To-do lists and goal tracking can be a scary thought. There are things that all of us would like to try to do more of, or perhaps less of. Technology can be a great way to help us keep all of these things straight, but for some us, to-do lists turn into just enough thing we have to keep track of.

Buster Benson, Co-Founder of Habit Labs, likes to dissect these concepts and turn them into easier and replicatable concepts that lead to success. His last project, Health Month, aimed to trick you into a healthier lifestyle by turning the process into a game.

Benson’s latest project, Gonnatry, is a spin on to-do lists that asks you how you’re going to complete a task. By asking you what you’d like to achieve, when you’d like to achieve it, and how you’ll achieve it, Benson hopes that you’ll actually follow through. His efforts with apps like this are mini-experiments to learn two things:

How often do people succeed?
What helps people succeed the most?

Trying is a good thing

By posting things that you’d like to make an attempt at achieving, the site may actually guide you towards success more often than not. Perhaps you’d like to read more books, do more pushups, and drink more milk. By adding these things to Gonnatry, you might actually succeed at all of them, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t.

In a blog post today, Benson describes how Gonnatry is different from other goal-tracking sites:

• It’s WAAY easier! We don’t even require you to sign up with an account.
• Rather than focusing on goals, we’re focusing on attempts! They might seem similar, but how many goals and resolutions have you had that never involved a single ounce of actual trying? You can’t get away with that here.
• We are okay with failure! An attempt is the reward in itself. If it doesn’t work out the first time, or the tenth time, keep trying! That’s the best we can be expected to do, right?
• We will learn what works! Since we don’t have any preference about goals you work towards, or what tools and motivational techniques you employ, we can simply collect the results, and give them back to you. We’re very excited about what strange correlations we might find.

Once you’ve decided on a goal to conquer, you’re asked to add the tools that you’ll be using to do so. For example, if I’m trying to read more books, it could be a library card, Kindle, or iPad that I choose. There are a list of items on the site already, but you can add your own.

This neat twist is a more immersive experience than simply adding a line to a to-do list, and serves as a reminder of what can help you reach your goal. You can choose to share your goals publicly, which Benson believes is a key to succeeding. By tweeting a goal or posting them on Facebook, your friends can help cheer you on with whatever you’re trying to tackle.

I personally enjoy the approach that Benson takes with his apps, focusing on simplicity first but giving them a twist that could make success a stronger possibility.

➤ Gonnatry

In this day and age, if a productivity app is not syncing to the cloud enabling you to continue to from anywhere, it has no real grounds to be associated with the concept of productivity at all.

The day of the Moleskine notebook has long gone and we have started to carry a sleek smartphone that replaces a dozen gadgets. As soon as App Stores and marketplaces opened for public consumption, hundreds (possibly thousands) of task management apps have flooded the market.

Sure, a lot of them well designed, full of bells and whistles available at throw away prices. But most of them lock you and your tasks within the tiny realm of the smartphone. So when the battery dies or the smartphone is misplaced, you become a sitting duck. Now, that’s nowhere near being productive and that too because of no fault of yours. Well, that’s only partially true since it’s you who unwisely chose a Todo app without cloud sync.

As a part of our ongoing series of Productivity posts, we have decided to put together a list of iOS apps that sync back to a server and allow access to your tasks from anywhere.

TeuxDeux

TeuxDeux

This one I use personally and has enhanced my productivity by atleast 30% (Before that I was maybe getting only 10% done, but that’s not the story here). Except for keeping track of things to be done, day after day, the app does not do much. There are absolutely no frills in the interface and it is strikingly similar to the parent Web app. It costs $2.99 and is worth every penny.

ToDo

ToDo

ToDo supports sync with multiple services including its homegrown Todo Online, a new cloud sync service for tasks. Besides that you can sync to Toodledo and even access your tasks on your desktop in iCal or Outlook. Comes with a $4.99 price tag.

Toodledo

Toodledo

A lot of third party apps sync to Toodledo, yet there is an official iOS client too. Looking pretty isn’t really the strong suit of Toodledo, but getting things done is. You can snag it for $2.99.

