Welcome to part 3 of the My Productivity Story series. If you haven’t read parts 1 and 2, you should go and do it! But I’m going to talk only the about tools I have used on this one. So I don’t think is going to be needed.

To Do tools

Apple Reminders

I already mentioned in part 1 of this series that my first tool was the Reminders app on my iPhone. When I used it, it was not as good and complete as it is now. With all the things they have added in the latest iOS updates, I think it is enough app to add a GTD system to it. But when I used it, it was only to have a list of the things I had to do and put some reminders. Actually, I still used it for reminders and for taking pills until not so long ago. Now for the pills I use the Medications feature in Apple Health and for reminders, I use Todoist.

Wunderlist (now Microsoft To Do)

When Apple Reminders started to be too simple for what I wanted to do, I found Wunderlist. I loved that app. But Microsoft bought it, made the team create Microsoft To Do, and closed Wunderlist. I’ll never forgive them for that…

Habitica

If you like RPGs and want to be more productive. Think no more. You have to use Habitica. It is a magnificent application that consists of four columns: Habits, Dailies, To-Do’s, and Rewards.

Every time you do something correctly, like completing a Daily, a To-Do, or doing a positive Habit, you earn coins that you can later spend in rewards for yourself (like watching an episode of a TV Show or playing video games, you name it). It is great if you don’t want to feel bad about your leisure time.

And when you do something badly, like a negative habit or not finishing a daily, it takes HP (Health/Hit Points) from you and if you die, you lose a level and all your coins.

I think this application is great if you want to gamify your life. It also has quests for teams and a lot of community features. If you like games and you are struggling to feel productive. This might be the tool you were looking for.

I stopped using it because I needed something more powerful. And I was kinda burned out of having to pay (in virtual coins) every time I wanted to play a game 😅.

Todoist

Todoist is my favorite to-do app by far. Of the ones I have used, I think this is the one that is the most powerful and complete. You can create projects, labels, and filters (and ask for help from AI to do this). It has a lot of extensions, for example: creating a project and asking AI to help you set up the tasks based on the name of the project. Or a habit tracker for the tasks you want to make a habit.

Their blog is one of the best I have read about productivity. If you have been reading this series, you will notice I took most of the links from there. Also, they are always adding new features to the application and have a great community and environment around it.

They have a free version and charge 36€ (as of today: January, 5th of 2024) for the premium. Which I pay because I use that app a lot. But the free version is also great. I wrote a post about how to set up GTD in Todoist using only the free features.

Note-taking apps

Notability

I used Notability a lot in my University to take notes in every class. It was great because it let me write using the virtual keyboard of the iPad, and also write handwritten notes when I needed to. For example: when I had to write formulas in my Math classes. Also, it synced the recording of the class with what I was writing at the moment, so when I was studying, I could check what the professor was saying when I wrote something in particular. That feature was NEAT!

I haven’t used it in years because I don’t take notes on my iPad anymore. So I don’t know their current status. But I remember it fondly.

Evernote

I used it for a while. Even as a To-Do app. It is the note-taking app by excellence. I don’t have much to say about it because I also haven’t used it in years. I’m not much of a note-taking person. That’s why the current application I use for taking notes is:

Apple Notes

Yes, the one that comes by default in the iPhone. Like the Reminders app, it has been getting better over the years. If you have an only Apple ecosystem, and you are not a hardcore note-taking person. I think it should be enough.

Other tools

Calendar

For calendar-related tasks, I use Google Calendar when I’m working and Apple Calendar when I’m on vacation (so I can turn off the Google Calendar view on those days). I can check my tasks from my iPhone because I have it synced, but I prefer to add all the tasks to my work calendar. Be careful of marking as private the personal ones. I mostly use it for meetings and appointments. I don’t add tasks in there.

Time blocking

Since two months ago or so, I have been using the time-blocking methodology from Cal Newport. I use a Leuchtturm1917 dotted notebook for that. So no fancy application this time. I know Todoist lets you play with that, but some things are better on paper. Also, Cal sells his own Time-Block Planner as well. And he explains how to use it on that same page.

Coffee notes

I bought another Leuchtturm1917 notebook for taking notes of the coffee I make. I discovered Specialty Coffee, so I bought an espresso machine and a grinder. But you have to experiment with every different coffee, so having somewhere to take notes is important.

Journaling

Another thing that I prefer doing on paper. I have a Mario Bros-themed Moleskine notebook. That is on its last pages, so I’m probably going to change it for a Leuchtturm1917 Some Lines a Day notebook. I just want to buy notebooks from these people now. I love them.

Habits

I use Streaks for tracking my habits. It is very powerful with lots of different options to track habits by day, and week. And it even syncs with Apple Health. So you can set up a habit like: “Run 20km per week”, and it should sync it. Habitica is also great for tracking habits, but not as powerful. I don’t like Todoist for that. But if you want something simpler, Todoist should be enough.

Running

I use Nike Run Club to run with Guided Runs, which are audio-based runs with someone coaching you along the way. It is like hearing a podcast about the run you are making. It is great. And I’m starting to use The Performance Training Journal from Jason Fitzgerald to take notes of the runs I do. I love his content from his blog and podcast.

I want to know more

I’m sure there are probably more tools or apps that I use for different stuff. And even more than I don’t even know of their existence. But I think this post is getting too long and taking me a lot of time. But it was great to share most of the things that I use. Please share with me any feedback or other tools that you enjoy. You can send me an email to ernesgonzalez.33.egc@icloud.com or comment on my post on LinkedIn.

Have a nice weekend!