Why all the hoopla about a task manager? Because it’s your time we’re talking about. You ought to be spending your valuable time getting done what needs to be done, not piddling it away perusing your task list repeatedly and hen-pecking out items.

When you get methodical and use a system that supports your intention of taking care of business, you feel good about making progress on your goals. You deal with the stuff that needs taking care of, and are able to apply your brain cells toward your other goals freely.

To get digital or not get digital, that is the question…

Do any of these sound familiar?

• Maybe you’ve tried to track your tasks digitally and just didn’t stick with it.
• Maybe you’ve always done paper so you are sticking with paper.
• Maybe you want to go digital but just haven’t taken the time to select a program and get it set up.

While for most systems I’m all for customization and minimal change to keep you moving forward, consider yourself warned that I’m taking a stand on the digital task manager as the preferred choice over a paper list or even a simple digital list.

Here’s why: the task managers available now that were designed with GTD (Getting Things Done) in mind actually make it easier to not only get things done, but to make consistent progress on your “Important / Not-Urgent” projects.

[NOTE: Important / Not-Urgent is a Stephen Covey distinction. These are typically the projects that are closest to your heart and the first to get dropped when urgency hits. And the truth is, if you are using a reactionary-based task list, you are always in urgency mode. I'm just sayin'. ]

Believe me, my intention isn’t to call you out and say, “Your system s*$ks.” Really, it’s not.

My intention is, as always, to get you to take an honest look at what’s not working in your work flow, set-up something that does work well, and get on with creating the sweet life you were born to live.

Back to my soap box. Why the digital task manager?

1. you will put a stop once and for all to the re-writing-and-repeatedly-flipping-through-past-lists game
2. it’s easy to review projects because they are right there (critical for your weekly planning & review session)
3. assign contexts** (see breakout below)
4. you can assign start dates so you can park it and forget about it until that time
5. most have a recurring tasks function

All of these little cool functionalities, used well and wisely, add up to nothing short of a seemingly magical boost to the management of your work flow.

Contexts
**The concept of “contexts” was one of the tougher ones for me to grasp–and get the importance of–when I was learning David Allen’s GTD system. What helped me get it was the “best practices” suggestion I learned about using OmniFocus which was:

• enter your tasks via the “Projects mode” of the program, but
• when you get to work, work from the “Contexts mode”

In a nutshell, Contexts refer to what tool or location is relevant to the task?
Storing up conversation topics to discuss with Joe, assign context “1:1 Joe”
If it’s a phone call, assign context “Calls”

As you can imagine, this would group, for ex. all or your calls together. This is beneficial when:

• you are in the groove to make calls, there they are all lumped together.
• you are out somewhere with an unexpected 30 minutes on your hands, you can plow through a bunch of calls (assuming you sync your task manager with your phone).
• you don’t have access to a phone for whatever reason, you aren’t looking through your unsorted list searching for a task that can be done given your phone-less situation.

Now the bad news. There isn’t a single solution to point you towards, though I have a few suggestions.
Factors that make a one-program answer impossible:

• Mac vs. PC & Operating system
• Email program
• Sync-ability with smartphone/iPhone
• Price

PC

Especially if your work is email-centric, you use a PC, and use Outlook as your email client, then I’d go with the David Allen Company’s own product:
Getting Things Done® Outlook® Add-In.

PC requirements: Windows XP, Vista or 7
Email program: Outlook 2002, 2003, 2007
Sync-ability with smartphone/iPhone: I see no indication on the site that this is possible.
Price: $74.95
Additional benefits: very helpful webinars to set up your plug-in for best practices

While a good percentage of the corporate world still seems to be PC and Outlook-based, most of the folks I work with are independent professionals, and very few of my clients are PC/Outlook users.

So if you are on a PC and don’t use Outlook then there is EasyTask Manager by OrionBelt.com , a standalone program (Mac version below).
PC requirements: Windows 2000 or later
Email program: any (because it’s a standalone program)
Sync-ability: iPhone
Price: $19.99 for desktop version, iPhone app is $zippo bucks
Additional benefits: not only can you sync between multiple computers, you can sync between PC and Mac. You can drag an email into the notes section of a task and it will turn into a link that goes back to the original email.

Mac

Mac and iPhone users have several good standalone program options, my two preferred being: Things and EasyTask Manager.

Things by CulturedCode.com
Mac requirements: OS X 10.4.11 or later
Email program: any (because it’s a standalone program)
Sync-ability: iPhone
Price: $49.95 for desktop version, iPhone app is $9.99
Downside: you cannot sync between multiple computers.
Additional benefit: Shortcut autofill function allows you to quickly create a task from an email (when you are in the email program)–OS X 10.5 and later only

EasyTask Manager by OrionBelt.com
Mac requirements: OS X 10.4.11 or later
Email program: any (because it’s a standalone program)
Sync-ability: iPhone
Price: $49.95 for desktop version, iPhone app is $9.99
Downside: you cannot sync between multiple computers.
Additional benefit: Shortcut autofill function allows you to quickly create a task from an email (when you are in the email program)–OS X 10.5 and later only

Note: of the two Mac programs above, Things is more freeform in the entry (based on tags rather than drop down menus). This works for some and not for others. The GTD system works when you have the discipline to enter associated project, context, and length of time estimated for a task.

One thing I’ve read on user forums comparing experiences is that some people prefer a more structured entry system (like EasyTask’s) because they know themselves well enough to know they might not maintain the discipline to enter all that info.

