Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Managing email, Evernote, and Remember The Milk all at once
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
We've been pretty excited about the Evernote integration we recently announced, especially how many ways we've heard about people using it. This week's tip, shared by ganzee, shows a neat way to use Evernote's email feature in addition to Remember The Milk's integration to add a note and task simultaneously while going through email.
Did you know that you can email actionable items to Evernote and have them automagically appear in Remember The Milk?
Follow the instructions on the Remember The Milk blog to integrate your Evernote and Remember The Milk accounts.
Now things get really clever….
When you get an email that needs action on a later date you simply send the mail with attachments to your Evernote email address. If you add a due date to the end of the subject line in the following format — !YYYY/MM/DD — a reminder will be created in Evernote. This will automatically create a new task in your Remember The Milk inbox with the due date specified.
So far so good….
But what if you have something for which the due date has not yet been set? Up til now, you could copy the specific Evernote note url to the task url in Remember The Milk. Whilst this works, it is time-consuming, and essentially a manual hack.
All of this has now changed…
When you email an actionable item to Evernote for which the due is not yet known or agreed, simply omit the YYYY/MM/DD element from the !YYYY/MM/DD described above. For example: a subject line of 'Review new eBook !' will create a note in Evernote with a reminder and an associated task in Remember The Milk.
By adopting this approach, my Weekly Review was both fun and immense in equal measure. Having all of my support materials from Evernote linked to Remember The Milk made the whole process a breeze. What's more, I can do this all on web or mobile platforms (Windows will eventually give another option). I love how I can click through from Remember The Milk and open the Evernote note. By no longer having to use the url hack, this just 'feels right'.
Thanks for sharing this tip, ganzee! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Smart List for tasks without time estimates
Tuesday, June 11, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
It can be really handy to plan your day with time estimates — "how much work did I plan for myself today?" or "how many things can I get done on my errands?" — but this only helps if you have time estimates on your tasks, of course!
This week's tip, shared by milkiglo, suggests using a Smart List to watch out for any tasks that are missing an estimate.
I figured out a search to determine which tasks require a time estimate:
NOT timeEstimate:">0"
I add this with search operator 'tagContains:' to work just with my action tagged tasks. I prefix all my action tags with '0' such as 0errands, 0home, 0macbook, etc. Then my Actions to Add Time Estimates search is:
tagContains:"0" NOT timeEstimate:">0"
Smart List bonus! As I add time estimates, the tasks are instantly removed from the Smart List and I can work down getting all those tasks up-to-date. Sweet!
Pro Tip: Use the keyboard shortcut key 'g' for editing time estimates fast!
Thanks for sharing this tip, milkiglo! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Focus on your doable tasks with a 'now' tag
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
I think many of us can relate to having long lists of tasks — various projects, "anytime" tasks, and things we want to get to eventually. :) This week's tip, shared by pauldb, suggests a quick way to focus only on what you can do now, or at least have chosen to do now.
All week long I add and schedule tasks for the coming weekend – things I just won't have time for during the week. So when Saturday rolls around, I may have 30 or more tasks of varying levels of priority. Maybe one top priority is to go to the grocery store for… milk. But as long as I'm out, I can also stop at Staples for…staples, and pick up stamps at the post office, and drop off a hat my kid's friend left at our house. These other tasks were low priorities, but they were each things I could do today.
Now that I'm going out, I scan through my tasks for the day, select all of them (whether on the web, iphone or iPad) and group-edit the tags for each, adding the tag "now" for each of them. So now while I'm out running my errands, I am displaying all tasks tagged as "now," and see just the five things I decided to do while I'm out. It gets the other 25 out of the way, whether they are otherwise a high or low priority. I can mark "complete" or delete them one-by-one and return home with a blank screen. Very satisfying.
Thanks for sharing this tip, pauldb! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Creating a Snooze Smart List
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
Despite our best intentions, it's easy to say something is due at a specific time but then not get to it right away. This week's tip, shared by hiteshnh, is for those of us who rely on our reminders, but might miss them at the time.
Since I rely on my phone app to remind me of due tasks, one thing I noticed was the absence of a snooze option in reminders. Sometimes I get a reminder when I’m in the middle of something else and instead of opening up the task properties and modifying the due time, I just dismiss it from the notification panel. And then it slips out of my mind.
As a workaround, I created a Smart List called Snooze with the following search criteria (using the NOT operator).
dueBefore:now NOT dueBefore:"today 12:01AM"
This list will show up all tasks that are overdue from earlier today but not tasks that are simply 'due today' (i.e. tasks due today but with no due time).
