I’ve been using new tools ever since I received a Casio Calculator Watch as a present in high school and a Blackberry on Christmas. If you can’t recall these gadgets with nostalgia, you may consider me to be horribly antiquated – but for several years, productivity software for Mac was not much superior. It wasn’t until 2011 that Mac apps in various fields began to consistently stand out.
Thus began my journey to find the perfect to-do app (aka task management app).
Over the years, I’ve tested several to-do apps for Mac and iPhone, and they’ve all done a decent job at raising my productivity level. My latest discovery is Things 3, which offers the perfect balance between enticing new features, timeless design, power and simplicity, and delightful interactions.
Table of Contents
What’s So Good About Things 3?
Things 3 allows users to take a guilt-free approach to task management. I’ve highlighted some of its prominent functionality below.
Set Important Dates
Not every task is associated with a date. Some can just be completed when you get time. Others, however, are closely associated with dates, and Things 3 is quite accommodating, offering numerous ways to work with them.
For example, it lets you add a deadline to any task or project. My mom asked me to run errands, so I added that task to Things 3 and listed a deadline for it.
Most to-do apps have this functionality. Things 3 goes a step above by conveniently enabling you to include a few other kinds of dates.
For example, I can add a start date to ensure I start working on a particular task at the right time.
While setting the start date, I can also create Reminders to have Things 3 display an alert to remind me of any pending tasks.
I can also use the “when” option to create start dates and reminders, and keep tabs on my activity to ensure you’re on track with upcoming tasks.
Group and Organize Your Tasks
Once you begin using Things 3 to organize different aspects of your life, you can populate it with dozens, or even hundreds, of tasks. This can create a mess, so you need a way to organize and group your projects and tasks. Things 3 lets you do that via “areas” and “tags.”
You can create areas for several different aspects of your life. I’ve made one for home, one for office, and one for friends.
Not only do these let me organize my tasks logically, but they also serve as helpful prompts to ensure I’m driven and responsible in all of my responsibilities.
All projects and tasks can be further streamlined with the help of tags. You can use these to arrange your tasks in several different ways.
Tags associate your tasks with certain contexts (like home, office, pending, important) as well as with people. You can highlight a task’s importance, or indicate the amount of time needed to get the job done. The options are endless.
Know What’s Ahead
I especially love this about Things 3: it lets me keep tabs on tasks I want to complete in the future without cluttering my active list of projects. When I’m busy, they’re not a distraction. But when I’m planning to review what’s left, they can be. Things 3 offers three distinct views for the purpose:
Here’s a quick breakdown of each:
- In Upcoming, I’m able to see a calendar of tasks that have either a start date or a deadline associated with them.
- In Anytime, I can view a list of tasks that I can work on in my free time. These aren’t categorized by an area or project. Neither are they associated with a deadline.
- In Someday, I can view the set of tasks that I haven’t planned on working but may do someday. I use this space to list my life goals.
Maybe one day I’ll visit Antarctica. I want to list goals like these in my to-do app, so that I can remind myself about what I want to achieve. But I don’t want to be distracted when I’m concentrating on what matters now. Things 3’s “someday” feature handles these items pretty nicely.
Overall, Things 3 allows you to sensibly organize tasks by tags, projects, and areas of responsibility. Your calendar and to-do list can be seen in a variety of ways – tasks to do in the near future, tasks that you need to complete today, and tasks you may work on someday. And you get to prioritize, sync and organize each task, area, and project.
Things 3 Pricing
I wish Things 3 was free to download and use. Sadly, it isn’t – you need to pay $49.99 to be able to experience the to-do goodness. But trust me, you’ll be getting your dollars’ worth. With that said, I recommend you to take the 15-day free trial and rate it for yourself before making a purchase decision.
My Verdict
Things 3 is a nice addition to the productivity and to-do space, not just because of its aesthetic appeal, but because the folks over at Cultured Code (the developer) have packaged some of the most wanted features in the tool. They’re constantly listening to entrepreneurs and implementing their feedback consistently. In 2018, for instance, they added a mail feature to the app and enabled users to repeat tasks within projects.
So if it isn’t apparent already, I highly recommend Things 3 as a productivity app for your Mac. It’s incredibly useful, clever, appealing, and it makes tracking and completion of various tasks a breeze.
About Carson Derrow
