Not to fear! We’ve done the research on some of the most popular time management and task organization tools on the web. This post offers a practical comparison of some of the best online tools.

From the most basic, to more complex, these sites will help keep you organized. Going virtual with your lists will allow you to stay on track even on the go. To your brilliance!

To-Do List Resources

www.tadalist.com

Summary: Simple and straightforward, Ta-da List is like your basic paper to-do list, only electronic!

Price: Free

Compatibility: Works with the most popular web browsers (IE 6/7, Firefox 2, and Safari 2), and with Mac, PC, and iPhone.

How it Works: Check a box and the to-do is marked, “Done!”

Sharing: Keep your lists private, or share them with your friends, family, or co-workers

Other Info: Ta-da List also offers a paid, upgraded version of their to-do list for businesses called Backpack.

Backpack is an intranet for your business. You create a “page” that keeps documents, discussions, and schedules in one place all the time with content sharing options.

www.toodledo.com

Summary: Organize and track your tasks in more than just a list format. The calendar view option is great for big-picture, visual learners.

Price: Free

Compatibility: Mac, Windows, most mobile devices; Ability to import tasks from Palm OS PDA, Microsoft Outlook, Apple’s iCal, and other online to-do lists

How it Works: Tag and track projects by priority and in sub-folders. Keep track of estimated time spent on a project versus the actual time spent. Even assign personal goals to individual tasks allowing you to see how the way you spend your time contributes to long-term goals.

Sharing: Public or private, with other collaboration options available

www.evernote.com

Summary: Much more than task management, EverNote is great for keeping track of the mis-mash of all those little things in life that you want to remember too (receipts, trip itineraries, even wine labels!)

With tons of fun and practical web software applications, techies can take this organizer as far as they want. Check out EverNote’s extensive array of Desktop and Web Services (or as they call it, the EverNote “Trunk”)

Price: Free

Compatibility: Windows, Mac OS X, PC’s, iPhone, and other mobile devices; Applications for linking your Twitter and social media accounts too

How it Works: Type a text note, clip a web page, snap a photo, or grab a screenshot. Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed, and made search-able. Add tags or organize your notes into different virtual notebooks. Search for notes by keywords, titles, and tags.

Sharing: Public or private- your choice depending on what you need to organize

www.rememberthemilk.com

Summary: Similar to EverNote, but a bit more basic. Though Remember The Milk also has dozens of mobile and desktop applications, this service is focused more on task management, tracking, and organization.

Price: Free

Compatibility: Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Gmail, Outlook, and more. Sync with iCal and Google Calendar too.

How it Works: Create a list, set due dates, then get reminders to any of your mobile devices, email, and social media accounts.

Add notes to your list, and use the maps feature to track where you have to go to accomplish each task. Even print a hard copy of your list or weekly planner.

Check out this Tour of Things to Do with Remember The Milk

Sharing: Keep your tasks private, publish them publicly, or send to your choice of contacts

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth has appeared in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC. She was selected as one of the Top 25 Amazing Women of 2010 by Stiletto Woman and as a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Council featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Mashable, and many other media outlets.

The thought of one more email to respond to, text message to re-tweet, yet another blog to update, and one more social media account to keep organized, is enough to make the average, already over-stretched, over-worked person ready to jump out of their skin!

Not to fear! Reclaim your sanity! While social media is important for a relevant marketing strategy, and timely email replies help build customer relationships, you don’t have to turn into a computer yourself, responding to the prompts of every bell, buzz, or alert that heads your way.

While you might initially feel guilty about making the simple decision to “unplug,” by 8 p.m. every night, small changes can make a big difference in the toll technology takes on your life. Calmer, rested, and more in control, you can be more productive than ever! Below are some links to helpful articles that can help you achieved this well balanced state. (Of course, I wouldn’t want you to spend too long on the computer, though : ) Take a lunch break away from your screen, or head to bed a little earlier. You, your family, and your friends are worth it!

