Swift To-Do List Blog » swift to-do list

Strike-through style for done tasks added

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 18:49:41 +0000

You can now have your done tasks displayed with a strike-through style instead of just being gray.

This is one of the improvements in the last Swift To-Do List update, v10.1. You can download the new Swift To-Do List here.

As always, this update is free for all customers who have a Swift To-Do List subscription.

You can enable this new style using menu File – Options. Simply check the Strike-through Done Tasks checkbox in the Task-View section of Options.

Here’s how it looks -

Strike-through style for done tasks added is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List 10 with scheduling calendar released!

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 08:26:32 +0000

New major version 10 of Swift To-Do List has been just released!

It just might be the best and greatest to-do list software ever created for Windows.

The new version adds:

Scheduling calendar
33 new tree icons
Ability to assign tasks to multiple people
Ability to set times of day for tasks
Improved Time Estimate, Time Spent and Time Left fields
Improved Secure Cloud Sync
Ultimate features for everybody
… and many other improvements

You can download the new Swift To-Do List 10 here.

See more about What’s New in version 10 (includes more screenshots).

Customers who have already tried the new version love it!

That upgraded calendar feature is totally awesome dude. -Malcolm F, USA

This truly has become the perfect product! Thank you so much! -Robert G, USA

Download the new Swift To-Do List 10.

If you have already Swift To-Do List installed, all your data will be fully preserved.

If you already own Swift To-Do List, you either get the new version for free (in case you’ve purchased Swift To-Do List on November 24, 2015 or later and thus own a subscription), or with a discount. To claim your discount, simply download the new version and click the “Upgrade to Subscription” button on the top-right.

Enjoy the new Swift To-Do List and your new control of your time!

Swift To-Do List 10 with scheduling calendar released! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

What we are up to in 2016: Swift To-Do List 10 is coming

Ondrej Zabojnik — Mon, 11 Apr 2016 12:28:48 +0000

As you know, in November 2015, we’ve released Swift To-Do List 9.50 with new greatly improved Secure Sync. Since then we’ve continued working hard on the Secure Sync as well as new features that we plan to introduce this year.

We are happy that many of you find the Secure Sync, our mobile apps and the web-app for Swift To-Do List helpful. You might have noticed that when using the Secure Sync, you mostly don’t get bothered with task edit conflicts and such. That’s because we want to make it as easy to use as possible. That is however a complicated job and occasionally in some edge cases, given the complexity and the amount of data we are managing in the Secure Sync, problems may take a little longer to solve than we would like to. We always appreciate your patience and assistance in identifying the root of the issue.

Now the big news – Swift To-Do List 10 is coming this year! If you own the current Swift To-Do List 9 subscription license, it will be a free upgrade for you.

Our main goal for Swift To-Do List 10 is now a long-awaited full Scheduler/Calendar. We will also introduce some other new features and improvements in the Secure Sync infrastructure.

Apart from that we plan on introducing new Team features to make it easier and more productive to use Swift To-Do List in organizations.

Also, updates to our companion mobile apps – such as background sync – are one the way.

We are super glad for all the positive feedback about Swift To-Do List helping you with your every day life, especially the Secure Sync. That gives us inspiration to continue working on Swift To-Do List and make it even better for you. Thank you!

May Swift To-Do List help you make 2016 truly great for you!

What we are up to in 2016: Swift To-Do List 10 is coming is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Introducing Swift To-Do List subscription plans

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:24:19 +0000

We’ve just released Swift To-Do List 9.50, which includes new, greatly improved Secure Sync and new team sharing options!

New mobile apps were released as well – it’s important that you update them if you use them.

We are also excited to announce Swift To-Do List subscription plans.

Swift To-Do List is now offered exclusively as a subscription.

Full Package For a Single Price

For a single annual fee, you will get:

Swift To-Do List for Windows, always the latest and highest version with all the features. After 1 year, you can keep the Windows version forever, even if you do not renew your subscription.
Swift To-Do List mobile apps for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets.
Swift To-Do List web app.
Use of Swift To-Do List on unlimited number of devices.
Updates for everything, including major upgrades.
Secure Sync of all the Swift To-Do List apps.
Team features (multi-user plans only).
Secure Cloud backup of your tasks, notes and spreadsheets. Even if your computer crashes or gets stolen, your data is safe.
Friendly tech support and customer service.

To use Swift To-Do List in a team, you need to have a multi-user plan (Mini, Small, Medium or Business).

For new customers, Swift To-Do List no longer comes in 3 editions (previously: Home, Professional, Ultimate). Every new subscriber automatically gets the equivalent of the Ultimate edition.

Also, Swift To-Do List no longer comes with 1-user-3-PC-Packs. With a valid subscription, you can now install and use Swift To-Do List on an unlimited number of devices.

Simple and Fair terms

Once you purchase a subscription, you are fully protected by our 90-Day Money Back Guarantee: During the first 90 days of your subscription, if you are not happy with Swift To-Do List for any reason, we will give you all your money back. After the first 90 days, no refunds are offered.

You can cancel the auto-renewal of your subscription at any point with just a few clicks directly from Swift To-Do List. Use the Manage Sync button to do so.

After the first year of your subscription, you can keep using the Windows version of Swift To-Do List forever, even if you do not renew your subscription.

To downgrade to a lower plan, simply let your current plan expire, then sign up for a lower one.

To upgrade to a higher plan, click Manage Sync button in the Sync tab of Swift To-Do List, the click the “Upgrade to a higher plan” link. You will get a discount based on your current plan.

How does this affect existing customers?

As a previous owner of a Swift To-Do List license, you have two options. You can either keep your current license under the original terms, or, you can subscribe to the new Swift To-Do List subscription.

If you keep your current license under the original terms:

You can keep using Swift To-Do List for Windows indefinitely.
You keep your current edition (Home, Professional or Ultimate).
If you own a single PC license, you can use Swift To-Do List on 1 computer. If you own 1-user-3-PC-Pack, you can use it on up to 3 computers. If you own a multi-license, you can use Swift To-Do List on corresponding number of computers.
You get v9.xx updates and support. You do not get major upgrades (10.xx, 11.xx, etc).
You get 30-day trial of Secure Sync & Secure Cloud Backup, mobile apps, web-app and team sharing.

If you purchase a Swift To-Do List subscription, you will get:

Automatic upgrade to Ultimate if you do not own it already.
The ability to use Swift To-Do List on unlimited number of computers and devices.
Swift To-Do List mobile and tablet apps for iOS and Android.
Swift To-Do List web-app.
Updates for all the apps, including major upgrades.
Secure Sync of everything.
Secure Cloud Backup.
The option to use Swift To-Do List in a team.
Discount on the first year of your subscription.

To claim your discount on the subscription, download the latest Swift To-Do List, then click the “Upgrade to Subscription” button on the top-right of Swift To-Do List window.

Swift To-Do List Accounts, Organizations and Subscription Plans

If you want to use use any of the online features (Secure Sync, mobile apps, team collaboration) you need to create your own Swift To-Do List Account. You can do so directly in Swift To-Do List for Windows when you sync your tasks for the first time.

We are now also introducing “Organizations” into Swift To-Do List -

To use Swift To-Do List in a team, you can now create an organization inside your Swift To-Do List Account. Each organization can have unlimited number of databases and up to 50 members. Organizations allow you to take advantage of multi-user plans, and they also allow you appoint admins and invite only specific people to databases owned by the organization.

Organizations come with 30-day trial. Then you need to purchase a valid multi-user plan for each Organization. We offer Mini plan for up to 5 users ($495/year), Small plan for up to 10 users ($995/year), Medium plan for up to 25 users ($2495/year) and a Business plan for up to 50 users ($4995/year).

Members of the organizations can also create their own personal private databases inside their Swift To-Do List Accounts.

If you want to use Swift To-Do List as a single user, then you also get a 30-day trial for the new online features. You then need to purchase a Personal plan. If you already own Swift To-Do List, you will automatically get a discount on your plan.

If you have been already using the beta sync feature, then we’ve created an organization inside your Swift To-Do List Account for you automatically. We’ve also moved all databases with more than 1 user into the organization for you, and made you an “administrator” and “owner” of the organization.

The Secure Sync background story

The Secure Sync features were in development for several years. All this time, we’ve been intensively working on them. And now, they are finally finished! It is the main reason we are introducing the new Swift To-Do List subscriptions.

During the public Beta period, the Secure Sync features were free. However, there are ongoing costs associated with running, maintaining and supporting the Secure Sync service, its infrastructure and the ecosystem of apps (Windows, Android, iOS, web), so subscription payments are necessary.

However, there’s a silver lining. Besides the new functionality, the switch to subscriptions comes with additional benefits to you – for example, we can now ship new features immediately, and do not have to bundle them into “major upgrade” packages like we did previously with Swift To-Do List 7, 8 and 9, or with the Ultimate edition.

Questions and Answers

Q: What if I am not interested in the online, mobile and team features?
A: First of all, all these features are optional. And even if you are not interested in any of the online features, you can still purchase Swift To-Do List for Windows! Just subscribe for 1 year, and even if you do not renew your subscription, you can keep using it forever (although without updates). Or, if you already own it, just keep using it.

Q: So, how can I use Swift To-Do List in a team?
A: If you were using Swift To-Do List in a team during the sync public beta, we’ve automatically created an organization for you. Feel free to rename it using the Manage Sync button in Swift To-Do List for Windows. If you are a new user, see above in the “Swift To-Do List Accounts, Organizations and Subscription Plans” section.

Q: How about license codes?
A: When you purchase or renew a subscription, you will also receive a license code for your Swift To-Do List for Windows. You can enter it using menu Help – Enter License Code. You should do so even if you’ve already purchased Swift To-Do List in the past or renewed your subscription. In the future, the license codes will be downloaded automatically for you.

If you have purchased a multi-user plan, you should email the license code to each member of your organization.

Q: How can I move a database from one organization to another one, or from my personal Swift To-Do List Account into an Organization?
A: Currently, you have two options. The first option is to email contact our support at support@dextronet.com – we can do this for you.

The second option is to un-sync the database using menu Sync – Un-Sync, then sync it again with the desired new “owner” organization. You then need to invite everyone into the database again. Everyone else then needs to create a new local empty database file using menu New – Empty Database, and sync it with the new cloud Organization’s database that you’ve invited them into.

Q: How can I upgrade to a higher plan?
A: Use menu Sync – Manage Sync. Then click the “Upgrade to higher plan” or “Upgrade to multi-user plan” link on the top-right of the “Manage Sync” window.

Q: How can I downgrade to a lower plan?
A: Simply let your plan expire, then purchase a lower plan. To cancel auto-renewal of your plan, use menu Sync – Manage Sync, then click “Cancel auto-renewal”.

Q: When I am a member or an admin of an organization, can I also have my own personal databases?
A: Yes. When you are a member of an organization, you can have your personal databases directly inside your Swift To-Do List Account that are completely separate from the organization. When syncing a database, make sure that you select “You” as the owner in the Secure Sync Wizard.

This also means that when you have a multi-user plan, or are a member in an organization, you do not need a Personal plan if you want to use Swift To-Do List for your personal tasks as well.

Q: How do I know when to renew the subscription?
A: If you have auto-renewal enabled, you don’t have to worry about it at all – it will auto-renew for you automatically, unless you cancel the auto-renewal. If you do not have auto-renewal enabled, then you can click the Manage Sync button in the Sync tab to see how many days are left in your subscription. During the last 14 days, Swift To-Do List for Windows will also display the days left on the top-right part of its window.

Q: What’s the pricing?
A: Please see our Secure Software Store.

Introducing Swift To-Do List subscription plans is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List app for iPhone and Android released!

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 18:51:08 +0000

The official Swift To-Do List mobile app for iPhone and Android has been released!

You can get the app for iOS at Apple App Store or for Android from Google Play.

Don’t confuse the new mobile app with the old one called “Swift To-Do List Inbox”. The old inbox app just allows you to add tasks when on the go – but the new one is full-featured. You can work with all your to-do lists and memos, add and edit subtasks, setup reminders, edit notes (including formatting), and more.

The mobile app is fully synchronized with the Windows desktop version of Swift To-Do List 9.

To use the new mobile app, you will need Swift To-Do List 9. If you don’t have it, download it from our website.

After installing and starting Swift To-Do List 9 for Windows (download), use menu File – Advanced – Enable Beta Features. This will display the Sync tab. Click the Sync button inside the Sync tab to create your Secure Cloud Sync account. With this account, you can log-in into the mobile app.

The mobile app is completely free for Swift To-Do List 9 users.

Please tell us what you like or don’t like about the new mobile app! This is just the first version, and we plan to keep improving it.

We are working on tablet (iPad) versions right now, and would like to release them in about 3-6 weeks.

Swift To-Do List app for iPhone and Android released! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Beta testers wanted for attachments sync

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:51:42 +0000

We are making significant progress on the Secure Cloud Sync feature in Swift To-Do List. We are almost ready to release another big update: Task attachments sync.

To make things smooth before releasing this to everyone, we are looking for beta testers to help us test the new attachments sync (it is a part of the Swift To-Do List Secure Cloud Sync feature).

If you are interested, simply post in the comments below and we will get in touch. You can also contact us using our contact form, or email us directly at support@dextronet.com.

Beta testers wanted for attachments sync is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List 9 released!

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 10:35:51 +0000

New Swift To-Do List 9 has been officially released!

Download the new Swift To-Do List and check it out for yourself.

This is a very exciting release, as it takes Swift To-Do List to a completely new level.

Check out what’s new in the new version 9 and see the screenshots.

Among other things, the new version allows you to get organized with spreadsheets and sticky notes.

What happens when you can organize all your tasks, notes, reminders, AND spreadsheets AND sticky notes in a single organizer software?

Well, you can manage and track all your stuff in a single place! This is extremely liberating and gets you in total control of your work and life.

The new version has been received extremely well – most people who’ve used it absolutely love it.

There are more things to come, too!

What’s coming next?

1. Finished Sync feature. We are working hard on finishing the sync feature (currently in Beta), which allows you to collaborate with other people and keep Swift To-Do List synchronized on multiple computers using a secure cloud. Swift To-Do List 9 includes a completely new sync feature re-written from scratch, and we are doing our maximum to finish it.

2. Companion mobile apps for iOS and Android, planned to be released in late February 2014. At first, these will be simple (mostly an inbox), but eventually they should allow you to do important operations with your tasks and notes.

3. Companion web-app, planned to be released in February 2014. The new web-app will more feature-rich, and resemble the Windows version. You will be able to use it from any computer, even when you are on the go. It will be of course fully synchronized with the Windows and mobile versions.

I think that year 2014 will be the biggest year for Swift To-Do List yet.

Swift To-Do List 9 released! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Beta testers for Swift To-Do List 9 wanted

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 12 Jan 2014 08:44:46 +0000

We are preparing the new Swift To-Do List 9 for release later in January. It’s a super exciting release!

And we need a few Swift To-Do List users that would like to help us test the new version.

To participate, it’s not required that you are a power-user or have technical background. However, you shouldn’t mind small glitches and bugs that you might discover, and be willing to report them to us as soon as possible, so we can fix them before shipping the final version.

If you are interested, just submit the contact form and leave your email address and name. You can also contact us directly at support@dextronet.com.

Beta testers for Swift To-Do List 9 wanted is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:05:01 +0000

The following 3 techniques are extremely powerful and work instantly. I’ve been developing and refining them over the years – they are based on solid proven psychological and productivity principles.

In order to beat procrastination, first of all, pick just one important task you are procrastinating on. Then use the following 3 techniques, and I personally guarantee you that you will stop procrastinating and start working on the task immediately.

1. Explore and map the task

Procrastination is often related to fear. We are often afraid of unknown work. After all, it might be too much work, or we might be unable to do it. The easiest way to reduce this fear is to explore, map and research the task.

So, how do you explore a task? Well -

Just break the task down into subtasks! This is the best way to “explore” it, unpack it and see what’s really going on.

If you use Swift To-Do List, to break a task down into subtasks, simply select it, then start adding subtasks with all the steps necessary for completing the task.

Add even all the small steps. Try to order the subtasks roughly in the sequence they need to be done.

While you are adding the subtasks, pay extra attention to all the “research” actions – steps that require you to gather extra information and data in order to move forward. These “research” actions are what you want to do first, because doing them will help you to unpack the original task even further.

Once you break the task into subtasks AND start gathering all the necessary information, materials and data, and possibly discuss it with your co-workers or boss, the fear of unknown will diminish, and as a result, you will be able to start doing the task right away without procrastinating anymore.

2. Find the smallest possible next step – then do it!

When we procrastinate, we often feel that we are simply unable to do the task. However, when you identify a tiny easy action to get started on the task, you will be absolutely confident that you can do it.

For example, you might be procrastinating on this task: “Write the 70-page Q3 report”

So, you quickly think about what you actually need to do to get started on it, and determine this smallest possible next step: “Open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline of the Q3 report”

Can you open MS Word and write a rough half-page outline? Of course you can! You know you can absolutely do it. You are confident. So there is no reason to procrastinate anymore. You can just do it. So you do it.

And once you do it, you can simply repeat this process – what is the next small easy step?

3. Schedule fun and limit the work

This technique might seem counter-intuitive at first, but it’s extremely effective. It uses powerful reverse-psychology.

Get this -

Another big reason for procrastination is the fear you will miss out on all the fun and pleasant things in life.

