{"id":11461,"date":"2022-08-03T14:51:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/the-verges-favorite-tools-to-stay-organized\/"},"modified":"2022-08-03T14:51:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T14:51:52","slug":"the-verges-favorite-tools-to-stay-organized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/03\/the-verges-favorite-tools-to-stay-organized\/","title":{"rendered":"The Verge\u2019s favorite tools to stay organized"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/22882328\/organization-tools-todo-notes-journals<\/a>
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Life these days can be very complicated, and many of us \u2014 I\u2019d guess that most of us \u2014 are constantly looking for the best method to keep our lives in order. What do you need on your grocery list? When is that work project due, and who is working on it with you? A friend wants to do a movie-watching session, but is that the same day you promised your parents to help clean the garage? Which bills are due, and can you afford to pay them all? Where is that article about which masks to wear? And on and on.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve asked the staff of The Verge<\/em> what they use to keep track of all their appointments, tasks, projects, and workflows. And it turns out that they use a variety of different apps or some fairly old-fashioned paper-and-pen solutions \u2014 or both.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re finding that this year is turning out to be a confusing one and you need a way to try to keep your life and your sanity in order, here are some methods that we use. We hope they are helpful.<\/p>\n

A notebook<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n\"Leuchtturm<\/p>\n

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Leuchtturm1917 notebooks.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Leuchtturm<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Get a notebook. You do not need tech for this. In fact, keeping track of yourself is much easier if you aren\u2019t using tech designed for someone else. Do you know why? Only you operate your brain. You are much more likely to design a system you will use than someone else is. <\/p>\n

You will need a pencil or a pen. You can get wild and buy markers and a ruler. Personally, I like markers because I like color<\/em>, but this is your notebook, so you should follow your heart. Now, you are going to experiment. Are you a monster who operates her life through jerry-rigged to-do lists? Great. Make some to-do lists. Do you want to track stuff using bullet journal layouts? Great. Do that. Do you just want to write down your feelings before you talk to someone about them? Brainstorm on a task? Whatever? Great news! There is a blank piece of paper, and it can be whatever you want it to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

You do not need to buy an expensive notebook, though I like them because they make me feel fancy, and the paper is nice to touch<\/a>. Still, my oldest notebooks are cheapo, nasty spiral-bound ruled paper I bought at the drugstore for under a dollar. The point is not the tools you are using. The point is that you are using something that works for your own brain.<\/em> Glad we had this talk. \u2014 Elizabeth Lopatto, senior reporter<\/em><\/p>\n

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Popular high-end notebook.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/p>\n\"Notion\"<\/p>\n

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Notion.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Notion Labs<\/cite><\/p>\n

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I\u2019ve always had a not-so-great memory, and as a result, throughout most of my career, I\u2019ve gone through I don\u2019t know how many different apps for keeping track of what I have to do. I need something I can consult to track projects, remind myself of who owes me an article, which articles I promised to write or edit, what how-tos I swore I would take on next, etc.<\/p>\n

As a result, while I appreciate (and sometimes use) simple note-taking apps such as Google Keep<\/a> or reminders such as TickTick<\/a>, I love experimenting with more complex task managers. (Remind me sometime to rant about Ecco Pro<\/a>, a wonderfully flexible outliner \/ database back in the \u201990s that was eventually acquired by another company and immediately abandoned, dammit.) Currently, my go-to for trying to maintain all of my various projects is Notion. I\u2019m sure I haven\u2019t learned 50 percent of the various ways one can use it. But it lets me nest pages inside pages inside pages; create outlines and to-do lists and on-the-fly notes; and, most importantly, add reminders and links so that I don\u2019t let important things fall off my radar. \u2014 Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor<\/em><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n\"Todoist\"<\/p>\n

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Todoist.<\/em><\/figcaption>Image: Doist<\/cite><\/p>\n

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Todoist \u2014 namely, the Chrome plug-in \u2014 has been my ride or die daily organizational app for years now. The free version that I use is very basic but does exactly what I need it to: it allows me to add items to my daily checklist and cross them off as I get things done. The \u201ccrossing things off when I\u2019m done\u201d is essential because I am an elder millennial, and I require affirmation that I\u2019m doing things right. Favorite features in no particular order:<\/p>\n