28th April, 2023
Every business is essentially powered by people ticking off items on their to-do lists.
But what happens if traditional lists and notes don’t work? Or you’re looking for new ways to make ticking tasks off and creating records a bit more memorable?
In this article, we’re going to cover 10 different paperless ways to make note-taking and to-do list-making a little more fun.
The notebook is a classic writing tool. But manual notes can be difficult to translate into digital systems where most of us do our administrative work.
With these paperless notebook options, you can have the best of both worlds.
The simplest route to take when looking for a physical notebook alternative is a digital one.
They’re widely available online and for download and tick all the boxes in terms of practicality, effectiveness, and ease of use.
If you’re looking for a more visually stimulating way to spice up your note-making process, introduce digital stickers and emojis to the mix.
They can easily be added to digital notebooks, giving dull and unexciting lists a lighthearted look. Plus, comprehensive research suggests that using visual cues to assist with memory is very effective.
Wall-mounted touchscreen displays, adhesive whiteboard coverings, and Kanban boards are all great ways to achieve the same result as a blackboard with added benefits.
For example, with a digital touchscreen, you can save previous notes or screens for later review.
Whiteboard coverings are simple tools for illustrating concepts or project outlines in a fun way and include a range of colours to choose from.
Google Keep is a popular application for creating, tracking, and organising notes. It keeps your notes secure and in a logical order, enabling you to easily sift through previous and upcoming tasks.
Similar tools such as Monday.com, Trello, Shortcut, and Avaza are equally effective.
Sticky notes can make a big difference to workflow and productivity processes. But digital ones can be saved, secured, and scheduled as reminders to keep your task list on track.
Note apps accessed via the cloud are a fun way to unify notes and give access to numerous stakeholders concurrently too.
There’s more than one way to go about making a to-do list:
The Eisenhower Matrix is a time management framework designed to boost productivity and improve prioritisation.
This system entails drawing out a 4-square box with an x-axis crossing through the middle.
Two sides get listed Urgent and Not-Urgent, and the other two Important and Not-important.
The idea is that you coordinate your tasks into the respective squares based on their level of urgency and importance.
Since the pandemic, there’s been a huge uptick in demand for productivity apps, and many of them come in the form of a digital to-do list.
With clean, engaging interfaces and easy-to-use tools, you can write out tasks with ease.
Some of the highest-ranking to-do list apps in 2023 are Zapier, Todoist, Habitica, and Omnifocus.
The timeframe within which tasks are executed plays a major role in productivity and operations.
By calendarising to-do lists, you can gain a better perspective on your various unfinished tasks and prioritise them efficiently.
A little bit of recognition can go a long way—even if it’s from yourself.
Give yourself productivity milestones to work towards and reward yourself when reaching your goal.
This can be done by being more intentional and future-oriented when compiling your to-do lists.
Think beyond just today or next week. Give yourself monthly goals to work towards.
Ascend and ClickUp offer a digital “tear-off” feature. This is not only satisfying to watch but is useful for deleting old to-do lists and helping you focus on your agenda.
Just ensure you don’t end up signing up with several digital tools and paying for them all—even if you’re not using them.
You can use a subscriptions calculator from cancel.io to determine which tools are a drain on resources.
While the traditional paper-and-pen option served us all well for years, we now have more efficient alternatives.
With these digital apps and tools, you can keep track of your tasks in one central, streamlined space.