The solution is ridiculously simple: Guarantee the fun first. Then limit the time you have available for work.

Simply schedule some fun! Plan and schedule a night out. Or, schedule any of your favorite relaxation, entertainment, sport or fun activity that you just love.

Ideally, schedule this pleasant activity right after work.

Next, limit the time you have available for your work. Give yourself a hard time limit that forces you to stop working at a specific time of the day. Absolutely no overtimes allowed. This will motivate you to stop procrastinating and get to work, right now.

Tip: When scheduling the fun activity, ideally pick an activity right after work that involves other people. You will know that you HAVE to be there because of the other people, so you will know that there is a very real time limit on your work today. This will strongly motivate you.

As an extra bonus, the fun activity will help you recharge your batteries and sharpen your saw, so the next time you get to work, you are strong. Obviously, this also makes you immune to burnout.

How procrastination works

If you want to learn more about how and why you procrastinate, you will love this.

Here’s my summary of The Now Habit, which is probably the best book on procrastination ever written.

This summary will give you the most important insights from the book in just a few pages.

In the summary, you will also learn additional causes of procrastination (perfectionism, fear of judgment, fear of success, and more).

3 easy techniques to instantly stop procrastinating is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List?

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 13:33:41 +0000

Here is a quick self-check you can do. Just answer these 3 questions:

Do you have any tasks that are not captured in Swift To-Do List?
Do you have to remember any time-sensitive information that you’ve not captured in Swift To-Do List (or other appropriate tool)?
Do you have to remember any work-related information that you’ve not captured in Swift To-Do List (or other appropriate tool)?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, I have both bad and good news for you. The bad news is that you are not getting maximum benefits out of Swift To-Do List. The good news is that in just 10 minutes or so, you can feel happier and more efficient.

The #1 cause of work-related stress and worry is the necessity to remember information that is not written down. This starts an endless spiral of worrying and questioning yourself: “Am I forgetting about something important?”

You probably already understand this problem. And I salute you for obtaining Swift To-Do List. However, if you really want to feel relaxed and reclaim all your mental resources wasted on worrying, you need to do the following.

You need to write all tasks, all time-sensitive, and all important work-related information into Swift To-Do List. Not just tasks – but anything you would have to remember otherwise.

Note: If you have a lot of reference material, you might already have some other system than Swift To-Do List for managing it – and that’s completely fine. Just make sure that your mind is not part of that system!

Since version 8, Swift To-Do List allows you to manage not just to-do lists, but also “Lists” in general. You can use them, along with Memos, to capture non-task information.

So, what are you juggling in your mind? Write it into Swift To-Do List, right now. You will be glad you did – and feel the difference with an immediate sigh of relief.

If you would like to learn more about why it is important to capture information into Swift To-Do List, and how to do it best, take a look at my new Swift Mind Freedom e-book.

30-second check: Do you get the maximum from Swift To-Do List? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Is your to-do list impossible to finish?

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 21:19:44 +0000

(This article is based on Principle #5 in the Swift Mind Freedom method.)

Sometimes, you might have a feeling that you will never finish your to-do list. And you know what? It might be true. It might be entirely possible that your to-do list is indeed impossible to finish. This happens when you place non-tasks on your to-do list.

You see, there are two types of items that might appear on your personal organizer lists: tasks and non-tasks.

Tasks are actionable. Tasks are actions you decided to do.

Non-tasks are non-actionable. Non-tasks are ideas, notes, thoughts, reference-material and information.

It is very important to understand the difference between “actionable” and “non-actionable” (tasks and non-tasks), because if you don’t, it will be absolutely impossible to finish your to-do lists.

You should never place non-tasks on a to-do list among tasks. Why? Because you can’t “do” non-tasks, so they just sit there cluttering your to-do list, making it cumbersome to read – and impossible to finish!

To-do lists are for tasks you can do. Non-tasks belong in a separate list or place.

Since we all have both tasks and non-tasks, I strongly recommend having at least 2 separate lists.

One or more to-do lists with tasks (actions)
One or more lists with non-tasks (ideas and information), and as many collections of notes, memos and reference material you need. Again, all this should be kept separate from your to-do list with tasks.

Note: Ideas are not tasks because you’ve not yet decided to do them, so they are not yet actionable. But if you decide to take action on some idea, it becomes a task.

How to separate tasks and non-tasks in Swift To-Do List

I will now show you how you can separate your tasks and non-tasks in Swift To-Do List.

Just do this -

Make sure that you have an “Ideas List” created in the to-do list tree. You will be moving all non-tasks into it. To create it, use menu Tree – Add To-Do List, and in the Add To-Do List window, check “List“. Then name the list “Ideas List” and press OK.
Now, go through all the tasks you’ve captured up to this point, and whenever you encounter a non-task, move it to the Ideas List. You can simply select the non-task and using mouse, Drag and Drop it to the Ideas List in the to-do list tree. Or, you can select it and press Ctrl+X to cut it, then click the Ideas List, and press Ctrl+V to paste it. Tip: You can do both these operations with multiple items at once.
Now back to the information you put into “Ideas List”. If you have lot of non-tasks, you might want to create multiple “Ideas Lists” and categorize them by project or topic if possible. (You can just Drag and Drop items to other lists or to-do lists in the tree.)

And that’s it! Congratulations! You’ve separated your tasks and non-tasks. Isn’t that better? Now, it should be actually possible to “finish” your to-do list.

Also, here is an important distinction: At times you will have information, reference material or notes that are directly connected to a specific task. You want this information handy when you look at the task and ready to do it. Put this information into the Notes section of that particular task, instead of keeping it isolated on the idea list or somewhere else. This way, when you work on the task, you will immediately see the important related information, and it also won’t unnecessarily clutter your Ideas List.

Is your to-do list impossible to finish? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to use Due Dates in your to-do list correctly

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:20:38 +0000

When should you set Due Dates for your tasks?

Well, I have 2 recommendations:

You want to use Due Dates when you have a task that must be done on a specific day – e.g. it’s an appointment, event, or it’s an important deadline. I also recommend you to set a reminder for all such tasks.

And -

Unless you are 100% determined to do something on a specific day, I think that you shouldn’t use arbitrary (made up) Due Dates in most situations. It is usually more efficient to prioritize such tasks accordingly.

Start Dates and Due Dates should therefore be used sparingly. If you use a Start Date or a Due Date, it should be absolutely necessary to do the action on that particular date, or, you should be 100% committed to doing it.

So in practice, most of your tasks will probably have no Due Date. In fact, you don’t have to use Due Dates at all and just use reminders for the few tasks that are date-critical.

Here’s an exception to this rule. If you believe that you prioritize your tasks correctly, but still discover that you seldom do what you actually want to do on any given day, you might consider utilizing arbitrary Due Dates, especially if you are fairly self-disciplined. Arbitrary Due Dates can act as a secondary (or primary) prioritizing method. Here’s how it works -

You can use Due Dates to mark (plan) your tasks for today and tomorrow. I don’t recommend planning things too far ahead (more than a week ahead), because you probably won’t be able to keep the “schedule” up-to-date.

Advantage of planning your tasks for a given day beforehand is that you will tend to get more done. You will try to get the scheduled tasks done, because you know that tomorrow, you need to do other tasks. Also, when planning with Due Dates, you are less likely to get distracted by new incoming tasks in favor of your planned tasks.

So, in practice, you can choose the tasks that you want to do today and set today Due Date to them. Then pick the tasks you want to do tomorrow, and set tomorrow Due Date to them. Etc. But don’t plan more than a week ahead.

Inside each day, you can then prioritize the tasks using your current prioritizing system. In Swift To-Do List, click the Due Date column, then hold the Ctrl key and click the Priority column. That way, your tasks will be sorted by Due Date first and by Priority second. You can also use the small calendar below the to-do list tree to quickly view only today’s tasks with 1 click.

Beware this trap though: When you use both necessary and arbitrary Due Dates, the tasks that really must be done on a specific day might get lost among the tasks you would just like to do on a specific day. As a possible solution, insert a “[DATE CRITICAL]” prefix into the task names of tasks with the non-arbitrary Due Dates.

One final tip: If you want the expired Due Dates to be automatically set to current date, you can use menu File – Options, and in the Task-View section of the Options window, check “Roll-over Due Dates“. With this option enabled, when you won’t finish a task you’ve planned for today, it will automatically move to tomorrow.

How to use Due Dates in your to-do list correctly is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

So, do you want to build 100 tiny houses, or 1 skyscraper?

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 07 Jul 2013 13:42:24 +0000

I see this all the time.

People love starting new projects, businesses and ideas.

So they start building something and make rapid progress – they build and build, and they end up building a 1 foot tall “house”. But then something happens. They jump to something else. So they end up with a bunch of 1 foot tall houses. Dozens, hundreds of them.

(Yep, there are tiny 100 houses in the picture. In reality, it would look even worse, because the houses would probably have no roofs or doors.)

Here’s the deal -

You need to build a skyscraper, not a bunch of broken, unimpressive tiny houses.

If you want significant results, impact and success, you need to keep working on that one thing and keep building upon it for years.

Don’t get me wrong – I am all for the “Lean Startup” philosophy of quick-and-dirty rapid prototypes, minimum viable products, etc.

However, once you find something that has legs, then for crying out loud, as long as you are making progress, keep working on it! For years.

We’ve started our software business 9 years ago from scratch. And I’m SO glad that we’ve never stopped working on it. It’s a nice small skyscraper now. Of course, inside the business, we have built and discarded a few tiny houses (projects with no legs). But once we released Swift To-Do List and our customers loved it, we never stopped working on it and made it our #1 priority.

Today, we have fantastic product, fantastic internal systems, fantastic information resources for our customers and website, and fantastic people on our team. All it took was 9 years of hard work and never-ending improvement.

Here’s my question to you -

Can you stick to something for 30 minutes?

An hour…? A day…? A week…? A month even?

Yes? Can you? Maybe you can.

Well, how about for 5 years?

Have you even considered it?

Instead of building yet another tiny house with no roof and door, build another floor for your new skyscraper.

Focus on your best project or idea, and as long as you are making progress, never stop working on it.

The world will love and reward you for it.

So, do you want to build 100 tiny houses, or 1 skyscraper? is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List case study by Bob McClellan, IT manager

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 10:03:41 +0000

Q: What is Swift To-Do List to you?

Swift To-Do List is much more than a task scheduler. For me it’s a project management tool. All projects, regardless of how big or small… now start in Swift To-Do List.

Q: What problems does Swift To-Do List help you overcome?

The problems and challenges that Swift To-Do List helps me with is the ability to organize my work.

Q: What effect did Swift To-Do List have on your life?

The biggest impact is that it provided me the feeling of control.

Everything I am working on (and have worked on since starting to use Swift To-Do List), is organized, easy to find and easy to jump into as needed.

Q: Which are your favorite 5 features, and why?

Here you go…

1. Subtasks became my favorite feature of Swift To-Do List. This refines the ability to organize and allows you to create ‘Steps’ for any given task.

2. Filters. Next is the flexibility to create and filter by any number of combinations of a task’s properties. Status, Priority, Due Date etc…

3. Notes. Having notes for each task and sub-task is key to keeping all specifics related to a given step or job task.

4. Shortcuts, links & attachments. Everything I work on revolves around associated files… .xls, .doc, .accdb, .sql etc. Being able to easily link to the related files is what ties it all together.

5. Calendar panel. Being able to quickly see, scroll through… and act upon tasks due on a given date is huge. This allows you to flag tasks and forget about them till you need to address them.

There are many AWESOME features that make Swift To-Do List the program that is always in use both at home at the office. Simply put… for me at least… this has become an indispensable tool.

Bob’s Swift To-Do List Review

Introduction

Being a database application developer, I felt like I was in a never ending quest to find the ultimate program to allow me to keep all my projects, tasks, schedules and code, in a manageable format that was easy to navigate and maintain.

I tried everything from using spreadsheets with hyperlinks to multiple versions of programs I’d build myself, to the Outlook tasks & calendar. Until I stumbled upon Swift To-Do List. I must say… I think I finally found the ultimate program I’ve been looking for.

Let me elaborate

When I first started reading about it I thought… hmmm this looks like it has potential. I downloaded the trial version (which you can use for free for 30 days).

I started using It and couldn’t help but smile as it became obvious how easy it was to navigate and customize.

All the logic that I tried to incorporate into the way I work day in and day out was somehow all part of this program. Swift To-Do List allows you to effortlessly stay organized and focused on the tasks that really need attention.

Before Swift To-Do List, trying to maintain focus on projects was a job in and of itself. Interruptions from people walking in, calling or emailing seemed to be a constant distraction. Everything was important enough that it required at least a bit of note taking along with shuffling the work queue to determine what priority each new task warranted.

How I use Swift To-Do List

In addition to capitalizing on the ease in which tasks can be shuffled into the work queue, I also set up individual tasks for different projects I am working on.

The beauty here is that all related files, code, notes and logic is stored together. As the project grows, you keep adding what you need. This allows you to maintain focus and not feel overwhelmed.

Each task has its own notes as well as shortcuts to files, folders or web addresses. (this is KEY for me)

You can use sequencing to plan through each phase. This really helps me keep tabs on the scope of each project. I set up separate To-Do lists for each Project. Each task within the project then becomes its own entity.

Check out the screenshot below…

For me, the way this is laid out, combined with the ease to customize… just about everything… well… it just doesn’t get any better than this.

This is exactly what I need to work the way I want to. It allows me to keep an eye on everything. The counters in the tree allow you to see open tasks at a glance.

When you are ready to do work, hit the global hot key and Swift To-Do List is minimized to the tray. While you are working… if you think of something you need to remember, or you need to add a shortcut for the file you just spent 20 minutes on… simply hit the global hot key and Swift To-Do List is right in front of you. Add the shortcut.. make a note… hot key it back to the tray. It’s a beautiful thing.

It’s hard to elaborate on exactly how easy this program lets you to dump your thoughts, plans & new ideas into a central repository for speedy retrieval on demand. I highly recommend downloading the free 30 day trial to see for yourself.

As projects are completed, you can move them to an archive folder. No need to try and remember where it’s at… Simply CTRL+F to find it. Quickly and easily… your mind is right back into the project you finished 2 weeks ago.

I purchased it after 2 weeks of use. I am thoroughly happy with this software and have no reservation about recommending it… (and I have to all my family and friends).

One ecstatic customer,

– Bob McClellan

Swift To-Do List case study by Bob McClellan, IT manager is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Endless to-do list

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 08:16:54 +0000

There is an infinite amount of work to be done.

And it’s OK. That’s just the way it is.

If you try, you will have no problem coming up with so many things to do that it would take you more than a lifetime to do them all. Anyone can sit down and generate hundreds and thousands of tasks, ideas, goals and projects.

Your to-do list is endless. It will always be endless.

And it’s OK.

Also, what’s written on your to-do list is just a tiny fraction of all the things you could potentially do. But hopefully, the things on your to-do list are the ones that are important. If not, you need to fix that.

Not only that your to-do list is endless, many of the tasks on your to-do list are also endless. Many projects can be worked on, optimized, tweaked and improved infinitely.

And it’s OK.

You simply need to know when to stop “perfecting” things. There’s a certain point when working on something stops making sense. It’s the law of diminishing returns.

You will never do it all – that’s impossible.

And it’s OK. It’s just the way things are.

Since there is an infinite amount of work to be done, the game is not about doing more. It’s all about doing what matters now.

Anyone can be crazy-busy, running on the treadmill of endless activity. But only few people can be truly productive.

Working 16 hours a day is not impressive. Creating immense value, getting results, accomplishing remarkable things, learning, enjoying the journey – that’s impressive.

First and foremost, it’s about what work you do. Only then it makes sense to ask how much work you do.

It’s all about the results and value you create. Or, it’s about the journey and what you learn. But it’s never about doing things with little or even negative impact.

So…. what do you make out of this?

Well:

Don’t worry about doing all your tasks. It’s impossible anyway.
Prioritize. Pick the right things to do now. Don’t plan too much ahead. Things change too much anyway.
Know when to stop working on things. Learn to say “good enough”. It will never be perfect anyway.

And remember – it’s OK.

Maybe all this sounds like common sense. But have you ever fully embraced and accepted that you can’t do it all?

Don’t fight the reality. The odds are against you. The endless amount of work will paralyze you.

Should you accept and embrace reality, you will become incredibly productive. You will do what matters – and only what matters. People will wonder: How is it possible you get so much done?

Endless to-do list is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to separate work and personal tasks

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:22:58 +0000

When you use a to-do list software (such as Swift To-Do List) for some time, you will end up with many captured tasks.

If you feel that you could organize your tasks better, you probably could. The easiest way of doing that is to categorize your tasks into multiple to-do lists.

One way of doing that is separating your work-related and personal tasks.

Today, I will show you exactly how to do that (step-by-step). You will also learn how to additionally categorize your tasks by areas/projects, and how to view all work-related or personal tasks at once.

Separating Work and Personal tasks

You can create as many to-do lists as you need in the to-do list tree. You might have already created several to-do lists – in that case, you can use the following information for inspiration to refine your current categorization.

Now, let’s create two new top-level to-do lists, “Work” and “Personal” and then divide all your existing tasks among them.

