2022 – a year of consolidation of productivity tools!

Apps & Systems — moving from many to a few!

One of the key learning of 2021 with respect to productivity and system is — explore everything and stick to the one which suits you the most!

Last year was a year of trials! trying out apps and methods which helps me in long-run and I did well. But when you are running and trying out similar systems inside variety of tools, it requires patience, high level of energy (for repeating/creating same system inside every tool) and money as well.

The reward of this exercise is:

you know yourself well, you realise your preferences, methods and suitable tools which ultimately works for you in long-run.

Following is the list of my consolidated tools, apps for 2022 — I will make sure to use it to maximize my output.

Let me tell you, at first; I have roamed around a lot before concluding on below apps, tools and it is never an easy choice, rings and bells inside your heart and head should sing the same song before you commit:

1. Mem.ai:

Mem.ai is the note-taking app of my choice, a true first love:

To list a few reason:

• super fast capture with ‘Spotlight’
• Intuitive UI
• Integrated task management
• Calendar integration
• Flow — Templates

Primarily for 2022 — I am planning to go with Mem.ai for all my note-taking, research notes, ideas, meeting notes: added advantage with Mem.ai is integrated task management which suits my style.

2. Craft.do

Craft.do is literally the most beautiful native app for note-taking on iPad and iPhone.

Craft.do is exclusive for apple ecosystem; but with its addition of the Web version. I am all in for Craft.do;

Some of the reason for my long-term plan with Craft.do are:

1. Intuitive and native app for iPhone, iPad and Web
2. Multiple export options
3. Super stylish UI — aesthetically pleasing experience
4. Linked notes

Craft.do will serve a purpose of my secondary note-taking requirements where PDF export, preparing high quality reports and sharing with team is essential and Craft.do does it so well, better than many.

3. Things 3

My preferred partner and Task Manager

I have played around with 2 of the best task manager in 2021 and tried to replicate my use case in both of it simultaneously: Todoist & Things 3

Let me confess; I could not find a good reason to choose Things 3 over Todoist despite the fact that I can use Todoist on my working screen of Windows. I chose Things 3.

The reason can be:

• UI — I love it!
• Managing tasks inside Things 3 is — Pure Joy!
• Widgets — an excellent view of tasks on hand at glance.
• Notes inside task — super easy to take keynotes, I really use it a lot!

4. Notion

I have been using Notion ON & OFF and spends quite a lot of money and time in learning this excellent tool but after recent updates only, I realise the true potential of Notion and decided to give it my full attention as project and knowledge management tool:

The key feature of Notion:

• Customization of your workflow
• Templates for all your need
• Dashboard and multiple views at your glance

This list does not end here, so my search for best, most suitable apps.

I will keep looking and exploring the universe of productivity tools and apps and keep sharing my user experience but as far as my daily drivers are concern all are listed above — The Main Four!

Thank you for reading!

Keep reading, keep sharing.

Astu.