Defeat Overwhelm by Knowing What TeuxDeux

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Here’s what connects with you today:

  • Have you been karate-chopped by the inability to get things done

  • Take back your day with a simple app that highlights what you need to-do

7 ½ min read

Table of Contents

Pull Up

Much has been said about taking something that isn’t yours. Theft! It makes you uncomfortable, it can shake you to your core. It can leave you with uncertainty. What if the thievery in question is not of some personal or cherished item, but of your time. I would argue one of our most precious commodities. That makes YOU and ME, all of us, both the perpetrator and the victim.

I’m talking about procrastination.

I’m no expert on the psychology of procrastination. However, I know that I procrastinate when I’m overwhelmed. The constant struggle with an insurmountable amount of things I have to do. I have to be ‘there’, I need to be ‘here’, reply to that message, develop this assignment, call that person, login now, put air in my tires, change the filter, get the dog some food, spray the bugs on the back porch, etc, etc … AND I forgot about that bill that’s due!

No wonder I put off things. I bounce from having too much to do, to what should I do, to I can’t do anything all.

Not to mention how difficult it is to just be in a moment, full concentration, focus.

What To Do

I’m a bit of a productivity buff. A good friend of mine told me I could easily start a Youtube channel explaining the many ways I use productivity apps and the ins and outs of them all. I do bounce between them a lot, but it’s always based in a simple goal.

Knowing what to do and when!

If Productivity defined simply means, how much you can get done. Then knowing what to do and when should be defined as relieving your stress to enhance productivity. Or maybe aligning your actions (to-dos, tasks, projects) with your eventual goals. Namely, just getting stuff done! Knocking out the list. Checking tasks off. Karate-chopping the overwhelm, before it “sweeps the leg” and takes you down.

In my efforts to know what to do and when, I’ve tried every technique under the sun. Written lists, To-do apps, Project trackers, and habit forming apps. I’ve read books (am still reading), watched videos, took time management courses, and I still cannot crack the code. However, one thing remains constant, the simpler it is, the more I will use it. One caveat, if it’s TOO simple, like sticky notes, then it becomes unorganized and hard to track. I have a penchant for writing down a million things and NEVER going back to it. What’s the use! At that point, it’s just a waste of time, even if you do activate more processes in your brain by doing so. If you never review it, you still forget it and the cycle rinses and repeats.

If you’re in that same boat…read on.

What, TeuxDeux?

In my search for a usable task management I came across the app TeuxDeux and I’m glad I did. The app is designed to mimic the simplicity of writing to-dos on paper, think sticky notes, with all the advantages afforded a digital application.

TeuxDeux opens to a weekly calendar view, with the current day highlighted. You can see what’s on deck, and go! I can keep track of what to do today, tomorrow and even look at what I accomplished yesterday if I need to. Any tasks I didn’t check off yesterday automatically move to today.

A week in my TeuxDeux board

I mentioned the simplicity, no extra features to overwhelm you—just what needs to be done, today. But, they have a few tricks up their sleeve. Need to schedule recurring events, check! Need to create a someday list of items that you will accomplish…someday, check! Need to create a book reading list, manage a small to-do list for your job or personal work items someone managing shifting priorities, it’s invaluable. Trust me, simplicity is key and ease of use is at the top of the list with TeuxDeux.

My SOMEDAY list

My BOOKS TO READ list…kinda sparse!

The thing I’m drawn to with TeuxDeux is that while simple, there is depth. You have the ability to use markdown to format your text. You can link to URLs as needed. You can also add notes. Notes are helpful for details, sub-tasks and images that support your to-do. While not a project management app per se’, this is a good way to track more detailed to-dos.

You can also reward yourself with a Celebration when accomplishing a to-do. For the pet lovers in all of us, you can choose a dog or a cat celebration.

Since I’m a dog guy I went with the dog, obviously. It will jump across the screen then fall in an arch using the attached parachute.

It breaks up the monotony and adds a nice flair to an accomplishment. Perfect!

My goal with theInTersectionof is to share life-enriching suggestions on cool apps and tech. Primarily I feel this is meant for the non-techie, or the techie who is searching for more cool stuff. I rarely speak to the Pro user. But hey, they have something for you too.

For the pro users amongst us, you can use a wealth of shortcuts to navigate your board. Jump forward with a key combination, bring up the search bar, undo a task you previously deleted. In combination with the markdown our simple, not too wide app, just became a pro users delight.

  • Hold [ to navigate to the previous day

  • Hold ] to navigate to the next day

  • Hold ctrl + [ to jump back

  • Hold ctrl + ] to jump forward

  • Hold ctrl + shift + H to navigate back to ‘today’

  • Hold ctrl + shift + ? to bring up this menu

  • Hold ctrl + shift + F to bring up the search bar

  • Hold ctrl + shift + Z to undo deleting a task

Some of the SHORTCUTS in TeuxDeux. Power Users rejoice!

Final Thoughts

To sum it up, TeuxDeux is a great productivity app. One I keep coming back to. It’s become my daily driver for simple lists, and even my Someday goals and dreams that need to be tracked. The app is gorgeous and has been in development for over 10 years, meaning it’s solid and stable. Did I mention gorgeous? While the mobile app is free, there is a fee required to use the desktop version and get access to the Pro features. I believe the fee is more than generous for what the app does. At date of publishing it was $3 per month billed annually ($4 monthly). Not free, no, but a reasonable price to pay to defeat the overwhelm. And in this age of $10-20 month productivity apps that ALSO karate-chop your wallet, I’ll take it!

Give them a try, plus they’re from Brooklyn, so yeah they get my vote!

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