Here are the steps to separate your personal and work tasks:

Use menu Tree – Add To-Do List to create a new to-do list named “Personal”.
Use menu Tree – Add To-Do List to create a new to-do list named “Work”.
Click your current to-do list (where your tasks are) to view it, and Drag and Drop each personal task to the new “Personal” to-do list, and each work-related task to the new “Work” to-do list. Dragging and Dropping tasks works the same as when you move files to a folder in Windows. If you don’t know how to do this, here is a video (moving tasks to a different to-do list is shown in about halfway the video). You can also Cut and Paste the tasks instead of using Drag and Drop.
Finally, if your current to-do list is empty now, you might want to delete it (right-click it, and select Delete), so you have just the two new lists – “Work” and “Personal”.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully separated your personal and work tasks.

Organizing your work tasks by areas

Now, let’s setup several to-do lists based on areas/projects of your work tasks.

When it comes to your work tasks, ask yourself: What are the 3-5 main areas (or projects)?
For each area/project where it makes sense to you, create a new sub-to-do-list under the “Work” to-do list. To do that, right-click the “Work” to-do list and select Add Sub To-Do List in the popup menu. Name each new sub-to-do list based on the area or project (e.g. “Marketing”, “Reports”, “Presentations”, “Clients”, “Project Omega”, etc.)
Move tasks that belong to a certain area/project to their new home. Again, you can use Drag and Drop and your mouse, or Cut and Paste.

Tip: You can also Drag and Drop the actual to-do lists and memos around the tree using your mouse too, to re-order and organize them.

The result might look like this:

You can of course do the same for your personal tasks now.

Viewing tasks from multiple lists at once

Sometimes, it is useful to view all tasks at once, so you can get a big picture perspective.

Now, if you need to view all tasks at once, you can click the big View button in the main toolbar, and select All Lists:

To view only the selected to-do list again, press the View button again, and click Selected To-Do List.

Here is the really useful thing though –

If you want to view all your work-related tasks, you can select the Work to-do list in the tree, and then, click the View button and click Selected List + Sub-lists. This will display all tasks from the Work to-do list, and also all tasks from all its sub-lists.

Likewise, if you want to view only personal tasks, you can select the Personal to-do list in the tree, and again, make sure the view mode is set to Selected List + Sub-lists.

So now you can view only one particular to-do list, or all tasks at once, or only work-related tasks, or only personal tasks. Quite useful, isn’t it?

Another way of reducing complexity and making your list shorter is to use the Hide Until feature.

How to separate work and personal tasks is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Color your tasks in Swift To-Do List – The Definitive Guide

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:06:07 +0000

In Swift To-Do List, you can can color your tasks based on Priority, Type, Status, Context or Assigned To..

Additionally, 3 different modes are supported when coloring tasks (column, task name, whole row). That’s a lot of combinations! So let me give you an example for coloring by Priority – I will show how each of the modes looks like:

1. Color inside the Priority column:

2. Color Task Names (based on Priority):

3. Color whole rows (based on priority):

By default, Swift To-Do List uses colors only in the Priority column, as shown in the first example. But you can customize and use colors much more – and in this post, you will learn all about it.

How to enable or customize colors

To enable or customize the colors, use the Manage menu:

Let’s say that we want to customize coloring by Type, so we will click the Type menu item. The following Manage Types window will be shown:

Very similar window would be shown for Priorities, Statuses, Contexts or Contacts (Assigned To). It works the same.

In this manage window, you can do 3 key things:

Enable or disable colors, by clicking the checkbox, as shown in the screenshot above.
Choose the color mode (Column/Task Name/Whole Row), as explained at the beginning of this post.
Change the colors for individual items. To do that, select an item, then click the Color button on the right.

Please note that for obvious reasons, you can’t use the Whole Row or Task Name coloring mode for two or more fields at once – e.g. both Priority and Type can’t color the Task Name.

However, the Column coloring mode can be combined with any other modes of other fields – e.g. Priority can color task names (or even whole rows), and at the same time, Type can color the Type column.

Also please note, that done tasks are always displayed in gray text with no color highlights.

Your coloring customizations are of course automatically saved and remembered, even after restarting the program.

Coloring Due Dates and Start Dates

Due Dates and Start Dates can be also additionally colored in the task-view. This is how it looks in action:

To configure this, use menu File – Options, and in the Options window, go to the Task-View section.:

There, make sure “Color due dates and start dates” is checked, and click Customize upon this checkbox. This will display the following window:

As you can see, today, tomorrow and expired dates can be highlighted using a color of your choosing. The “today” and “tomorrow” dates are also displayed in bold for extra highlight.

Bonus tip for Ultimate owners: Creating a “Color” column

This is a fun trick. If you want to color your tasks yourself, and not based on Priorities/Types/Contexts/Statuses/Assignees, you will love this -

If you own the Ultimate edition, and don’t use the Context or Type column, you can rename it to “Color”. To do that, use menu Manage – Columns. In the window shown, select and enable the Context or Type column, then click the Rename button. Type in “Color” and confirm.

Now, use menu Manage – Colors and rename all the contexts to color names. Then set them the appropriate color. As an example, after customizing, it can look like this:

And now, here’s the fun part! From now on, you will have a new “Color” column that you can use in Swift To-Do List. For each of your tasks, you can set an optional color. The result can look something like this:

Any questions or comments?

So, that’s it. Now you should be a master when it comes to using colors in Swift To-Do List.

We have a nifty little comments box at the bottom of this page – if you have a question or a comment, don’t hesitate to write something into it and click Submit comment! I will be happy to reply to all comments.

Color your tasks in Swift To-Do List – The Definitive Guide is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Always get stuff out of your head

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:48:52 +0000

(This is an edited excerpt from my new e-book Swift Mind Freedom).

Let me ask you one question -

Why keep all your tasks, ideas, notes, worries, promises, commitments and reminders in
your head… when you can store them in your computer instead?

Don’t store things in your head. Put them in a trusted system. You will be rewarded with relief and increased mental capacity. You will feel better.

If there is one thing that technology is great at, it’s remembering things. Unlike our minds, computer will never forget what you enter into it. In fact, it can even remind you of things at the right time!

The biggest instant benefit of writing things down is that once you write something down, you feel relief instantly. Once you have captured a task (or idea), you can forget about it. You know where to find it in case you need it.

Think about this: Just as computer can get its memory (RAM) overloaded when too many programs are running at once, your mind can get overloaded when you are juggling too much stuff in your head.

By writing things down, you will increase your mental capacity. It’s like an upgrade for your brain. This can literally increase your IQ.

Put things out of your head, and into your organizing system

Whenever new task comes to you, write it down immediately (e.g. into Swift To-Do List).

And don’t write down just tasks, but anything that you would have to remember.

Develop this habit of capturing everything instantly.

This is the key.

Once you start doing this, you might be shocked how clearly you can think and how efficiently you can function. It’s almost like magic.

Always get stuff out of your head is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift Mind Freedom released!

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:28:00 +0000

My Swift Mind Freedom e-book is finished and released.

It took me almost a year to write it. I’ve put a lot of effort into it, and I am very happy with the result.

Bill Polm, one of the early readers, who also helped me with editing, predicted that the “[The] book has the potential for becoming a classic in the field. It covers [task] management better than any I have read before it“.

We’ve not even announced it yet, and several people have already purchased it! This is very exciting.

I plan to keep improving the e-book, based on the feedback I will receive. Updates of the e-book will be free.

You might have a lot of questions – so I will do my best to answer them. If you have any other questions, post it in the comments.

Who is Swift Mind Freedom for?

Swift Mind Freedom is for anyone who has a lot of things to do or keep track of, and works with a Windows computer.

If you use or would like to use Swift To-Do List, it’s perfect for you.

What will I gain from Swift Mind Freedom?

As you start applying Swift Mind Freedom, you will:

Experience instant and complete relief from stress and overwhelm.
Get in total control of your work and make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
Become super-efficient, racing through your surprisingly motivating to-do list in record time.

The results are permanent. Once you read this e-book, your to-do lists will never be the same.

What are the contents?

The e-book has 3 main sections:

Introduction and motivation – this helps you understand why being organized is important, and it gets you moving. I also share the story of my personal “to-do list journey”.
11 Swift Mind Freedom Principles – these 11 powerful principles are the core. Each principle comes with a fun hand-drawn illustration, and an action step so you can immediately apply it into your life
Q&A and Troubleshooting – this section lists many questions and problems, along with the answers.

Each section is divided into chapters.

It has 110 pages in total.

It comes as a PDF file, so you can read it on your computer, table or e-reader.

(In the future, I would like offer .mobi and .epub formats as well if there is interest.)

If you would like a short sample, see my recent post “Tasks and oranges“. That post explains why it’s important to break down complex tasks into subtasks. In Swift Mind Freedom, there is a whole chapter about this (it is one of the Principles), including a how-to and step-by-step instructions for Swift To-Do List.

How does Swift Mind Freedom compare to other books?

This e-book is unique because it shows you how to apply what you learn directly in Swift To-Do List.

Also, it is easy, fast and simple. It is possible to read and apply it in a single day.

I’ve read all the books on task management, time management, organizing and productivity I could find, and after a lot of research, experiments and hard work, I’ve distilled them into Swift Mind Freedom, so you can get great results fast and with minimum effort.

Each of the 11 core principles comes with a fun hand-drawn illustration. This helps you understand and remember better, and learn faster.

Finally, I am here for you. I am committed to helping you get the results you want, so you can email me at any time with your questions.

How much does it cost?

The e-book costs $39.95.

If you purchase it with a new Swift To-Do List 8 for Windows license, you will get 50% discount.

Purchasing this book is 100% risk-free for you, because it comes with 90-day money back guarantee. If you won’t be completely happy with it for any reason, I will refund you the full amount. No hard feelings. Again, I am fully committed to helping you get the results you want.

Where can I purchase the book?

Right now, it is available exclusively on our website, where you can purchase it using our secure online store.

You will receive it immediately after payment.

Will there be a sequel?

Yes, I would like to write a sequel.

Swift Mind Freedom is focused mostly on getting and staying organized, stress relief, control and efficiency. It works beautifully with Swift To-Do List.

The sequel will be heavily focused on productivity. It will build upon Swift Mind Freedom (getting organized is always the first and most important step). My working title for the sequel is “Ultra Productive: Eat your to-do list“.

I love feedback!

I would love to hear what you think. If you read the book, please send me an email and tell me what you think. What you loved and what you didn’t care for. While I know that Swift Mind Freedom is already pretty good, your feedback can help me improve it further.

Any questions or thoughts? Post them in comments below!

Swift Mind Freedom released! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Job Search with Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:01:12 +0000

One of our customers, Joel, has shared with us how he uses Swift To-Do List when searching for a job.

I’ve been using Swift To-Do List recently when searching for a job, creating a separate database for only that and it’s been wonderful. It’s been making a lot of the processes I do much easier. Other people might be interested in a blog post from you illustrating ways in which that might be done since at least unemployment has been high in America. Thanks for making my job search an easier process.

Joel has also sent us his workflow and a sample screenshot.

This is what Joel has to say -

My Job Search Workflow in Swift To Do List 8

I’ve been using Mozilla Thunderbird with its RSS feed reader to pull jobs over from different feeds that I have set up for different searches. When I pull jobs from an RSS feed and create a task in Swift To-Do List, I also place a link to the actual job posting site in the attachments of that task. That way, I have all the information for that listing that I can use later to follow up on if I choose to, and it can also be helpful to check out these fiverr alternatives when exploring additional freelance opportunities.

In Swift To-Do List, I’ve set up three to do lists:

1. To-Do’s

The first list I named “To Do’s” for general tasks related to my job search. I add tasks related to websites I need to check out, unemployment comp, types of companies I need to research, etc.

2. Jobs

Another list I named ‘Jobs’ that I use to add any and every job that I find, regardless as to whether I pulled it from one of my RSS feed searches or manually added it from the Internet or paper. This “jobs bin” is a collection of all that I find.

3. Active Jobs

The third list is called “Active Jobs” and is the “bin” where I place jobs that I’ve culled from the Jobs list that I’ve reviewed and truly interested in. The jobs in this list are jobs that I’ve responded to, letting me easily track the jobs and follow up with them. If I get a call for an interview, I can easily add a subtask with the interview date to that job.

In Swift To-Do List, you can easily Drag and Drop tasks from one list to another. In this case, you can easily Drag and Drop tasks from the “Jobs” list to the “Active Jobs” list.

I also renamed the “Start Date” column to “Applied”, to indicate when I applied to a position.

For me, this has had two benefits -

It tells me when I initially applied for a job in this list.
Secondly, for unemployment compensation I need to report at least five jobs I’ve applied to from the previous week so the calendar filter feature makes it easy for me to highlight the last week and all the jobs for that week

When I haven‟t heard back from a job I have listed in the “Active Jobs” list that I‟ve applied to, I checkmark it, it grays out and falls to the bottom of the list – convenient and simple. If I‟m not concerned with my application history, I have the choice to archive those or all jobs. In this manner, jobs come in, get processed, and exit the system.

4. Job Search Notes (memo)

After this, I have a section for all job search related notes so this allows me to place my complete job search within one system – Swift To Do List.

Being able to Drag and Drop RSS feeds posts and emails into Swift To-Do List, add notes, reminders and subtasks – has really made this a powerhouse for job searching and has saved me time.

~ Joel

Job Search with Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Tasks and oranges

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 09:34:19 +0000

Complex tasks are like oranges. It’s rather difficult to “eat” them, until you “peel” them and divide them into pieces (subtasks).

The wrong way

You can’t just eat a whole orange -

Likewise, you can’t just “do” a huge, complex task. You can only do the actions (subtasks) that lead to its completion.

The right way

Break the task down into subtasks -

Following the steps is easy. Anyone can do it if the steps are small and clear enough.

Write all the subtasks for your dreaded task X. Write a “How to do task X for dummies” manual for yourself. Then follow it and have fun.

Goodbye procrastination, hello productivity!

Once you break a complex unpleasant task into subtasks, you will be much more inclined to take action.

It just works. If you make something easy, it is easy. Dead simple.

I think that the orange is a perfect metaphor for this. It took me several weeks to come up with it.

In case you are wondering about the illustrations, they were drawn by my girlfriend Eileen, and are part of my new e-book “Swift Mind Freedom“, which explains 11 Principles of getting (and staying) organized. Breaking tasks down into subtasks is Principle #8.

Now it’s your turn – which task are you afraid of the most? Write down the steps you need to take. Then do them. It’s quite refreshing.

PS: Check our new Swift To-Do List 8 for Windows. I am especially proud of the new killer subtasks feature.

Tasks and oranges is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to get more great ideas

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:23:39 +0000

Even if your job is not predominantly creative, great ideas can often save you hours of work, as you might figure out how to do something in a much more efficient way.

The tricky thing with ideas is that ideas are fleeting. You must capture then in the moment, or they are gone for good.

Let me tell you a story -

When I was a kid, I used to keep a dream journal. Every time I woke up, I’ve immediately written down the dreams I had that night. Before I started keeping the journal, I usually remembered just one dream – and that was if I was lucky. But just after couple of weeks of keeping the dream journal, I remembered at least 3 dreams every night, oftentimes even 5 or 6.

We all actually have multiple dreams every single night, but we simply don’t remember them. The reason for that is we pay no attention to them, so we don’t try to remember them. But if you don’t pay attention to your dreams at all, your brain then figures out: “Ah! Dreams are not important.” Your brain will then literally prevent you from remembering your dreams, and you will forget them before you fully wake up or right after that – for the sole reason you are not paying any attention to them.

I think that in many ways, ideas work pretty much the same as dreams. Great ideas are often created by our intuitive right hemisphere, which is also the hemisphere which dreams at night.

If you pay no attention to your ideas, you will get less of them. You will essentially close the idea pipe, and ideas will stop flowing to you.

The solution is rather simple – whenever you get a good idea, write it down immediately! This will help you to get more and more great ideas. And it doesn’t matter how you write or capture it.

Remember – ideas are fleeting. If you don’t write an idea down, you might lose it for good, just as you can forget a dream you had. Not only that, but the next, even better idea, won’t even come to you.

You can’t really capture too many ideas. The more ideas you capture, the more ideas you will get, and the better ideas you will get.

When I get an idea while on my Windows computer, I usually use the system-wide Ctrl + Alt + S hotkey to display Swift To-Do List, and capture the idea into my idea list. (I actually think it is very important to keep ideas separate from tasks – but I will talk more about that later, and moreso in my upcoming Swift Mind Freedom e-book). The to-do list tree in Swift To-Do List allows you to manage not just to-do lists, but also memos and lists. The latter two are perfect for storing ideas.

How to get more great ideas is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

“How I use Swift To-Do List Ultimate” by Bill Polm

Jiri Novotny — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:16:06 +0000

Bill Polm, one of our customers, has recently sent us his review of Swift To-Do List. Bill shares with us how he uses Swift To-Do List and which features he likes.

About Bill: Bill Polm was a career probation officer in Southern California, near Disneyland. Throughout his career he wrote and painted watercolors to keep his creativity alive. He now lives in Oregon, USA, where he finds lots of lovely scenes for painting, and he is working on a novel. He is a grandfather of 6, and thanks God for all of them and good health at 70!

A while back it has been now, I read a post by Jiri on how to format Swift To-Do List to work with Michael Linenberger’s clever strategy for getting control of my workday. Simply put, with Lieneberger’s system (somewhat like David Allen’s Getting Things Done), you list to-dos under 3 categories: (1) Critical Now, for things that must be done today, (2) Opportunity Now, for things that can wait a bit but that I want to get done eventually for sure, and (3) Over the Horizon, also for things I want to do but I’m putting off for longer than those in the Opportunity Now category.

