If you know me, you know I’m pretty passionate about the apps I use on a regular basis. I am always down to try a new app that seems promising, and in the past few months, my experiences have left me questioning the apps I use the most. And now, I’ve got a bit of a confession to make – I’ve stopped using Todoist, my favorite to-do list app since college, a few months back.
While the reasons why are for another post, today I want to talk about the app that has suddenly replaced Todoist – Things 3.
If you’ve never heard of Things 3, you’re not alone. I had never heard about Things until version 3 came out, and apparently, it was a long wait to get version 3. Today, I want to talk about some of the things that made me fall in love with Things.
1. The Design
The first thing I love about Things is how streamlined the design is. Right away, you get the option for light or dark mode, and while I love dark mode, the light mode is just as spectacular.
There’s just something that really adds to an app when it’s pretty to look at. The same minimalistic design carries over to the iPhone and iPad apps, too.
As you can see on the left, with your sidebar, there are quite a few ways to view all your tasks – from the inbox, to Today, the Anytime view (Which means there isn’t a specific day assigned to the task), Someday, and even an Upcoming, which is a look at the next week of tasks.
Upcoming can also sync with your calendar, so any appointments you have will pull in and appear, which is a super nice feature to have. Adding tasks around your calendar is a great function to have and it negates the point of flipping between apps. The events are displayed at the top and are discreet, not taking up the entire space.
2. The Sections and Navigation
Another section that isn’t listed on the side is the “This Evening” section that comes with the Today section. This is a lovely little feature that allows you to sort things into this evening, almost like a relaxed time.
Need a new task manager? If you live in an Apple-centric world, Things just might be the pretty powerhouse you need. Click To TweetBecause I add so many tasks to my app, I usually spend most of my time looking at the Today section – both on my phone and on my computer. I like seeing all my tasks laid out in one spot. Since I’m writing this on a Saturday, you can see I have a lot of tasks to do at home.
The Today section in Things just gives you so much extra information than the one in Todoist and breaks it down nicer, at least in my opinion. The project your task is associated with labeled nicely on Things, instead of shoved to the corner.
What really made Things 3 stand out for me in comparison to Todoist is the projects. Between the blog, my life, and my pen name, I’ve got a lot of areas that just need to be taken care of. While Todoist allowed for stacked projects, Todoist allows for areas that don’t need to be stacked. It also allows for headers, which is a game changer.
Related Post: How Todoist Helps Me Get Shit Done
Take for instance my work as Laura Teagan. Instead of having a project for every book and every administrative thing that I need for her, I can break it up into three sections – one for each series, and the other stuff. The area – which is where projects can live, acts like a container for the projects.
You can also see the circles next to the projects. They’re nice little pie graphs to show you how much of the project is done. Now with projects and headers, I can use one project for the entire series. While Todoist allowed you to kind of fake your headers, Things has them down pat.
3. Using the Projects with Deadlines and Shortcuts
Another feature of the projects that I absolutely love is the deadlines. This works so well for blog posts. Once I finish all the tasks associated with this blog post, I can mark the project as complete and it’ll automatically archive itself and not take up space in my sidebar.
While I love my Todoist Templates that I’ve made, I really struggled at first with Things because templates don’t work as well. Then one day I found a Youtube Video that explained how to do Siri Shortcuts with preset lists. So now, for blog posts, I have a shortcut on my phone. I make my project, copy the title of it, and hit a button that automatically inputs all my tasks for that blog post (I also use this for my grocery list of things I always buy). This has cut my time in half when it comes to adding blog tasks to my to-do list.
Related Post: How Todoist Helps Me Get Stuff Done
Things is a fantastic, well-built app, but there are a few downsides. It’s Apple-centric, which means I can’t add tasks while I’m at work. Additionally, while it’s not subscription based, each version of the app (iPhone, iPad, and Mac) all cost money. The Mac App is $50, which at first seems like a lot, but I thought about my Todoist subscription which is almost $30 a year. So in two years, I’ll have outpriced myself. If you’re looking to invest in a task manager (which, as an adult, I think you should – especially if you have a lot going on), this might be the one you want.
In two weeks, I’ll be doing a post all about how to find the right task manager for you – so if you aren’t sure, you can at least narrow it down.
