Productivity apps

by Jochem Kossen in articles

An app for personal to-do’s.
An app for work tasks.
An app for work notes.
An app for personal notes.
An app for reminders.
An app for calendar items.
An app for text editing.

I changed from Microsoft Todo to Todoist as well. Each has half of my tasks.

Where are those notes on the to-do item I should finish by tomorrow? You know, the to-do item I’m unable to find. I’m not sure whether it was for work, for personal or both.

This is the opposite of productive. I’m lost. Lost in the pile of apps I have accumulated. It’s like a forest but I can’t find the right tree.

No, that’s not it. Forests are beautiful.

My app collection is more like a waste dump. That’s not what I want. I want to plant a seed, water it, nurture it, see it grow into a big strong oak tree that will blossom. I’d care about that tree.

So what if I’d use a single app? What if I’d write everything down in a text editor? I could use plain text! Write down a list of tasks in a todo file. Write notes in a single file per note. A folder containing plain text files with descriptive names. Could it really be this simple?

I’d know where to find everything. I’d know where to add tasks. I’d know where to write notes.

As a side effect, plain text is very malleable. Changing the structure is easy. It can be edited with every text editor in the world. It can be searched by every app. It does not depend on commercial “cloud” services.

Plain text won’t require new hardware, ever! Plain text will survive longer than «fill in any commercial app».

Like the oak tree. It will be beautiful.

I will need to take care of it. Prune it at the right moments. Make sure it will get the right nutrients in the correct amounts.

And who knows, perhaps one day, it will even give acorns!

I need to put in effort. But that will only make me care more about it.

I will still use a calendar app as well. Calendars are great for visualizing time, scheduling and inviting other people.