Choosing an Alternative to UseMotion

By Max Sinclair

Digital planning has a lot of perks. You can access your planner anywhere, on any device. You can move things around, delete them, and add them, without any of the struggles that often go associated with those tasks in a physical planner.

However, not all digital planners are created equal. Some of them are aimed at business professionals who need a project management tool, others are better suited to more casual task management, and in general, there are just a lot of options that can make it difficult for you to choose. Today, I’m going to talk about one specific digital planner: UseMotion. And more specifically, I’m going to talk about what exactly UseMotion is, and which alternatives you can select.

what is useMotion?

UseMotion isn’t your traditional digital planner that consists of calendar events and to-do lists. Instead, it’s marketed as an executive assistant within a digital format. It uses AI to help you organise your life, streamline your time management, and increase your productivity.

This sounds great. In practice though, UseMotion has a lot of limitations and drawbacks – hence why I’m here to share some other options that may be better suited to your planning needs. From some older options that have been around a while, through to the new kids on the block, reconsidering how time management should be done.

UseMotion alternative #1: forzeit

Forzeit is an intuitive digital planner that helps you make the most of each week. While it has all the features you may look for in a planner – such as different tasks, boards, and the ability to sync with your calendar – what really makes it stand out is the fact that it helps you become a better version of yourself.

If you don’t complete certain tasks, you can say why you didn’t complete them, which can be really helpful in recognising patterns and helping you figure out how to improve your productivity.

It also has an AI assistant called Ava, who gives you a weekly report that details how successful you were in executing your tasks, and suggests changes that you can make going forward. It’s one of the more advanced project management tools, so if you want to sign up to try Forzeit, click here.

UseMotion alternative #2: todoist

For many people, Todoist is the app that they think of when it comes to digital planners because it’s been around for so long. Many Todoist users have been using this platform to plan their lives for many years, which is a testament to its success. It’s simple yet effective and allows you to categorise tasks based on their priorities while also adding sub-tasks to help you stay on top of everything you need to do.

useMotion alternative 3: trello

Trello is an app that isn’t necessarily meant to be a planning app. The great thing about it is that you can use it for nearly everything – and that includes planning. Trello works with boards, which allow you to add tasks or lists of things to each specific board. You can use this for meals, reading lists, or daily to-do lists. Alternatively, if you need a larger planning system that goes beyond your general weekly to-dos, you can use Trello boards to keep track of different projects you’re working on. It’s a great visual planner that helps you group things together and stay on top of them.

useMotion alternative #4: Asana

If you gravitated towards UseMotion for its professional planning but found that it didn’t meet your needs, why not consider Asana to do your digital planning? Just like UseMotion, Asana is aimed at business professionals. Unlike UseMotion, however, Asana isn’t aimed solely at executives, but rather at teams, thanks to its big emphasis on collaboration. Asana allows you to plan not only your own work, but those you do with team members, since you can assign tasks and deadlines to other team members, along with all the information they may need, and it also syncs with external software often used by big teams, making collaboration even easier for teams. The task assignments and other advanced features lend themselves to a professional setting much more than personal tasks.

useMotion alternative #5: notion

Notion is similar to Trello in the sense that it’s not designed to solely be a planning app, but it can certainly be used for that. Notion is a fully customisable software that allows you to create pages and databases according to your needs, which makes it ideal for planning. You can create simple to-do lists or in-depth databases that track different phases of your projects. Its customisable nature makes it ideal for anyone, regardless of what they want to use their digital planner for.

useMotion alternative #6: evernote

Evernote is a more relaxed planning system that allows you to have a good balance between structure and flexibility. It’s marketed as a place to store everything that you don’t have space in your brain for, and it can be used for simple to advanced planning. It has some pretty cool features, like the fact that you can add images, web clippings, and voice notes, which allows every type of planner to use it effectively.

UseMotion alternative #7: omniFocus

If you want something quite similar to UseMotion and the other options on this list aren’t cutting it, OmniFocus is a good alternative. It’s aimed to help you separately plan your home, work, and personal life, allowing you to bring in some division and balance. You can track tasks, sync with other apps, and organise tasks so that you can effectively move through different workflows.

useMotions alternative #8: atoms

For those wanting to move away from strict planners and want to focus on improving their lives day by day, a habit tracker instead of a planner might be a better option. Alternatively, you may want to at least have a habit tracker alongside your planner to help you stay on track with the things that matter, even if you don’t always write them down in your planner. There are countless habit trackers out there, but Atoms was created by James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits and an expert when it comes to habit tracking. Plus, it provides guidance to help you stick to your habits, making it a tad more advanced than your average habit tracker. Habit trackers are a way to help you track progress, so give them a try!.

useMotion alternative #9: monday.com

Monday.com is another UseMotion alternative aimed at those who want to do their planning for work. It allows you to sync with others while staying on top of your own workload. It syncs with other apps, has an internal communication option, and offers pre-loaded workflows to cut back on your planning time so that you have more time to work.

UseMotion alternative #10: TickTick

TickTick is a planning app that helps you increase your productivity and time management through digital planning. Whether you want to use it for time tracking or you simply want to schedule meetings somewhere other than your Google calendar, this is a great task manager that offers most of what other tools also offer. It has a very simple user interface, so for those who want a very clean and minimalist planner, it’s perfect. It has all the basic features you could look for in a planner, so if you want to take a big step back from the intricate functions of UseMotion and move into something simpler, TickTick is a good option.

final words

If you gave Motion a try but felt it ultimately didn’t hit the mark. You’re not alone. It’s heavy handed approach to structuring your week isn’t for everyone.

As you can see by this post, there are many other digital planning apps out there though to suit your needs, whatever they may be.