These 3 categories are really priorities. Daily, I do the Critical Now tasks first, then read over my Opportunity Now tasks, if and when there’s time, to decide if and which to tackle.

These lists don’t have to be rigid. They can be flexible, but for me to get the most and the most important tasks done on a continuing basis, it works best for me to do the tasks pretty-much in their prioritized order. I added one priority, since I do a lot of reading in the evening and a few tasks to remember: “Evening”. Here is a screen shot of my Manage Priorities window:

The bottom “Priority” is really only a list of my ongoing projects.

Also, I find it helpful to take frequent small breaks, especially if the tasks involve a lot of sitting and reading or writing and computer tasks.

Now if I want to arrange the tasks within a category, most often I use numbers at the head of the Task Name, like “1 Work on novel planning” then “2 Read a fiction writing tech book,” and so on. At any point, when doing this, I can click on “Task Name” at the top of a category to sort these tasks handily. So if I start with my number 1 in the Critical Now priority-category, I am assured i’m working on the most important task for that day. Notice the numbers heading the first three tasks in the screen shot below…

Since I usually have a lot of projects in the works at any given time, I like the “Reminder” function to remind me that I need to schedule and work on a particular task. I like to work on most my current projects some each day. So Swift To-Do List helps me keep that organized so I know what I’m doing and what I need to do next.

Also, I use the “Recurrence” function to have my tasks repeat. This is particularly helpful to me since I have a lot of ongoing tasks that repeat a lot. And, for example, within the Opportunity Now category, I usually use the “Recur after task is completed.” This creates another of the same task for me, for the next day, once I put a checkmark in the little square box at the left of the task, marking it done.

But I also use the Reminder function to pop-up reminders on particularly important tasks within the Critical Now category. My day is usually filled with a number of different things I want to get done, so it’s easy to forget something. The Reminder function prevents my forgetting–unless I choose to!

I set a reminder in this window, chosen from within the Edit Task option:

I can choose any time to the minute, any date.

Then the reminder pops up on my monitor screen (assuming I have Swift To-Do List running in the background and click on its button in the tray when it flashes. As long as I have my speakers on, it get a pleasant little “doorbell” ring to alert me).

At this point I can click the little down arrow at the right of “Snooze (3 hours) at the bottom, and get this…

There’s something really nice about a “Snooze” button for an occasional procrastination!

I’ve started, recently, using the for lists of things and potential projects.

I created a new To-Do List in the Tree called “MEMOS” and then fit each memo under it with a descriptive title, like “Potential Projects” or “Novel Planning Ideas,” etc.

Having these memos at the left in the Tree means I can click and read them quickly when I want to refer to them.

Also, I use the multi-level numbered lists/outlines in notes to expand my ideas in an organized fashion–very handy, and makes a quick scan of any given list quicker.

Summary: Swift To-Do List has a nearly limitless capacity for storing and organizing your to-dos. The Ultimate edition has even more handy features.

If you take the brief time necessary to familiarize yourself with the features, you’ll be able to fit your style of getting things done. I am constantly tweaking my setup a bit here and there. It’s easy, and heck, most of the time it’s fun!

- Bill Polm

“How I use Swift To-Do List Ultimate” by Bill Polm is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to keep your to-do list useful, short and motivating

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:46:17 +0000

In the previous post, I talked about the basics of using a to-do list efficiently.

A quick recap -

Create the to-do list and do the initial dump, placing all your “stuff” into it. This clears your mind.

(continuously): Look at your to-do list, see what’s next, work on it.
» Whenever you get interrupted or distracted, repeat.
» Whenever you finish a task, repeat.

(continuously): Whenever a new idea or task comes to you, write it down immediately into your to-do list, then proceed with what you were doing before.

Today, we will add one important advanced technique. It is the missing secret ingredient.

We are going to learn a solid to-do list maintenance routine, using which you will keep your to-do list relevant, short and motivating.

Your to-do list is like a garden.

If you don’t tend a garden, it will soon become full of weeds and dead plants. The beautiful flowers and useful plants will have hard time flourishing in such an environment, as they become oppressed by the weeds.

The same thing can happen to your to-do list. If you don’t remove done tasks, and if you don’t remove tasks that are no longer important, and if you don’t reprioritize tasks when priorities change, your to-do list will be just like a garden full of weeds; and not nearly as useful as it could be.

So, when you tend your to-do list “garden”, what do you do? Well, you go through your to-do list, and do the following 9 steps. I’ve listed the steps in terms of importance, so the first 3 steps are far more important than the last 3 steps. That being said, if possible, do all of them:

Reprioritize. When your to-do list becomes an obstacle to your productivity, it’s usually because there are too many tasks in certain priority categories. Usually, you will have far too many high priority tasks. So, demote some of them. Ask yourself: What is really important here?Keep in mind that tasks lose importance over time. There are two main reasons for this. First, in the moment you are writing a task down, it usually seems emotionally more important than a few days later when the emotion fades away. Second, some newer tasks are indeed more important than the old tasks, so the old tasks lose relevance because of the opportunity cost. As you know, you can’t do everything.
The problem is that we seldom decrease priorities of tasks in our to-do lists. For many of us, it just feels wrong – it feels like slacking. But reprioritizing is necessity to keep your to-do list relevant and up-to-date. Things change, and your to-do list must reflect that.
Delete everything that is no longer important. Sometimes you might realize that you don’t want to do something at all, because things changed. That’s perfectly OK. You can never do it all. You have just so much time. If you are sure you don’t want to do something, delete it. If you are unsure, then reprioritize it accordingly – as an “Info/Maybe” task, and perhaps move it to a separate list. Try to keep your main to-do list for tasks that absolutely want to do.
Hide tasks that you don’t have to worry about now for later. To keep your list at a reasonable size, hide low-priority tasks until later. If you know that you don’t have to worry about something for a couple of weeks or even months, hide it until a later date. In Swift To-Do List, this can be easily accomplished by setting the Hide Until field, added in version 8.
Move all non-tasks to a separate list. Your main to-do list should be for actions only (tasks). Keep the non-tasks (info, ideas, reference material) in a separate list; otherwise, it will be impossible to finish your to-do list.
Break complex fear-inducing tasks down into sub-tasks. If there are any important task you are procrastinating on, then you should break them down into subtasks.
Remove duplicate entries. If you notice the same item appearing twice or more, perhaps in slightly different words, delete all but 1 copy.
Rewrite task names to make them more actionable. Use verbs and be specific. When you read any task name, you should immediately know what needs to be done. If you have to think even for seconds, then the task name is probably wrong. You can also spice things up and include fun words and phrases – but be careful to preserve the full clarity. If you can make daunting task rhyme, you might be able to do it sooner, as it will stick in your mind. Play with it. Just don’t overdo this step – it might be a sign of procrastination.
Remove projects and goals, and replace them with next action tasks. If your to-do list contains enormous tasks which are not really tasks but projects or goals, you should instead create the next action task (or a couple of them) for each project, and remove the projects from your to-do list. Keep the list of projects separately.
Delete completed tasks. Delete them permanently or archive them. In Swift To-Do List, deleted tasks are automatically moved to task Archive, accessible via menu Manage – Archived Tasks. You don’t actually need to do this manually. I recommend you to use the auto-archive feature added in Swift To-Do List 8: Go to menu File – Options, and in the Task-View tab of the Options window, check “Automatically archive done tasks” at the bottom. Using this, done tasks will get automatically archived after the specified time (Immediately, The next day, After 2 days, etc.)

To sum it up: Reprioritize; delete tasks that you no longer want to do; hide all the tasks that are of no concern to you now until later; move all non-tasks to a separate list; break complex tasks into subtasks; delete duplicate tasks; rewrite task names to make them more actionable and specific; remove projects/goals and replace them with next action tasks; delete completed tasks.

If you do this, your to-do list will stay fresh, crisp, laser-focused and super-useful. It will help you flourish.

There is also a second huge benefit to this: By maintaining your to-do list, you will also effectively review it, and maintain a pretty accurate picture of what needs to be done. Your mental model of tasks, non-tasks, project, goals and commitments will very closely reflect the actual information captured in your personal organizer, thus helping you to make better decisions and estimates. By keeping an accurate mental picture, it will also help you avoid capturing the identical information multiple times (thus creating duplicates).

You might now be thinking: “Whoa, I thought that the point of keeping a to-do list is NOT to have things on mind. Well, you are spot on. But what we are trying to do is to make sure that you don’t NEED to keep things in your head, because they are already captured in a trusted organizer. It is the “necessity to remember” which is stressful. Looking at your list and getting the feel of what’s there is not the same as having to remember it all.

When you are reviewing/maintaining your to-do list, your goal is not to memorize it all. The fact that you refresh your mental picture is a side-effect. You are not trying to remember things here, just as when you read a novel, you are not trying to remember it. When you review items in your organizer, it will refresh your mental model of what needs to be done, which is usually beneficial. It helps you make better decisions.

Finally, there is a third enormous benefit. In Agile methodology (used for software development), there is a saying: “If something is painful, do it more often”. If you do the to-do list maintenance just twice a year, it will be very tedious and painful. But if you do it weekly, you will oftentimes notice that many of the steps aren’t even necessary. You will learn to apply these principles automatically, even when you are not doing the routine – this is an incredible benefit. You will become a to-do list master without even trying!

And by the way, many productivity systems have separate maintenance and review routines, or lack one or the other. I’ve combined both review and maintenance routines into one for maximum efficiency, and threw out everything non-essential. Therefore, doing the routine is time extremely well spent with enormous leverage.

Implement regular to-do list maintenance routine into your life, now

I recommend doing the to-do list maintenance routine at least once a week. I think that doing it on Monday morning is perfect, because it will help you review everything that needs to be done during the week, and it will also ensure that you are well-equipped for the week with an actualized and useful to-do list.

But beware – the strategy “I have to remember to do X” (e.g. “I have to remember to do the weekly to-do list maintenance/review”) is a guaranteed failure. Why? You won’t remember it at the right moment. You will be busy; other things will usurp your attention. Even worse, having to remember something is a stressful burden. And each time you fail/skip, you will feel bad about yourself. Don’t do this to yourself! Setup a weekly reminder, and forget it. When it reminds you, do the routine. It’s that simple, and it’s nearly miraculous.

Because merely trying to remember to do the to-do list maintenance routine is a horrible strategy guaranteed to fail, I want you to do the following in Swift To-Do List for Windows:

Click the Add Task button. We will create a new task specifically for this.
Name the task “Do the weekly to-do list review/maintenance routine”. I also recommend including “- no matter what” at the end of the task name. It’s a little note which tells you that you really, really want to do the routine, even if you might not be feeling like it in the moment. The “- no matter what” appendix works great for me, but something else might work better for you, depending on your personality, self-talk, and preferences.
Now go to the Notes tab. What we want to do here is to write step-by-step instructions for doing the routine. Every time you are reminded, the notes with these instructions will be shown. This way, you won’t have to refer to this post. You will also learn the routine faster and do it the right way. And the best part is – doing the routine won’t be as overwhelming, because the steps will be simple and obvious. You won’t procrastinate on this. If you want, you can also include a couple of motivational sentences, reminding yourself why you want to do the routine and how it serves you. Think of this as a message you can send yourself into the future. Right now, you are all enthusiastic and energized about this, but in a few months or weeks, you might feel different, because there can be several important deadlines looming, etc. So – copy the following text into the Notes, and modify it as you see fit. You can also highlight the steps which you think will have the best payoff for you personally.

Go through all tasks – it’s easy! And -
1) Reprioritize (priorities decrease over time!)
2) Delete tasks that I no longer want to do
3) Hide Until later all the tasks that are of no concern to me now
4) Move all non-tasks to a separate list
5) Break down intimidating complex tasks into subtasks
6) Delete duplicates
7) Rewrite task names to make them more actionable and specific
8) Remove projects/goals and replace them with next action tasks
Now it’s time to go to the Recurrence tab and setup a weekly reminder for this task. Select Recur Weekly, and then set a time. I recommend setting it bit earlier than the usual time you arrive at work, so the reminder immediately pops out. So, for example, if you usually arrive at work at 9:00, set the time to 8:30. Then, check Monday. In the Action dropdown, select “Set undone and remind me”, and optionally, for extra punch, check “Email me”. And that’s it. You can also click the Preview to see the times you will be reminded to do the weekly review. If all looks good, click OK to add this task. Once added, you can check off the task (mark it done), because on Monday, it will uncheck itself and remind you to do the review.

Now, once the reminder-task is set up, go through the steps and actually do the routine right now! This will help you do it well the next time.

Congratulations! You are now ahead of 99% of people who want to get organized, because you have actually made sure that you will succeed. This what true winners do.

The next week, when you are reminded about your to-do list maintenance routine, do it – no matter what.

At first, this might seem tedious, but it will get easier every week. And who knows – after a few months, you might realize that you all you have to do each week is to read your list to refresh the tasks in your mind, because you apply the principles automatically during the week, like a true to-do list master.

How to keep your to-do list useful, short and motivating is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Using to-do lists efficiently

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:54:06 +0000

Everybody knows what a to-do list is.

Almost everybody uses a to-do list, too. (At least occasionally, if not regularly).

But almost none asks: “Hey, how should I actually use a to-do list?”

I think that might be a big mistake.

There are intelligent ways of using to-do lists, and not-so-smart ways.

By using a to-do list the right way, you can eliminate forgetting, stress, overwhelm, procrastination. In fact, you can increase your productivity and efficiency. Tremendously. You can feel like you are in control.

On the other hand, by using to-do lists in not-so-smart-way, you can achieve the exact opposite.

More stress, anyone?

Today, we are going to learn how to use a to-do list intelligently. It’s dirt-simple, and once you implement it, it feels just great.

How to use a to-do list in an intelligent way

Using a to-do list intelligently is deceitfully simple.

This is what you need to do:

Create the to-do list and do the initial dump, placing all your “stuff” into it. This clears your mind.
(continuously): Look at your to-do list, see what’s next, work on it.
» Whenever you get interrupted or distracted, repeat.
» Whenever you finish a task, repeat.
(continuously): Whenever a new idea or task comes to you, write it down immediately into your to-do list, then proceed with what you were doing before.

That’s all.

It is ridiculously simple, isn’t it?

And yet, very few people have actually really mastered this.

If you look at the instructions, they simply say to create a to-list list with all your current stuff, look at it often (whenever you get interrupted, distracted, or finish something), and always write new stuff into it immediately when it comes to you.

These simple habits can change your life.

Since these are habits, it takes time to fully establish them. But once you ingrain them, you will do them automatically.

Do this for 2-3 weeks, and you will be doing it automatically, without even having to think about it.

At any point, you either want to be working on a task, looking what to do next, writing down/organizing your stuff, or truly relaxing.

This might be the best well-kept hidden secret of productivity.

With these habits, it’s easy. But without these habits you will spend most of your time in a gray-zone, not really doing anything. Since you’ve read this far, I bet you don’t want that.

How could you start using this intelligent to-do list approach today?

Using to-do lists efficiently is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List 8 launched!

Jiri Novotny — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 12:36:16 +0000

We’ve officially launched the brand-new shiny Swift To-Do List 8. We’ve also launched a new homepage – see it at www.dextronet.com.

This is probably the biggest and most exciting release we’ve ever done. As one of our customers, Serge, said:

Congratulations to you and your team! This is more than a major release, the subtask implementation makes it essentially a brand new product!

And I have to agree! I think that just the subtasks feature alone makes this upgrade more than worthwhile to you.

Subtasks greatly help you reduce overwhelm and procrastination, and you can use them to manage projects and more complex tasks with ease, simplicity and clarity.

I would have never believed how powerful it can be to break complex tasks into small subtasks. Believe me, once you try subtasks, you will never want to go back.

You can see what’s new in version 8 here. The what’s new page includes screenshots and also contains more information on subtasks.

How to get the new version 8

First of all, download the new Swift To-Do List 8 from our website.
If you’ve purchased Swift To-Do List recently (after 5th of August 2012), you will automatically get a free upgrade, and your existing license code will keep working.
Or, if you’ve been already using Swift To-Do List for some time, then, as a previous customer, you will be able to purchase the upgrade to the new version with a significant discount. All you have to do is to click the Buy button in the new version, which will automatically take you to the correct upgrade page, where you will be able to purchase the new version with a discount. Alternatively, use the upgrade wizard on our website.

All your settings and data will be fully preserved, of course. Your data is sacred to us, so upgrading, installing or even uninstalling any of our products will never delete your data.

You love version 8

The feedback to the new version 8 has been extremely positive so far.

Nearly all of the early adopters told us that they absolutely love the new version, especially the subtasks feature.

For example, this is what Jason wrote us just yesterday:

Thanks for all your hard work! Swift To-Do List has really helped me get all my projects organized while getting much more done and stressing much less about everything. Subtasks have been really helpful in allowing me to break larger tasks down into smaller actionable tasks (…). I feel like I’m in control of my workday and personal life for the first time in many years.

I just went and bought the v8 Ultimate upgrade!

We are delighted by the reception, and super-excited about the new release and future of Swift To-Do List.

We are also very grateful for your ongoing support. Yes, I am talking to you. You are the reason we exist today, and we are honored to serve you. By purchasing upgrades, you allow us to fund further development and keep improving Swift To-Do List with ironclad commitment. (And we have a lot of extremely cool stuff coming as free updates in the 8.xx line).

