Organization is the key to success. Quite possibly one of those easy-but-useful proverbs, which are so easy to remember and may bring you actual results. Funny, that I heard it for the first time as a 22-year-old glass collector of a bar from a bartender, who tried to help me to organize the glasses in the right way. Poor Glyn probably didn’t know that with his sentence he’s gonna make a prelude for an app review.

Wunderlist

As I mentioned before, there is no better way to manage our goals and progression than drawing it up on a piece of paper, making up a deadline which keeps us motivated, but what about managing your time and every days?

“If your memory sucks, a notebook is worth a few bucks.” — My sister

Personally, I haven’t used neither diary nor calendar nor ToDo lists. Considering that my memory has never been my strength and that

• I tend to kill my time with non-sense stuff and
• I find self-improvement significantly important

I had to realize that I need a tool to manage my time and duties. The only question was what type of tool should I choose. Should I go oldschool and grab a pen and a calendar, or should I keep pace with the world and download the latest, super-smartest, bestest, cross platform application. Well, as a technology freak it wasn’t that big dilemma.

Paper vs. App

I chose going with the app, and let’s see why you should consider doing the same, even if you are not really into apps and stuff like that.

Diaries and calendars are elegant and fancy, I cannot argue with that. It has no battery to die and you don’t have to struggle with tiny sensitive buttons. Maybe it has a nice leather cover and it just looks nice. However, there are 2 key features which apps completely beat books with, when it comes to time and todo management:

You don’t carry these books with you all the time. You won’t take it out of your bag standing on a crowded bus to record a tiny thing. No matter you are sitting, having some private time while thinking about the big philosophical questions of life, waiting at the bus stop, or being on your way to school, your phone is likely with you, waiting for capturing brilliant ideas or recording your duties. But what’s more important: a book is limited. It has only place for things being on the same priority level. For instance: To a book where you log your deadlines and dates, you won’t record your budget, plan a project, or sketch ideas. It’s just not universal. Wunderlist on iPad

Why Wunderlist?

My choice is Wunderlist (I should be paid for this…) because it’s fast, smart and nice. As a matter of fact, it has became one of my favorite and most used mobile and desktop apps lately. Let’s see why, and what can you do with it.

It’s fast

A great tool is invisible, meaning that it does not stand between you and your task, but helps you to reach / achieve it. So your attention doesn’t need to focus on the interface or the tool itself, but on the task and service it provides. Like when you don’t even realize that you are using an app, just doing it. With intuitive design, Wunderlist makes it very easy and fast to create, modify and complete lists, and elements. There are no unnecessary, never used, useless features or overcomplicated menus. Easy peasy lemon squeeze.

It’s smart

Wunderlist is smart, because it works online and offline, on laptop, tablet and phone, Mac and PC, iOS and Android, in the air, on the ground, in the sea. You can assign due dates to your tasks, add reminders, use hashtags for easier organization, add notes, and add subtasks. What’s more, you can even share these, which makes a really nice collaboration workflow, suitable for students projects for instance. And the best of it: you can use all above for absolutely free! Tasty, isn’t it?

It’s nice

I don’t think I have to explain this. Beautiful, intuitive design. I like the way it’s not too flat, but managed to keep its original style.

What can an app like this used for?

Well, it’s just a tool, and it’s up to you what you use it for. Personally I use it to track deadlines and important dates, catch ideas to draw / design / write about, manage my todos and duties, collect movies and books I want to watch and read, to manage a needs- and shopping list, record my budget on the go and basically for everything that comes to my mind and I want myself to remember for that.

With a bit of creativity, using it can become such a powerful habit that you can save loads of loads of time, and make you super productive. Because these are lists. It’s a system. It’s organized.

Of course, there are loads of other todo apps out there on the market (Todoist, Clear, GoogleKeep etc.), so if you are not comfy with this one, make your own choice. As far as I am concerned, I got kinda obsessed with it, and can suggest it to everyone whole-heartedly (because I am such a nice guy).