Getting the most out of mobile: Tip #1 Location Based To Do Lists

Many thanks to Albert Stern who provided this excellent mobile productivity blog post.  Check out his business at http://www.healingvillagecollective.com/

Our mobile phones and tablets are wonderful with the potential to make our lives easier in many ways. A truly great tool to help ease the hassles of day to day living are location based To Do lists. Everybody has had the experience of being in a store and forgetting to buy that one important item. Be it toilet paper, pet food, staples, or duct tape our brains are just not wired to remember static lists out of context. This is where location based To Do apps can be fantastic tools. 

Phones and tablets on a data network (3G/4G) have the ability to act as small GPS devices. This is how a map app is able to deliver directions to and from a specific location. Taking this ability one step further are location based To Do lists. These apps allow one to set a specific location, say supermarket, and create an entire To DO list linked to that location. Once you walk into the location a dialog box will pop up reminding you of the items you need. Walk into the supermarket to buy produce and receive a pop up reminder saying, "Buy laundry soap."

Just experiencing this once or twice is very powerful. It quickly becomes motivating to do keep lists up to date and rid the mind of these little items to remember. 

There are variety of apps that one can use for location based to do lists. 

Remember the Milk (Android, iOS, and Blackberry), Astrid (Android and iOS), MyLifeOrganized (Android), Checkmark for (iOS), the updated Reminders app has this function as well (iOS 6)