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TO BLOG
Time Management Apps
Time management skills are essential for all aspects of life. Whether you're writing a paper for school or juggling Thanksgiving dinner, knowing how to manage your time appropriately will make things run much more smoothly. Practicing these skills at a young age will allow you to learn how to work independently, use time effectively, and complete tasks by the deadline. Here are some great apps students can use to improve their time management skills:
- Rescue Time: This application sends you weekly reports that allow you to pinpoint the things that are stealing your time. For example, maybe you spend two hours idly browsing clothing sites, or maybe you open up social media sites ten times an hour. Once you know where your time is going, you can use Rescue Time's distraction blockers (i.e., block your access to these time-stealing sites) to increase productivity.
- Toggl: Toggl allows you to track how much time you spend on projects and tasks. This is a great way for students to see what sorts of assignments or classes demand the most of their time and why; for example, maybe Algebra worksheets consistently take a long time to complete because the content is difficult. With that knowledge, students can then appropriately budget the correct amount of time they need to finish a task.
- Pocket: This app is great to help students stay focused on the task at hand. Many times, students get sidetracked by something that pops up on their screen, like a new TikTok video or an article. With this app, you can place the item into your "saves" and review it at a later and more convenient time. This way, you're less distracted and can focus on your immediate work.
- Be Focused Timer: Be Focused provides a handy way to track blocks of time and your past work history. You can set a timer to work for a specific amount of time on a task and then set a timer to take a short break. This app allows you to manage your tasks, track your goals, and customize work interval duration to maximize your productivity.
There are dozens of time management apps out there, so go out and explore! Since we're living in a digital world, using apps to our benefit can help us feel more in control of how we spend our time. If you've found other time management apps that have been useful for you and your family, let us know.
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Managing Academic, Work, and Personal Obligations During COVID
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Between school and work, every family has a busy schedule. For children and adults with executive dysfunction, managing academic, work, and personal obligations can feel like an impossible task. This challenge is only magnified by the virtual platform that we are all using during COVID; in this time of virtual classes, meeting, and events, it seems that we are constantly jumping from one thing to the next. As a result, we might overlook projects or forget to complete a task. If your family is struggling to remember its obligations, check out these methods to help you record and track all of your responsibilities.
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METHODS TO RECORD OBLIGATIONS
Writing down obligations is the best way to remember that they exist. By writing tasks down by hand or digitally, you can then check them off as they are completed, which can lead to a sense of accomplishment. While there are many apps and websites available, the ones listed here have been tried and tested by Thinking Organized.
For Students and Parents
- Planner: A paper planner is a classic way to record obligations. When a teacher announces homework on Zoom, your children can easily take out their planners and jot down the day's work. They can also add in test or essay dates, as well as any family or social obligations that might impact their homework time. Paper planners are great tools for adults as well. Having a planner next to your computer provides you with a quick way to record upcoming meetings, obligations, and events. One added benefit about using a planner is that it can be color-coded for different types of obligations so you can visually see what you have to accomplish for a given day, week, or month.
- Online Calendars: For work and school, most of us use either Google or Microsoft's platforms for our email and calendar. Consistently documenting events on these calendars can help you and your children track and be on time for meetings and classes. You can color-code different tasks; for example, your children can color their English assignments as red and their Physics classes as blue on their calendar, while you can color your staff meetings as green and project deadlines as yellow.
- Google Tasks: Google Tasks is a perfect option for tracking assignments and obligations. Not only can you access Tasks from the sidebar when using any Google application, but Tasks can be synced to your calendar and accessed from your phone. This offers a convenient tool to check your upcoming obligations no matter where you are.
- Microsoft To-Do: This task app syncs your to-do lists to your Microsoft 365 account so you can access it from your Outlook Calendar. Tasks can be moved, grouped, and organized into individual sections. This app also allows you to make subtasks to break down more complex responsibilities. You can assign tasks or share your lists with other members in your organization, which makes this app ideal for working professionals.
For Students
- myHomework: For students, this is a great app to record homework. This app allows your children to write down their daily assignments and add in due dates. It offers both a list and a calendar format so that your children can better plan out when to complete each task. Additionally, your children can receive notifications from this app when an assignment is due.
- Habitica: Are your children gamers? Then Habitica may be the perfect option for them. This habit-building website encourages users to add in daily, repeated tasks, such as exercising or taking medication, in addition to schoolwork. The more tasks your children add and complete, the more rewards they get. This is an especially good tool to use if your children find friends to use it with them, as they can team up to defeat an enemy or cast spells on one another.
- 30/30: This app shows your children the benefits of recording obligations, staying on task, and rewarding themselves when they accomplish something. With 30/30, your children record the tasks they want to complete and add in the amount of time they believe they will need to complete them. They have that allotted time to work, at which point the app will prompt them to take a break if they are finished. While this app is difficult to use for long-term assignments, it is a good tool to help your children learn to manage daily tasks and estimate time effectively.
For Parents
- Remember the Milk: This is a great app to help adults keep track of, prioritize, and organize all activities, errands, and other important tasks. It is easy to add priority tags, due dates, and reminders to help you prioritize and plan out your day or week. Remember the Milk can also help you manage your time better with its time-estimate feature so that you can practice allotting the appropriate amount of time to a task. This app also has task reminders that can be sent to you via phone notification, email, or text message.
- HomeRoutines: HomeRoutines is a feature-packed app that can help with executive functioning and time management skills. You can use it to complete routine-based tasks, such as feeding the dog each morning, taking the trash out on Tuesdays, or cleaning out the refrigerator each weekend. The app prompts you to create lists of routines that need to be completed around the same time or on the same day. Built-in reminders help to keep you on track, and when you complete a task, you mark it with a gold star. These routines are reset automatically, at your chosen time interval, when you need to complete that routine again. For non-repeating tasks, HomeRoutines includes a "To Do" section. If you are someone who needs that extra push to get started, every screen on the app has a timer you can use to help you focus on your routine.
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CONSISTENT USE OF CHOSEN METHOD
Many students and adults find it difficult to consistently use their chosen planner, app, or website to record tasks and obligations. You might forget about it, or you may see it as an extra thing to keep track of. In the age of COVID, where we are home for the majority of the day, implementing an incentives system is a helpful way to encourage yourself and your children to use your chosen method on a daily basis. For example, if your children successfully write in their planners for a week, then they can earn a small reward, like choosing the family dinner for the night or FaceTiming with their friends for an extra 20 minutes. If they write in their planners for two weeks, then they earn a larger reward. You can also reward yourself for completing your tasks with time to watch your favorite TV show or a favorite dessert. This positive reinforcement will help you and your children associate your chosen method with a desired behavior that should be continued. However, be mindful that a week may be too long a period of time to expect yourself or your children to use the new strategy. If three days in a row is more realistic, then start with that goal and work your way up to a week while giving yourself and your children a lot of positive reinforcement.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
Managing multiple obligations can be difficult in the age of COVID, but writing them down is a good first step to accomplishing them. Tasks become more manageable once you recognize their components and plan when to complete each piece, and it is easiest to do this by recording these steps in a planner, app, or website. If one method doesn't work, try another! Every person is unique, and they should actively participate in identifying the method that works best for them.
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