Focus on innovation

I sincerely believe that Swift To-Do List 8 is truly the best to-do list software ever created for Windows.

Since Swift To-Do List has all the basic functionality handled so well, we’ve started to focus more on innovation.

For example, one of the innovative new features in version 8 is the Hide Until field. Using it, you can hide tasks for later. It’s like a “mega-snooze” for your tasks. Just pick a Hide Until date for any task, and the task will disappear. When the date comes, the task will appear on your to-do list again. By using Hide Until, you can keep your to-do lists super-relevant, motivating, and short & sweet. Just hide everything that is not relevant right now for later!

Also, I am very proud of our subtasks implementation. The subtasks have been designed really, really well. Using subtasks is dirt-simple and completely intuitive. For example, you can create them in many different ways: You can move tasks left/right to turn them into subtasks by modifying the task hierarchy. Or, you can use your mouse and Drag and Drop any task onto another task to turn it into its subtask. Or, you can simply use the Add Subtask button, or use the new Ctrl+M shortcut.

What’s coming next

Right now, we are working on a series of 8.xx updates to make Swift To-Do List faster across the board and reduce its RAM consumption.

After that, we plan to finish the sync/collaboration/mobile functionality, which has been in Beta for far too time now.

Then, a full-blown scheduling calendar and the ability to create entirely custom columns can be expected, among many, many other great new features.

So, what are you waiting for?

Just download the all-new version 8 and start reaping the benefits today.

Keep your to-do list short and motivating by hiding tasks for later. Stay focused on what is relevant.
Break complex tasks and projects into subtasks, and defeat procrastination and overwhelm. Doing the next small action step (subtask) is easy!

The two suggestions above are just some ideas – the new version gives much more new possibilities, of course!

To see what’s new and to perhaps get inspired how to use it, check out the what’s new in version 8 page.

PS: I would love to hear what you think! Just post in the comments below. We’ve recently made posting comments here as simple as possible.

Swift To-Do List 8 launched! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Coming Soon: New Swift To-Do List 8 with subtasks!

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 08:13:36 +0000

We’ve been working hard on new major version of Swift To-Do List for about half a year now, and it’s now just weeks away from being launched! We plan to release it by the late September/early October.

Today, I am very excited, because I will show you some of the new stuff from the upcoming release.

Version 8 brings multiple new incredible features, which can dramatically improve the way you work and organize your life.

We’ve put an enormous amount of effort and innovation into version 8, and we are both very excited and very pleased with the final result.

If you’ve already purchased Swift To-Do List 7 and been using it for some time now, you will be able to upgrade to version 8 with a big discount.

If you are a new customer and purchase Swift To-Do List 7 now, or have purchased it recently, you will get a free upgrade to version 8. (“Recently” means in 90 days before the official release of version 8.)

So, what’s new in version 8?

Well, a lot. The biggest feature are probably subtasks. Just the subtasks alone are well worth the upgrade price.

New Professional (and Ultimate) edition features:

Subtasks enable you to break down intimidating complex tasks into easily manageable chunks and plan your work better. Subtasks can dramatically boost your productivity, and reduce procrastination. How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The following screenshot shows subtasks combined with item numbering:
Hide Until field enables you to hide tasks until a specified date. It’s a “mega-snooze” for your tasks. This allows you to keep your lists short and sweet. Hide things that you don’t have to worry about for now.
Automatic archiving of done tasks after a specified number of days (or even immediately). Keep your lists clean.

New Ultimate-only features:

Renaming of columns/fields: Re-purpose any field, such as Type, Context or Start Date to something different. For example, rename the “Start Date” to “Shipment Date” or “Last Contacted Date”. Or, rename the “Context” field to “Client”. This is the ultimate customization – all up to you!
Item numbering for to-do lists and lists. Task names can be now automatically prefixed with a number, e.g. “1. First task”, “2. Second task”, etc. This gives you a better sense of how much work is left. (“Lists” are also a new feature – read on!)

New features added to all editions:

List, a new type of tree item beside to-do lists and memos. Lists are perfect for all non-task items. Items in Lists don’t have checkboxes, are not included in the “Tasks to be done” stats, and can be hidden by filters. Very useful for all non-actionable items, such as inventories, collections, recipes, ideas, references, and anything else that is not a task. Organize anything, not just tasks!
Tasks can be now reordered in all view modes. Before, it was possible to reorder tasks only when viewing a single to-do list.
Reminders are preserved until you dismiss them, so you won’t lose the opened reminders by exiting the program or rebooting your computer anymore.
Filters can optionally change the view mode when set, so you can create a filter that immediately displays all tasks, then filters them.
In notes, hyperlinks to tree items (to-do lists, memos, lists) can be created in the notes text.
You can now use alphabetic sorting of the tree.
New “Attachments” Options section, which allows you to customize many aspects of attachments, including what happens when you add a new attachment (Embed into Swift To-Do List database? Create shortcut? Ask me?)

Minor improvements

Improved look and feel of all menus and toolbars, new beautiful loading screen
New “Days Left” column which displays the number of days until Due Date.
Tree toolbar has move right and move left buttons added, which allow you to easily manipulate to-do lists, memos and lists
A target to-do list can be specified for tasks added via global system-wide hotkeys, so you can easily create an “inbox“
The filters allow you to always filter for done/undone tasks, even when the Status field is enabled
You can Ctrl+Click a tree item to switch to it and set view mode to “Selected To-Do List” at the same time. That way, you can quickly view just that one list if your view mode is set to All Lists etc.
The window “Swift To-Do List is doing maintenance of your database” that was displayed when exiting the program is no longer displayed, unless you are running the portable version.
When searching for tasks by typing (e.g. pressing “a” to find the first task that begins with “a”), you can now press the key repeatedly to cycle through all such tasks in the task-view.
Improved Import Wizard now displays the original imported value as well, and correctly imports reminders.
You can specify telephone number or a custom note for Contacts in the Manage Contacts window

What’s coming next in the 8.xx line after 8.0?

Well, A LOT of things. We are just getting started!

All the 8.xx updates will be free for all version 8 customers. And there will be many updates, with lots of new features and improvements.

This means: If you purchase version 8, you will be getting a TON of great extra features and improvements for a long, long time – all for free.

The upcoming new stuff will include:

Multiple optimizations which will significantly speed up Swift To-Do List and reduce RAM consumption. This is coming very soon (definitely in 2012).
Finished and polished synchronization and collaboration features, as well as companion mobile and web apps.
Ability to create entirely custom columns (as many as you need!).
A full-blown scheduling calendar.
More types of tree objects, such as spreadsheets or journals (logs).
Tables for notes.
Beautiful skins, which will enable you to choose a theme for Swift To-Do List interface if you desire so.
More tree icons.
And many other things.

One thing is sure: We plan to outrageously delight you.

Do you want to play with version 8 beta?

We already have a very stable build of version 8, tested by about dozen of people – but there might still be some little quirks that only you might notice.

If you would like to help us make version 8 perfect, please contact us, and we will send you the preview release.

If you have any questions, post in comments or contact us.

PS: Yes, the subtasks are awesome! :-) We’ve made them super easy to use. In fact, I think it might be one of the best implementation of subtasks ever created. Just wait until you try them yourself.

Coming Soon: New Swift To-Do List 8 with subtasks! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Custom Task Priorities

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:47:07 +0000

How do you prioritize your tasks?

Do you use High – Medium – Low prioritizing, or do you use something more useful?

“What? There is something else besides High/Medium/Low? Nobody told me!”

Well, with Swift To-Do List, you can create your entirely own custom priorities. Even all the inbuilt priorities are fully customizable. In fact, you could have just 1 priority called “Octogoat” (8-legged goat) and that would be it. (Yeah, this particular prioritizing system probably wouldn’t increase your productivity! :-)

All you have to do is to use menu Manage – Priorities:

(And in case you are not using Swift To-Do List, as you read on, you might still find this article quite useful.)

Why does prioritizing matter?

Prioritizing is very important, because it help you fight off procrastination. By not having your tasks prioritized, you risk decision paralysis, which is one of the leading causes of procrastination. Since you are not sure what to do (e.g. many items are very important), you will tend to do something completely else, usually not important at all (e.g. checking social media and new sites, checking email, cleaning and re-organizing your office, etc.)

Alternative prioritizing methods

“High/Medium/Low” might not be particularly useful to you either, because it is vague. I bet that you could find at least 5 reasons why any particular task on your to-do list should be High priority – or Low priority. Oftentimes, you will have so much High priority tasks that you will be left clueless as what to actually work on next.

However, there are more useful prioritizing systems, such as One Minute To-Do List (which I think is pretty good) or Stephen Covey’s 4-Quadrants. It is also curious that GTD (Getting Things Done methodology) has no prioritizing, just contexts (which, in my opinion, is suboptimal for most). You can also use my own prioritizing system, which you will learn in this post.

Most prioritizing methods are either based on Importance, or Urgency. I think that prioritizing by Urgency is far better, because there are…

3 reasons why prioritizing by importance is WRONG

There are at least three serious problems with prioritizing by importance:

First, if you ignore urgent (but unimportant) tasks, you will be anxious, stressed and less effective. Urgent tasks are like swords hanging over your head, causing you stress. Urgent tasks should be always handled first, as they are time-sensitive. When urgent tasks are not attended timely, then in many cases, it can have long-term negative consequences. But even more importantly, almost invariably, avoiding or postponing urgent tasks places an emotional and mental burden on you.
Second, almost all tasks can be classified as important for one reason or another. You can try this right now – pick any task from your list- and then try to think up of at least 2-3 reasons why it is important. Usually, you will not have any problem coming up with the reasons, even if the task is of a very low priority. Too many tasks get classified as highly important- the prioritizing thus becomes useless, as it’s impossible to distinguish what really matters. (If everything is important, nothing really is.)
Third, many tasks which are not important still need to be done. Without doing seemingly unimportant tasks, such as paperwork, computer and office maintenance, it would be soon impossible to do the important tasks. The wheels would get stuck.

In light of this, the urgency-based prioritizing approach of the One Minute To-Do List method seems very solid. But still, you don’t have to use it as it is. You could take it and customize it to suit your needs. Or, you could use…

My better prioritizing system

I’ve been developing the following prioritizing method for quite some time. It will be part of my own productivity/organizing methodology which I am currently developing. Think of this as a little preview – the final system will be have much more depth to it.

I’ve been also testing it extensively on myself, and so far, the results are great.

My prioritizing method is urgency based.

The priorities are as follow:

Urgent
Current Focus
Do Soon
Do Later
Maybe
Info/Reference

And here are quick description of the priorities. The individual priorities are for tasks that you…

Urgent: Absolutely must do today. If necessary, you would stay late at work to get these done.

Current Focus: Want to do today.

Do Soon: Want to do this/next week, and even today if given the opportunity.

Do Later: Want to do eventually, but don’t have to worry about now at all.

Maybe: Are not yet sure if you want to do at all.

Info/Reference: This is for non-tasks. Items with this priority are not actionable at all.

At any point, try to have no more than 5 Urgent tasks, no more than 10 Current Focus tasks and no more than 20 Do Soon tasks. The other priorities can have unlimited number of tasks.

You can easily apply this system with the Manage Priorities window. Once applied, it looks like this:

And have fun with it, if you want! For example, when I was submitting a support ticket to Dreamhost, I noticed I could choose priority too, and they have funny options like “OMG CRITICAL EMERGENCY! PEOPLE ARE DYING!” So albeit my system works pretty well, feel free to choose names that make sense to you.

Have you already customized your priorities? What priorities do you use?

Custom Task Priorities is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Minimalistic Swift To-Do List Setup

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 14:45:25 +0000

Have you thought that Swift To-Do List is too robust and powerful to turn it into a minimalistic sleek organizer, which can be even run as a small always-on-top window on the side of your desktop? Well, think again! :-)

While I personally prefer to run Swift To-Do List in full-blown fullscreen mode, so I can fully focus on either managing my tasks and notes or the actual work, some people prefer using something very simple, or something that can be run as a small always-on-top window on their screens.

And even if you also prefer to run Swift To-Do List in fullscreen, this post might still inspire you to hide some parts of Swift To-Do List that you don’t use. For example, I do not use the main toolbar, because most of the operations it offers can be easily accomplished in more efficient ways.

Because Swift To-Do List is so flexible and customizable, you can turn it into a truly minimalistic, yet fully functional task and notes organizer.

This is possible for two reasons:

You can hide just about anything that you don’t need (e.g. toolbars and panels)
Even if you hide everything, you can still use most of the features, via right-click menus or keyboard shortcuts. For example, if you hide the tree panel, you can still switch lists using Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab. This way, you can have a tiny window with a powerhouse of all the Swift To-Do List features.

In practice, the minimal possible setup looks like this (and the window can be still made a bit smaller):

How to make Swift To-Do List minimalistic

To do this, just follow these 3 simple steps:

First, use the View menu to hide all the panels you don’t need:

Second, hide the columns you don’t need:

And finally, resize the window as you see fit.

Optionally, if you desire so, you can make Swift To-Do List window always on top using the View menu.

You can also change the task-view and tree fonts to something smaller. Segoe UI, size 8 works great. This can be accomplished using File – Options.

Examples of other minimalistic setups

There are many variants you can try. For example, this variant includes the notes panel:

And this is a variant with to-do list tree shown:

Or, do you fancy a calendar panel instead of tree?

Finally, just for the heck of it, this is how the regular non-minimalistic Swift To-Do List setup looks like. The one shown below has hidden calendar panel as well as the info panel:

How to use the minimalistic setup

The short answer is – the same was as you normally would! But if you used the main toolbar heavily before, its time to learn some shortcuts and other neat tricks -

When it comes to adding tasks, there are multiple ways other than the Add Task button:

Press Ctrl+T or Ctrl+Enter
Hold the Alt key and click anywhere in the task-view
Doubleclick into an empty space in the task-view
Use the global hotkey for adding tasks, configurable in File – Options, Hotkeys. By default, it is Ctrl+Alt+A.
Paste text into the task-view
Drag and Drop emails into the task-view. You can also drag & drop email .eml and .msg files.

To edit a task, simply double click it, or select it and press F2 or Enter.

To switch the currently viewed to-do list, use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab. You can also use Alt+Shift+Up/Down to navigate between tasks in all lists.

To switch view mode, press Ctrl+F1 to view only the current list, Ctrl+F2 to view current list + its sub-lists, and press Ctrl+F3 to view all tasks at once.

To find tasks, press Ctrl+F.

To delete (archive) a task, select it and press Delete.

To move tasks up or down, use mouse and just drag and drop them where you want to place them. Or, use Alt + Up/Down.

You can also right-click any task or empty space for list of available options.

—

It looks pretty cool, huh? If you still haven’t downloaded Swift To-Do List, download it and play with it. Chances are, you can make it exactly the way you want it to be.

And if you are already using Swift To-Do List, perhaps you now have some inspiration for customization. (As I said, I do not personally use the minimalistic setup. But it’s good to know that I can hide things if I don’t need them.)

Minimalistic Swift To-Do List Setup is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List Review by Elius Levin

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:16:41 +0000

We’ve received a review from one of our happy customers! This time, it is from Elius Levin from Australia, who has been working as a freelance business writer for the last 9 years and using Swift To-Do List for over a year now. Elius wrote this review because he is using Swift To-Do List and would like to share his thoughts with others. We have not compensated Elius in any way, nor modified his review. Recently, we’ve also published a review by Sherri Wilson, who runs a small labeling business, and by Chuck Gallozi, a successful writer and personal development expert. And now, over to you, Elius.

I have been using Swift To-Do List (STDL) daily for 14 months—it has become and continues to be absolutely indispensable in my efforts to overcome the “chaos of the surging, heaving universe”.

I am unable to answer the question “Does God play dice with the universe?” but at least operationally, here on earth, STDL is the tool that gives me the ability to be Master of My Own Universe—the feeling of competency that STDL engenders is simply priceless.

I had previously utilised Zoho, the popular web-based, subscription project management software for 3 years. We both grew together, I in learning its effective use, along with its far faster development, major redesign(s), & its early-but-eventually-sorted-out problems with support, which then often could take up to 3 weeks to get an answer to a query.

However, it got to a point where it technically no longer suited my simple requirements:

I had become a bit like the child who has a pair of shoes that is perhaps just a bit too large. There was no longer a good fit between me and the software.

Armed with the knowledge gained from Zoho, my extensive research enabled me to whittle the shortlist to two, Swift and another popular task management software. Not yet into the world of mobile computing, I was seeking software which was definitely neither web-nor subscription-based, and had good support. And, as time has indicated to me, for the newbie product user the relationship with the developer is crucial, and can even be the deciding factor whether one purchases or continues use of the product or not. Questions of his responsiveness, willingness, degree of openness to suggestion or request, and the oft-neglected consideration of his degree of patience for initial newbie handholding, stumbles & mistakes while striving to learn—the “chemistry” – can not be underestimated. Both STDL and its developer Jiri Novotny have come through with flying colours on all points.

As an independent operator, my requirements are that my task management tool be simple, easy-to-use, provide flexibility for increased or increasing complexity if & when needed—STDL has this in bucket loads.

It allows those who wish to work with the creation of simple lists to fairly complex project management requiring collaboration & greater precision by use of task attributes and the filters. I work somewhere in between.

