I use this AI tool as my one-stop productivity app

What if you could add tasks to your calendar and have AI prioritize and schedule them for you? Motion claims to do the same. After a few weeks with the app, here's why it's my current one-stop productivity app.

What is movement?

Motion is an AI-powered task and time management app that helps you plan and manage your tasks efficiently. It integrates with your Outlook, Google and iCloud calendars to block time on tasks. You can add projects or tasks, set deadlines, create recurring tasks, and book or reschedule meetings based on your calendar schedule.

While a good to-do app can do some of this, Motion combines it all into one app. Its algorithm prioritizes your most important tasks, but also helps you complete meaningful tasks that you may have been putting off. More importantly, it helps you set realistic deadlines by tracking your schedule.

The setup and the user interface

Motion is a premium app, but you get a 7-day free trial to try out its features. The initial setup is about letting Motion learn more about you. You'll be guided through setup to add calendars from Google, Outlook, and Apple, as well as your work days and hours, as well as recurring tasks like gym workouts or weekly tasks. Finally, complete the setup by adding some tasks for the week.

To get the most out of it, it's important to learn your way around Motion's interface. At first glance, the interface seems cluttered with multiple tasks imported from your calendar, but things sort themselves out once you adjust the settings. The key is to understand Motion's three main tabs: Calendar, Project, and Booking.

The calendar tab is the default tab setting Weekly view. It shows your daily schedule, including tasks, events and meetings for the week. If it feels overwhelming, switch to day to concentrate on today's tasks. All completed and due tasks for the day are displayed in the right pane, which you can click to edit or mark as completed.

The project The tab acts as a bucket for organizing tasks for different aspects of your life, such as: B. Work, university, hobbies and more. I use it to organize my tasks for different clients. You can create a project from scratch or use the built-in template. The convenient Kanban view lets you use filters and view projects as cards or tiles that can be rearranged using drag and drop.

The booking The tab allows you to create and share booking links. It allows you to check availability and schedule or reschedule meetings with external contacts via Google Meet, Zoom, phone, or a custom link.

Calendar and task management

When you're ready to start adding tasks, Motion knows your schedule and work hours. When you create a new task, it first checks your calendar and tries to organize the tasks into it based on their attributes.

To create a new task, select calendar tab, click Add task or press T. Enter a title for the task and then add a description. You can also forward an email to Motion from a linked account to convert it into a task.

The task attributes are crucial to how Motion works, so you need to set them correctly so that the AI ​​can do its job. For recurring tasks, select this Recurring Then select your workspace and project. Tasks can be set to repeat daily, weekly or monthly and you can specify the exact days, e.g. B. every Sunday.

Auto-scheduling is enabled by default, meaning Motion will automatically schedule your tasks based on your availability. If you prefer more control, you can manually drag and drop the task into any time slot. You can also assign tasks to team members, change task status, and set the priority level – ASAP, high to medium, or low.

In addition to priority, task duration and deadline are other important attributes. This is the estimated time to complete the task, which helps Motion plan your other tasks in the calendar accordingly.

When it's time to start your task, Motions sends a notification. If you complete the task on time, mark it as complete and your next immediate task will start. If you need more time, the task will be moved to the next available slot for the same duration.

Tasks with tight deadlines can be scheduled outside of your usual work hours to be completed the same day. If it is not ready at the end of the day, it will be automatically scheduled and postponed to the next day.

Other important features of movement and pricing

Motion allows you to configure your general and automation settings from the Settings tab. For example, with automatic scheduling, you can choose whether tasks appear in your external calendar or remain in the Motion calendar, configure breaks between tasks, set up conferencing options, tweak notification settings, and optimize your schedule.

However, Motion has some limitations. It only supports Zapier for integration, which could be challenging if you're migrating from other productivity tools. Additionally, mass actions on tasks are missing, so deleting or editing multiple entries can be tedious.

When it comes to cost, Motion is definitely an investment. There is no free plan and after the 7-day trial, prices start at $19/month (billed annually) or $34/month for those who prefer a monthly option. For Teams, the fee is $12/month per user (billed annually) or $20/month if paid monthly.

Despite these limitations, Motion's strength lies in its ability to take any task, schedule it, and prioritize it based on its attributes in your calendar. You tell the app what to do and it tells you when to do it for effective time management. It's a good solution for busy professionals who can take advantage of all the options and commit to paying all year round. For others, tools like Reclaim.ai or Asana might be cheaper alternatives with sufficient functionality.