Hi, I’m Peter from Amsterdam. I’ll help you get organized and be more productive. Every Sunday, I send a productivity-themed newsletter to 10,000 people. Join us!
Your productivity system needs these 3 apps
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If you’re ambitious, you need a personal productivity system. Or a personal assistant—but not everyone likes someone hovering around them all day long. So what should your personal productivity system consist of? At least these 3 apps: First, a task manager to capture to-dos and organize them. It’s your central source of truth of what you need to do. The task manager helps you to be proactive about what receives your attention. It lets you prioritize day to day. And it makes sure you don’t lose sight of important deadlines. For your task manager, I recommend using Things or Todoist. Second, you need a calendar app to track appointments, meetings, and other events. It’s your central source of truth for where you need to be when. You’re surely using a calendar already, but are you comfortable using it? Are you getting the most out of it? Does it help you manage your unique situation, for example with advanced timezone support if you travel often? For your calendar, I recommend Fantastical (now available for Windows, too, by the way). It integrates nicely with Todoist, which is particularly great if you like to time block your dayus. And third, you need a notes app to take meeting notes, store reference material, process thoughts, and so on. It’s your central source of truth for written material. For your notes app, if you’re on Apple devices, I recommend Apple Notes. It just keeps getting better year after year. Notion is a good cross-platform alternative. There are all-in-one apps that combine a task manager with a calendar and that also have note-taking functionality. But typically, dedicated apps are easier to use and have better features. Your task manager, calendar, and notes app are the foundation of your productivity system. There will be other components too, like your email app, perhaps Microsoft Teams, and ancillary apps for planning and reflection, like a journaling app. If you can get those to play nice with your primary productivity apps, all the better. But first learn to get the most out of your task manager, calendar, and note-taking app—in that order. Take some time to make your system work for you. That will make you the best, most productive version of yourself. |
Peter Akkies
Hi, I’m Peter from Amsterdam. I’ll help you get organized and be more productive. Every Sunday, I send a productivity-themed newsletter to 10,000 people. Join us!
Earlier today I was on a call with a group of people who enrolled in one of my live programs. We had a fascinating discussion about people who seem to have it all together. And in particular about people who adhere to rigid weekly schedules that make it seem like they have time for absolutely everything. Here’s one example: (And it is just an example. It doesn’t matter whose schedule this is. This person actually has some great ideas.) What matters is that this is productivity porn. When you...
I hope you’re taking the time each day to make a to-do list. If you’re not, your to-do list will arbitrarily assemble itself from incoming emails, meetings others schedule for you, and random thoughts. Instead, make your own to-do list. That way, you’re in charge of what’s a priority. Feeling overwhelmed is one of the great challenges of our time. There’s so much to do and so much to take care of. But overwhelm is a funny thing… It’s possible to accomplish exactly the same amount of work, but...
Many of us are great at adding tasks to our to-do lists. But when it comes to actually working through them… that’s the challenge. Let me share 7 tips that will help. #1: Prioritize at a high level. When you’re looking at your task list, you shouldn’t have to think hard about what to do next. Your next task should be obvious. If you’re not sure what your priority should be, you need to take a little time to update your list of goals and settle on the action steps you’ll take in the next 3...