How I stay organised

I think of myself as a fairly productive person. I have been through many iterations of “staying organised,” and am always looking for a better and more efficient method to achieving this. In writing this, I will talk about the apps and ways in which I plan my weeks currently but also ways in which I may very soon try because I like the potential advances that it brings to my daily life. With that in mind, if you have a method that works for you, please let me know!

I was a fan of pen and paper for a long time. When it came to taking notes, I used a pen and paper for most of my university degree. Most people I knew were already typing notes in high school. I held onto the idea that physically writing helped me remember content better. Clearly it must have worked for me because I did well in my studies, and eventually I moved to taking written notes on my iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil, and then to simply typing notes in my Masters degree. This long-lasting appeal carried over into my to-do lists. I would carry a notepad and make my lists like this. I could place this on my desk in front of me when working and it was very effective. Unfortunately, I couldn’t always carry a notepad with me everywhere I went.

I moved to using my phone to make to-do lists. I began by using the app Todoist: to-do list & planner. This is a simple to use app. I only use the free version. I used this for a while but for whatever reason, have been using my Notes app on my phone more recently. As anything comes up, I just add it to my Notes. I can later allocate it to a day during the week and delete it as I complete the task. This works for me but I believe I will be attempting to find a more efficient method very soon. Notion is something that I have dabbled in and really enjoy it, so this is what I believe will be next on my list. The benefit of Notion is the ability to work so seamlessly across devices and do much more than just making to-do lists. It is originally made for note-taking so I may also be moving away from OneNote to Notion at some stage, though this is up for debate due to the reliance on OneNote in many educational institutions. I still use Todoist due to its nice looking widget, but only for my recurring to-do list items such as working out or reminding myself to reach my water goal every single day.

For keeping track of events and appointments, I use Google Calendar. As soon as I am aware or have booked something, it goes straight into my calendar. Other things such as bills get put in too so I am always aware of when they are due and never miss a date.

Hopefully while reading this you have realised there is no perfect method to staying organised. You just need to have a method that works for you and doesn’t get in the way. I am constantly learning and trying new things so I am certain that all of this will change as I discover and try new ways to being organised.

All the best for now - see you in the next blog!