Looking for a minimalistic way to keep track of what you need to get done? Wunderlist is a great application for the job.  I have tried many of the to-do list mangers out there and Wunderlist is by far the best looking, and possibly one of the most functional I have used.

Once installed, the first thing you will notice is that this is a great looking program.  It is very stylish and sleek. 

On the right side menu, you can add categories of to-do lists you need to create.  For example, you could have one named personal (for your personal to-do list items) and the other named work (for your work related projects). Then all you need to do to add things to your to-do lists is type out a short message in the box labeled, "Add your task here" and then hit the Enter key on the keyboard.  Add stars to give certain to-do list items more importance and clear things off by clicking on the check mark box to the far left. 

Now, that is not to say Wunderlist is without its flaws.  One thing that bugged me was there was no real documentation on how you use the program.  You just pretty much have to figure it out. Right now, there is no way to sync your usage either to a mobile device (however, that should be coming soon). Wunderlist also needs to be able to minimize too.  I’d rather it live by my clock rather than take up space as another item in the task bar.

Pick up the task management application Wunderlist (available for both Mac and Windows) and let me know what you think.

Having a timer can come in handy for all types of jobs.  Lets say you wanted to work on your novel for just one hour a day, or perhaps you needed to get up from the computer a stretch a little bit every 30 minutes?  The online tool, e.ggtimer.com is perfect for that.

An egg timer, for those who have never heard of such a device, is something that’s function is to measure a set amount of time.  Where do eggs come into the picture?  It is most commonly used to aid in cooking an egg in water.  What e.ggtimer.com does is it brings that classic idea to the Web.

The web site’s interface is simple.  In the text box, you simply enter your time you want to set it for, and hit the go button.  You can also set the time by typing in the time into the address bar, such as:

• http://e.ggtimer.com/2minutes
• http://e.ggtimer.com/1hour14minutes35seconds
• http://e.ggtimer.com/5years3months
• http://e.ggtimer.com/30 (when you just put a number it assumes seconds)

When the time is up, it will make a “dinging” noise to let you know your time is up. Filed in the bookmarks where I keep my other simple web application I love, e.ggtimer.com is possibly the best online timer around.

Get More Done!

You have a daily to-do list to create after signing up.  As you type in things you need to do, they are added to the list.  Anything you haven’t gotten done for one day is automatically moved to the next day. You can also re-arrange tasks like this by taking advantage of the “shift” command.  This will let you put something off till the next day.

Here is a screen shot of Patio in action:

The best thing about using Patio, or any other online to-do list manager is that you don’t have to remember to jot it down somewhere, or hurry up and find a pen and paper to write yourself a note.  You have it all online, which makes it even easier to access and organize your daily tasks.

RescueTime – It is a web-based time management and analytic tool for knowledge workers who want to be more productive.

FreshBooks – One of the best tools to easily and quickly track your time and invoice your clients.

Cashboard – Time tracking, invoicing, estimates, and online payments done your way. Cashboard does it all, and does it for free.

Motismo – a simple time tracking solution for creative professionals.

LiveTimer – This is a flexible and easy to use online time tracking service. It can be used by anyone on the Internet to track time for billing purposes or to improve accountability and productivity.

TrackMyPeople -This system is entirely web based meaning you can access your teams data everywhere in the world allowing you to easily track your employees time spent on a project or just analyze a graph for optimization.

Torch – This application allows you to communicate simply with your colleagues, clients and suppliers.

FreeTimeManager – FreeTime was conceived and developed by a team of designers who were looking for a simple yet logical real-time management solution.

BubbleTimer – A personal time management solution that helps you spend your time on what’s most important to you.

If you are looking for more time saving solutions, be sure to check out the previous list of ten application to help you get more time back.

tick – Want to focus on hitting your budgets?  Tick is a simple and friendly time tracking application that will help you do just that.

1time – this tool is a web-based time and expense tracking application that allowse you to easily keep track of projects in real time.

tempo – another time tracking tool, this one also comes with powerful reporting and mobile access.

Santexq -  here is the answer to the time reporting, task managing and billing needs of your dynamic business.

toggl – the time management tool you want to use.

