I'm not an organised person. I don't tend to have a great grasp of time. I forget my keys unless they're in my trouser pocket, and I forget events and obligations unless I'm reminded of them repeatedly. I haven't bothered to create a system to improve this—until now.
For a long time my "organisational system" has been a hand-written daily list of things that need to be done. If something needed to be done tomorrow, or even this week, I'd typically create a task in my task managing tool of choice (my workplace uses Linear). These tasks would inevitably get lost and were rarely completed unless they became problems, or I happened to remember them.
So I decided to pretty much entirely ditch the hand-written list in favour of Google Calendar tasks instead. This may seem incredibly simple, but it has made a genuinely huge impact on my life, and my organisation.
I really like Google Calendar tasks because:
They include both a description and a time. If a task doesn’t need to be done today, I can figure out when it might make sense to slot it in instead.
They appear in my calendar alongside meetings and other events, which makes it easier for me to find a block of time to complete the task.
I’m notified when I’m scheduled to work on a task. This is very important to me because I rarely—if ever—check a backlog of tasks.
A task remains in my phone’s notification display until I mark it as completed, constantly reminding me that it needs to be done.
They’re really easy to reschedule. Other things come up a lot for me, and it's common to need to move a task. The low friction for rescheduling is really helpful to ensure the task doesn’t get forgotten entirely.
I can create a task on my phone. As much as I like paper, I don’t always have it with me, but I almost always have my phone. If a task comes to mind, I can schedule it before I forget.
What I like most about Google Calendar Tasks is how they reduce the effort required to stay somewhat disciplined. It's been working really well for me so far. I appear to be more on top of the busy work of life, and I have more space in the brain for the stuff that I enjoy most.