothing to say that something such as Microsoft’s To-do, a cross platform system, can’t leave you more functional than a full on GTD system. In fact, it is time to start questioning GTD as a rigid model that potentially takes away from productivity as enhances it. The idea that we can benefit from a reminder type system is as old as time itself. Structure in how we approach things is not bad either. However, my form of studying might work very well for me and not well for you at all. Finally, the idea that the brain is so well understood as to put a premise forward on what we can deal with is dangerous and foolhardy. The one thing that is well understood is the easier we make it to get from point A to B the more productive we all are.

2Do has actually been around for a while. It has always been a powerful, yet very flexible task management system. Although it started out in the Apple environment, it has made the logical leap to Android.

I have covered 2Do previously however, I wanted to bring you this video that is available on Youtube along with many other 2Do videos for a couple of significant reasons.

Foresight in Recognizing the value of Cross Platform

The developer of 2Do has had the foresight to realize the value of cross platform systems and more importantly the increasing move to making the program cross platform. Not every program need be cross platform, however , there are some like the areas of task management that is a natural for cross platform. Thus, an already very robust system now will work in Android and the Apple environment allowing teams, made up of people that use different programs to work well with each other.

GUI Standardization

The very significant thing that 2do has going for it is that this program has be ported so that you do not have to relearn a system. The Android and IOS platforms are almost identical except where something in say Android can be easily drawn out to enhance an overall very robust system .

2Do is enjoying a success of late as outlined by FEDERICO VITICCI in his MacStories article “Why 2Do Is My New Favorite iOS Task Manager”. This is a form of a renaissance wherein the application fits you in design rather than you fit it. The following video on Android is a very good overview video of 2Do.

and Much More

If you’re interested in learning more about 2Do you might want to start with this Youtube video page which deals with many aspects of the product through short videos. Since there is so much to 2Do this is a good way to grapple with the program.

I had wanted one of the newer, faster and most importantly phones with the large screen that were taller and not thicker in the hand. I looked at the Samsung S8 and LG G6. I was tempted to wait to see what Apple might be bringing out with their iPhone 8 but people’s projections about the cost of the phone was a little bone chilling. Further, although I use Apple everything, ultimately I find now I am bored with the iPhone and although it is simpler at the beginning to use, once you’re used to Android that’s no longer the case. Finally, Android is just simply a richer experience wherein, if you’re like me and like to tinker a bit and customize the phone to your liking or disliking, you can go wild on Android which is certainly not the case with the iPhone.

Having Decided on Android it was a Question of Which Phone

After assessing the various phones including the HTC u11, Samsung S8 and the LG G6, I felt the LG G6 fitted my needs the best. I preferred the new, elongated style of screen, which although it is large at 5.7” it really is no wider than an iPhone and thus quite comfortable to hold. The u11 was a speed demon and beautiful to look at but the width of the phone made talking on it tiring for the hand.

The LG G6, although it used the 821 instead of the 835 chipset, was still fast and very smooth to work with. I preferred the flat screen and the position ion the Touch ID over that of the Samsung, which I found hard to find. You had to keep flipping the Samsung to locate the Touch ID.

The LG G6 seemed perfect in almost every way. Sleek, fast with a nice interface and a clean software experience. The last thing to really test, due to the return policy was of course the phone but never having had a problem with a cellphone in my location in over 17 years, I considered the issue moot.

The Audio was Far from a Moot Point

I was so thrilled with this phone, but when I started testing phone calls and people kept saying I was breaking up I thought initially there must be some obscure problem with the network. When I called tech support only to find out they were having some kind of network problem, I was sure this would be the end of my audio problems.

Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. My wireless phone company sent out another LG G6 to which I was to continue to find exactly the same problems with the voice quality. I now had two phones to test simultaneously and both provided poor to uninterpretable call quality.

Specific Search on this issue Revealed there to be Call Quality Issues

I then decided to research this from a perspective I never thought necessary. All the videos and reviews I had looked at prior to this experience were positive to extremely positive. However, when you do specific research on this particular area it is a different story.

I came across report after report to user issues with the phones call quality in certain circumstances. However, it never seemed clear what would cause this phone to have call quality issues.

Once I had determined this to be a significant issue and testing a third phone seemed impractical, I returned the phones. Needless to say, this was a very positive experience that ended up very poorly on one of the most basic aspects of a cellphone.

Ensure You buy from Only the Most Reputable Source

This was an experience which was both disheartening, as I was sure I had the phone that suited me but emphasized the old adage “let the buyer beware”. Fortunately, I was able to return both unscathed except for the unusual amount of time I had to use to try to get the phone portion of this Smartphone working.

This also told me to always, if something seems wrong, to trust yourself. In this case, tech support for the LG and my service provider not once mentioned this is a known issue. Since it was a core service of the LG G6 and has been operational since the 70’s I kept doubting. I kept pushing on trying to get it to work.

Finally, I turned to the internet and with one search there was the answer. This is a known problem and numerous people were asking about it and even on the LG site there was a support document suggesting how it “might be resolved.

In this instance, the answer was always there I just never thought it would be me that would have to find it. Disheartened and at the same time relieved as now I knew. I returned back to my smaller, a little out of date but not much at all HTC a9 which had no problems and thought well I’m saving money and how often do I use a Smartphone anyway; very, very little.

Kind of video you will see pushing you to a Particular phone as opposed to be careful as the phone doesn’t work!!!

Or

In my travels, I noticed the HTC 10 has been marked down dramatically. This is an Android phone that has been rated as a Flagship in 2016 and although the HTC u11 is out, the HTC 10 is still highly rated and is only now coming to the natural end of it’s flagship status. Thus, you are getting a very good phone for half the price.

Currently in Stock only Red

There are three colours available but two are out of stock. There’s Gold, Grey and Red. It is a beautiful phone for the money and for some the HTC 10 suits them better than the u11. It is a slimmer (width wise), lighter phone and the red colour, which is in stock, is absolutely stunning. Actually, all HTC’s are of an extremely high build quality and look fantastic.

HTC Web Site Location for the HTC 10

By going to this page on the HTC website you can begin your purchase. There are tons of reviews and videos on the product also should you lack the information you require to know if this is right for you. Just to reinforce though, this was probably one of the best Android phones last year and basically a top contender amongst Smartphones .

It remains one of the top contending phones in 2017. The following is a video unboxing of the red phone and this fellow was so pleased with the phone he wanted as part of his collectors edition.