Focus on Your Work

Linux supports many heavyweight applications that help you plan and implement projects [1, 2]. But if you are looking for a small tool that simply helps you to complete your upcoming tasks quickly, Go For It! [3] is the right choice. How easy is Go For It? The refreshingly sparse user interface contains only a timer and two lists: unfinished and completed tasks.

Installation

The software has only made its way into a few distributions so far. For Ubuntu and its derivatives, you can add a separate software repository to the system and update your package lists with the commands found in Listing 1, lines 1 and 2. Next, install the program with the command from line 3. The package manager automatically creates a matching entry in the desktop menu structure.

01 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:go-for-it-team/go-for-it-daily
02 sudo apt-get update
03 sudo apt-get install go-for-it

This completes the installation. Arch Linux and its derivatives have a ready-made package in their repositories, and Elementary OS lists the program in its AppCenter. There are no ready-made packages available for RPM-based systems yet.

If you run a Linux derivative that supports Flatpak, however, the good news is that there are ready-made containers. The project's GitHub page [4] provides installation instructions.

Intuitive

After starting the application, a small window opens on the desktop minus a menubar and with three buttons (To-Do, Timer, and Done) arranged side by side at the top edge. Above these buttons to the right is a gear icon, which you can use to open the Settings and Help windows. At the bottom, you'll find the Add new task field.

In the Settings dialog, you can define the appearance and the To-Do lists' path, as well as modify the Timer configuration if necessary (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Settings dialog lets you change the appearance or configure paths for the lists.

The Timer offers three displays: In addition to the scheduled time to complete a task, you can also define breaks and reminders to notify you when a deadline is approaching. The dialog does not contain any further options.

Here We Go

Once you have completed the configuration, enter a task in the Add new task field in the main window. The program then transfers this text to the To-Do window, displaying the individual tasks in a vertical list (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Avoiding unneeded gimmicks, you can find your tasks easily in the To-Do window.

To define the time assigned for working on a task, click the Timer button while the task is highlighted. In the Timer display that now appears, use the plus and minus buttons to set the expected duration for the current task. Then click Start at the bottom of the window to enable the timer (Figure 3).

Figure 3: When the timer is running, it's time to focus on your work.

You can edit the task details while the clock is running. If you have completed a task earlier than expected, click on the Done button in the bottom left corner of the Timer window. The tool then adds the entry to the list of completed tasks in the Done window and removes it from the To-Do window.

Coffee Break

If you want to take a break, just press the Pause button in the lower right corner of the Timer window. You can restart at any time with the same timer status.

If you need to interrupt a task unexpectedly, you can exit the current task by pressing Skip. The software now pauses the timer and simultaneously displays a message from the working environment's system tray letting you know that you can now take a break.

To end the break, click on Skip again. The software now displays a message confirming the end of the break in the system tray for a few seconds. You are then returned to the Timer display with the current task and the allocated time. If you press Start instead of Skip, the timer resets and counts down the full time defined in the settings.

Done!

The application collects the completed tasks as a list in the Done window. The program displays these tasks in strikethrough text and with a check mark in the box to the left of the task. If you click to uncheck, the entry is reactivated and moved to the To-Do window.

This function is particularly useful if you need to complete the same task more than once. In the list of completed tasks, however, a task that has been completed several times is only shown once (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Go For It! displays all the completed tasks in strikethrough text.

Since the list of completed tasks can become very long, the tool offers the option to empty the list completely at the push of a button. The Clear Done List option is available in the settings for this purpose.

The software usually saves the completed tasks after closing the program so that the old data can be seen again when the program is reopened. This is useful for repetitive daily tasks that you can transfer from one list to the other as shown. Only the timer is reset, as it always starts with the value defined in the settings.

Mobile

Go For It! is available for different platforms: There is a smartphone app and PC versions. If you use Go For It! on more than one platform, you do not need to enter your tasks each time. The software stores completed and pending tasks in simple text files, which it keeps in a defined subdirectory.

The text files are easily transferred when switching between devices, which gives you easy access to the lists regardless of the platform.

Conclusions

Go For It! helps you bring order to your daily workload. The strictly time-oriented application makes it easier to concentrate on the tasks at hand without confusing the user with superfluous functions.