I created a badge for this Smart List on my Android homescreen so that I can quickly see all dismissed tasks in one place and either perform them or set a new date/time for them.
Thanks for sharing this tip, hiteshnh! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Don't leave home without it
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
If you do any commuting for school or work, it can be easy to forget something to bring for the day. This week, racheocity suggests a simple Smart List to help make sure you don't leave anything important at home.
I go to college, and live off-campus. I usually leave my house in the morning, stay on campus all day, then return late at night. This means that I need to make sure I have all of my things I need for random classes/meetings/clubs/working out, etc., since it's not really possible to get home between things. (This probably applies to anyone who works full-time also, and can't go home to get things in the middle of the day).
I made myself a tag to keep track of what I need to bring with me. Each task's name is the day of the week, and also has a due date of whatever day it is. Right now I have them repeating weekly (since a lot of stuff tends to repeat weekly in the college world), then I just add/subtract items as necessary. I list all the things I need to remember to bring in the notes. I set a reminder for a bit before I need to leave that day, since I know I will have my phone on me. Then, when I get the reminder just before I leave the house, I can check to make sure I have everything on the list, and grab anything I forgot.
Also, I also have two Smart Lists: one called "bring today" and one called "bring tomorrow" – pretty simple, they have search functions of (respectively):
tag:bring AND due:today
tag:bring AND due:tomorrowSometimes I look at what I need to bring the next day so I can pack at night, and sometimes I look at what I need to bring for the day so I can pack in the morning. :)
Sometimes if I need to bring stuff in the middle of the day (e.g. just from one specific class to another), I just add a new, one time event to the bring tag with a reminder for that time of day instead of the morning.
Thanks for sharing this tip, racheocity! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: A simple now, sooner, later approach
Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
We've highlighted a variety of different Smart Lists and methods over the years, but we're always impressed to see how many new ideas are out there! This week's tip, shared by jlottosen, is a simple, complete way to organize all your tasks into three main lists.
My effective and simple setup is three lists:
Inbox:
Tasks with specific dates, repeating tasks etc. This are the things to do NOW, and to know what's coming. I use locations, and tags to differentiate. Household chores for instance have a tag, as well the kids.Sooner:
Things with no specific due date, but is coming up. Things to do, when there is time for it. It's usually sorted by priority, and most things make it to the inbox when they have a date.Later:
Everything else down the line. Clean the drain pipes … eventually. :-) Add ideas to keep me from forgetting them (not promises though).
Thanks for sharing this tip, jlottosen! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Different kinds of due dates
Tuesday, May 7, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
It can be all too easy to get in the routine of "selecting all overdue tasks, postponing them" and then "selecting all tasks due today, postponing them too", hoping you'll get to them tomorrow.
This week's tip, shared by rksnh6, suggests a better way: categorizing tasks with due dates so they don't overwhelm every list.
One of the things I've worked on in tidying up my lists is keeping the integrity of due dates. I discovered that I was looking at 8-10 tasks that were "due" every day, and mentally sorting through which ones were actually due, which ones were just things I'd wanted to be reminded of, and which ones were things I just wanted to get done today. I also found myself looking at tasks that were due in the future, but which, for whatever reason, I couldn't do anything about today.
So now, every time I create a task with a due date, I give it one of three tags: "expiration," "reminder," or "due."
"Expiration" is a date after which the task will no longer be relevant. Generally, this translates to a hard deadline – do it by this date, or it's gonna hurt. Sometimes this is clear-cut – a proposal deadline, for instance. Sometimes it's less so – what is the last possible day I can book a hotel for my trip to Cleveland? For the sake of integrity, I try to keep this realistic. I *could* book a hotel the day that I arrive in Cleveland – so I set the due date as the day I arrive. Now, I'd rather book it before then, and because of the way my working to-do lists are set up, which I'll get to in a second, I'll have ample opportunity to do that.
"Reminder" is just that – a piece of information I want to send to my future self. These usually have broader time frames – "Look into summer weekend trips" or "Send follow-up about fall application."
"Due" is a pretty narrow category – tasks that can only be completed on a particular date, not before and not after. "Pack for Cleveland trip" – I'm only going to do that the day before I leave. I also occasionally include things that, yes, I could do on a different day, but know for certain I'm going to do on a particular day. Today, for instance, is Valentine's Day. I've been planning on buying wine and presents this afternoon for a week. So while I could have done that any time before today ("expiration"), I mark it as "due", because I only want it to show up on today's list. (Is making plans for Valentine's Day on RTM sexy? I'm not sure. But do you know what is even less sexy than planning Valentine's Day on RTM? Failing to make plans for Valentine's Day.)
