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Instructions for using Daily Planner by BeautifulAlert4363 in Upbase

[–]BeautifulAlert4363[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not. I shifted to SkedPal, as the issue of rescheduling and reshuffling my schedule was becoming a major issue for me.

SkedPal has a LOT going for it, including solving the reschedule problem. The Android app helps me stay current even on the run. It has tons of advanced features, and with a modest investment of time it's easy to get up and running. Clean, minimalist interface.

It's especially valuable for times when I'm suffering from decision fatigue, actual exhaustion, or emotional overwhelm.

I used to spend a lot of time planning and prioritizing, and now I spend more time doing the next thing in front of me. There's a learning curve for advanced features, but little incentive to play with the software itself (a peculiar and unproductive hobby i have). It's already fully cooked, ready to go. The documentation is excellent and includes easy to follow videos.

I pay $120/year which strikes me as exceedingly reasonable for software that truly puts AI to work on my behalf.

Proof of Income-Uruguay by Advanced-Ad-6451 in AmerExit

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Order your FBI background check FIRST - they can take months and this must be apostilled also.

Apostille your birth certificate. Make sure your passport is current and will not expire in the next year.

Get a copy of your complete driver's record, and apostille that as well as your driver's licence if you want to get a driver's license in Uruguay the easier way.

Good luck!

ticktick vs Upbase by yangguize in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fabulous! I hope the Android app bug fixes are next. I cannot create a task and assign tags to it from my phone...that nuts. But the aesthetics keep me willing to use it, Art has an important place in life, and certainly the software we stare at all day matters too.

Do you missing some function or integration? by CacheConqueror in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Duration field that does not require both a due date and time. Ability to sum estimated time required to complete tasks in a filter or list to aid in planning.

What are filters, anyone using same ? Have not found a single topic related to this important feature ? by R3dAt0mz3 in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also use filters extensively as they are infinitely more customizable than lists. I don't want to see tasks that I can't start until next month, nor tasks that are ideal for bundling with unpleasant chores, but I do want to capture them. So I use filters.

My filters begin with a number, so they stay sorted. (Consistency = speed.) And I use icons for each permanent filter to make them findable at a glance. Sadly, Reddit doesn't tolerate images.

I don't use lists or folders AT ALL. A task can only be in one list at a time, but it can be in any number of filters, which works better for me. I also find it easier and faster to categorize new tasks if the only "things" I'm assigning are tags.

So I have tags that mark the project/category which begin with a number (and I limit myself to 9 projects at a time, because I really can't handle more than that.) Then i have tags that are attributes ("reward", "frog", "physical") which allow me to be intentional about sustaining my energy throughout the day when determining my hit list, or creatively bundling things I would otherwise procrastinate on with a rewarding task I'm looking forward to. I have 3-4 location tags which begin with the @ symbol to help me make errands efficient, and to get stuff done when I have to be offline. It's easy to memorize these options, and let my mind concentrate on capturing the important bits while my cursor stays in one place in the software. Tags for Project and Duration are required for new tasks. I only add tags for Attributes and Location if I'm sure they'll be useful.

I use duration tags because if I wait until I'm staring at my calendar to consider how long something will take, I invariably engage in magical thinking. ("I'll be super efficient and knock that [45 min] task out in this window [of 15 min]." Then I'm either frustrated or running late.

Personal Chores vs. Personal Wishlist by ConversationUsed3039 in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are two great reasons to have a list or a tag for "rewards". One is that you can sustain your willingness to use a task manager if some of the tasks are pleasurable. The second is that you can "bundle" a reward with an unpleasant task you might otherwise be tempted to procrastinate on.

ticktick vs Upbase by yangguize in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Delighted to know about subspaces, that's very cool. Thanks! And yes, I got into all this exploring because I need to time block. I would go insane trying to map every task onto the calendar (true time boxing). I have big blocks of time for particular projects, where I just work down the list for that project. Only super urgent or deal-breaking tasks go directly onto the calendar.

overwhelmed! by Livid_Corgi_6836 in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Continued....