Remember The Milk

RTM

I will always remember RTM as the app that started the GTD revolution on the web. There are tonnes of better looking and feature-rich apps out there, but RTM is still going strong. To get the free mobile app, you will have to sign up for the RTM Pro account.

2Do

2Do

2Do is an award winning task management app that gets better with every update. The gorgeous design of the app made me keep track of its progress even before I got an iPhone. True cloud sync came as promised and has a whole bunch of features from multiple calendars to location based reminders. A steep $6.99 is absolutely justified and it syncs with ToodleDo.

Doit.im

Doit.im

Doit.im has got a task management client for every single software platform human beings use. There is a dedicated client for Linux too. All their apps are available for free.

Pocket Informant

Pocket Informant

Pocket Informant is a popular task management and calendering app. While this might not be the ideal choice for everyone, businessmen seem to love the app so much its always on the bestseller list. For $4.99, the app syncs with Google Calender and Toodledo.

Producteev

Producteev

Producteev is a task management app for individuals and teams. The app allows you to add tasks via IM and email making it a breeze to use. The mobile app is a free download and it syncs to the Producteev web app.

OmniFocus

OmniFocus

OmniFocus is a very well known task management app for the Mac and the developers, Omni Group, have a lot of popular Mac apps in their kitty. OmniFocus for iPhone is probably the costliest Todo app (costs $19.99) in the app store and it syncs to the Mac version using Bonjour on a local WiFi network, or through the cloud using MobileMe or any standard WebDAV server.

Flow

Flow

Flow on the web has a gorgeous interface and a boatload of features. This task management app has got so many features, it is only a few notches away from becoming a project management app. Ideal for teams and individuals alike. The mobile app is free and syncs with the Flow web app.

TaskPaper

TaskPaper

I was of the impression that TeuxDeux is the simplest Todo app of them all. TaskPaper made me change my mind. Type your lists into TaskPaper and each line is formatted into a project, task or note. The iOS app costs $9.99 and syncs with Simpletext.ws

Things

Things

My shot at task management and productivity began with Things. It has a ton of features yet it does not feel too complicated to use. And the gorgeous interface is simply the best. I had to ditch it few months ago, for the lack of true cloud sync. It has always had wireless syncing capability with the Things for Mac app and they have (finally) entered the testing phase of the much expected cloud sync feature.

Dropkick

Dropkick

Dropkick is a simple task management app for the Mac. Perfect choice for those who just want to add and tracks things to do. The iOS app is free while the Mac version costs $4.99.

Wunderlist

Wunderlist

Wunderlist is getting more famous by the day. It has got a lot of geek and street cred, thanks to their streamlined flow combined with the splendid web and desktop apps. All versions of the app are free.

Zenbelists

Zenbelists

Nobody rocks green better than Zenbe. I was a huge fan of Zenbe mail when it launched. Now the same awesomeness lives through Zenbe lists. The app costs $4.99 in the app store and has a gorgeous iPad app too.

Which one is your favorite task management app?

As the computer revolution took off and people like Bill Gates became successful businessmen the “geek is good” mantra became mainstream.  The 1980s and 90s produced a generation raised on video games and those people are now making a big impact in the world.  For all the controversy surrounding him and Facebook, Mark Zuckerburg was essentially trying to reach out to friends by spending his free time programming a website.

From The Big Bang Theory to Scott Pilgrim vs. The World to San Diego ComicCon we have seen nerd culture become mainstream.  The original Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and Playstation were kids toys.  They had some adult users too, but they were always viewed as toys.  Fast-forward a few years and the Nintendo Wii is used by soccer moms and the elderly in addition to kids or adult gamers.  If nerds are becoming tastemakers and influencers in the world of media and culture, why not turn to them for other aspects of our life?