Time Management in the Age of Social Media

5 Tips for More Effective Email Usage

How a False Sense of Email Urgency may be Harming your Business

How to Stop Interruptions and be More Productive

Tools for Dealing with Distraction in a Web Worker’s World

P.S.–Thanks for reading! I so appreciate each and every one of you. And if you find this info helpful, I really appreciate you sending your friends to ScheduleMakeover.com so they can receive more helpful time (and sanity!) saving tips!

Here’s a sampling for your reading pleasure:

My June 2010 Elance Newsletter Article: Eliminate Deadline Stress: Here’s How

Lifehacker Post that Includes Real Life E® Schedule Strategies: Lock in a Fixed Schedule to Keep Work-Life Balance

I Will Teach You To Be Rich Post written by the Awesome Cal Newport With an Elizabeth Mention & Super Long Title ;o) Time Management: How an MIT postdoc writes 3 books, a PhD defense, and 6+ peer-reviewed papers — and finished by 5:30 p.m

And of course, you receive the Very Best and Newest Time Coaching Information by signing up at ScheduleMakeover.com to learn how to think differently about your time and achieve peace-full productivity.

To your brilliance!

Elizabeth

About Real Life E®

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach & professional speaker who helps men and women who are overwhelmed and frustrated because they want to achieve a life of peace and productivity but are struggling to make it happen.

She empowers  them to set priorities, set expectations and set routines so that they move forward, feel peaceful and create lives of love, meaning and purpose.

Elizabeth has been featured in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC, and is happy to be interviewed for your broadcast or publication.

Here’s a great slide show on how to combat it. Enjoy!

Elizabeth

P.S.–Click on the “Full” button at the bottom of the slide show to see it in full screen version.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach & professional speaker who empowers individuals to build businesses and achieve work/life brilliance™ through Schedule Makeovers™. Her empowerment coaching frees individuals from guilt, overwhelm, and frustration!

Discover how you can start enjoying your life TODAY! Look forward to talking with you!

Elizabeth has been featured in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC, and is happy to be interviewed for your broadcast or publication.

As I’ve gone through the Schedule Makeover™ process and guided others on the journey to work-life brilliance™, I’ve found that social media overwhelm is rampant.

Ask Yourself, Why?

Before you engage in any business activity, always ask yourself questions such as:
•    Why am I doing this activity?
•    Why am I spending this much (or this little) time on it?
•    Why would someone care about what I’m doing?
•    Who reads this information?
•    Will this win me new clients or preserve my current ones?
•    How does this activity reflect on my brand?
•    Does this activity energize me and focus me on my important goals?

These kind of questions work with anything from networking events to Twitter updates—basically if you can’t see a clear ROI on an activity, you might want to stop or reduce your time doing it. If you simply enjoy doing something, you can still do it on your personal time. But don’t waste time on “business development” that produces no results.

For instance, when I worked exclusively as a freelance writer before becoming a time coach and trainer, I did not write a blog. I made this decision based on the fact that my business-to-business clients were not interested in hiring me based on blogging. Instead, my clients cared more about seeing me face-to-face on a somewhat regular basis. At that time, it made more sense to spend a couple of hours a week visiting their offices rather than writing posts.

Stick with a Theme

Just like the most successful novelists develop a reputation for a certain style and subject matter, you need to establish an online reputation that’s aligned with your brand. If your main “Why” for engaging in social media is to build your business, you must pick a theme and stick with it.

When I decided to do time coaching and training for work/life brilliance™, I began a blog to establish my expertise and develop my well of online content. To make it a go-to resource, I chose to focus on time management for women in business.

Around the same time, I started using Twitter. At first, I would just put up tweets about random articles or thoughts. But after a little bit, I realized it would be much more effective to have a consistent tweet each day. That’s when I began a daily “E time management tip” which evolved into an “E Schedule Makeover Tip.” Now my hundreds of Twitter followers can expect a daily tip to assist them with their schedule. This builds my reputation and expert status, and by using Google Analytics, I found out that Twitter is the top driver of traffic to my Web site.