Which brings us to the point of all this – when and how I want to see these different categories on my list. Since my life will get significantly worse if an "expiration" task flies by without my noticing, I want to see those well in advance. "Reminder" and "Due" tasks, on the other hand, I don't want to see before the date that I've marked. So, among many other parameters (because I'm a closeted RTM nerd), my working list includes a search for
(tag:expiration AND dueWithin:"1 week of today" NOT tag:reminder NOT tag:due) OR dueBefore:tomorrow
Together, these criteria mean that "expiration" tasks appear on my list the week before they're due, and "reminder" and "due" appear on the date they're due.
When a "due" task appears, I obviously need to complete the task. The "reminder" category is the one that requires some decision-making. If the task now has some kind of a hard deadline associated with it, I'll revise the due date and tag appropriately. More often than not, though, I remove the due date and add it to my general, un-dated list of things to do – because a very important factor in this plan was eliminating the "wishful thinking" due date. If it doesn't fall into one of these three categories – expiration, reminder, or due – I don't assign a due date, no matter how much my deadline-happy self might want to.
But – I've been using this system for a few months, and now that I'm in the swing of it, it rarely fails, and my deadline-happy self is even happier knowing that all of its deadlines are to be trusted.
Thanks for sharing this tip, rksnh6! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Don't forget Taco Tuesday!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
In perhaps our tastiest tip yet, this week Remember The Milk user radmoose shares how they make sure not to miss out on a good deal on tacos. :)
The fish taco place near me (well, around the US) has a deal every Tuesday after 2:30pm. $1.50 Fish Tacos! They are awesome and at half-price, I love them =)
The problem is, I usually remember about the deal on Wednesday.
So I created a reoccuring reminder every Tuesday to jog my memory before 2:30pm on Tuesday (and not 10:30am on Wednesday =P)
I also went in an added some other daily reminders for places that have deals on certain days of the week, such as "Kids Eat Free".
Not only do I save time with Remember The Milk, I also save money!
Thanks for sharing this tip, radmoose! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Epic task management
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
Many tips we feature are bite-sized or address one particular Remember The Milk feature or help solve one particular organizational problem. This week's tip, shared by martingchapman, breaks the mold though, by including a variety of approaches and Remember The Milk features for a comprehensive system that covers, by its nature, everything!
(Note: The entire post is very thorough, so below are just a few quotations to give you an idea of what martingchapman's system is like.)
I have studied David Allen's “Getting Things Done” (GTD) system and Michael Linenberger's “Manage Your Now” (MYN) system, both of which have many excellent ideas about Life Management, however when fully implemented they overcomplicate things (in my opinion), so I have extracted the bits that I like from GTD and MYN and built my own system around them.
I have described a way to easily and quickly add tasks manually or from emails, add and manage Projects, make any task a Next Action and in the same action, put it onto a Context related list so that you can “do” it.
What is a “Trusted” system? A “Trusted” system is one that contains everything I have/want to do, it is “Trusted” because I know it contains everything, nothing is forgotten.
I don’t need to remember to do anything because it is all in the system, so I can use my brain for what it is best designed to do – thinking (GTD/MYN).
Be sure to read the full post for all of the details for how to implement this system yourself.
Thanks for sharing this tip, martingchapman! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Avoiding constant postponing
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 by Andrew Conkling
It's easy to set due dates on tasks that don't have firm dates, and then end up postponing them a lot if you don't get to them right away. In this week's tip, kokuran shares an easier way to manage these kinds of tasks.
I like to put a due date on everything except for "maybe someday tasks", but this creates a problem where I'm not sure what has to be done and what can wait a bit longer. And so I endlessly postpone or revise due dates to avoid the guilt of overdue tasks. To combat this, I combined my due dates with priorities:
- Priority 1 is for hard due dates: it really actually has to be done that day
- Priority 2 is for soft due dates: it should get done that day, but it can wait a week or so
- Priority 3 is whenever: it would be best to be done within a month or so, but no rush.
I then postpone any of the priority 2-3 stuff that I don't get to on the day it's "due", and set up a Smart List that keeps track of tasks that have been postponed many times. After 10 postponements (priority 2) or 45 (priority 3), I upgrade the task's priority one level to force myself to get it done.
postponed: >10 AND priority:2
postponed: >45 AND priority:3
Thanks for sharing this tip, kokuran! You're our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we'll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
Posted in: Tips & Tricks