One feature that I particularly liked about Zoho was its calendar design, while in some ways a little cumbersome, its smallness, flexibility, and its functionality I thought pretty good. To compensate for Swift’s absence of calendar, I utilised – incorrectly – the Find Tasks window to enable me to work across to-do lists and especially across tasks. Yet I had no way to minimise the window, enabling me to readily move to other software & return to the desired to-do list and task–I then made do with judicious use of the filters to assist me.

The result of my long-awaited introduction of the Swift To-Do List calendar feature is joy—it too is small and unobtrusive . It also employs the core functions of the filters through the Find Tasks window–today, tomorrow, as well as essential column actions such as start date, due date, completion, creation, changes dates. Very importantly it can also be minimised, allowing ready movement to other software & return to the desired to-do list and task. This now makes task retrieval and my life much easier. I “reside” daily at the open calendar window, but should this now be not enough, I have found Find Tasks search to be a very good supplement.

Another of Swift’s “small footprint” features that I like is the task-independent memo. While the calendar enables me to see across to-do lists and tasks, giving me the broad picture, the task-independent memo, only a single click away, enables me to “pull together” those tasks which are spread among numerous to-do lists but collectively are components of a project or theme.

The screenshot shows a memo:

There is a lot of software within the task management ‘space’ or market, and I am sure even more since I selected STDL. There are many variables to consider carefully, as I did. I would very highly recommend that you give Swift To Do List a test run — I am sure that like me, you’ll find much that will satisfy.

~ Elius Levin

Swift To-Do List Review by Elius Levin is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Best Of This Blog (Part 3)

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:35:48 +0000

There are many recent incredible posts that you might have missed – so here goes a third “Best of This Blog” summary!

I am very happy with the direction this blog is taking; it is now attracting some serious attention, and many post quickly become quite popular.

Knowing that I am becoming a better writer is a terrific feeling.

Enjoy this summary!

Productivity, goals, procrastination posts:

One Minute To-Do List – The simple and awesome alternative to GTD
How to Overcome Resistance to Work – 4 Techniques – another very popular post with extremely valuable information
Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List – Even if you are not using Swift To-Do List, learning the concepts in this post can dramatically improve your productivity and eliminate stress in your work life.
5 Counter-Intuitive Productivity Tips
How to murder your productivity – This hilarious post went viral and became extremely popular. It is actually useful, too.
Seriously, Stop Sabotaging Your 2012 Goals – was republished on Lifehacker
Hidden Procrastination
Outsmarting Yourself for Success
What are you not going to do? – Time management upside down
Why change is so hard and how to make it happen – on changing ourselves for good
Be Successful First Thing in the Morning – another quite popular post with a valuable tip

Swift To-Do List related:

Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List – learn how the new Time Tracking feature can transform you from procrastinator to super-achiever
New Swift To-Do List 7.60: Calendar Panel, add tasks from any application, more!
What’s New in Swift To-Do List 7.46
New Swift To-Do List 7 Ultimate edition released
Swift To-Do List Review by Darryl Benjamin
Swift To-Do List Review by Chuck Gallozzi – Chuck is a personal development expert
Blind Man and Swift To-Do List

What else?

We’ve also released brand new FastPaste 3 for Windows, and published a post on it: Declaring war on stupid typing with FastPaste 3.

Check out the previous “Best Of This Blog (Part 2)” and “Best Of This Blog (Part 1)“

Best Of This Blog (Part 3) is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:45:54 +0000

You don’t need to dread your tasks or beat yourself up for procrastinating anymore. With the new Swift To-Do List, you now have a tool that will help you to start working in no time.

We’ve just released new juicy update of Swift To-Do List, version 7.63. As usual, this update is free for all existing customers. (If you don’t have Swift To-Do List yet, download it now.)

It includes new countdown timer, which is the most interesting new feature, because it allows you to overcome procrastination and resistance to your tasks.

If you learn to utilize the new timer feature as explained below, it can literally change your life, especially if you are struggling with procrastination or have hard time focusing and managing your attention.

As you read on, you will learn how you can benefit from the new timer feature, and how it can help you to focus and overcome procrastination.

Oh, and other than the timer, the new update also adds overdue tasks information in the info panel – with just 1 click, you can immediately see all overdue tasks. The new version can also email task reminders to assigned persons, and it allows you to open a folder where any file attachment is located, and much more.

How to overcome procrastination with the new Timer feature

The new countdown timer expands the existing Time Tracking feature.

Procrastination is caused by resistance. We feel resistance to tasks because the oldest and most primitive part of our brain, amygdala, is feeling threatened. It dreads the work, because it’s uncertain how long will it take or what else will you have to give up to finish it. However, this feeling can be eliminated by setting a time limit for your work session.

For example, to overcome resistance to any particular task, you can say to yourself: “I am going to work just 20 minutes on this task”. Then, start the 20 minute Timer for that task. You will have no problem getting started this way.

This has 4 very significant benefits:

First, it eliminates resistance, because it is now obvious that you will be working for just 20 minutes, so the task is no longer perceived as a threat by your primitive part of brain.
Second, it sets you free. During the countdown, you don’t have to worry about anything else. It frees you from everything else and gives you the permission to focus absolutely on that task.
Once the 20 minutes have passed, you will probably continue working. You will get into flow and you can actually feel euphoric while working!
The floating timer window will constantly shift your attention to the task. It acts like a magnet for your focus, which is invaluable in today’s ADD world full of distractions.

As a result, you can easily be 300% more efficient during these 20 minutes than usual. It can be quite revolutionary, actually. I’ve personally gotten some extraordinary results by using a timer, and I know of many others. It is proven. It just works. And it’s very, very effective.

20 minutes is just an example. You can use any time limit, from 5 minutes to 90 minutes. Heck, you can even set any custom number of minutes.

And by the way, if you have trouble focusing, you can also use the new Timer feature in combination with Pomodoro Technique, which is basically about structuring your whole work day in short 25-minute focused bursts and 5 minute breaks.

The Timer is in Ultimate and Professional editions only.

This is how you start it (by right-clicking any task):

And this is how the actual timer looks. On the screenshot below, you can see it on my desktop. It’s a floating window that can be set always on top, and you can of course customize the color and other things by right-clicking it. You can move it anywhere (it’s sticky).

When the time is up, “Finished” will start blinking on the timer, and you can either close it or reset it to start another session. You can also set a new timer with different time limit, for a different task or the same one.

Swift To-Do List keeps track of total time spent on any task when the timer or time tracker is running. If you display Time Spent column in the task-view, you will be able to see how much time have you spent total on each of your tasks.

Other new features

As always, there is also a bunch of other improvements to make you more efficient, productive, and make your life easier. These include:

Info panel now contains “Overdue Tasks”. You can click that label and see all overdue tasks. The label displays the number of all overdue tasks. This gives you instant overview.
New calendar mode, “Due Date or Start Date”. This allows you to see tasks starting OR due on any particular day (or days) with just a single click.
New Filter option for Due Date and Start Date filtering: “In next 14 days”. This is similar to the “In next 7 days” option.
For added convenience, you can now upgrade your license to a higher edition or purchase extra discounted copies using menu “Help – Buy Upgrades or Extra Licenses”.
Attachments right-click menu now contains “Open File Location” for file attachments. This allows you to open the folder where the attachment is located. When it comes to embedded attachments, the folder from which they were embedded is opened.
Email reminders can be now emailed to the person the task is assigned to. The same goes for recurrence notifications.
Import from Task Coach added.
You can now choose choose default task Type and default Context for your tasks. Do that using menu File – Options, then go to the New Tasks section.
When creating a recurring task, the Due Date of the task is set automatically immediately based on the recurrence. E.g. if you create a task to recur in 7 days, its due date will be immediately set to 7 days from now.

Getting the new Swift To-Do List

All you have to do is to download the latest version and install it.

It’s just a few clicks away. Can these few clicks revolutionize the way you work?

PS: You might be also interested in my summary of The Now Habit, which is probably the best book on procrastination.

- By Jiri Novotny+, the obsessed author of the number one to-do list software for Windows, Swift To-Do List. Jiri’s life quest is to become productivity and achievement world-class expert to empower others to achieve their full potential. If you liked this post, then definitely follow this blog on G+.

Overcome procrastination with new Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 14:23:42 +0000

Centralizing all your lists (and especially to-do lists) is a simple act of placing all your to-do’s and other lists together, into one file, software or paper. Centralizing your lists is probably the most powerful technique to reduce overwhelm.

Having your to-do’s and other information centralized is very important, because if you do not have your to-do’s centralized, and rather have your to-do’s scattered among multiple places, then:

Sometimes, you will lose and forget important things. This leads to unnecessary last-minute emergencies as well as wasted opportunities.
You can never fully trust your organizing system. That results in stress and anxiety.
You can’t get a quick overview of all urgent and important tasks. This makes you inefficient.
You can’t quickly find the next action needed to do. This impairs your focus ability and disrupts your workflow.

On the other hand, centralizing your to-do’s, ideas, thoughts and other “things” has the following benefits:

You have a system you can always trust, where you can find everything you need, whenever you need it.
You can quickly get a complete overview of urgent things for today or tomorrow, so there are no unpleasant surprises and unnecessary emergencies.
You can always quickly see what the next thing to do is. This improves your ability to focus and makes you more efficient and productive.
Because you will know that you will never lose or miss any important information, you can fully relax and experience a true peace of mind.

And what do I mean exactly by “having your to-do’s scattered among multiple places”?

Well, there are dozens of ways of storing your to-do’s, ideas, notes, etc. You can have all these things on multiple papers, sticky notes, computer files, software, emails, devices and even rooms or buildings. And that is a big problem for the reasons I’ve mentioned above. Even if you have just 3 or 4 places (and most people have more), the negative effects kick in hard.

The solution is to take everything you have – all the papers, files, emails, notes and so on – and move the tasks in them into a single central place. Swift To-Do List is perfect for this, because it essentially allows you to manage multiple to-do lists and notes in one place. That way, you can have all your to-do’s, ideas, thoughts, notes, checklists, and any other lists or text documents in one place. You can even attach files to your tasks or notes to keep related files at hand.

Swift To-Do List has a tree with icons, which allows you to organize all your lists and notes (task-independent notes in the tree are called “memos” in Swift To-Do List) in a hierarchical structure with icons. You can have everything at your finger-tips. It looks like this:

There are multiple ways of adding tasks into Swift To-Do List. Tasks can be imported from plain text files and CSV files. You can also import to-do’s from other software, such as Outlook, Lotus Notes, Excel, Task Coach, and many other.

Memos (notes) can be imported from various formats, including plain-text and rich text files (.txt and .rtf), MS Word Documents (.doc and .docx), HTML files (.html and .mht), OpenOffice files, and even ePub format. You can, of course, export notes into all these formats as well, and better yet, you can even export them to PDF.

I will now show you exactly how you can input tasks into Swift To-Do List, and then how you can import notes and memos. Now is the right time for you to Download and install Swift To-Do List (in case you don’t have it installed already).

How to add tasks into Swift To-Do List

The first button in the toolbar, Add Task, is hard to miss. You can also use the shortcut hotkey Ctrl+T (“T” like “Task”), or double-click into any empty area in the task-view. The Add Task window has a button labeled “OK, add another…” which will add the task, then reopen the Add Task window.

But the simplest way of quickly adding multiple tasks is to use the Add Multiple Tasks feature, available from the menu Tasks – Add Multiple Tasks. The shortcut hotkey for this feature is Ctrl+H.

You can simply enter one task per line (or paste any simple text list into this window), and add all these tasks with a single click on the Add Tasks button. You can then edit these newly added tasks later to specify the details.

Another simple way of adding tasks is to simply paste them into the task-view. You can paste just a single line of text (which will open the Add Task window, or multiple lines, which will open the Add Multiple Tasks window. Just click into the task-view, then paste the task (or tasks) with Ctrl+V.

Creating tasks from emails is also very simple. You can just drag and drop the emails into Swift To-Do List. Here is a video showing you how to quickly create tasks from emails. This is one of the features we are quite proud of, as it is a huge time-saver, and Swift To-Do List can handle even the email attachments and adds them as the task attachments, etc.

The Import Wizard is the most powerful way of adding large amounts of tasks, usually from other software. You can access it using menu File – Import Wizard. The Import Wizard can import comma-separated files (.csv), tab-separated files (.tsv) as well as plain-text files (.txt). Because vast majority of other software supports export to comma-separated files (.csv), you can usually import your data into Swift To-Do List very easily. Step-by-step import guides for various software (including Outlook, Excel, Lotus Notes, Task Coach) are available on our website. Swift To-Do List Help file has even more import guides for other less-known software. You can open the Help by pressing F1 in Swift To-Do List.

How to add notes into Swift To-Do List

There are two kinds of notes in Swift To-Do List:

Task notes, which always belong to a particular tasks
Memos, which are task-independent notes located in the tree among to-do lists and other memos

Both task notes and memos can be imported/exported to various formats, including TXT, RTF, DOC, DOCX, HTML, MHT, ODT, ePub, and PDF (export-only). Swift To-Do List fully supports rich formatting, including images, bullet and numbered lists and so on. Both tasks and memos can have attachments.

To create a memo, open the Add To-Do List window, and in that window, select “Memo” in the “Add” frame, as shown below:

Then, to import a file into the memo, click the Export/Import Notes button in the text editing toolbar, as shown below:

As you can see, there are two import options – either to replace the notes, or to append the imported file at the end. Using the latter, you can import multiple documents into a single task note or memo and thus join them. But you can also, of course, just create multiple memos or tasks instead.

Your action steps

In this article, you’ve learned why it is important to centralize your to-do’s and other things. You now also know what centralizing is. And you know how you can centralize your to-do’s with Swift To-Do List.

To immediately apply what you’ve learned, you can do the following:

Download and install Swift To-Do List (in case you don’t have it installed already)
Input your most urgent/important to-do’s and other information into Swift To-Do List.
Once you’ve put as many things into Swift To-Do List as possible, it’s time to process all other places where you keep your to-do’s, ideas and important information. Create a list of these papers, documents and files, and then bring them over into Swift To-Do List.
Develop a habit to always input everything into Swift To-Do List when you are at your computer. You don’t even have to use your email inbox as a to-do list, as you can drag and drop emails into Swift To-Do List, one by one.
When you are not close to your computer, stick to a single way of capturing tasks, notes and ideas. You can keep a small paper handy, or use your smart phone. When you get back to your computer, immediately put all the captured tasks into Swift To-Do List and throw the paper away or clear the file in your smart-phone. (Swift To-Do List also has a companion mobile web-app that you can use to input tasks on a smart phone directly into your Swift To-Do List.)

Once you do this, you will quickly find that you are way more efficient and relaxed. Overwhelm, stress and forgetting will disappear from your life.

If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to post a reply below. I will be happy to help you and answer any of your questions.

Centralize Your Lists with Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

How to murder your productivity

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 07:16:54 +0000

In this post, you are going to learn proven techniques that you can immediately put to use.

I am going to show you exactly how you can:

Decrease your IQ by 10 points while working
Make sure you won’t accomplish anything
Increase your stress levels by at least 100% or more
Get completely overwhelmed

If you learn the techniques presented in this post, you will:

Become completely insignificant
Earn less money
Repel successful and capable people
Be slave to the random whims of others
Get fired from your job or drive your business to the ground

Sounds good? Let’s get started!

Check email 50 times a day to prevent focus

If you won’t check your email at least 20 (and ideally 50) times each day, you will risk that you will be able to focus on your work. And if you focus on your work, you risk completing something important. So the biggest benefit of checking email all the time is that you are in completely reactive state, working on low-important tasks, which often seem urgent but are not. That’s perfect for our purposes!

Julie Morgenstern wrote a book called “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning”, but her advice is obviously counter-productive to what we are trying to achieve here. And she doesn’t know what she is talking about, anyway, because she is just the #1 USA organizer. Another expert, Michael Linenberger agrees with her in his book “Master Your Workday Now!” (which is probably the best alternative to GTD) – that’s a big disappointment, Mike!

Clutter your desk with piles of paper for constant anxiety

I recommend that you start at least with 2 large piles of paper, and build it to 5 or more piles over time.

When processing paperwork, try to avoid reading it whenever possible. And ideally, some of the papers should be important or urgent.

Never file paperwork to its proper place, because you would risk diminishing your anxiety and stress levels.

Sit in a crappy chair for physical fatigue and tiredness

All physiotherapists will tell you that good workplace ergonomics are paramount for your well-being. Feeling well could help us be more productive, so we shouldn’t risk it and always sit on a $20 horror-on-wheels.

Multi-task to decrease your IQ by 10 points

I urge you to always try to work on at least 2 tasks at the very same time. And if you get really good at it, you can work on 3 or even 4 things at the same time. The real masters of unproductivity can work on 5 things at once.

If you are beginner at multi-tasking, then at least start checking your email in the middle of doing each task.

As popularized by Tim Ferris, according to Josh Waitzkin, “A study at The British Institute of Psychiatry showed that checking your email while performing another creative task decreases your IQ in the moment 10 points. That is the equivalent of not sleeping for 36 hours – more than twice the impact of smoking marijuana.”

That’s excellent news for us.

By doing 2 or more things simultaneously, you will ensure that none of them gets done properly and even temporarily lower your IQ by 10 points. The saying goes: If you chase two rabbits, you will catch none.

