Why I Started Using Trello for School
And how organisation plays a key role in my life
Organisation has always played a key role in my life. Starting somewhere around eighth grade I have slowly grown an obsession with organisation, be it for upcoming events, things I need to finish for school, or how my room looks before I go to bed. The older I get, the more I realise how important organisation is, how it makes life easier and how I always feel like there is something more that can be done.
Why?
I think the biggest reason I always feel the need to organise, is the fear of forgetting. The worst feeling, is remembering something just minutes or hours before its supposed to be done. Additionally, it has to do with well being. Its just better, at least in my opinion, waking up to a clean room, where everything is in its place, rather than to a mess.
Using apps to organise what I need to do and when it needs to be done, is also a way to give myself permission to think about other things, allowing myself to forget, because I know I will be reminded. The combination of Trello and the ‘Reminders’ App eliminates the fear of forgetting.
Paper vs Apps
In addition to saving deadlines and upcoming events on Trello or in ‘Reminders’, I also write them down. This is another thing I do every day before going to sleep… writing down what I hope to get done the next day so I have it then and there. Trello helps me organise my thoughts and also write down things I need to get done in the long run, whilst paper (in my case sticky notes) helps me see what needs to be done on spot.
What Makes Trello Good?
The one word answer: overview. As you can see in the screenshot above, users can create multiple “Lists” in which you save your events, each having the option to be tagged with custom labels as well as due dates. How detailed you want to set up each event, is yours to choose. This enables for a great overview of all tasks that need to be done and how important they are. In addition to working on the desktop Trello also has a mobile app, which allows me to see what needs to be done from wherever I am.
Two more things that make it great: price and collaboration. Trello is free, and having a paid account, only allows for power user features you don’t necessarily need. What I mean by collaboration is that you can share boards with other users, allowing for better organisation in a large group project or a small company. Bringing overview, customisation, collaboration and the amazing price together allows for an amazing and very helpful product I enjoy really enjoy using. Even if you think you dislike organising and your and unorganised person, I find that Trello makes this an easy, sometimes even fun task.
Combining Trello and Reminders
Trello may be a good overview, but what I think one feature it lacks is reminders. Therefore I use Apples ‘Reminders’ app to send me notifications when I think I need them most. This helps me stay on track and again, eliminates the fear of forgetting.
Conclusion
For some, doing all of this may seem like too much… and yes, I understand that it may seem intimidating at first, but we must accept that the world is headed towards more and more reliance on these things. We spend so much time on our phones or in front of our computers anyways, why not use one of those minutes we spend scrolling through the discovery feed on Instagram, to organise our events on Trello, making life easier for us later. There is just something great about being able to place a checkmark on a Trello card, knowing you completed the thing you may have just remembered two seconds ago, hadn’t you saved it on Trello the day before.
Thanks so much for reading this post. I hope that it has taught you something about Trello and organisation in general, maybe even inspired you to get more organised yourself. If you are a student, or just have a lot going on in your daily life, I highly recommend you try Trello for yourself.
Also, check out my last post: School, University, Future. This is the fourth post in the series of me taking readers on my journey of finding my passion, as well as talking about the things I find interest in.
If you enjoyed the read, a like as well as sharing this would be highly appreciated. Additionally, if you have an idea for topics I can write about / post my opinion on, let me know on twitter (@seven11nash).
– Marc
