The fastest ToDo List is a ToDo Album ...
I have to face it. Whenever I need it, it is easier to find the nearest digital camera than pen and paper.
With this in mind, I have tried to change my approach to the classical ToDo list technique. Why don't replace text notes with photos ?
That's my recipe:
1. When I see something that needs to be fixed (something to buy, to repair, to clean, to move), I take a snapshot of it. It is simple and it needs one second: the photo doesn't need to be a masterpiece, I just need that the subject is recognizable.
2. I keep photos stored in the camera (iPhone): I have not tried to upload or upload them to Flickr (or similar) because to me it seems too much complicated and slow. I just keep the iPhone with myself.
2. When I exit home, I get into the office, I exit the office or I enter home, I check the ToDo Album. If I find something that I can do now, I fix it.
3. When I fix something, I remove the photo.
That's all, and that's incredibly simple and intuitive. I want to point out that it is not the solution for all situations, but it is very fast. Believe me. The concept is that if I can take a fast snaphot, nothing else is required: I will easily associate the subject of the photo with the task to accomplish.
If you want to try, my suggestion is also to avoid to write notes, use uploaders, share images in the Internet or download stock images. If you try to do this kind of stuff, you will probably be slower than taking notes with pen and paper.
I have done a quick research, and found I am not the only one to use this technique and, for sure, not the first :)
Tell me if you tried this, and if it was successful.
.. coffe is finished ...
.. toothpaste is finished ...
.. my car needs new tyres ...
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14 (smart) comments:
What if you can't create photo of the thing you need to do?
I think it is a good exercise in creativity. I try to take a photo of something that reminds me, even not directly, whatever I have to fix.
Well, if you don't know what subject to get, and if you have pen and paper, you can (exceptionally) write a note and take a photo of that note. It will be slower but at least you don't have multiple lists..
Vladimir, you account links to a site with a catchy name (tobeedoo) ... what exactly it is ? I am very curious ..
I'm not sure if you're a wine drinker or not, but I've also found that taking photos of wines that I like at wine tastings is an awesome use of the camera in my phone as well. Every time someone sees me doing it, they're impressed, and whip out their own phone! Then when I'm in the wine store, I can just browse through my photos to see what I should buy!
That's a cool idea, Chet ! It is for sure faster and smarter than taking notes or trying to remember the wines you liked ..
I do this all the time with my iPhone. Mostly, it's just a simple and always-accessible reminder system. Good beers to buy. Books I want to look up later. Restaurants I need to try. It just works.
I do this too, in much the same way danny uses it. If I see a book I want to buy, I'll take a picture of it rather than clumsily trying to writing down its title and author. Later on, I'll go through all my photos and capture the information in my todo list or delicious account. So the photos are more of a holding queue for my wishlist rather than a permanent todo list.
This is brilliant! I use my camera to track my food intake so I can post it online (I've lost 100 pounds and want to keep it off).
Even better if you have a jailbroken iphone with Sketches, you can snap a photo and then draw a check mark to indicate ok and an X to remind yourself about something to avoid.
Thing is I need to leave checked things on my to do list to make sure I did them!
Danny, Monsur, Nancy, r.e.r, thank you very much, you are demonstrating that with a little of creativity we can really make a camera phone useful for a number of things ...
one can use shozu to shoot then send the picture in background to an imap email; then use a google mail filter to send it to the right gmail folder
Thank you matrixmen, even if I am not used to upload photos or send MMS, shozu is worth a look..
Update - I think that Evernote is a nice general purpose solution for taking notes and make to-do lists.
You can take photos, text notes and voice memos. You just have to choose which kind of note is faster at the moment you need it.
With Clarifi macro lens you can get even better quality from your snapshots.
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