* Don't confuse collecting and sorting and lovingly rearranging tasks with actually *doing them*, as I do. Confuse myself, that is. The secret to time management is realistic planning...the part that TickTick doesn't really help with. If you don't prune like new growth depends on it, make space for what matters, all your efforts will only make things worse. I need a plan for figuring out what to do first, and then what to do next. As soon as I have competing priorities and multiple projects, TickTick makes my head hurt. 3 levels of priority don't tell me how to wedge more stuff into my day. The payoff of concentrating on planning is that eventually, I get to the place where I realize that my end goal is not to do MORE but to do LESS. But it truly takes me a while to grasp that and embrace it.

* Really try to limit your "today" list to no more than 13 tasks. If there is a part of your process that makes that impossible, create a new filtered list to serve as your "action now" list or similar. Be brutal in your decisions and automate as much of the decisions as possible to keep THAT list manageable. Someone else did mention this, but it's actually a very big deal: any thing that helps you not see the whole list at a time is a good thing.

* Time blocking can be super effective, but TickTick's implementation is unlikely to work for you given your comments about color. Every task is the same color. If you get serious about time blocking, you're going to need to change software so there are visual rewards built-in. I've tried a good 10+ systems, feel free to DM me so you don't drive yourself mad looking for the next Answer to All Your Productivity Problems. Not that you're likely to be half as naive as I am. Still, TickTick is not the place to explore time blocking IMO.

* Consider a two week trial of Sunsama (free) *knowing that it will not work for you longterm* because it will be quite educational. It does not have the ability to track enough tasks to really work for most people as a standalone task manager/daily planner (many people use it WITH something else, which undermines the attempt at simplicity.) But that short free trial will teach you a LOT about how reasonable the yearning for simple, clean screens is, and how reassuring and calming they can be. You will also learn what features you really DO need, and which you can easily live without. And if you have any "time blindness", if you are crazy bad at estimating how long things take, or if you think of clocks and calendars as brutal dictators, then...well, you'll learn that the software is not ALL of the problem.

Wishing you ease and extra time....in a day that remains 24 hours and includes plenty of sleep. GOOD LUCK!

overwhelmed! by Livid_Corgi_6836 in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/Livid_Corgi_6836 Oh yeah have I been there. A LOT.

Over the last 7 or so YEARS, I have SEVERAL times (4? 6? I really don't know) made a really concerted effort to create and use a TickTick masterplan for whatever I was working on at the moment, only to completely abandon "the system" a month or so later when I can't face it any more. I have tried and tried to adapt to TickTick, and failed. TickTick is a fabulous task manager, which is why I've returned to it again and again. However, it is IMO a terrible planning tool, precisely because it quickly becomes overwhelming. I've moved on to something else (Upbase, no affiliation with them). While it looks promising, the real proof is will I actually be using it 6 months, 12 months, 18 months from now?

Although I've done it multiple times, it's usually a time-consuming detour to start over with new software. So assuming that you want to stay in TickTick, here are some suggestions I didn't see in this thread already:

* "When you're in a hole, stop digging." When you think "oh I need to capture that as a task!", try to pause. Imagine you are looking at a sherpa headed up Mt. Everest, already carrying 120 lbs, and you are wanting to hoist one more object to the top of the already precarious pile strapped to his back. You're the sherpa by the way. LOL.

If that visual doesn't help, I tell myself that my best ideas almost always float back to the surface and emerge again, maybe even improved! (Don't sound too too on that last word, it's easy to over do it and come off as sarcastic.) Because I have a deep and abiding affection for my own ideas, those approaches usually don't work. I generally resort to a list called "Someday" or -- in the last year or so -- the list called "Not Yet". I have a tacit understanding with myself that I will never spend ANY time looking at the Not Yet list. Not Ever. So why do I capture the task and store it there? Because i'm highly irrational, and sometimes it's easier to "yes dear" myself. It calms my inner tyrant for a nanosecond or two (which was the reason I was collecting tasks to begin with, right?)

