For the last four years, I have started every day pulling out my notebook and organizing my day. I break everything down by the hour, filling in meetings, todos, runs, and everything in between.

I have also been using Spacemacs for the last four years. All emacs users know about org-mode and how it can make your life easier. I started with a simple goal. Let’s not use paper anymore. Let’s use org-mode.

Here is what I learned.

Creating a TODOs.org

For each project, I have been using a TODOs.org file to organize the things I want to accomplish. You can access your TODOs by using:

SPC p o

Note: This has stopped working for right now because org-projectile has undergone some big changes. It is fixed on the development branch and should make its way to the master branch soon.

Add some todos. You can do this by adding bullets and hitting t on the bullet. This will mark it as a TODO.

Finishing a TODO

To simply finish a TODO item, just use:

t

These are the basics of org-mode that I am using today. I will continue to play around with agenda and more org-mode stuff shortly!

Setting a deadline for the TODO

You can set a deadline for a TODO by using:

SPC m d

Dates in org-mode are really smart. You can type something like today at 2 pm or next Wednesday and it will be able to figure out the correct date and time.

Clocking in and out

I am a big fan of pomodoros! If you are not familiar with these, look them up! I will provide a link eventually.

You can start a pomodoro by using:

SPC m p

This will automatically clock-in on the TODO and clock-out when the TODO has been finished.