_Update: Looks like Wunderlist was bought by Microsoft, so maybe take this all with a grain of salt._

<p>I’m loving the newest version of Wunderlist. Honestly, I’m not even sure what all has changed, but here’s what I know: Wunderlist is probably my favorite ToDo management application thus far.</p>

<p>That’s a big deal, you know… there’s about a thousand ToDo managers.</p>

<p>Here’s how I’m using it.</p>

<h2>1. Put it everywhere</h2>

<p>One of Wunderlist’s primary killer features is the fact that it is available everywhere. Native apps for Apple devices, and a web interface. It really is everywhere.</p>

<p>So make your to-dos accessible everywhere. Unlike your email, having your todos accessible actually <em>helps</em> your productivity if you know when to look at the list.</p>

<h2>3. Use Tags to Sort by Energy/Time Required and Context</h2>

<p>Who knew you could do hashtags in Wunderlist. This allows for clickable searchability. Adding some kind of context allows you to do things like: “Clean out closet. #15m #home #busywork”. When you’re at home, your mind is completely fried, and you have 15 minutes to kill, having these tags helps you find the tasks that should be done at that point in time. When we have 15 minutes to spend, knowing exactly what we’re going to spend that 15 minutes doing is essential.</p>

<h2>3. Name lists by major projects/efforts</h2>

<p>When organizing my to-dos, it’s cognitively helpful for me to think about my home chores, side projects, and work projects in different contexts. Thus, when I’m thinking about writing articles, I have a list dedicated to writing articles. I can tag things to fall back to related tasks, like #writing, which I can put both on my book-writing efforts as well as my personal writing efforts.</p>

<h2>4. Share lists with my wife, coworkers, etc</h2>

<p>Shared lists are another killer feature.</p>

<p>My wife and I always need the same groceries. So, when we go grocery shopping, having the list available is super valuable. Pro-tip: when you run out of something, mark it off the list, and use the “completed” view to show you what you need to buy. Much easier than unmarking. Once you’ve bought everything, clean up your “completed” by marking them as “incomplete”. Dirty, but usable.</p>

<p>Sharing a list means you can also assign items. This makes divvying up responsibilities a breeze.</p>

<h2>5. Make a Must Do Today list, and limit it to 3 items</h2>

<p>If you don’t have a priority list that is your daily requirement, then you don’t really have an “in-queue” context. Make these non-negotiable, and make them completely accomplishable.</p>

<h2>6. Make Managing your List its Own To-Do</h2>

<p>Your to-do list is built to take care of your <em>meta-work</em> - your work about work. Stop thinking about what it is that you have to do, and pull it off the top of your list. This means it takes time to manage your list. So, dedicate some time to administering your list. Simple as that, you’ve done all of your meta work, which otherwise would steal from your insignificant cracks.</p>

<h2>7. Make everything actionable</h2>

<p>Make each and every item on the list an actionable task. This means no “get ready for the event” kind of tasks; instead, use “email the participants of the event”. Pro-tip: Use the comments and sub-tasks in Wunderlist to keep track of minute details. For instance, if you need to individually email a list of people, put each person as a subtask of the email task. Use comments to grab relevant links, passwords, etcetera.</p>

<p>I’m using Wunderlist because it makes my task management easier. Hopefully you find these tips useful to your task management. <a href="http://twitter.com/jcutrell">Let me know what you think on Twitter!</a></p>


7 Tips for Hyper-productive Wunderlist-ing


## Update: I've abandoned this project for now.
It's important to know when to leave something behind.

<p>I’m more than excited to announce that I will be publishing a book soon that’s all about the work I do on a day-to-day basis with some incredibly creative people here at <a href="http://whiteboard.is">Whiteboard</a>.</p>

<p>In the book, you’ll find ideas that I believe could change the way developers and visionaries work together, and I’m really excited to share it with you.</p>

<p>If you’re interested in learning more about the book in the upcoming days, drop by <a href="http://hackingtheimpossible.com">http://hackingtheimpossible.com</a> and sign up for the mailing list, and then follow <a href="http://twitter.com/hackimpossible">@hackimpossible</a> on Twitter.</p>