Time Block Everything

The mental state required to effectively process e-mail or scan tweets is not the same as the one you need to write a cohesive article. One of the biggest ways to make writing or any project that requires a high level of mental concentration take FOOOREEEVER is to flit between the project and e-mail or social media.

I’ve found it most effective to answer all of my e-mail and do all my processing at the beginning of the day. Then I can take a little break to get a cup of coffee or stretch my legs and focus completely for a couple of hours on a major assignment such as an article. Once that’s done, I take a little break, maybe check e-mail for 10 minutes, and then focus on the next important task.

To stick to your schedule and overcome distraction, try these techniques:
•    If you’re a twitterer, decide when you will go on Twitter and for how long, then stop once you reach your limit.
•    If you’re a blogger, designate a certain day and a certain time slot or at least number of hours you will spend blogging, then stick with it.
•    If you like to read lots of content, collect it all in a single electronic or paper folder and then designate a certain amount of time each week to review it. Stop when you reach the limit.

Read Less, Do More

With the onslaught of social media, the lie is that you will always benefit from more information, but that’s simply not true. By picking the best information, learning from it, and applying it, you will be far ahead of the people who fritter away their lives reading yet another article about Facebook, yet doing nothing.

It will take time to develop the habit of focus when you’re used to falling for the lure of mindless social media. But as you decide on what’s most important, focus on a theme, and set time limits, you’ll start to develop new habits and the ability to maximize the value of your time on and off social media.

If you want to end your feelings of overwhelm and guilt and step into the future with confidence, check out www.ScheduleMakeover.com or contact me at esaunders@RealLifeE.com I can develop an ideal schedule for you that includes specific time blocks for strategic social media activities.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach and trainer who empowers women in business to achieve work/life brilliance™ through her exclusive Schedule Makeover™ process. Inc magazine, NBC, and The Chicago Tribune are just a few of the places where Elizabeth has appeared.

Other Good Social Media Time Management Resources:

Time Management in the Age of Social Media by David Allen

A Company that Sets Up Your Facebook and LinkedIn Profiles

E-mail is not your boss. It is simply a method of communicating information, just like postal mail. Before the advent of all of our modern electronic “conveniences” there was an expectation that it would take a bit of time for you to receive information. No one ran to their mailbox every five minutes or had a panic attack if someone didn’t immediately receive and respond to their note. The expectation was that communication took time, and when people were able, they would respond.

Fast forward to 2009, between e-mail, IM, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and the multitude of computer and non-computer based communication options, many Americans have a serious case of information overload and Web-induced ADD.

Here is one simple strategy to conquer e-mail overload:

Set the expectation that you will only reply to e-mail once or twice a day.

I know this may sound crazy, but I’ve been doing it successfully for a couple of years and kept e-mail in its proper place. Here’s how:

1. If you have set the expectation that you will respond to e-mail in 2-seconds flat, set up one of these auto responders to start to wean people off of instant access to you.

2. Set aside a day to completely clear out your in boxes. (This could be shorter or longer depending on your backlog.)

3. At the designated time, sit down with a list of all of your e-mail accounts in front of you. Number them in order of attack.

4. Look at the first inbox. Select and delete all of the messages that do not require a personal response (updates, newsletters, feeds, ListServes, etc.). If you can’t bear the thought of deleting something because you “will read it” move it into a properly labeled e-mail folder.

5. Select and move all of the e-mails related to a particular project/person/topic that you need to keep but don’t require a reply into designated folders. (I have one for each client and each business development topic.)

6. Take a hard look at your inbox and make sure there is nothing more you can delete or file before starting to read e-mail.

7. Click on the first message in your inbox. Take the appropriate action (i.e. read, reply, forward, etc.), and then immediately delete or file it. It CAN NOT remain in your inbox. If you need to remember to complete a task related to that e-mail, put a note on your to-do list or calendar and then file the e-mail.

8. Continue down the list of e-mails until you are entirely done with the inbox. The only time you are allowed to spend time scanning the entire inbox is if you can respond to multiple messages with a single e-mail. (For instance I replied to five of my client’s messages sent on one day with a single e-mail response.)

