4 things to help save your sanity when you can’t fit deadlines

Behind the scene

Lately, I’ve come across an amazing TED Talk by one American journalist about possible depression reasons, and the brightest statement which got stuck in my head claims that our mental health condition depends on the way we live, how we study, work, and how we function throughout the day overall. Undeniably, there is a correlation between our mental state and how lonely we are, how much of our lives we can actually control, or how often we get out into nature.

Naturally, tasks and plans we set regularly lay the foundation for success at work or in any other sphere. Some time ago, when I started working on multiple projects and studying simultaneously, I caught myself thinking that the unfulfillment of the list of goals and tasks that I assigned to myself would eventually bring me much anxiety and stress. Hence, I could not take a break or have a proper rest. As a result, the wellness of my condition decreased.

I do believe that many people face such obstacles, specifically not getting in time. This situation can lead to different mental health problems, and depression is one of them.

Solution

In order to make your plans’ progress much more efficient, especially when you have a vast number of things to do, there’s an urgent need to use tasks and time management. I’ve always been looking for an ideal way to cope with this aspect productively, and I want to share some cool tools with you that facilitated getting rid of the mess in my head:

📌 If you are a “diary” or “journal” person, a proper solution could be a bullet journal. It’s an analog system to track, organize, and plan your past, present, and future plans. In fact, it’s absolutely unnecessary to buy a specific journal. You can use any empty notebook you have and set it up by watching a free tutorial. There are also numerous articles if you want to learn some helpful tips or gain inspiration from someone else’s journal.

They also have an app to help you when you’re away from your notebook, called the Companion, which isn’t a replacement for a notebook but rather a complement to your notebook. It has some features such as “Reflection” to see your progress throughout the day and “Library,” which can store all of your notebooks by allowing you to take pictures of your spreads;

📌 If you prefer digital planning on your phone, a good solution is using apps like Todoist, MeisterTask, TickTick, or Google Tasks.

Todoist is a free app to track your habits and send you reminders. You can even link it with your calendar, voice assistant, Gmail, and many more. It allows you to assign tasks to others and work on group projects, as well as helps you to work individually on your productivity.

MeisterTask is an intuitive and modern tool to help you work together with your colleagues. All your project information is safely stored, yet accessible for project members. It includes checklists, dashboards, real-time communication, and notifications. It’s unexpectedly easy to use and flexible.

TickTick is a personal app to organize your daily life, which keeps you productive and creative. It provides five types of calendars for you to choose from, according to your own preference. You can use it for agendas, shopping lists, or memos.

Google Tasks can definitely be your perfect fit if you actively use Gmail and Google Calendar because it can easily integrate into two of these and coexist in one place for easy access. If you want your app to be handy and Gmail is your major mail app, then this one is for you;

📌 If you are more comfortable with laptop/PC usage, then you can go with different web-based (like Trello) or desktop applications to organize your time and bring your task management to a higher level.

This is a perfect tool to manage group projects, workflow, or task tracking. You can customize it and add boards, lists, and cards. Each represents a different function. Cards keep all of the information your team needs to be organized and in one place. Assign members, add due dates, leave comments, and more to manage tasks with ease and fun. Integrate seamlessly with the apps and services your team relies on like Slack, Dropbox, Outlook, Gmail, Salesforce, InVision, Jira, and hundreds more;

📌 If you lack constant support, motivation, or inspiration during your daily routine, love leveraging messengers, and are ready to test new technologies, a great decision is to try a Telegram bot named Nova.

Nova is an AI Сompanion, that can help you with task management and your personal progress tracking. This AI is based on CBT, emotional intelligence, coaching, and psychological approaches to reduce stress and anxiety and improve your mental condition. The main advantage to choose Nova is the help & support that you get in order to set and achieve goals faster via reminders, various techniques, quotes, setting up your personal plan, and tracking your progress from the Bot side.

If you need to organize and prioritize the tasks you need to perform and thus manage your time and increase your productivity, you might want to try out Nova AI.

As for me, I’m currently using multiple tools, including Google Tasks, my personal bullet journal, and the Nova bot, which performs as a platform where you have an opportunity to retrieve support and motivation.

Be productive, and stay FOCUSED!