Survey Results

A couple days ago I linked to a productivity survey that we are running for The Sweet Setup.

We’re working on something brand new related to task management and productivity. We wanted to get some feedback from folks before we began finalizing the contents of the new course.

In about a day and a half, the survey gathered 2,000 responses. I wanted to share some of the results with you.

  • Pretty much everyone has a system for keeping track of their to-do items. Only 5-percent of folks said they don’t.
  • Things and OmniFocus are virtually tied as the two most-popular apps/tools for task management with 23- and 24-percent of people using them respectively. Todoist is the third-most popular with 13-percent.
  • More people use a paper notebook — Bullet or other journal — than use Apple’s Reminders app as their primary task management system (9% and 7% respectively).
  • 79% of people use their iPhone to regularly manage their tasks; 72% use a Mac regularly; 48% use an iPad.
  • Just a little over half of respondents feel in control of their task list. Which naturally means that there is another half of folks who do not feel in control.
  • And yet, 63% of folks feel as if their day is spent mostly on busywork, rather than important work.
  • When it comes to being productive and doing meaningful work, the most common obstacle people face is being overwhelmed by urgent issues. Secondly is a lack of focus during the day, followed by a lack of clarity about what to do next.

If you’re curious, you can view the full results breakdown via Typeform here.


The aforementioned new course we are working on for The Sweet Setup will be coming out next month.

It will focus on using a particular task management app, but it will also have in-depth training on productivity, time management, and task management. A one-two punch if you will. Because, as the survey results show, even though more than half of people feel in control of their task list, they are still mostly dealing with busywork during the day.

If you’ve got anything in particular that you’d like to see me address in the course, let me know on Twitter.

Survey Results