Klok – this app is a little different because it is a personal time tracking tool.  It can tell you how much time you have spend on past projects, which in turn can tell you how much time you might spend on future projects too.

Paymo – this tool acts as an assistant for anybody working as a freelance adgent out there as well as a time manager.

SlimTimer – time tracking, without the time sheet.

Harvest – this tool lets you and your staff track time, log expenses, and create invoices in one simple, integrated workflow.

Clocking IT – this keeps track of all your tasks and the time you spend on them.

Have another suggestion, tip or application that is helping you get more of your time back this year?  Let me know about it.

Here is a little more about what this clock is and how do you tell time on it?

Analogy is a typographic clock which explores the numerical and spatial qualities of digital and analogue clocks. This piece considers the relationship between the two, fusing them together to create a new hybrid format. It gives an everyday object a twist to make it something that people will notice.

They say a screensaver is coming soon – which is what I am waiting for personally. How about you? Check out the Analogy clock at Jessonyip.com.

Due to me being one busy mofo – I’m going to be leaving my writing duties over at Lockergnome. I still love Lockergnome and the crew, but it’s just not something my heart is in right now and that I have the time to do. Hopefully that will leave me a little more time to spread out to other projects and other things I have been meaning to do.

So yeah, things have happened – don’t want to talk about them – so why write? Just felt like I should at least let that one tidbit of information out there to the public. Now back to your regularly scheduled Mitchness.

One good way of getting more productive is to make yourself a list.

Now I know some people poo-poo this idea because it sets a goal that you can not reach. Your to do list might be really huge, and looking at it might discourage you from moving forward. For me though, a list is a good way to help me remember what my daily tasks should be and what my weekly tasks should be.

You shouldn’t put things on your list like “brush your teeth” or “take a bath”. Hopefully those are given tasks that you know that you will do by the time the day is over with. Things marked on the lists should not be everyday goals you set out to do. They should be the odd little things that take up your free time.

I want you to create two notes to yourself. One should be what you want to get done in a day (normal day to day tasks that you need to make note of). The other should be things you need to get done by the time the week is over with (these can be bigger tasks or jobs that you do not need to do every single day).

For example, if I know I have to write five articles, I could try to write them all in one day – but then they would probably be a little suckstatic in their quality. Instead, I have five days in the work week, so I can write down on my daily to do list – write an article. This way one job that would take several hours can now be spread out through the week and take only a few minutes.

Now what is a good way to write these notes to yourself? Here are a couple of program that should help you out in that department. Both allow you to put little sticky notes on your desktop to write things down on.

+ StickyPad
+ ATnotes
+ Stickies

The great lesson to be learned is to not overwork yourself. Instead of doing one big job today, make it into several little jobs you can spread out through the week. This way you can have more hours of your day to do other things you need to do.

I am no sicko, pervert or anything else like that. Let me first start this story with my problem. Once I started my new job, I seemed to have less and less time to listen to some of my favorite podcasts. So I thought, when could I get more listening time in?

The time I spend taking a shower and shaving is filled with silence, so I figured that would be a good time to get listening to podcasts into my routine again.

Well, the first thing I tried was wearing headphones while doing these activities. That did not work out so well, so I had to go with something different. Now my MP3 player is nothing great, it is a Dell Pocket DJ. Not the state of the art machine, but it has lasted me a long time. Getting an new setup just to get this to work seemed a little silly too. There has to be an easy way to get this done.

That is when I reached for my box of old computer parts and pulled out a pair of speakers. I plugged the speakers into the audio jack on the mp3 player and cranked it up as loud as it would go. It worked! Now I have a little more time to listen to my favorite podcasts and you have yourself a quick little tip on how you can do the same.

The moral of the story?

Never toss out that old computer equipment, because you never know when you might find a good use for it – even in the bathroom.

Well so far, making lists of things for me to do has been working. I have a daily to do list with all the things I need to do every single day. For other tasks that I do day by day, I have a daily to do list for each day of the week.

So I might have five things I need to do every single day that is on my daily to do list, and everything else gets spread out on smaller to do lists for the days of the week.

So far it has been working out. The only hard part about it all is making myself stick with it, so I don’t have a boatload of work left for me at the end of the week.