This is where Epic Win wants to enter your life.  What is Epic Win?  Stated simply, it’s a todo list.  Don’t give up there, it’s also a game.  Splitting the difference between World of WarCraft and Progress Quest, Epic Win lets you keep track of the tasks in your life, as menial or important as they may be, and help your character level up, find loot, and explore a fantasy world.  Just like in a game you create a character (such as a dwarf, tree folk or warrior) and complete quests.  The difference is that you choose your quests – they are your todos.

Each quest is given a point value for completion, say 50 for doing your laundry or 300 for that big paper or project at work.  You also choose which attributes of your character should be enhanced by each task.  Strength, stamina, intellect, social, and spirit are the available characteristics to be enhanced by completion of quests.  Long, boring chores could enhance your stamina.  Going to a party could boost your social skills.  Studying might fall under intellect, unless it’s a boring task and then it could be stamina.  As you complete more quests you find loot, little rewards for your hero.

There are a number of strategies for organization and task management – Inbox Zero, the Pomodoro Technique, sticky notes and notepad windows, and even a number of mobile apps.  Things is a great application and using it on my iPhone has made a big difference in my own organization but sometimes it just isn’t fun.  Not that everything needs to be fun, but sometimes a generic todo list is just not the way to succeed.

Foursquare and Gowalla have taken running errands and going to new places and turned them into small adventures – even if it’s just finding a new dry cleaner.  Steve Jobs has said that the iPod Touch is “the funnest iPod ever”  – a term that would probably never have been applied to a music device or computer in the past.  The beauty of the digital world and especially the touch screen devices is that they are literally blank slates, able to be configured into whatever specialized piece of equipment you need at the moment: spreadsheet, notebook, messaging client, web browser, photo viewer, space ship or F1 race car.  Geek is good and geek tools are making our lives more interesting is unexpected ways.

This post is to officially retract what I’d originally said, make an official apology and introduce you to a todo list app you’ll find difficult not to love.

First off, the retraction, why? Well I’ve just received an invite to the service. My initial review was based solely on screenshots placed on the sites homepage and “features” page. Thanks to the wonders of the web – I have the power to do this, and I have deleted my original post and with any luck, the cached version will be unavailable before long too.

Secondly, a sincere apology. Despite the app I’m about to introduce you indeed being a web based take on Things, the team behind it have created a tool that in some respects outshines Things – at least for now. Design and UI are very similar, but it’s clear that the application developers have put a great deal of passion into creating something unique (at least in the online sphere), and the care and attention to detail is undeniable.

Finally, what I’m sure you’ve been waiting for, an introduction…

Nirvana is an elegant, web based task management app based on David Allen’s “getting things done“. Offering a great way to view and organize projects, its also a wonderfully simple way to tag, file and schedule tasks for the future.

Nirvana provides a wonderful number of keyboard shortcuts to make adding and navigating its interface possible without a mouse, that said I’d love to see a desktop app, if only to let me add tasks without needing to visit the site.

Nirvana’s most useful feature is it’s ability to manually reorder tasks place. Again, this is also possible with Things, but not on any other online task management app I’ve seen and for me personally, it’s a deal breaker. Being able to organise tasks due today is critical to my ability to get things done. I’m constantly changing the order of stuff I need to do, and being forced to change a todo “priority” (when ordering by priority) or having rename the todo to ensure it appears near the top of a todo list (when ordered alphabetically by name) is just too much trouble. With Nirvana it’s as simple as dragging and dropping.

Now, the missing ingredients. Aside from not being to assign tasks (something it does say you can do on its ‘features’ page) and no repeating tasks, the most notable missing ingredient is a decent mobile application. The tool does have a gorgeously designed iPhone (web) application with a great deal of functionality, but boy am I looking forward to something that stores my tasks locally and syncs them when I have an internet connection available.

Despite blatant comparisons with the likes of Things, Nirvana has managed to provide a feature many Things users have been craving for for some time – web based access.

From my perspective, this is now a race. Either Things creates a web based interface and/or cloud sync (they’ve publicly stated they are working on this), or Nirvana creates a splendid mobile app (iPhone, Android and ideally Blackberry and Windows Mobile too).