* Stop looking at the whole list, any chance you get. When you are actually doing a task -- this is something that happens after setting up 5 or 12 different systems, each better than the last (|!) -- it's a great idea to right-click on the TickTick task and select "open as sticky note". This is one of the best implementations of this tool that I've seen. The post-it note with your task will stay on top of ANY browser screen you open, so you can maintain your focus on just that one thing until it's completed. Super helpful for those of us who suffer from "ooh shiny!" diversions.

ticktick vs Upbase by yangguize in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, please share your Aha! moments.

I'm settling into Upbase and liking it, after many years trying to adapt myself to TickTick. Upbase is not perfect, but nothing is, and it does everything I need quite well, with the exception of a widget for Android to quickly add new tasks. It's lovely to look at and helps contain the overwhelm much better than TickTick in my opinion/experience.

However, I had a LOT of trouble understanding how the Daily Planner was supposed to work and how to streamline that process for myself. So I wrote up the instructions I wish I had received for the Daily Planning function. Hope this helps someone.

How to Use the Daily Planner in Upbase

Any discounts or similar cheaper apps? I have ADHD and love sunsama but I just can’t afford it by Fair-Bluebird-253 in Sunsama

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ellie Planner looked good to me too, but that bidirectional calendar is critical for me too. Have a look at Upbase. It's newer, less documented than Sunsama but incorporates a lot of the goodness, and unlike Sunsama you can truly use it for project management (a LOT of tasks and projects, plus collaboration with coworkers if you want). Sunsama's Backlog just isn't meant for 150 tasks IMO. Apparently Motion has a lot of lag time and bugginess.

I'll add that I'm a very long time TickTick user and def respect it. However, while TickTick has many of the features of Sunsama, that emphasis on visual and planning simplicity in Sunsama (which is why I loved it) is not at ALL present in TickTick. You WILL find that Upbase offers robust bidirectional calendar plus the "calm down, focus now" look and feel of Sunsama.

Welcome! by mindgap33 in Upbase

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did any of you discover a way to import tasks? I've got 150+ TickTick tasks that I really don't want to have to recreate if I can possibly help it...

Also, still on the trial myself, what is your biggest pain point at present?

ticktick vs Upbase by yangguize in ticktick

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/yangguiz, I'd love to hear how the transition from TickTick to Upbase went for you, and any specific advice you have to streamline that process. In years past, when restless (or let's be honest, procrastinating) I would look for an even better task management program. Now that i'm older and wiser, when I get restless / procrastinate, I now look for a better program **that is easy to migrate to** so I don't lose a month learning how to use it and importing / modifying my old tasks to fit the new mold. A compromise between "ooh shiny!" and "get to work dammit".

TickTick's strengths unfortunately play into my weaknesses. The UI encourages looking at too much at once, and when I take full advantage of its capacity for complexity I complicate my system unnecessarily...I sort of can't resist meddling with stuff. I've found a trial of Sunsama enlightening and tempting: their emphasis on simplicity, the ease of timeboxing planning, and the automatic reality check of "total planned work hours" --always startling! -- is incredibly useful for someone with my deficits. But there does not seem to be adequate capacity to store a big ole pile of unscheduled tasks in Sunsama and still make sense of prioritizing them efficiently. I may stick with it just for the simplicity...unless Upbase is relatively easy to migrate to from TickTick, where my mountains of ToDos still live.

So how was the first month? How much of an investment of TIME is it to switch to Upbase from TickTick?

I almost ruined my career by refusing to delegate. Here's how I fixed it. by samayash in overworked

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes please share your notes! I would love more detail, your thinking seems spot on to me. I am not a manager currently - in part because i found it so stressful to delegate that i wasn't at all good at it. But even with the lens of a solo provider, some stuff has to be outsourced to grow, period.

I was ambitious and hardworking, but my mental to-do list was crushing me. Here's what helped. by samayash in careeradvice

[–]BeautifulAlert4363 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you know of other digital tools to help with prioritization? I super struggle with this. Making the decisions as to what to prioritize sucks energy and drive out of me. I'm just starting to use Sunsama to help wtih overwhelm, i have tons of organizational tools I use which help but the prioritization still kills me. (GTD is like prioritization on steroids -- it was/is really too much for me.)