<h2>About the book</h2>

<p><a href="http://img.svbtle.com/4b6uympiv3gy8q.jpg"><img src="https://d23f6h5jpj26xu.cloudfront.net/4b6uympiv3gy8q_small.jpg" alt="hti_cover.jpg"></img></a></p>

<p>If you work at a creative agency, you’ve almost certainly experienced the phenomenon of personality difference that Hacking The Impossible is all about. The two polar creative opposites - The Developer and The Visionary - sit in their corners of the room, each with entirely different understandings of what it means to <em>work</em>. The developer believes in concrete structure and receives in equal portions nerd-ridicule and geek-cred; the visionary follows the latest fashion trends and seems to shift from one idea to the next, living in complete oblivion to the complexity of technology. The developer is often accused of being anti-social, closed-minded, or pessimistic, while the visionary is accused of having their head in the clouds, getting wrapped up in impractical or downright impossible ideas.</p>

<p>The truth, however, is that the powerful creative abilities of each of these polar opposite caricatures are held within their ability to be the extreme versions of themselves. The visionary holds keys to imagining the impossible things, and the developer’s job is to build the impossible.</p>

<p>This book is about two things: how to work better with people, and how to use those skills to think about problems in a new light. This new light illuminates the path to innovation, and reminds you that with the right people in the right room at the right time, the impossible can be achieved.</p>

<p><strong>Don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list at <a href="http://hackingtheimpossible.com">http://hackingtheimpossible.com</a> to receive periodic updates from me about the book!</strong></p>


Announcing Hacking the Impossible &#8211; The Developer’s Guide to Working with Visionaries


<p>As I’ve said before in <a href="http://jonathancutrell.com/steal-these-startup-ideas-collection-one">collection one of this series</a>, ideas are everywhere. Furthermore, I certainly don’t have time to make all of my ideas a reality. I want them to be real, and truly would use each and every one of these.</p>

<p>If you like one of the ideas and want to take it and make it a real thing, let me know! I’m not going to try to take a piece of your company (unless you offer and the deal is a good one), and I’m not going to sue you. I just want to hear from the people these ideas are influencing. It fuels me! Tell me on <a href="http://twitter.com/jcutrell">Twitter (@jcutrell)</a> or email me at <a href="mailto:jonathan@whiteboard.is">jonathan@whiteboard.is</a>.</p>

<p>Enough of the introduction - let’s talk about things that would make the world a better place, shall we?</p>

<h2>1. Service Butler</h2>

<p>How many services do you subscribe to? Sometimes I even forget how many I’m subscribed to. However irresponsible that may be, I certainly get a lot of benefits out of services. But I’d like to be sure that I’m spending my money wisely, which means two things:</p>

<ol>
<li>The services I’m buying are the best for the buck</li>
<li>I save money if and when possible</li>
</ol>

<p>Imagine a service that allowed me to lean on my personal service butler - who could do the research to find me savings and refine my list of services, consolidating and managing all customer service issues as my representative. On top of managing my services for me, they could also take cuts of my savings for themselves (I’d rather save 2 dollars and give one away than save none at all). What’s even more exciting in this? The opportunity for affiliate sales.</p>

<p>Pro tip/warning: Do NOT do this idea and take any and every affiliate deal that comes your way. Then the core competitive advantage and selling point - that you are my butler, and you’re on <strong>my side</strong>, is lost. Only take affiliate deals that you believe in. This is really true for all affiliate sales, too.</p>

<h2>2. Facetime Health Checkups</h2>

<p>I’m a relatively healthy individual, but I’d like to be sure I’m doing everything I can to remain healthy.</p>

<p>I’d definitely pay for a convenient way to get professional medical advice without having to sit in a waiting room. Sometimes, I have a simple question about fitness, food, or behavioral patterns that I’d like answered, and I can’t really get that answer right away unless I ask Dr. Google. I’d much rather have a nutritionist that I can Facetime or Skype with, so that I can show them my pantry and ask them random health questions. Furthermore, they would know my medical makeup and family history, so they would be able to give me more personalized advice than something like Google.</p>

