Be Productive, be be productive!

Pineapple on pizza. The pronunciation of gif. And all that is college football. People disagree on a lot, but the one thing we all have in common? No, not a love of Dolly Parton (but seriously, who doesn't love Dolly?!) It's that we're all busy.

We're busy with work, with family, with school, with hobbies (haha who has time for hobbies?!). And whether you're a student, a business owner, a parent (or all three!) anything to help make life easier and things move faster is good.

You're probably very familiar with the concept of a to-do list. And if you're like me, you have more than one (in multiple locations) running at once. Does the feeling of striking through a task feel amazing? Yes! (and if you're more of a checkmark kinda person, that's cool, too). But if you lose a list you're kinda screwed. And if you need to share your list with someone who might need to contribute, you're sort of limited to. . .sending a screenshot?

It's time for a digital to-do list. Hello, Trello. (yes, it's puny. But they made the same pun!)

What is it? A to-do list/task board. But toss the pen and paper!

What is it good for? Any task-based project. You can set up each stage of your project (cards) as it makes sense for you. Most people at the very least include To Do, In Progress, and Done sections. Each card can have various elements, like a checklist with due dates (optional). And you can have multiple projects (boards) so work, family, school, and personal projects don't get mixed together. You can have a board as simple or as detailed as you like and you can change it as often as you like.

Pros: Trello is perfect for visual learners and it's very user-friendly - you can easily drag and drop cards from your various sections. It's super easy to add collaborators (coworkers, your kids, whatevs) or to make your board private (maybe it's your 2021 vision board). And there's an app, so anything you do on your computer can easily be picked up from your phone. But the best part is you can get a ridiculous amount done with their free version. If your projects are a bit more involved and you'd like to do things like integrate your board to a CMS, add analytics, track time spent on tasks, or connect to file-sharing sources you'll need to upgrade. But even then the pricing isn't outrageous.

Cons: Trello is great for personal, family, and small-medium business projects, but it may not be the best for enterprise (500+ employees) needs. The per-user task functionality just isn't as strong as what a really big company will likely need for things like editorial calendars, product launches, etc.

I have Trello boards that I share with coworkers for internal marketing efforts and for clients. I have personal boards for this blog (as a content calendar) and I have an ongoing "learning bucket list" of courses to take, books to read, podcasts to start, etc.

Do I still have lists on paper? Yes sometimes. But only because as an elder millennial (aka Oregon Trail Generation) I'm just used to writing. It's a habit. But now instead of toting around notepads, sticky notes, and scraps of envelopes scribbled with everything from blog ideas to a client meeting task list, I can jot down ideas, add them to Trello, and not freak out if lose or toss the paper. It's all right there in Trello.