There are a ton of programs out there–the last thing I want you to do is get lost in the sea of possibilities. The options above are solid potentials. As a disclaimer, I’ve used Things and EasyTask; I haven’t used the GTD Outlook plug-in. I did see a demo of it and it looked great. Considering where it’s coming from, I have to trust that it’s an excellent choice.

The next step is up to you. If you’ve been wavering, decide and do. If you’ve slipped, get back on board.

You. In the driver’s seat. Making waves. Why have it any other way?

Well, you can spend less time wondering which one to get. But I guess I should start with, Why use sunscreen in the first place?

Call it an investment in your healthy future. Rather than have to deal with removing potentially cancerous skin issues, take care of your skin Now.

Last week I saw an article by Julie Deardorf called “Is sunscreen a smokescreen?” (on Julie’s blog connected with the Chicago Tribune)Not all sunscreens protect you from both UVA & UVB rays, and the U.S. basically allows manufacturers to claim whatever they want.

She reports that the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org — site seemed to be down when I tried today 7/28/07) has conducted studies and research to find which sunscreens are doing a good job protecting our sensitive skin (and which don’t).

The 5 best suncreens according to the Environmental Working Group:

1. UV Natural Sport SPF 30
2. Badger SPF 30
3. Peter Thomas Roth Titanium Dioxide Sunblock 30
4. Lavera Sunscreen Neutral SPF 40 (company website?)
5. Vanicream Sunscreen Sport SPF 35 (company website?)

rosacea
About-Rosacea.com (I’ve got my radar on for rosacea products as I have that sensitivity on my nose) has their own list of recommended sunscreens. Here are the brands that show up on the above “best 5″ list as well as the About-Rosacea list:

• Vanicream SPF 15
• Peter Thomas Roth Day Protection Cream

other sun exposure tips
The article “Sizing Up Sunscreen” from MSNBC.com‘s Newsweek refers to the same Environmental Working Group study as well as includes other sun safety reminders like staying out of the sun during peak hours, apply sunscreen liberally and before exposure, wear a hat, the kind of things we can be reminded of repeatedly and still not head.

The costs is just too distant for most of us. “What’s a little sun now?” One look at all the little scars my dad now has from “minor procedures” after years in the So. Cal sun as a kid is a good enough reminder for me to keep the sunscreen on my nose and the sun off my shoulders.

I wonder how long it took him to try all 600? Did he spit out all the sippage? Did he get raging drunk and have a crazy-good time traveling to chateaus and tasting rooms across France?

Curious questions aside, the one thing to remember, if you are a wine drinker or looking to buy wine for a wine connoiseur, 2005 Bordeaux is a thumbs up!

The program, combined with a microphone (I’m using the Parrot TalkPro), learns the nuances of your voice. It uses a combination of sound (phonemes) and context recognition. I’m still in the process of “training” it by reading texts in its training database. Since it knows what I am reading, it is gathering data on the way I speak. After 2 (out of about 10) training sections I tried reading some random passages from Covey’s 7 Habits and got about 75% accuracy.

Charles Moore wrote a very comprehensive review of iListen. He’s been using iListen for several years and several versions and had positive (but not blind) praise for the product. He actually mentions several features that I was unaware of (the documentation from MacSpeech is not super user friendly. There are 4 different pdf manuals that I’m learning to sort through to find answers to my questions.)

Seeing what errors iListen made provided an interesting look into what other people might hear when I speak. Reminds me to not speak too quickly and to enunciate, especially with people who don’t speak English as a first language.

One is that you can now use a pen and tablet to create Mind Maps which is a great option for those who spend a lot of time at the keyboard (watch those repetitive motions!) You can also draw your own images to use on the branches or as attached graphics. I thought being able to import images and photos was cool–this opens up a whole new world.

The second new functionality that just tickled my toes is a Spotlight importer built in to the NovaMind program. This means you can now search for your NovaMind files in Spotlight. I’m a newbie at using Spotlight and I find it a brilliant addition to the Mac’s search function. (If you are even more of a newbie than me, Spotlight comes with Tiger, Mac’s OSX 10.4. Spotlight searches files, emails, photos, and now Mind Maps for keywords that you enter.)

Think about brainstorming. Ideas pop up from “no where” and in no particular order. Mind mapping is like a free flowing word representation of a big vision. The core concept is placed in the middle of the page. Related concepts branch out from this core concept. You can branch out from each of these branches too (called siblings). Each level away from the center shows greater detail, and all branches are in support of the core concept.

I think I’m proving my own point by trying to describe this. It’s tough being constrained to words in live after line to describe how something looks! This is where the beauty of mind mapping is evident. Be free to use color and pictures to develop your thoughts!

Want to give it a test run? You can! If you have a Mac, that is. (I understand the Windows version will be along soon.)

If, however, your filing cabinet isn’t within easy arms reach, you can still use this sweet magnetic technology by mounting a magnetic board. The Container Store has a number of shapes and sizes to choose from. They also have many fun accessories for the magnetic board, from interesting shaped magnets, to hooks, to bins.

To check out what is available at the Container Store, click on below image and then at the top of the screen where it says, “enter product or item #,” enter the words, magnetic boards.

If you don’t have your filing cabinet right next to your desk, you can simulate the effect with a magnetic board.

They are available in a variety of sizes at the Container Store. Click on the image below.