(note:  I originally posted this in 2018, but wanted to post it again because this tool continues to be a help to me and my clients who are working on better self-management.)

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”   (Eph 5:15-16 ESV)

I want to share a free app that I have found to be extremely useful in helping me “make the best use of my time” as I manage my own life.  It’s called WhatsNext? by the Corporate Coach Group.

I don’t usually promote products, and I’m not getting a commission, but this app has helped me so much that I want to pass this resource along!

Most “task manager” and “to do list” apps have you assign a priority level to each task (high, medium, low, etc.)  That’s a start, but it doesn’t really help you prioritize which of your “high” level ones to do first.  If there are 10 things in your “high priority” list, how do you decide in which order they should be done?  Funnest first?  Most difficult first?  The ones that would make God, or my boss, or my wife the happiest?

This app solves this problem of real-time decision-making, and makes it easy to determine which–of all the things that I could do today–should I do first, then second, third, etc.  It’s not designed for long range strategic planning or for managing all the tasks that could be done, but it works perfectly in making decisions about the handful of things I could do today.

To use the app, you simply plug in the five or eight or ten things you could do today.  Pressing the “prioritize” button then brings them up two at a time and compares each one with each of the others.  So instead of looking at 12 things and saying, “where do I start?” you simply compare two and say, “If I had only time to do one of these two things, which one would I want to have accomplished at the end of the day?  In other words, which task is most important for me to do–today?

When finished comparing all the possible combinations, the app gives you a list of all your tasks in order, so you simply begin working on #1, then #2, etc. You don’t have to give it any more thought!  And if you don’t have time to finish them all, no problem!  You did the most important things first, so you can sleep well, knowing you did the most important things with the time you had.

The app allows you to save multiple lists, such as “Things I could do on my day off” or “Home improvement projects I could do.”   And for adding tasks on the fly you can either insert them one-at-a-time into a previously prioritized list or you can run the program again.

The lists can even be backed up to the web and can be emailed too!

Here’s the link if you want to give it a try.