Product Review--Simpleology.com

Ironic that I would return to blogging by discussing a time-management program--rather than by finishing my post about time management.

Suffice it to say that I still haven't worked out how to schedule or even prioritize my time. However, Simpleology has helped me keep better track of it. While it hasn't delivered on the promise of doubling my efficiency, energy, and "power", it is the best task-tracker I've used.

The way it works is that once a day you do a "daily target praxis", resulting in a list of "targets" that you can check off as you complete them. The order of the list can be adjusted, but you cannot delete, edit, or reschedule an item until the next day. While this can be frustrating sometimes when you don't want the reminder of something you failed to do, it has also been a motivational factor for me and I've ended up completing a task I originally didn't think I would have time to do.

Simpleology also has a "dreamcatcher" option that lets you enter tasks as you remember them/they come up. Once entered, you can edit or delete them, or move them to your daily targets. All the leftover items in this "dreamcatcher" show up on the next day's "target praxis" for you to delete them, schedule them for the day, or move them to your "mental lockbox". The "lockbox" is my favorite feature, as you can create categories to arrange the things you need to get to, just not right now. I have mine arranged by deadline, and as the day gets closer I move them out of my "mental lockbox" into the "dreamcatcher" and then to my "daily targets".

My advice is not to use the "scheduling" feature, as it just tells you to enter those tasks into your Outlook calendar and then deletes them off your daily targets. While I keep a hard-copy calendar on me to refer to when I'm away from my computer, having multiple programs keeping track of my to-do list seems inefficient to me.

As always, there's no free lunch. Just as when using facebook you have to deal with the annoying ads on the sidepages that prolong loading time, so you have to deal with the ads for Simpleology 2, 3, 4, and a myraid other products by this guy. There is no obligation or fee to use the features I've described, and you are also privy to lengthy pdfs and daily emails of typical business-inspirationals. How effective these things are will vary between individual cases, but I found it all a load of bullshit. Either way, the basic software is useful and simple to use, and easy to integrate into your lifestyle. The rest is just fluff.