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As the preparations for B:READ’s Mabohai Bookswap were in full swing last month, I found myself using managing tasks using not one, not two, but three to-do apps in that same period. I admit that I enjoy keeping lists, and they help me keep track of things in my head; but at one point, it did occur to me: “Why am I using three different apps to handle my tasks? This is kind of ridiculous.”

So I took a closer look at the apps, and as it turns out, there wasn’t a problem of redundancy – the tasks recorded in each app were mostly different. Each app served a different purpose, depending on what tasks I wanted to achieve.

1. Weekly goals

I am terrible at keeping to any weekly goals – yes, I find my day job a challenge, thanks for asking – but I keep trying!

Workflowy is a web app and an iOS app. Its specialty is that you can have tasks at different levels, which I can break down or move up as I wish.

For example, here I have a list of things I meant to do within a week:

If you have ever found it difficult working towards such high-level tasks, you may understand that vaguely defined list items like “Documentation” just aren’t helpful when you’re panicking or procrastinating, because they seem like such big tasks. Read more…

Are you a new graduate with zero work experience?

Here are some things they didn’t tell you about work:

#1: You are no longer responsible for yourself ONLY. You are also responsible for other people and other things. Congratulations.

Remember in uni, when you decided not to bother handing in that assignment, because it was only worth 5% of your whole year and you were too busy with your social activities (or planning your summer trip, or running a society, or sleeping) to give up a few nights’ work?

Read more…

“Smile though your heart is aching
Smile even though it’s breaking”

“Light up your face with gladness
Hide every trace of sadness”

“Smile, what’s the use of crying?”

– Smile, Nat King Cole

More than once while driving, I would hear this song and its variants, and those particular lines bug me. Read more…