Keeping Track of My Thoughts With TaskPaper

I have to admit, I have a really hard time to remember my to-do lists, all my ideas and whatever I am up to on a daily basis. I tend to forget really important stuff, things I have even promised to do. Therefore, I have been testing various methods for keeping track of “everything”.

I have been using various software, and iCal was probably the closest I came to a software that I was satisfied with. I tried pen and paper, but it didn’t take me more than a week before I forgot where I had put the notepad, and sometimes I wrote on different notepads. I thought I had tested close to everything, untill I found TaskPaper.

This software, unfortunately for many, is a Mac only software. It’s created by Jesse Grosjean, the guy behind WriteRoom, my favorite wordprocessor. And because I think WriteRoom is awesome, I had to give TaskPaper a try. As I wrote earlier, TaskPaper is a free trial. Therfore, I had nothing to lose by using it for the 15-days. Now, when my testperiod is over, I just have to get my hands on it.

It’s just as awesome as WriteRoom, and I think that I have finally found a software to help me keep track. The reason I think it’s awesome, is because of its speed and flexibility. I have several Macs, the oldest one is a PowerBook G4, with TaskPaper, it’s no problem at all. I have many projects in my head, with TaskPaper I just customize the tags, and evertyhing is stored and easy to find.

I found the very detailed video about how to use TaskPaper (click on “Play Screencast”) to be everything I needed to get started, and the real reason why I just had to try it and now buy it.

I have been wondering though, should I only use one file at TaskPaper for all my projects? Should I combine all my thoughts/tasks/to-do lists that I have for work, for everything at home (like shopping lists), for all the new posts that I will be writing about at my blog, or whatever I am up to in one single file, or should I keep everything separate? So far, I have been using just one file, and I think that’s what I should be doing. Because using one file makes it easier to search and it makes it easier to add new tasks and it makes it easier to find whatever I am looking for really fast. I have so many thoughts in my head at the same time, and my thoughts are sort of related to everything, not just about work when I am working. Using just one file at TaskPaper makes it a lot easier to manage, because that’s how my mind is working. Multiple projects in a single file (mind).

There are only two features I would like to see added to TaskPaper. I would like option for iCal syncing, many of my tasks has a time or date added to them. If TaskPaper could sync with iCal, I could get everything with a specific time (could add an iCal tag or a time and date tag for tasks/projects that should sync) available in iCal. That would be awesome and very helpful. The next feature I am missing, is not actually a feature, but a new software. It would be awesome to be able to use TaskPaper on my iPhone, and to be able to edit my to-do lists on both my iPhone and my computers (using iDisk/MobileMe).

If you are looking for a software to help you with your to-do lists and keep track of everything that’s on your mind, I have no doubt that TaskPaper is the perfect software for you.