My Brain, Version 2.0

I am the first to admit it; I’m forgetful.  Not just a little, but to the point where I had a white board in my office where I wrote the future Paul notes such as, “You are researching ways to track ELA’s because Andy in finance asked you about it on Tuesday.”  If I didn’t, I might remember to do the research, but I’d forget why I was interested.  Pathetic?  Pretty much so. 

Over the years, I’ve tried just about every memory jogging system out there.  They ranged from paper and pencil, to Outlook tasks, AskSandy.com, pingme.com, rememberthemilk.com, and a bunch that, well, I can’t remember!  Finally though, I’ve found one that is powerful, inexpensive (or free), and easy to use.  That system is called reQall.

reQall is a cloud application that at the most basic level, functions as a reminder program.  Like Outlook or just about anything else, it can alert you that it’s your spouses birthday in a week or that you need to take the car in for an oil change.



The real power comes from all the other, subtly different ways reQall assists me in keeping on top of my life.  For example, in addition to traditional To-Dos, it has a category called Shopping List.  Here, you store the things you need to acquire.  For example, my wife has me on a hunt for the perfect curtain rod.  Hence:



Not only I set a reminder and a due to date to buy something, I can (in the Pro version), associate that need with a place, so if I’m driving near the House Of Curtain Rods, reQall will alert me to stop in, regardless of the due date.  This feature alone is worth the $25 for a year of the pro version.  It helps me combine trips and stops and in general, be more efficient.  This is one of the few things the free version lacks.

Another particularly useful feature for me is the memory jogger.  It selectively drips me with things that are not yet due, but that I should keep in my mind.  For instance, it periodically reminds me of my wife’s birthday and our anniversary.  Think of this as exercise for your memory.  I actually think it’s strengthening my mind!

In addition to having an excellent website, the application can be accessed and items added by iPhone or Blackberry.  Even the free version lets you create new items by voice, text, IM, or chat.  With the Pro version, items can be added or edited by email and has full integration to your Outlook and Gmail calendars.



Not sure how I lived before reQall.  Give the free version a try and let me know what you think!