The Productive Dad

View Original

The Calendar and Task App Power Duo

Ever found yourself juggling between different apps? Trying to keep your schedule and tasks organised, only to feel even more overwhelmed? You're not alone.

I spent the past week looking for the perfect calendar and task app combo. Now I want to share it with you!

THE STRUGGLE WITH TASK MANAGEMENT IN CLICKUP

I've been living inside ClickUp for a long time. It was a place to run my consulting calls from, make meeting notes, plan the newsletter, and check my daily tasks.

But despite my best efforts, I found myself struggling with managing my tasks. They were either piling up or I wasn't bothering to capture them in the first place.

It wasn't long before I realised the root of my problem. Switching between my work and personal account was making me lose focus and get distracted with sites like Twitter 👀

My calendar gave me structure. If something wasn't in there, it didn't exist. But I had let my tasks get scattered, and it was causing chaos.

THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT APP COMBO

This sent me on a week-long journey of exploration. I tried to find an app that could combine my calendar and task list.

First I tried out an app called Routine. It lets you create tasks alongside your calendar. It also has Notion-style pages built in for extra note taking.

I loved the idea but soon realised it wasn't for me. The Mac app would become unresponsive and didn't fit with my philosophy of simple workflows.

So I gave Morgen a try next. This felt a lot more like me. Calendar on the right, tasks split into lists on the left. But it was desktop-first and still felt like a beta product. The iPhone app felt alpha and wasn't up to replacing my main calendar app which is Fantastical.

This led me back to Fantastical as my main driver, but with a new perspective. It was clear I needed an app that could sync with Fantastical. And it had to manage my tasks across all my devices.

THE POWERHOUSE APP COMBO

So, what happens when you pair the right task app with your favourite calendar app? You create a productivity powerhouse!

Enter Todoist. A recommendation by Esme on Twitter, Todoist proved to be the game-changer I was looking for.

A standalone app that was available across all my devices! And it synced perfectly with Fantastical.

I'm a sucker for good design and a speedy app. It's why I use Obsidian to draft emails and write the first go-over of this newsletter.

I said my calendar is my main driver for my day. So what if I'm already inside my calendar app?

I can create a Todoist task right there without needing to open another app!

MORE FEATURES

Todoist also has some great features such as kanban view, recurring tasks, and natural language input.

And a final feature that makes using Fantastical and Todoist together a killer combo? Fantastical integrates with your iPhone's focus mode.

So when it's the weekend and my devices go into "Personal Focus" mode, my phone hides my day job events and Todoist tasks 🥳

ENJOY SEAMLESS TASK MANAGEMENT AND SCHEDULING

Now, planning my days and tasks together is a breeze. No more app juggling or missing tasks.

Sometimes it takes a bit of exploration and a few failed attempts to find the perfect solution.

If you're looking for a seamless way to manage your tasks and plan your day, give the Fantastical/Todoist combo a try.

Here are links to all the apps I talked about today: