My Favorite Lifehack Is a Simple Chatbot

I’m not a clock — if I create a Google calendar event or task to remind me to do something, there’s a good chance it’s not the ideal time to do that thing when the notification dings.

Meet Skeddy Bot. This simple Russian-made chatbot has helped me virtually eliminate missing tasks. This is a miracle.

You access Skeddy with Telegram Messenger, the best messaging app in the world, available for Android, iOS, WP, and also accessible via web and desktop applications.

All it takes to set a reminder with Skeddy is sending it a plain English or even shorthand message. The reminder will be anything you type and you end it with the time you need it to nudge you. When the time comes, it just sends that message; “call mom 7p” would send “call mom” the next time 7 pm rolls around; tell it “change oil 3/1” and you guessed right: March 1st Skeddy will say “change oil”.

That is elegance.

Now, about me not being a clock. This is one of the best parts about it. If that message comes and I’m riding my bike, collecting eggs, or deep in some other task, I just tap one of the inline buttons that come along with my handy reminder telling Skeddy when to resend the message. There are common suggestions, or I may enter a specific time.

What makes Skeddy so effective for me to actually get everything done is a rule I created for myself: “Either do the task at that moment, or push it forward.” I get the reminder, sometimes many times, but it always gets done.

Bonus protips:

• With Telegram on Android you can set shortcuts to individual chats. With a shortcut straight to your conversation with SkeddyBot, it can be one tap away on your home screen.
• Assign a unique notification sound for Skeddy’s chat that nothing else on your phone uses (mine is a bird chirping). Whatever is going you’ll know you just received a reminder.
• Some nice features of Telegram make it even more slick. If you pass it a phone number, it becomes a hyperlink so you can simply click the number when the time comes. Telegram’s link preview magic means if, for instance, someone posted an event on Instagram, you can simply paste that link with a time you’ll need it, and you’ll see the full post right then.

The simplicity and usefulness of this bot has inspired me to work on some chatbot concepts of my own. A couple of times Skeddy went offline for a day or so, and it really concerned me. If it were to shutdown for good at any point, I believe I’d have no choice but to build a replacement. For now, it’s my trusty sidekick.