<p>Disclaimer - there may be a TON of HIPAA stuff standing in the way of this actually happening, or it could be as easy as just doing it - I don’t know. That’s your job to find out. However, this is the wave of the future - if you are an early builder in the field of remote medical, you’d be quite smart in my opinion.</p>

<h2>3. Box-a-Month Closet Builder for Men</h2>

<p>Sure, there are plenty of subscription box companies, and some of them are awesome. But what I need to focus on is building my professional wardrobe in a consistent way. I also want it to match my personality.</p>

<p>(Note: I’m focusing on men because it seems like it’s the most obvious market for reasons I outline below, but perhaps there is an adjacent market focusing on women’s fashion. Have at it.)</p>

<p>Combine learning algorithms with sizes and fashion personality traits, and you have yourself a nice pipeline to serve men the fashion they need on a monthly basis.</p>

<p>If there are other men like me (I’d imagine I’m not THAT unique), then fashion isn’t always at the top of their priority list. Like many things, I and they are willing to pay to not have to make fashion decisions. I’d rather it be dependable and automatic. Build my wardrobe for me over the next few seasons, and do so with the proper flair, and I will definitely pay a monthly subscription fee. Maybe even a variable fee. Think about opportunities for upsell and product placement!</p>

<p>Go make this one happen, please.</p>

<h2>4. Mentor-Mentee Matchmaker</h2>

<p>I’m in search of a mentor. I’m also in search of mentees. The benefits of teaching and learning from other people are numerous, and we won’t detail them here. Instead, let’s focus on one simple fact: there is no platform dedicated to creating, building, and supporting mentor-specific relationships.</p>

<p>Imagine you create your personal profile. Talk about your income, your goals, and your skillset. Maybe even explain some of your personality traits.</p>

<p>Do the research to find out what mentor-mentee relationship dynamics work the best, and build your algorithms around those concepts.</p>

<p>Then, make matches. Find people who have financial goals and match them with those who have found success in their finances. Or, maybe more complex relational dynamics could play into the relationship, such as an extrovert teaching an introvert about self inclusiveness or confidence.</p>

<p>The opportunities here are in the data, of course, but also in the relationships that are built. Creating a company that births learning in whatever format is going to pay for itself a hundred times over.</p>

<h2>5. Educational Pathmaker: Using Data to Drive the Classroom</h2>

<p>Education is clearly a field that requires more energy and resources from all possible angles.</p>

<p>The need for a data-driven approach to personalized curriculum and educational planning could change the way schools work across the world.</p>

<p>Imagine, for instance, that the patterns in 90% of children who may have autism are present in a student. At what age is it detected that that child may be autistic? Perhaps young, but perhaps not. If there was a computer-aided analysis that helped determine the cognitive abilities of a child dynamically as they progress through their education, better decisions could be made for that child’s education.</p>

<p>This opens up not only the reactive scenarios, but also proactive scenarios such as cognitive research. If children demonstrably respond better to a particular curriculum, this becomes like A/B testing for education programs. Imagine the ability to start determining career paths earlier in life based on natural tendencies, or even based on seemingly unrelated personality or behavioral attributes a given student presents.</p>

<p>Furthermore, this would help provide a selection process for classroom placement, and could possibly even help reduce violence in schools by identifying children who need more specific psychological attention.</p>

<p>The ethics of this particular system are obviously the big question mark. The outlying statistics. What happens when the algorithm is wrong? Obviously, the answer to this question is to never trust the computer more than you trust reality. This is the future of education as well - highly personalized educational paths that are responsive to your cognitive abilities and behavioral patterns.</p>

<h2>Conclusion</h2>

<p>I hope you’ve enjoyed this second collection of ideas! The goal is to continue these installments, and hopefully continue to make better relationships with you, the reader. In the meantime, shout out and follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/jcutrell">Twitter</a>!</p>


Jonathan Cutrell

Announcing Hacking the Impossible – The Developer’s Guide to Working with Visionaries

Update: I've abandoned this project for now.

About the book

Jonathan Cutrell

Announcing Hacking the Impossible &#8211; The Developer’s Guide to Working with Visionaries

Update: I've abandoned this project for now.

About the book

Announcing Hacking the Impossible – The Developer’s Guide to Working with Visionaries