To Do or Not To Do

No matter what field you are working in, at some point of time we all use the concept of the To Do List. This is something that people at times use not only in their professional life but also in their personal life. It indeed is a very effective method to keep an eye on all the tasks at once and to ensure that we do not miss on anything. Though I am not really into such kind of planning etc. but ever since I have been into the working force I have had to start using it and I have to admit that it really does helps to complete the tasks in time.

I have been using the To Do lists in diary rather than any electronic form because I was more comfortable with it. Also, some people who had tried the electronic forms of To Dos recommended that the hard copy format is effective. Nevertheless, you will find that people preferring the electronic form are more than that of the hard copy. I personally believe that writing by hand has its own aura and conjuration.

Anyways, I then started off with the electronic mediums for the To Do lists. Now, there were ample numbers of options available, which one to choose? After some basic search around I started off with Evernote and Wunderlist. Initially, you may take some time in being familiar with them and being habitual to them but slowly and gradually it becomes an important component for your day to day activities and also to plan the week or month well in advance.

Evernote is an amazing tool for taking all your notes, web pages you like, images etc in one place and has amazing methods to categorize data and retrieve as and when needed with the help of Tags, Notebooks (and similar jargons) etc. So, this is something you can use for long term thing.

For day to day, Wunderlist is an awesome tool or actually not Wunderlist but Wunderlist 2. It has a very neat interface and is very simple to use with the options of creating different lists for different tasks, adding notes to individual tasks, marking them crossed when done, setting up reminders etc.

So, you can use Wunderlist for short term planning and Evernote for long term planning & single point repository for notes, content and data you would like to visit time and again.
To add on to that, you can use both of these on your cellphones as they have their apps available.

Amazing tools they surely are but every now and then I also use my diary, not sure if any electronic tool would be capable enough to make me switch entirely to the electronic form!

Do try them and happy planning.

Find them here:

• Evernote: https://evernote.com/
• Wunderlist-2: http://www.6wunderkinder.com/wunderlist

Go do something wonderful

The title of this blog post is actually taken from an advertisement of intel processor. Find the video below.

Indeed it is very true that it is an innate tendency of every human being "to create". This tendency cannot be denied and is true for every individual.

Though, we, as a part of a mechanical society try to fit in, unaware of the fact that this is not an ideal or perfect community of which we intend to be a part of.

In the process of our aspiration to fit in, our innate creativity, because of not being properly nurtured, slowly yet strongly keeps depleting day after day. Moreover, in general, since we do not take any efforts to replenish those energies, we hence tend to lose this characteristic. Not a good thing to happen, is it?

Hence, the need of the hour is to be more creative, everyday. It may be in any form art, craft, prose, poetry, song, article or any other thing; the primary objective is "to express" in a creative manner irrespective of the medium or method used.

So, lets do something wonderful. :)

Which story do you prefer?

This very simple statement "Which story do you prefer?" has left a great impact in the movie "Life of Pi". Primarily because the statement is strong enough to make an adventurous movie a suspense one and more importantly, it makes us "think". Yes, in today's era of smartphones, computers and media, if something is there which we do very less, is thinking. This is because even our thoughts and perceptions are biased due to overdose of information lying anywhere and everywhere. Media such as TV, news, print media have always had an impact on the general public since ages. But, what has now changed is their "reach" to us due to the newly built ocean of information everywhere around us. This reminds me of one of the very well known poems "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 

The lines being . . .

"Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water,  everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink."

The current situation is no different, we have a huge ocean of information all around us and this can be attributed to the fast pace growth of technologies such as smartphones, internet etc. which have given all that was there in your PC and was there on TV, right into your hands. So, eventually the media and the people who can control the perceptions of the public have become even more strengthened.

Hence, the question "Which story do you prefer?" holds a great value because more than ever before this is the time when your perceptions and preferences need to be your own, you need to think and decide what your preferences are, to do that we really need to "think" and observe the happenings of our surroundings; otherwise as I said it is easy for "those" people to guide your thoughts, your ideas, your perceptions and your preferences as per "their" comfort.

So, the question prevails. . . .

"Which story do YOU prefer?"