Cons of using Google Tasks with your calendar
Elon Musk does not work from a to-do list neither does Bill Gates. In fact, some of the most successful people have never touched a to-do list.
Why? Because they work from a schedule. So in this video, I'm gonna show you how to drag and drop your to-do list using a free app, so it shows up right here on Google Calendar.
Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. Now, the first thing you're probably saying is wait a minute, can't I do that already with Google Tasks?
And it's true, you can view your tasks here on the right-hand side and add them to your calendar on the left. However, Google Tasks does have some drawbacks.
Number one, there's a limited amount of information in which you can track and categorize here within Google Tasks. Number two, the mobile version requires you to download its own app.
So you can't just use your calendar, you need to use a separate app to manage these tasks. And then last but not least, the tasks themselves here within your calendar, do not actually show up as a duration.
Meaning if I wanna dedicate an hour or maybe two hours for this particular task, I can't do that. I can't click and drag it and expand it out.
I can't open it and set an end time so for example, I wanna work on this from nine to 11:00 AM.
Benefits of adding tasks directly to your calendar
But let's back up just a few steps. Why is it so important that we have our tasks on our calendar and not just on a sidebar or on a separate to-do list?
Well, beyond just blocking out the time itself and having that proper duration, it's so important that we see our tasks in relationship with our other meetings and our other commitments.
One of the things that I see time and time again, is that people defer a large number of tasks to the very next day even without seeing how many other commitments, how many other meetings or events that they have on that day.
And they think that they're going to accomplish six or eight or 15 things when they've got too many other things on their calendar. What makes the most productive people successful is that they block out that time and actually enter in their tasks directly on their schedule, so nothing else can interfere with their focus time.
Lastly, in order for you to work at your productive best and not waste time, it's important to have a single source of truth. One app that you can reference and see everything that's going on with your day.
We often waste so much time switching back and forth between different tabs and different applications and opening different things on our phone, that we waste time and we also lose sight of what's most important to us.
So let me show you how Amplenote can simplify your productivity and also capture your tasks right here on Google Calendar.
How Amplenote works with Google Calendar
So here I am within the Amplenote app and I've already had my Google Calendar synced, so I can see all of my schedules and all of my appointments here in front of me. Now on the right-hand side, I've got some tasks that I'd like to include some time this week, but let's point out some of the key differences.
Not only is it easy to drag and drop my tasks directly onto my schedule which will then appear on my Google Calendar as well, but watch as I drag additional tasks, see the difference between these two?
This one I had already determined would take 45 minutes while this one is going to take a full hour. Let's try get another one on here, which looks like it's only gonna take half an hour, so maybe I can squeeze that in here before lunch as well.
This gives me a lot more powerful tools and powerful options as I manage my schedule throughout the day. Not just viewing my tasks as things that I'm going to cross off, but things that I need to fit in as a part of my schedule.
Task details and priority score in Amplenote
In addition, the tasks here within Amplenote, give us a lot more detail to work with. Here when I click on a task, not only can I change if it's going to be a repeating task and my start date, but I can edit things such as its importance and its urgency.
You may have noticed that some of my tasks have a different color beside them. That is actually based on something which Amplenote calls a task score.
And what it's looking at is the due date, which you have set for this task in addition with, if you've labeled it as important and or urgent. This is going to help you as you manage your tasks to determine what should come next and what should you be working on right now.
But in addition to that, Amplenote also allows us to drag our tasks off of our calendar. So as you reschedule your day, as you're planning for tomorrow, you can quickly move things around and even take them off the calendar.
This is something that Google Tasks with Google Calendar cannot do. You actually have to click on the task itself and manually remove the date in order to remove it from your calendar.
Viewing tasks in Google Calendar
Taking a look within our Google calendar, you can see the three tasks in which I added within Amplenote. So I can see them here and start to work with them as a part of my day.
But because it is a two-way sync, I can still manage them and deal with these tasks here. If I want to drag any of these Amplenote tasks into a different time slot, I can do so here, right within Google calendar.
And these changes will be reflected on the Amplenote's side as well.
How to use Time Boxing with Google Calendar
Now, another one of my favorite features and best productivity tips is to use time boxing. So let's say for example, I want to box out some time tomorrow.
I'm just gonna call this time boxing here on Google Calendar. And I'm gonna block out maybe two hours of time, just some focus time so that I can get caught up before the weekend.
If we jump back to our Amplenote view, you can see this time boxing event which I created, and now I can drag and drop my tasks directly into that box.
So I can fill up that two-hour gap, maybe I didn't quite finish this task over here no problem, I can bring it into this time boxing space which I've already blocked off with my calendar, now I can fit in the tasks that I need to during that time.
Jots, Notes, and Tasks in Amplenote
Now, while Amplenote is great at dragging your tasks directly onto your calendar, there is so much more to this productivity tool. Here on the left-hand side, you can see we actually have three different areas of the Amplenote interface: Jots, notes, tasks and calendar and they're in this order for a reason.
The jots area is for you to jot down quick notes throughout your day. So if you're interrupted or need something to get to a little bit later, get back to Karen about her request, for example.
These are the little things that come up during your day, but they don't just live here, you can also access them within the notes section. Now this note section is full-featured.
So whether you're taking detailed notes, or if you just want to put together a few tasks, as we see here, here's where some of those tasks originated from you can do so right here within Amplenote.
In fact, tasks that you create in notes mode can include everything from pictures, emails, videos, spreadsheets, and more. All of the content linked from your task will be shown whether you're in tasks, calendar, or jots mode.
And the great thing is, is that you can take any of your notes and convert them into a task if you like. So now I've converted this to a task, I can now add this to my calendar and start blocking out my schedule.
And this notes section naturally follows us into our task manager. Where anything that we've designated as a task within our notes will appear here within our task list.
Now you can segment your tasks out in a variety of different ways including tags.
Task Score and how it helps you plan
But here again, we see some of these ultra productivity tools available to us. For example, if I add important to this task, you can see my task score increase, I can change the duration as well.
And if I change the due date to today, you can see how it jumps up to an extremely high task score. Meaning that this is probably what I should be working on next.
It's these types of tools that can really help you to plan out your day and schedule the most important things on your calendar. Keep in mind that this task score is more than just a fun number to look at.
It can help you prioritize and schedule your day in the moment based on decisions you made in the past. So for example, I created this task about one month ago and I set it as important.
So this task score and what you originally set that priority at can be a great way to help you focus in the present.
Last but not least, as we get to our calendar now I can see this at the top of my list and start to add it to my time boxing or somewhere else on my schedule.
Conclusion
So if you're the kind of person who wants to get the most value from every minute of your day, Amplenote was built for you. This app is ideal for taking those tasks and actually placing them on your schedule.
Amplenote comes with a two-week free trial, but for Simpletivity viewers, you'll find details in the description on how to get Amplenote free forever.
Thank you so much for watching today's video and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult in fact, it's very simple.