Get as many notifications as possible for constant distraction

The next thing you need to do is to configure as many real-time notifications as possible. These include:

Email notifications
IM notifications (ICQ, MSN, Jabber, Google Talk)
Skype
Twitter, Facebook, and other social media
News notifications (e.g. RSS)

But once you setup all the above, don’t stop! You also need to set them up on your smart phone and tablet.

If you start receiving a lot of notifications, then you are doing great, because you are always very well informed, but more importantly, guaranteed to greatly reduce your productivity and ability to focus.

Rest assured, you will be able to forget about the risk of getting into the flow state and accomplishing anything substantial. Excellent.

(And for those of you who are over-achievers, then for extra punch, keep Facebook and other social/news sites always open in your browser. After all, you never know what interesting thing could happen!)

Be interrupted as often as possible to avoid getting in the flow

Researches show that when you get interrupted at work, you will return to the original task only in just over 40% of the cases, and that it takes 20 minutes on average to resume what you were doing before. This is excellent, because randomly switching tasks is one of the most powerful ways of making sure you won’t get anything done.

So, I recommend that you implement open-door policy, invite others to come to you as often as possible with unimportant request and questions, and when someone sends you an email, then for Christ’s sake, JUMP OUT of the chair and run to them!

Build the longest to-do list in the known universe for guaranteed stress

Task management experts agree that good to-do list should be short and up-to-date. But we don’t want good to-do list, because good to-do lists helps us to be organized, productive, focused and not stressed, which is the opposite of what I am trying to teach you here!

So, what you should do is to create as long to-do list as possible.

Keep adding tasks all the time: Anything that comes to your mind. Anything that someone else suggests should be perhaps done. The less important the tasks are the better.

And never delete tasks from your list! Tasks often lose importance and priority over time, so you need to keep them there to ensure that your to-do list is as outdated and irrelevant as possible.

When it comes to task names, you should always make them abstract and non-actionable. No verbs. And don’t be specific. This will make sure that when you get to the task again in the future, you will have to think about what it actually is, which will help you to waste more effort and time.

If you get good at this, you will add about 20 tasks to your to-do list each day (most of them useless), and complete just 2 or 3 tasks (all of them useless). That’s an excellent recipe for guaranteed stress and potentially nervous-breakdown in the long-term. So keep at it, because as you can see, the potential rewards are substantial.

Also, don’t centralize your tasks and notes using a task management software such as my very own Swift To-Do List (that I’ve been working on for the last 7 years). If you place all your tasks and notes into a single place, your stress will disappear and productivity will soar. And we don’t want that, do we? It’s far better to scatter your work across dozen of documents, sticky-notes, papers, and devices.

In case you couldn’t tell, I am joking. (Or am I?)

Yes, this post is a humorous one, but if you want to prevent yourself from reaching your full potential, then stick to the advice above, because the techniques above really work – and many people apply them “successfully” every day.

But if you want to be more productive, eliminate stress, and become successful and significant for your company or business, then do the opposite.

This article is your wake-up call. Send it to others from your workplace to wake them up as well – or they will undermine your efforts for a change.

And post in the comments below – what realization you just had? What did you learn here?

- By Jiri Novotny+, the obsessed author of task management software for Windows, Swift To-Do List. Jiri’s life quest is to become productivity and achievement world-class expert to empower others. His current main goal is to create the best task and notes organizer for Windows.

PS: If you could use task and notes organizer for Windows, then definitely download free 30-day trial version of Swift To-Do List Jiri has been working on for over 7 years now. You will be amazed.

How to murder your productivity is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

New Swift To-Do List 7.60: Calendar Panel, add tasks from any application, more!

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:35:20 +0000

We’ve just released new huge update of Swift To-Do List, version 7.60, which will make your life much easier. You can Download the latest version now.

We’ve been upgrading Swift To-Do List non-stop for over 7 years now, and we are just getting started! This upgrade is free for all existing customers, but some of the features added in this upgrade are available only in the Professional or Ultimate editions.

This new exciting update adds these features (more details, including images, are below):

New calendar panel below the tree (Professional and Ultimate only)
New interactive info panel (Professional and Ultimate only)
New global hotkey for creating tasks from selected text in any application
HTML emails support when emailing tasks (Professional and Ultimate only)
File and folder attachments can be now renamed
New smarter task-view header
Improved compatibility for systems with larger text size (non-standard DPI)
Attachments are now included in CSV export
Other misc improvements and fixes

New calendar panel

This is a truly exciting new feature. Picture is worth 1000 words, so check it out –

If you learn to use the calendar panel, you will be able to quickly get a complete overview of important deadlines, meetings or appointments. This will help you to stay on top of things, eliminate stress, and give you the much needed room to focus. Nothing urgent will suddenly surprise you.

As you can see above, the calendar panel is located below the to-do list tree, and is collapsed by default. With just one click, you can open it and see only tasks due today – or on any other date – or on multiple dates.

The calendar supports multi-selection, so you can easily select whole week or month using mouse.

Several calendar modes are supported. The calendar supports Due Date, Start Date, Completion Date, Changed Date and Creation Date of your tasks. So, for example, in Due Date mode (default), it is showing tasks due on the selected day. You can change the Calendar Mode by clicking the Calendar Options button, or by right-clicking the Open/Close Calendar label.

If you are adding a new task, and a single date is selected in the calendar panel, the task will have that date set by default.

The calendar panel can show multiple months at once. If you resize the tree so it is wider, the calendar panel will display two month beside each other. You can also increase the height of the calendar using the splitter above calendar.

When you close (collapse) the calendar, your original view mode will be restored.

New info panel

If you look at the calendar panel image above, you will also notice that the info panel now has clickable blue labels. This means that you can click the “Tasks due today” label and immediately see all tasks due today. Or, you can click the “Tasks to-do total” label, and immediately see all undone tasks – and so on. All 4 labels are clickable.

New task-view header

The task-view header is the text label shown above the task-view. It is always telling you what you are looking at.

In the new version, it will now also tell you if the view is filtered using a calendar.

But most importantly, it now also allows you to quickly reset the view by clicking the label. With just one click, you can restore the default view – it will reset the view mode, Filter, and close the calendar.

Here is a screenshot of the new task-view header. Notice the blue clickable text:

Add tasks from any application

You can add tasks from nearly any application using a new global hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+A by default).

This allows you to create tasks on-the-fly from emails, instant messages, documents, and other sources. It saves you time.

This is how to use this new feature:

Select any text in any application.
Press the hotkey Ctrl+Shift+A (you can change it in Options.)
The Add Task window will be opened and the selected text inserted into the Task Name. Fill in any other details (if required) and click OK – or just press the Enter key.

If you are curious how it works “under the hood”, this is what happens when you press the global hotkey: Swift To-Do List copies the selected text into clipboard, then opens the Add Task dialog, and pastes the text.

And if you’ve already installed version 7.60, you can try this right now. Just select this line of text, press Ctrl+Shift+A, and see what happens!

HTML emails when emailing tasks

The email task feature allows you to email any task to the assigned person, to yourself, or anyone else. In this new version, you can check “HTML Format” in the Email Task window to send the email message in HTML. This means that the notes formatting will be preserved in the email, including images.

Attachments can be renamed

Swift To-Do List supports email, link, file and folder attachments. It was not possible to rename the file and folder attachments, but from 7.60 on, you can rename them as well. You can just simply right-click any attachment and click Edit, or select the attachment and click it’s name to edit it in-place.

More features coming!

We have a lot of other things planned for the future. These things include finished and polished online sync and collaboration features (currently available in Beta), companion mobile web apps and mobile apps (currently available in Beta), sub-tasks, custom fields, team functionality, scheduling calendar (with intra-day scheduling), tables in notes, and much more. Stay tuned.

If there is any feature that you would want to see in Swift To-Do List, post in the comments below. We are always counting “votes” for new features.

New Swift To-Do List 7.60: Calendar Panel, add tasks from any application, more! is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

One Minute To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:45:17 +0000

“The One Minute To-Do List” is a new organizing method by Michael Linenberger, who is also the author of “Master Your Workday Now”, which is probably the best alternative to Getting Things Done (GTD) method.

One Minute To-Do List method is perfect for people who want to quickly start using some proven organizing system, instead of doing things haphazardly and randomly on their own, or learning some complex organizing system.

One Minute To-Do List approach is very simple compared to both GTD and “Master Your Workday Now”. And since it is so simple, I will explain it to you – along with some of my own insights and remarks – and show you exactly how to use it with Swift To-Do List.

Once you read this this post, you will:

Learn the proven One Minute To-Do List method
Know exactly how to use it with Swift To-Do List for Windows

But what this really means to you is that you will get your workday and life under control and bring intelligent system into your to-do lists. Your to-do lists will finally help you to eliminate stress, not add to it!

I’m so glad that Michael Linenberger developed this simple method that I can now teach to you. Sure, perhaps the method could be even little bit simpler, but I believe that anything simpler probably wouldn’t work. This is as simple as it gets. Do you know the 80/20 principle? 20% of the effort will bring you 80% results – and that’s exactly what One Minute To-Do List is about.

Michael is a truly brilliant guy. This method is backed up by a real-world experience of him as a very successful coach, seminar organizer and best-selling author, who has helped 10.000s of individuals to eliminate stress and become organized. It really works, and it is proven. Michael trains employees of Microsoft, GE, GE, US Coast Guard, and other organizations. And I really believe that you can reap the 80% benefits of his expertise by learning this simple method.

We will cover 4 areas here: Prioritizing Tasks, Capturing Tasks, Reviewing Tasks, and Keeping the List Reasonable. Feel free to skip the “Why this works” box for each area, although the boxes can provide you with better understanding.

You can start using this method today. Just follow the instructions. Let’s get going!

1. Prioritizing Your Tasks

The One Minute To-Do List method works with just 3 task priorities, all based on urgency:

Critical Now
Opportunity Now
Over the Horizon

The Critical Now priority is for tasks that are urgent and must be completed today. At any point, you shouldn’t have more than 5 tasks with this priority. This priority should be used only when necessary. If any action is not urgent and doesn’t absolutely have to be done today, then don’t prioritize it as “Critical Now”. It is perfectly OK to not have any “Critical Now” tasks.

Opportunity Now is for tasks that you would like to do today or this week, given the opportunity. You shouldn’t have more than 20 tasks with this priority.

Over the Horizon is for everything else. It’s great for tasks that are not concerning you right now, but that you don’t want to lose. You will revisit these later.

Why this works: Prioritizing by urgency makes much more sense than prioritizing by importance, because we tend to think that nearly everything is important. There is always some reason why any particular task is important. Yet, if everything is important, nothing really is. Also, it is the urgent tasks that are the most stressful. You simply need handle these first in any case. Mark Forster (Author of “Do-It Tomorrow”) also agrees that prioritizing by importance is a guaranteed failure. If you stop doing do the less-important things, they will eventually pile up and clog up your work.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: Because Swift To-Do List is very flexible, there are multiple ways of implementing this. You could either edit the inbuilt task priorities using menu Manage – Priorities, or, you could create a separate to-do list for tasks of each priority. Let’s go with the priority customization here, as that will allow you to use the to-do list tree for something else than priorities (e.g. project/area categorization).

Start Swift To-Do List (Download it if you haven’t already). Then, use menu Manage – Priorities:

This is how the default priorities look like:

Let’s delete the “High” and “Low” priorities, so only “Highest”, “Medium” and “Lowest” remain. Then, we will rename these remaining priorities:

Edit the “Highest” priority and rename it to “Critical Now”.
Edit the “Medium” priority and rename it to “Opportunity Now”.
Edit the “Low” priority and rename it to “Over the Horizon”.

This is how it should look once you are done:

And hey, feel free to change the colors. It’s your to-do list after all!

2. Capturing Your Tasks

Always use the next action necessary to accomplish the task as the task name. That way, all task names will be actionable. It will be obvious what you need to do to move things forward.
All your tasks should be in one place. The best place is your computer.
All new incoming tasks should be put into your to-do list, regardless the source (email, phone, notes from co-workers or family members, meetings).

Why this works: Having actionable task names removes friction when it’s the time to actually do the task. You won’t have to think about what’s the next step, and it will be less intimidating. Having all your tasks on your computer is important, because your computer is the place where you carry out most of your work. Even if you would have your to-do list somewhere else, you would still need it on your computer. To-do list software has many advantages over paper to-do list. You can easily re-prioritize things, easily capture new tasks, write notes for each tasks, create reminders or recurring tasks, attach files and emails to your tasks, email tasks to others, and many other advantages. If you ever need a paper to-do list, you can simply print it. Mobile devices are useful for capturing new tasks, which you can put later into your main to-do list on your computer.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: Not only you should put all new incoming tasks into Swift To-Do List, but you should move all your existing tasks and lists into Swift To-Do List as well. This includes any tasks you have on your phone, on paper, in text files on your computer, or in other software.

To quickly enter multiple tasks, use menu Task – Add Multiple Tasks (Ctrl + H), then enter one task per line. If your tasks are in other software or spreadsheet, you can usually export them to CSV, and then import the CSV file into Swift To-Do List by using menu File – Import Wizard.

With Swift To-Do List, it is especially simple to create tasks from emails. If you use Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, Lotus Notes, The Bat, or other desktop email client, you can just drag & drop the emails into Swift To-Do List to create tasks. Here is a quick video how to create tasks from emails.

3. Reviewing Your Tasks

You should review the “Critical Now” tasks about once per hour.

You should review the “Opportunity Now” tasks once per day or more often.

You should review the “Over the Horizon” tasks once per week.

Why this works: If you review your urgent tasks often, you will feel in control, always know what needs to be done, and therefore greatly reduce stress. But it’s not enough to review just the urgent tasks, because non-urgent tasks will eventually become urgent too. You need to “catch” these before they get the chance to become urgent, and that can be accomplished with the daily and weekly reviews. Additionally, the reviews will help you to constantly re-focus to adjust your efforts. If you are focused on the right things at the right moment, you will be very efficient and productive.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: First, to be able to quickly review the Critical Now tasks, learn to use the global hotkey for quickly displaying Swift To-do List. This will allow you to review your tasks as often as you need. The default hotkey is Ctrl + Alt + S, and can be changed using menu File – Options. (In the Options window, it is located in the Hotkeys section.) Start using the hotkey often. It is useful especially whenever you are not entirely sure what to do next, and/or if you get distracted or interrupted.

Second, make it a habit to review your Opportunity Now tasks either when you start your workday or when you finish it.

Third, create a recurring weekly task to remind you to review all your Over the Horizon tasks. To do that:

Click the Add Task button.
Then, in the Add Task window, enter the task name: “Review all my Over the Horizon tasks”
Select the Priority – this task will have the “Over the Horizon” priority.
Go to the Recurrence tab, select “Weekly” as the interval, and in the Action dropdown, select “Set undone and remind me”. This way, Swift To-Do List will remind you once a week to review all your Over the Horizon tasks.
Press “OK” to add the task.

4. Keeping the List Reasonable

With a little discipline, it’s easy to stick to the rules of having no more than 5 tasks with the Critical Now priority, and no more than 20 tasks with Opportunity prioriy Now. If you have more than that, simply move some tasks to the lower (less urgent) priority.

The real problem here is that your list of tasks with “Over the Horizon” priority can quickly grow out of proportions. This is a problem, because you want the weekly review to be fast and easy. No one wants to read hundreds of irrelevant tasks.

To keep things manageable, Michael Linenberger recommends using the Start Date field for this purpose. Using the following clever technique, you can defer some Over the Horizon tasks for later review. That way, your list of Over the Horizon tasks that you review weekly won’t become too long. This is how it works:

First, all new tasks should have the Start Date set to today.

Second, all tasks that have Start Date in the future should be hidden.

Third, you can start deferring tasks by setting their Start Date to future. So, if don’t want to (or need to) review some tasks for some time, then set its Start Date to a future date. This will hide the task, and when that particular future date comes, this task will start appearing on your to-do list again.

Why this works: The number 1 reason people abandon a to-do list or organizing system is because they get overwhelmed. They put in too many tasks – and the once helpful tool now just adds to their stress, instead of reducing it. That’s why it’s important to regularly delete irrelevant tasks from your to-do list, and hide things that you don’t need to worry about for now. That way, your to-do list will stay relevant, up-to-date and useful.

How to implement this with Swift To-Do List: First, to make sure new tasks get the “Today” Start Date automatically set, do this: Use menu Manage – Columns, and enable the Start Date field (if it’s not already enabled). Then, use menu File – Options, and in the New Tasks tab of the Options window, select “Today” upon “Start Date”, as shown below:

Second, to hide all tasks with Start Date set to a future date, we will create a new filter: Use menu Manage – Filters, then click Add. In the Add Filter window, check “Start Date” and select “Today”. At the bottom, check “Include tasks with expired dates” and “Include tasks with unspecified dates”. Name the filter “Started” (or anything else) and click OK:

After you add this filter, apply it the main window by clicking the Filter toolbar button:

That’s the whole setup part. Now, every time you want to defer any task for a future review, edit it, and set its Start Date to the desired future review date. That will immediately hide it, and the task will start re-appearing in your to-do list on the future date.

And by the way, to move multiple tasks to another priority (e.g. from Opportunity Now to Over the Horizon), select them (e.g. using Ctrl + Click), then right-click them, and use Batch Edit – Priority in the popup menu.

And that’s it!

