When I first started keeping a to-do list, I found my productivity and mental clarity improved signficantly. No longer did I have to worry about retaining information in my brain and I eliminated the risk of me forgetting about an important task. I first started out writing notes in my phone, or on scrap pieces of paper, but this was not very organized. It was not until somewhat recently that I discovered the phone application and browser extension known as google tasks. I give a lot of credit to tasks for keeping me on the ball and wanted to share with you the key features that have helped me get the most out of this software.
Whether you are viewing google tasks on your mobile device or through desktop, it operates nearly the same. You can find tasks as the blue circle with a checkmark in it on the right hand side of any google applicaiton, I mainly open mine with my email or drive. After opening tasks, click “add a task” and select a day/time. Before selecting okay, you will see the option for “Repeat” at the bottom of the menu. If you select this, it will give you the option to make the task repeat every day, week, month, or year. You can even change the frequency of days/weeks so if you wanted a task to repeat every 2 weeks, you can make that happen. This is very useful for recurring goals and events that you want to stay aware of. For me, this feature has helped me be reminded of some of my goals such as meditating and journaling.
One of the best features of google tasks is how it can overlap with your google calendar. If you designate a time for a task, it will show up at that specific time on your calendar. You can even add tasks directly to your calendar without having to open the google task application! To first be able to view your tasks through calendar, open your calendar and go to, “My calendars,” on the bottom left hand side of the screen. Here you will see a calendar called, “Tasks.” If it is not already checked, click the checkmark to activate this calendar. You should now be able to view tasks on your calendar! To add tasks directly to you calendar, click on the day and time that you desire to place your task, and change the tab from “Event” to “Task.” You are now in the menu for creating a task. Here you can add a title and description to help you recall what needs to be accomplished when the time comes. If you would like some tips on how to optimize google calendar, read through this summary of my top 5 google calendar tips for managing your day.
A key feature that has helped me organize my tasks is the ability to create different projects. Within google tasks, there is the ability to “create new list.” I personally like to create several lists that help me organize different parts of my life. Some suggestions would be, daily tasks, work, and hobbies. I also recommend the list of, “books to read,” based off recommendations from others. The reason I have this in tasks is because of the ability to set a time to read one of these recommended books. These lists can be whatever you would like, or you could keep all your tasks in one list, its entirely up to you!
Another necessity when it comes to utilizing google tasks to its fullest is to create subtasks. Lets say you have a project for work, you can create subtasks under that larger project so as you clear out each subtask, the parent task remains in place. This is helpful for creating trees within tasks but unfortunately, it only goes one layer deep as you can not add a subtask to a subtask.
Lets say you need to follow up on an important email, did you know you can take that email and put it directly into tasks? In order to do this while on desktop, take the email and drag it into the task menu on the right hand side of your screen. Here it will create a new task, and you can rename it to whatever you see fit. The email will be linked to your task, so you can open the reference material with ease. Other ways of doing this is to click on the email and select the “add to task” icon at the top of your screen, just below the search bar. If you are on mobile and would like to do this, you can by clicking the 3 dots once in an email and selecting, “add to tasks.” I have found this useful in bookmarking emails that I need to respond to, or if the email relates to a project I know I will have to work on at a later date.
Hopefully, at least one of these tips resonated with you. Google tasks may not be the best task managing software, but because of how well it integrates with the other google platforms, I find great value out of it. I like how I am able to connect my phone to my desktop, and how the tasks can overlay with my Gmail and calendar. Whether it be with tasks or another software, I wish you the best with staying on top of your tasks and staying productive!
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