Get It Done Ten

Ten Things to Help You Get Things Done

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Susan Ward offers some sound advice on the art of getting it done with her About.com article, 11 Time Management Tips.

Everything will "locate files and folders by name instantly; features: Small installation file; Clean and simple user interface; Quick file indexing; Quick searching; Minimal resource usage; Share files with others easily; Real-time updating" (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista)

iQ-Notes "gives the user the ability to track notes on their computer just like Post-It notes. The application is freeware, which means you can download and use it, at no cost! One neat thing you can do with it is that it can synchronize with an FTP server so the notes on one computer is the same as the notes on your other computers or laptop. If you have notes all over your desk, or want to save information all in one place without losing them, you'll find this program very easy to use with many useful features. Simply just install this program and it appears on your task-tray. Whenever you want to create a fast note, just double-click on the post-it note icon on your task tray. It's that easy" (OS: Windows XP/Vista)

Japplis Tool Box is "a compilation of text utilities in one application . . . It can encode and decode URL, Base64, Hex, SoundEx or Metaphone; convert numbers from/to binary, octal, decimal, hexadecimal and to date; give you text information such as character count, word count, MD5 or SHA; get Java system properties, environment variables or Swing default values; checks and finds regular expressions" (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista, but developer notes that it "runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. You can also run it online as Applet")

Microsoft's Office Accounting Express 2009 is "the ideal accounting solution for new or existing home office–based small businesses. Office Accounting Express 2009 helps small business owners and bookkeepers save time on everyday tasks, work the way they want, and grow their business through online sales, online invoicing, and payment processes. Office Accounting Express 2009 comes with the familiar look and feel of the Microsoft Office system. For more advanced accounting features, you can upgrade to Office Accounting Professional 2009" (OS: Windows 2003/2008/Vista/XP; also noted: "Microsoft Office Word 2002 or later is required to create customized invoices, sales orders, quotes, customer credit memos, customer statements, and purchase orders")

SeeColors is "a simple application to preview RVB, HTML or decimal color values for use in CSS and HTML production . . . features: Ability to choose colors for 2 backgrounds and 4 text samples; Eyedropper tool; RVB, CSS (HTML) or decimal color conversion; CSS document can be dropped to extract color styles; Import/export features; Up to 10 color sets can be saved and loaded; Easy to use with its friendly interface and its intensive use of drag and drop" (OS: Mac OS X, Windows XP/Vista)

Task Coach is "a simple open source todo manager to manage personal tasks and todo lists . . . designed to deal with composite tasks" (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)

Also from iXoft, TexFinder is "a powerful and accurate tool to search and replace text inside entire folders . . . features: Search and replace text - with regular expression or not - in entire folders with the ability to filter desired files; Search and replacement can be case sensitive or not; Replacement Tables allow to replace multiple strings of characters in one pass; Ability to create your own Replacement Tables; Ability to create droplet for most using Replacement Tables (Macintosh only); Ability to create on the fly backup copy of files before string replacement; Ability to convert text files from Mac to Dos, Dos to Mac, Unix to Mac and Mac to Unix format; No more "mysterious" replacements! TexFinder shows you exactly what has been found and replaced on different fields for easier files management; Ability to refine your search and replace on the found files; Easy to use with its friendly interface and its intensive use of drag and drop" (OS: Mac OS X, Windows XP/Vista)

The Mayo Clinic has a good article on time management here that offers a very decent list of simple strategies to help get you back on track.

Penn State University also has a Time Management page geared toward helping students better manage their time, but I thought writers could benefit from it, especially the section on procrastination.