While we are accustomed to managing our work time—scheduling calls, meetings, and important tasks—we often neglect to plan our personal time. This article discusses how various apps can help develop the habit of managing your day effectively.
WEEEK
WEEEK is a service designed for team project management but is also excellent for personal use and individual day planning. It provides all the necessary tools for effective planning, which simply need to be properly configured.
Key Features of WEEEK for Day Planning
- Project Creation. You can create separate projects for different areas of life such as hobbies, education, and work. If using WEEEK in a team, you can also create private projects that are closed to others.
- Kanban Boards. Each project can have multiple boards, which can be organized into stages of life and labeled accordingly. For example, a Reading board might have columns like "Planning to Read," "Buy/Download Book," "In Progress," and "Read."
- Tasks. Organize your life into project "shelves" and boards, and create tasks with specific dates when you plan to work on them.
- Calendar Views. Weekly and monthly calendar views are available.
- Checklists and Subtasks. Inside tasks, you can create checklists (e.g., shopping lists) and decompose tasks into subtasks to be completed sequentially.
- Notifications. Set reminders for scheduled tasks; notifications can be received via Telegram, VK, Slack, and email.
- Progress Tracking. Task completion and progress can be monitored through the Analytics service.
- Resource Collection. Useful materials and documents can be gathered in a Knowledge Base, similar in functionality to Notion.
- Sync with Calendars. Synchronizes with Google, Apple, and Yandex calendars.
- Task Timing and Timers. Task duration can be estimated and timers set to manage time effectively.
Pros and Cons of WEEEK
➕ Pleasant interface, easy setup, ability to detail tasks and each area of life, flexible notifications, checklists
➖ You cannot create time blocks — only estimate how much time a task should take
WEEEK App Versions
Web application for browsers, mobile apps for iOS and Android. Overall, you can always stay connected with your plans.
Cost of WEEEK
It can be used for free individually, but with limited features. You will have access to 7 projects with 5 boards each and 100 documents in the knowledge base. The paid plan starts at $3.99 per user.
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is one of the most popular services for managing both work and personal time. Many entrepreneurs start their day with Google Calendar. It's a must-have and a universal solution.
Main features of Google Calendar for day planning:
- Task creation: Tasks can be set for specific times and will appear in the calendar as a single strip. Tasks can be completed with a click on a button inside, and the task name will be crossed out.
- Event creation: This is a long task that occupies a time period. You can set as long an interval as you like, including setting the event for the whole day. Events can be marked as private or public, busy or free. This is convenient if you need to reserve time in the calendar for your plans and tasks.
- Creation of recurring tasks and the ability to make a copy of a task if it repeats.
- Customization of task and event colors: You can choose the color of the block from the palette provided.
- Fine-tuning of notifications by interval, including the option to turn off notifications altogether.
- Synchronization of different calendars – for example, you can connect the Megaplan calendar, WEEEK, training calendars, and also synchronize with Apple Calendar if the account emails match.
- Calendar view for a day, week, month, year, 4 days.
- Ideal for time-blocking – when you need to divide the day into hourly blocks and block time intervals for your activities.
Pros and Cons of Google Calendar
➕ Very simple tool that integrates well with other services. You always have easy access to Google Calendar from any device.
➖ No built-in checklists, only through Google Keep. No subtasks.
Versions of Google Calendar
Web application, mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Cost of Google Calendar
Free.
Microsoft To Do
Microsoft To Do is a simple and straightforward personal task planner. It does not claim to have complex functions. Let's see what it can do.
Main features of Microsoft To Do for day planning
- Ability to create to-do lists, which will collect all tasks.
- Inside lists, tasks can be created to which checklists, descriptions, priorities can be added, as well as categories and attachments.
- Categorization by preset tags.
- Convenient notification system for tasks - for a specific time and date, for the next day or week. Plus, you can configure which specific tasks you want to receive notifications for.
- There is sorting, grouping, a suggestion feature, and a simple prioritization function - you can star a task to move it to Important.
- Lists can be printed. Well, in case you need it!
- Synchronization with all Microsoft products and Skype.
Pros and Cons of Microsoft To Do
➕ Very simple and completely free
➖ Limited functionality, clunky interface
Versions of the Microsoft To Do
Web application, applications for macOS and Windows, mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Cost of Microsoft To Do
Free.
Any.do
Any.do is a pleasant and multifaceted planner suitable for both work and personal time planning.
Main features of Any.do for day planning
- Ability to create lists as projects. For example, for each area of life or separately for personal affairs and work.