We’ve now covered all 4 main components of the One Minute To-Do List system: Prioritizing, Capturing, Reviewing, and Deferring. You are ready to use it. Just stick to the simple rules described in this short guide and you will reign over chaos and improve your life. For the best results, re-read this guide a week later or so once you have some experience with the system.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me, or submit a Reply in the form below. I am here to help. I am also very much interested in your results, so don’t hesitate to let me know them once you try this.

And by the way, this is what Jason, one of our customers/fan wrote me recently as reaction to this post:

I’ve read most of your blogs over the past couple of months as I’ve been looking for ways to calm down the task crisis that I’ve had. They have been very helpful and I thank you for taking the time to post them all! The One Minute To-Do List blog [post] is what finally clicked with me and that’s when I finally broke down and bought the Ultimate Edition. I’ve been using ideas from that along with my own tweaks to help organize all the tasks I have for all the work and personal projects that I have going on. I love how I can set a new start date to review something in the future and know that it won’t be forgotten nor in the way as I focus on my current tasks.

One Minute To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Swift To-Do List Review by Chuck Gallozzi

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 11:08:56 +0000

Chuck Gallozzi has been using Swift To-Do List for over 7 years. He has written a review of it for his Personal Development newsletter, but he has also sent us a copy to publish on our website. Chuck Gallozzi is personal development expert, prolific writer, certified NLP Practitioner, speaker, seminar leader, and coach. Chuck is the Founder and Head of the Positive Thinkers Group that has been meeting at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto since 1999. He is the author of a book “The 3 Thieves and 4 Pillars of Happiness”. We are proud to have Chuck among our satisfied customers. In the past, we’ve also published a review by Chris Engelsma, who has shared his thoughts on why is Swift To-Do List better than web-based organizers, and review by Darryl Benjamin.

What Have You Got to Do Today?

- By Chuck Gallozzi

We can hold only 7 or 8 ideas in our mind at a time. Yet, throughout the day countless new ideas occur to us. Each time this happens, we have to discard old ideas to make room for new ones. No wonder we often forget or lose track of some of our best thoughts.

To prevent this from happening, we have to stop trying to commit everything to memory and start writing down our ideas while they are still fresh in our mind. But there is a second problem. As our list of ideas or things to do grows, a brilliant idea or important task can get lost in the clutter.

So, besides recording our ideas, we need to organize them for easy and rapid retrieval. It’s hardly surprising, then, that software developers responded to this need by offering task managers to help us remain in control and not be swept away by the tsunami of things to do.

Seven years ago, software evaluators praised a new entry into the field of task managers, Swift To-Do List. Ever since its introduction, it has led the way for others to follow. And each year, while maintaining its ease of use, it has grown more powerful, helping its users to more easily organize and manage their hectic lives.

The purpose of this article isn’t to delve into Swift To-Do List software at great length. Rather, it is to introduce you to it and whet your appetite to learn more about it. The premise of Swift To-Do List is simple enough. Rather than making a long, unmanageable list, gather related tasks and place them in separate folders.

Take a look at the partial screen shot which appears at the top of page one as an example. Although I have 78 tasks to perform, they are neatly arranged in folders. The folders appear in the narrow window at the left of the screen, and it operates in the same way as Windows Explorer. Returning to the example, the folder labeled TODAY has been selected. The number “8” appearing next to the folder means that it contains 8 tasks, or things to do.

By clicking on the TODAY folder, its contents appear in the large, upper window to the right of the list of folders, which are also called the To-Do List Tree. So, rather than seeing a long, hard to manage list, I just see what needs to be done today, making it easy to focus on what’s important.

Among the 8 tasks I have to do today is one labeled CALL GRANDKIDS. When I click on it, it becomes highlighted and notes about this task appear in the window below the task list. (The notes remind me of some of the subjects I may want to cover when I call them.)

When it comes to creating folders in your To-Do List Tree, you can use any system you are comfortable with. My example is a form of the GTD system, but you may want to use folders labeled NOW, TODAY, THIS WEEK, THIS MONTH, THIS YEAR, SOMEDAY. Or you could just use these four folders: Urgent and Important, Urgent but Unimportant, Not Urgent but Important, Not Urgent and Not Important. You get the idea. With Swift To-Do List, creating your own system is a cinch because of its great flexibility.

When it comes to Swift To-Do List, I haven’t even begun to scratch its surface, for its list of features is staggering. Staggering, yes, but not overwhelming. For after downloading the software, all you need to do is read the Quick Start Guide, and you’ll be up and running in 10 or 15 minutes. After that, you can use the built-in Help Manual to learn one new feature a day. As you do so, you will grow amazed at the power Swift To-Do List puts at your disposal.

For a detailed overview of the software, a list of its many features, screen shots, and a comparison of its different editions, see the Swift To-Do List page. Does the screenshot in my article appear quite a bit different from those at the Swift To-Do List website? That simply attests to the flexibility and many options offered by the program. You will be free to use the default settings or to adjust its settings to your liking. (Remember, I said its list of features is staggering.)

Do you work with a high resolution monitor and hate the tiny fonts that often appear in software packages? With Swift To-Do List that’s not a problem because you will have full control of the font selection and size.

What I love about the software is its clean, uncluttered look. And unlike many other task managers, there is plenty of space to write a long description of the task. And if you were to run out of space, you could add reams more of information in the notes.

Also very attractive is its lightweight design. That is, it doesn’t consume a lot of resources. After working with the program, hit the Escape key and Swift To-Do List, living up to its name, swiftly zips out of the way, hiding in the taskbar. When you need it again, simply hit the keyboard hot key, and it immediately pops into view, awaiting your command.

Finally, you will find Swift To-Do List to be robust and reliable, a friend you can depend on.

Swift To-Do List Review by Chuck Gallozzi is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Blind Man and Swift To-Do List

Jiri Novotny — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:54:37 +0000

A couple of days ago, we’ve received the following message from Bob Stoker, who was unknown to us then:

I am blind. I use the computer with the aid of specialized software. I am so happy to tell you that this “To Do list” software works with all major assistive technology (you’d be well surprised how many of them don’t).

I have to admit, we’ve never tested Swift To-Do List with any screen readers or other assistive software that blind people like Bob use. Most companies don’t, even the major ones – the unfortunate reality is that the percentage of blind customers is so tiny that it would never make economic sense.

But, because we do our best to build our software on strong technological foundation and design principles, it apparently just works in our case! This has really made my day, and is one of many proofs that setting high standards pays off in many ways.

Let me ask you a question though. Has the following ever occurred to you? – If you are blind, you have a relationship with your computer. It is talking to you all the time, reading everything on the screen. Actually, not everything. It can’t describe any photos or images to you – or at least yet. In any case, it must be a completely different experience. The synthesized voice talking to you is the whole interface. I can’t even begin to imagine the daily challenges that visually impaired people have to face.

We got quickly acquainted with Bob. I’ve immediately given Bob a free license as a gift. It is our policy to give complimentary licenses to blind and handicapped when they contact us. It’s the least we can do. We want to make the world a better place in as many ways as possible, and if Swift To-Do List can make someone’s life better, it is wonderful! For instance, in the past, we’ve also given a free license to a firefighter who lost his sight on duty.Additionally, our commitment to supporting individuals with disabilities extends beyond our software users. We’ve partnered with Fire Watch Guards Services, recognizing their dedication to ensuring the safety of communities, including those with disabilities.

Here is a follow-up message from Bob Stoker that he wanted to share with you:

So simple even a Blind Man can use it. What a useful tool this is as a reminder service. I take tablets twice a day, however, I sometimes forget, but since I started using Swift To-Do List I have never missed. My doctor is even trialing it for other VIPs (Visually Impaired People), but not only does it in effect save your life, it’s a marvelous tool for everyday things.

If you are in the same unfortunate position as me however and you need some advice on how to use it, then if you contact the nice people at Dextronet. I’m sure they’ll forward your concerns and queries to me – just mark them for the attention of Bob Stoker.

Bob even offers free testing of software – which means, if you are a software author, Bob will be happy to test your product.

I am truly humbled and touched by Bob’s readiness to help others and by his enthusiasm. He may not see, but his character can be seen by many. He inspires me.

Blind Man and Swift To-Do List is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

Hidden Procrastination

Jiri Novotny — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:14:55 +0000

Are you genius at wasting time, fooling both yourself and others?

The common sense is that you are either procrastinating, or you are not. And if you are procrastinating, you always know it.

Well, I don’t agree with these statements.

There are multiple levels of procrastination.

But I plead you to stop reading this if you know that you are currently procrastinating. Do yourself a favor and go fix your procrastination issue first. You are lucky because your procrastination is NOT hidden. You can absolutely fix it. You can start by reading my detailed summary of The Now Habit, which is one of the best books on procrastination. Spending more time on proactive tasks instead of reactive tasks also helps. Fooling yourself into working works, too.

OK, with half the audience still remaining, let’s get back to the original question: Are you a genius at wasting time?

You probably had the experience of joyously cleaning/polishing/organizing stuff instead of doing THAT important task. That is the regular garden variety of procrastination. But what I am going to suggest here is that there are multiple levels of procrastination.

Sometimes it might feel like you are working and being productive, but the reality might be that you are, in fact, procrastinating – and you don’t even know it!

It works like this -

If you should do:	But instead do:	Then it is:
Important task	Less important task	Hidden procrastination
Important task	Unimportant task	Procrastination
Unproductive task	Something even more useless	Wrong planning, buddy.

“Hidden procrastination” is wasting time in an elaborate way. It might be actually productive (albeit less productive than THAT task), or it might be just pseudo-productivity.

You might object: “HEY! If I am working on something important, then I can’t be possibly procrastinating!” Good point sir, thanks for bringing that up! Well, you might be working on something that actually is important – but if there is something else that you know to be more important, then it can be helpful for you to think of what you are doing as procrastination. Why? Because you can use the same approach to fix your “prioritizing” issue as you would use to fix a blatant case of procrastination. E.g. you can apply the techniques from The Now Habit book.

Detecting hidden procrastination

Sometimes, you just need to take one step back and ask yourself:

Is this the most important thing I could be doing right now?.

And:

What am I missing here, in the grand scheme of things?

Sometimes, these questions will help you discover where you stand, and sometimes, they will make you drop what you are currently doing and make a quantum leap to an entirely different level. If you spend most of your time zoomed in, you need to zoom out from time to time – just to make sure what you are doing still makes sense.

That’s it. This is the most important thing I wanted to tell you.

More on pseudo-productivity

In case of pseudo-productivity, you might absolutely convinced that you are doing something important, and you might very well convince others as well, but it might be entirely irrelevant a month from now.

The signs that you are possibly pseudo-productive include:

You are not working on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd most important thing.
What you are doing now won’t matter 1 year from now (And if it won’t matter 1 month from now on, I think you should reconsider your long-term strategy!)
You should’ve already moved to the next task, others would confirm that when asked.
You are obviously over-delivering with only an abysmal chance of payoff.
You are over-worked, tired, or daydreaming a lot.
You are having trouble staying focused.
Excessive organizing or planning.
You are eternally grateful for any external stimuli or distraction that prompts you to do something else, and you’ve mastered rationalizing how it might be useful or important.

Oh, and if your environment forces you to spend more time on bureaucratic tasks than real tasks, then the whole environment has systemic problems. Change the environment – either transform it or leave. You can’t possibly be happy in such a place.

Traps of complex organizing tools

Pseudo-productivity is often related to over-organizing, over-planning, and thus, your task management software. Such tools can be so complex that you fiddle with it all the time instead of doing the actual work.

The sole purpose of your organizer is to allow you:

Always know what to do next
Capture everything – tasks, ideas, notes (task details), knowledge snippets, and maybe even related documents and emails
Delegate and monitor tasks – even if you are not a manager, you will be responsible for tasks that require work of someone else, and you need to stay on top of such delegated assignments.
Do some basic planning

Everything else is just more or less a waste of time. You don’t need super detailed plans that include toilet breaks.

The purpose of always knowing what to do next is to ensure that you are working on the most important thing, and that your work is friction-less and focused.

The purpose of capturing is that it frees your mental RAM. You take it out of your head, and put it into the organizer. Then keep working on THAT thing.

My experience is that my organizing needs vary a lot in time. Sometimes, a single sticky note might be enough to keep me organized for a day, and sometimes I really need to overview hundreds of to-do items and write notes for some of them.

In case you didn’t know, I’m the author of Swift To-Do List, a task/notes organizer for Windows.

Perhaps you don’t even use Windows – but let me quickly tell you about some of the things that I think are important in task management software in general, and that I’ve implemented into Swift To-Do List. It might help you find the perfect tool for you.

When it comes to prioritizing, you can just drag and drop tasks around, or sort them by multiple columns at once (First by Due Date, then by Priority). Color codes for priorities help me to highlight THAT important tasks.

Capturing is also thought-of in Swift To-Do List. Not only you can write rich-text notes for each task, but you can create task-independent notes and organize them in the hierarchical tree along with to-do lists. Having that integrated with task-management is invaluable for me. Also, you can attach files and emails to tasks, and even embed the files directly into the database. A killer feature is ability to drag & drop emails from email clients (such as Thunderbird, Outlook, Lotus Notes, The Bat) into Swift To-Do List to instantly generate tasks from them, complete with the attachments.

Delegating is handled simply using the Assigned To field, plus the ability to email the task directly to the assignee right from the program.

When designing Swift To-Do List, I’ve put into tremendous effort into customization and flexibility. When I don’t need some features, it is very important for me to be able to hide them. In Swift To-Do List, the whole GUI changes based on what columns you use (Start Date, Due Date, Priority, Context, Type, Assigned To, Time Estimate, Time Spent, etc.) This keeps things simple.

Wrapping this up or TL;DR

1) When you are not working on your most important tasks, it is helpful to think of it as procrastination. It allows you to correct the problem by utilizing the existing infrastructure of procrastination solutions (books, techniques, tools, experts).

2) Sometimes, you just need to take one step back and ask yourself:

Is this the most important thing I could be doing right now?.

And:

What am I missing here, in the grand scheme of things?

3) Make sure your organizer is actually helping you to prioritize, capture everything, and stay on top of things.

Hidden Procrastination is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

New Swift To-Do List 7 Ultimate edition released

Jiri Novotny — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:28:38 +0000

We’ve just released Swift To-Do List 7.50, and a new Ultimate edition at the same time.

As you maybe already know, we’ve been upgrading the 7.xx version a lot for the past 1.5 years, and we will continue to do so. All of our existing customers have thus gotten dozens of very significant upgrades for free. We could’ve easily released these upgrades as version 8 long time ago, but we want to have something truly spectacular to ship as a new major version. Version 8 is most likely not coming any time soon – we will just keep improving the 7.xx line like crazy, and giving all these upgrades away for free to existing customers. There are many things we want to implement first.

In light of this decision, we’ve also decided to launch new Ultimate edition now. The Ultimate edition includes some extra exclusive features not available in Standard or Professional editions. We believe that successful people and small business owners who want to have simply the best to-do list software tool available will be especially interested in it.

We will be adding some new features only into the Ultimate edition from now. We will never stop upgrading Swift To-Do List Standard and Professional, but all “extra” premium stuff will go right into Ultimate.

We are very loyal and grateful to our existing customers. Existing customers can upgrade to Ultimate for just the price difference, which I believe is very fair, because when a completely new customer comes, he can get the Ultimate for the regular price. However, our existing customers have been already using the lower Professional edition for a long time, getting all the benefits, and now they can upgrade to Ultimate for just the price difference, and enjoy Ultimate from now on.

If you are an existing customer, then to get the upgrade, first download the latest version of Swift To-Do List. Once installed and started, you will see a new Upgrade button in the toolbar – click it.

If you are currently trialing Swift To-Do List and want to try the Ultimate edition, then use the menu Help – Trial Edition – Ultimate to switch the trial edition.

OK, but enough with the back-story! What are actually the new features added in the Ultimate edition, compared to the lower editions?

100 extra tree icons

Enjoy 100 extra tree icons available exclusively in the Ultimate edition. This brings the total number of icons available in the Ultimate edition to 244. In another words, there are 70% more icons in the Ultimate edition!

Two-line display of long task names

Tasks that have too long task name to fit into one line are displayed on two lines in the Ultimate edition. This gives you more information about the tasks without the need to resize the Task Name column.

Spellchecker for notes and memos

The Ultimate edition includes a spellchecker that you can use for your notes and memos. It allows you to go through all misspelled words and offer you suggestions. Or, you can enable automatic mode that underlines any misspelled words or grammatical errors. If you right-click such a word, you can choose one of the suggestions or to ignore it. It works very similarly to Microsoft Word.

Multi-level numbered lists (outlines) in notes and memos

In the Ultimate edition, you can create structured multi-level numbered lists very easily, with just a click of a single button in the notes toolbar.

More extra features in the future

We will keep adding other exclusive features only into the Ultimate edition. You will get these as free upgrades if you purchase the Ultimate edition. One such feature will be tables in notes and memos. Also, we would like to improve the spellchecker. It currently supports only English language, but we plan to release a free package of all other languages soon. However, there might be also some really big features added only into the Ultimate edition down the road, such as sub-tasks or custom columns (fields).

Things are going really great over here! We are growing our business and products big time, expanding our website, connecting with other developers and companies, and swimming in praise from Swift To-Do List customers. You can be sure that there will be many extremely exciting things coming soon (such as sync, web-access, mobile web-access, collaboration). We also plan to add a full-blown scheduling calendar and sub-tasks. Onwards!

New Swift To-Do List 7 Ultimate edition released is a post from: Swift To-Do List Blog

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