A 2017 survey, “ The False Promise of the App Economy”, revealed that knowledge workers generally feel frustrated by the many apps they’re required to use at work, preventing them from focusing on more important tasks. While productivity apps have streamlined the way we work, studies have shown that using too many apps makes us less productive, more stressed, and increasingly prone to procrastination. At the end of the day, it’s hard to say whether we came out ahead or behind. Instead of working through tasks with intention, our days become a game of whack-a-mole as we try to keep up with all the tasks that pop up across our inboxes, calendars, and communication tools. These tasks arrive hour-by-hour, minute-to-minute, as our inbox counter goes from 12 to 20 and a stream of notification bubbles ironically obscures the calming background we chose for our phone. Emails brimming with requests, work messages demanding deliverables, and last-minute meeting invitations serve as unofficial to-do lists that expand everything we need to get done in a day.

But most of us have a few different places where our tasks arise, seemingly from thin air, commanding our attention and taking up space in our minds. You might have a place where you add tasks in the morning and dutifully check them off as the hours tick by each day.

Add todoist to google calendar