- Planning is possible for one day where tasks with subtasks in the form of checklists can be created. Files can also be added to tasks.
- Tasks can be prioritized using priority tags. Inside the task, you can change its list association or move the task to another day.
- Automatic planning is available for the day and for the week. In the weekly view, the app takes on the appearance of Kanban boards where tasks can be easily moved from day to day.
- Synchronization with Google and Outlook calendars, turning tasks into events.
- There is a filter for tasks and events.
Pros and Cons of Any.do
➕ Very pleasant interface, wide range of features, many templates and use cases for the service
➖ No task duration tracking. Priority tagging only available in the paid version
Versions of the Any.do App
Available on all devices, including browsers and mobile apps, and there are also apps for Apple Watch and Android smartwatches.
Cost of Any.do
Can be used for free but with limited features. Prices start from $5.99.
TickTick
TickTick is a pleasant and convenient personal planner with universal features, perfectly suited for personal use.
Main features of TickTick for day planning
- Creation of lists with plans and tasks.
- Tasks can be titled and described in detail. There are subtasks, which are displayed below the main task and can be collapsed.
- Personal tagging system. You can create and name a tag as you like, and also choose the color of the tag. There are also classic priority tags—urgent, medium, not urgent.
- You can view tasks for the day or the week, as well as in calendar view where all tasks are displayed by date—convenient for long-term planning.
- Convenient filtering, prioritization, and grouping.
- Syncs with all third-party calendars.
- A notable strong point of the app includes many mini-services: Eisenhower matrix for task prioritization, habit tracker, Pomodoro timer, and a mini-calendar (built-in calendar for tracking upcoming tasks).
- Overview of performance statistics and smart task sorting—the app can automatically delete tasks it recognizes as test tasks.
Pros and Cons of TickTick
➕ Simple yet powerful service with all necessary features—making it a universal assistant.
➖ None detected
Cost of TickTick
Can be freely used with some limitations on features, pricing starts from $2.49.
Versions of the TickTick App
Web application, apps for macOS and Windows, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and browser extensions.
Todoist
Todoist—this list would be incomplete without it. It’s a wonderful, convenient, and very cozy personal planner. It is cherished for its handy checklists and clear task management system.
Main features of Todoist for day planning
- Built around the creation of lists, including the ability to add checklists and descriptions.
- Cool tagging system—there are personalized, customizable labels, as well as priority tags.
- Planning for days and weeks—meaning two types of task display.
- Much is geared towards task completion. For example, there’s a Karma rewards system where the app awards points for completed tasks. This often motivates task completion and keeps users engaged with their to-do lists. Moreover, the app celebrates completed tasks with a firework display.
- Integrations with programs and systems, such as Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, and Microsoft Teams.
- Flexible notification system—push notifications can be received via email and on the phone.
- Customization of the appearance of labels, projects, and the interface.
- Through the browser extension, it’s convenient to quickly set tasks and save useful links to texts or directly to entire websites.
Pros and Cons of Todoist
➕ Very convenient application, clear and intuitive. Does everything a personal planner should do.
➖ Many limitations in the free tier, especially in such important features as notifications.
Cost of Todoist
Can be freely used with limitations. Paid plans start at $4 per month.
Versions of Todoist
Web application for browsers, applications for Windows and macOS, mobile apps for Android and iOS, an app for Apple Watch, and a browser extension.
Remember The Milk
Remember The Milk is a cool and pleasant planner for personal affairs and collaborative work.
Main features of Remember The Milk for day planning
- Creation of tasks with subtasks and descriptions. Tasks can have additional fields such as tags, duration, and others.
- Tasks can be prioritized, linked to attachments, and reminders can be set.
- Notifications for tasks, but strangely only after a task list is created.
- Planning for various terms—from one day to a week.
- Customizable tagging system—tasks can be assigned tags with your own name and color marker.
- Customizable appearance.
- Smart lists feature allows for setting up lists based on keywords; tasks containing these keywords will automatically be added to these lists.
- Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook.
Pros and Cons of Remember The Milk
➕ Very easy to learn, contains all necessary features for personal planning.
➖ Many important features are unavailable on the free tier. Lacks common functionalities, making it difficult to understand how to set up personal notifications.
Versions of Remember The Milk
Web versions for all browsers, applications for Windows and macOS, mobile apps for Android, iOS, and even BlackBerry, as well as an app for Apple Watch.
Cost of Remember The Milk
Free with limited features, or $39.99 per year for full access.
Join Telegram chat 
