I recently moved from Trello to todo.txt and until now it's been a breeze. If this sounds boring, well that's exactly the point, because it actually makes you focus on getting things done 😆

I'm full on with the plain text productivity movement. Everything is stored as plain text in a git repo. Folder Structure is:

notes
    Archive
        2019
        2020
    Blogposts
    Journal
    Lists
    Notes
    Projects
        project1
        project2

Tasks use the .taskpaper file format in to files, daily.taskpaper and today.taskpaper. Daily is for repeating tasks while today is my main list of tasks. I manage the files in Vim with vim-taskpaper, but there are extensions for Sublime Text and VS Code. Other projects and tasks may get a .taskpaper list, depending on the project.

At midnight I have a script that goes through the today.taskpaper file and collects the tasks that are marked @today or switch @due() on the current day to @today and then messages me the list of tasks over Telegram. This script also collects all the tasks that were completed the previous day and appends them to my journal.

Journal is %Y.markdown in a Journal folder.

The key is keeping everything in plain text, and write little bash scripts to notify me or add to them.

ForestApp forestapp.cc/. Android version is free, but iOS is paid ($1.99 I think). It's similar to a Pomodoro timer. You can use it in conjunction with other tools to help your focus. The funny thing about the app is the more time you stay without touching your phone, the more your tree grows. If you touch your phone and go somewhere else instead of the app, the tree starts to die. The "lock time" is up to you. You can see all of your trees over time :)

PS: I have made this tool so if this shameless plug is not allowed let me know

I use PageMarker for bookmarks. I can add markdown notes to my links (good for code snippets too!), organize in folders and tags and setup a personal email newsletter so that I don't forget the links I save for later. It also helps me see what's read and unread so I know where I am with my reading list

If you like an app which can track your time, you should try RescueTime at rescuetime.com

I feel like productivity tools are a really personal thing. There are an absolute plethora out there, so it might help to define some constraints or preferences.

For myself, I knew I mostly just wanted a note taking and Todo system, with the following constraints:

• Something that lets me manage my own data (I just don't want to rely on a single cloud provider)
• Android compatible (I have my phone everywhere, so I can always check on things and dump new notes in)
• Allows hierarchical note taking
• Stores data in an open format (so I'm not locked into a single tool)
• Supports recurring Todo items, to help with habit building
• Notifications and customizable quick-views that let me build and update high-level overviews quickly
• A UI that is lightning fast (e.g., not an SPA)

For me, that turned out to be Orgzly. I will note that this is android-only, and you'll need to set up your own synchronization if you want that data on other machines, as well as learn emacs + org-mode if you want to edit on a computer. It's powerful, stable, customizable and fast, but definitely has a learning curve if you want to do anything advanced with it.

That said, I've also used the following in various combinations, so if you have questions about them, feel free to ask:

• Evernote
• Asana
• Notion
• Workflowy
• Trello
• Pen + Paper

I really liked the combination of Toggl Tracker and Toggl Plan, until I unfortunately had to switch to different tools.

Back when I tried toggl plan, it didn't have a nice integration with it's own time-tracker.
Maybe they fixed that now, which would make it a powerhouse for small teams.

I have been experimenting with many productivity tools for many years now. Some of them have worked great for me. There was a time when I was into To Doist. I have always used Evernote to take notes from my phone. But these are apps from the previous generation. If you have a Mac, I would recommend the following

1. Day One for Journaling (writing blog posts/drafts/chronicling).
2. Noted (for taking meeting notes, it has an audio recording feature). Great UX!
3. MindNode for brainstorming ideas and representing them on a graph. Another competitor is Plectica, which is a browser-based tool.
4. Raindrop.io for bookmarking is really great.
5. Notion - I'm relatively new to this but like it very much.

There are several great apps out there but I think it comes down to what is right for you. I don't think there's one clear winner of all.

Just curious, but were there any paid products you considered? Which ones? Or why not? Productivity is valuable.

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