Attention all Type A people.. this post could change your life.

I’m about to tell you about the coolest thing since sliced bread.  And no, it’s not that peanut butter and jelly mixed into one jar.  Sorry.  First, a quick glimpse at how I used to live my life:

Post-Its everywhere reminding me of To-Dos:

A brown-leather agenda book with appointments and to-dos written in pencil and of course, more Post-Its:

In addition to the Post-Its, To-Do lists galore:

Not just one To-Do list, but many:

I guess on some level I always knew it was inevitable: a PDA of some sort was in my future.  I just refused to believe it.  I pride myself in being somewhat traditional.  So what if I like writing checks and paying bills via snail mail?  But alas, after hundreds of Post-Its and handwritten to-do lists, many tasks never completed because they “fell through the cracks,” and a sore arm from carrying around such a big planner, I knew something needed to change.  About a month ago, Dane Sanders introduced me to the niftiest program ever, and thank goodness our paths crossed cause the fate of René Tate Photography’s organization was in trouble.

Introducing: Things.  That’s what it’s called.  Things. It’s a task-management program, winning a Best of Show award at the 2009 MacWorld. You’re gonna want to watch this neat little video about how this program can change your life.  Click here to do so.

After trying out this little “thing” for a month, I realized how much easier it’s made my life.  The idea behind Things goes back to David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) movement.  We have so many “inboxes” in our lives.  For me, I have a snail mailbox, two email inboxes, a Facebook inbox, a voicemail box, a grocery list, a personal to-do list, a business to-do list, a storage area collecting junk, etc. etc.  All of these things competing for my attention and haunting me at night. Basically anything that collects to-dos is an inbox.  Point is: we have A LOT to keep track of with so many “inboxes” in our lives.  And our minds are NOT meant to keep track of all the things we have to do in all the different areas of our lives.

Enter: Things.  It’s my only inbox.  I clear out all my inboxes (to include email and voicemail) everyday and streamline those to-dos to my Things list.  In addition, as soon as a new idea or task enters my mind, I just insert it into my Things Inbox on my iPod touch.  Every morning I sit down and organize that inbox and pick out items to accomplish on that particular day. I can prioritize and categorize tasks by subject, time need to complete tasks, etc.  My brown planner and billions of Post-Its were replaced by this:

It’s the best program/app ever and keeps me organized and sane.  Things also syncs with my computer.

A small preview of what my computer looks like:

Definitely watch the short video on the Things website.  Things is available at any Apple store and the corresponding iPod Touch or iPhone app is available through iTunes.  Give me a buzz if you’re thinking about using this program and have questions.  It’s one of the biggest recommendations I can give to anyone running a business or really, anyone who leads a hectic lifestyle!

Rule your inboxes, don’t let them rule you.