9. Repeat this process with the rest of your e-mail inboxes. The psychological relief will be sublime!

10. Develop a personal system of responding to e-mail just once or twice a day so you can stay on top of e-mail on a regular basis without having it constantly interrupt you. For instance, I block out 1-2 hours every morning to clear out my business e-mail inboxes. Then for the rest of the day, I am free to complete projects. I send e-mail when necessary, but try to only scan my inbox a couple of times a day and only respond to e-mails that are truly urgent. Otherwise, they have to wait for my morning e-mail purge.

According to Lauren Berger, the Intern Queen, this is the best piece of advice I ever gave her! I hope you’ll experience similarly brilliant results.

Be brilliant TODAY!
Elizabeth

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a time coach who empowers individuals  who are overwhelmed and frustrated because they want to achieve a life of peace and productivity but are struggling to make it happen. She helps  them set priorities, set expectations and set routines so that they move forward, feel peaceful and have time for themselves and the people they love.

She also does women in business keynote speeches about how to have confidence, present yourself professionally, and work effectively with men and women in the business world.

Elizabeth has been featured in Inc magazine, The Chicago Tribune, and on NBC, and is happy to be interviewed for your broadcast or publication.

Seriously. According to a Kings College study that Tim Ferriss often cites, e-mail and phone distractions lower people’s IQ more than drugs. Crazy!

In response to this national crisis, I have been developing a Complete E-Mail Detox Program that will be revealed next week. But to get the ball rolling, I wanted to share a few effective e-mail auto responders that can help you break the vicious cycle of treating your e-mail message indicator like a fire alarm.

Once you set the expectation that you will not immediately respond to e-mail, these auto-responders will become unnecessary. But for now, the e-mails below can be your “patch” during the detox process.

To brilliant e-mail control!
Elizabeth

E-Mail Auto Responder #1

Tim Ferriss provides a form e-mail auto responder in Chapter 7 of his book The 4-Hour Workweek. This e-mail corresponds with his suggested method of checking e-mail at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m.

E-Mail Auto Responder #2

This is an auto responder used by Mitch Matthews, a trainer, coach, and connector extraordinaire! Mitch says it’s helped him to psychology let go of the compulsion to constantly respond to e-mail.

Subject Line: “Thanks for connecting! Re: Subject Line of Original E-Mail”

Text:

Hello!

Thanks for your e-mail.

I’m sending this to let you know that due to a number of exciting
projects, I am only checking and responding to e-mail once a day.

You and your e-mail are important.

So… if you need an urgent response, please call the Matthews Group,
Inc. toll-free number at 800.491.5316.

If it is not urgent, know that I will respond to your e-mail as
quickly as possible.

Thanks again for connecting and thanks for understanding this move
towards greater effectiveness.

Have a fantastic day!

Mitch

–
Mitch Matthews,
Coach, Speaker & Connector

www.akickinthepants.com

p: 800.491.5316
f:  515.221.3801

Check out these “kick” connection projects:

www.doyouQ.com

www.BIGdreamgathering.com

E-Mail Auto Responder #3

This is an example of an auto responder from Patrick Combs, an amazing speaker and coach who is on on the road frequently. It lets people know that he cares about their message but might not get back to them immediately.

Text:

Ah, your email has arrived but alas it might take me time to respond. So…

If you need an immediate, time sensitive response please contact me through my office: [office manager's e-mail address] or (858) 759-6994. Phones are more fun anyways.

If you have my direct line, feel free to call me. And…

If you are seeking my coaching, might you consider my coaching program? It puts you on the phone with me on a regular basis and you can ask me anything you wish. It’s less than $1/day. www.coachedbyPatrick.com

Many blessings,
Sharing Success,
—————————————
Patrick Combs
(858) 759-6994
www.coachedbyPatrick.com
www.goodthink.com
And on FaceBook
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=554560093

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is a trainer who focuses on “Time Strategies to Create a Brilliant Life in a Burnt-Out World.” She teaches others how to control their time instead of letting it control them and practices what she preaches by running two businesses in just 40 hours a week.