I love a good app or 50. My phone, iPad, MacBook Air, second laptop, and my array of hard drives will groan but attest to that. So yeah, I love a good app, especially when they earn their spot in my productivity stack. But I want… no, need them to win. My iPhone Notes is currently drowning in the clutter of over 4,000 notes and well over 60 folders. I back it up religiously and care for it like it’s my third child. The obedient one. Lately though, I’ve seen how removing clutter made my workflow better, and how trimming down even my favorite productivity stack apps made space to think (and actually finish things).
And while I have organized folders and save notes to their right locations, most of the time, I still feel like I’m drowning in a ‘digital productivity’ hole of my own doing.
Here I am, locked in a toxic relationship with the following, and no, I won’t let them go fully. And while we fall out from time to time, and the changes they promise to make still don’t amount to what I said I needed, we both know we’ll be back to each other. My workflow needs to be better. The delulu is deep and sickly.
Starting with the current winners –
Trello–Where I joyfully relegate my blog posts, short stories, etc. To me, she’s understated, but so pretty. Pretty easy to use and pretty easy to separate things out visually. I keep two active boards and fight against myself to add more to my current workflow, as I know I’ll become overwhelmed and antsy in no time.
Scrivener–This beauty is for my baby, my debut novel, and only for her. I’ll come back later to why it’s taken me so long to almost get to my first, really good draft. I’m so, so close. Scrivener is like Word’s glamorous, highly educated, bougie, yet real down-to-earth, and super cool bestie. Can she be intimidating? Oh, heck yeah! Do I use more than 15% of her gifts…. not in the slightest. She does and can do so much. Too much for me. I find new treats every now and then, and I’m shocked I never knew it could do that. When I got this tool a few years back, it was offered as a one-time payment. I believe it’s now a subscription model, but don’t hold me to that. I got a license for my Mac and one for my Windows laptop. Accessing Scrivener from my iPhone and iPad is a breeze. So, working on/from a sunny beach is delightful. I keep meaning to dig more into all the things it offers, but the way it organizes my chapters and how it visually looks like a book, the layout, the organization it offers my greedy-controlling expectations, is well… delicious. It’s been the thing to keep me on track. I can see my word count for my entire book or chapter at a snap. Or better figure out how to cut, expand and flesh out characters and scenes. And the search feature is most helpful for my newbie-author needs. Scrivener feels familiar, like Word or Google Sheets, but I don’t worry about files getting corrupted or disappearing. And did I mention the unbelievable organization? Maybe published authors, or overall experienced writers, could tout other superior options. But Lil’ ole me is riding with Scrivener until the wheels fall off. 100%.
Apple Notes–my unofficial first responder. The ‘call-if-in-an-emergency’ app. Always there, synced, and ready when I’m half-asleep and suddenly think of an idea or a new direction for a character phrase. I can just talk to it, right into my phone, even in darkness, and faking like I don’t need my glasses. Tap. Talk. Done. Her never-ending appetite for all the things I keep feeding her means she stays close. We just need to have several conversations about saying no, and setting firm ‘that’s enough’ boundaries, seeing my notes list cross over 4,000. And by ‘we’, I mean me.
And rounding out the fab four, there’s Canva, my creative playground. Yes, I pay for Pro, but you don’t have to. The free version has all the juice to start with and maybe even stick with. I like more of the Pro elements and features, so for me the cost right now is worth it. Canva holds my art, card designs, book mockups, my ‘messy mugs’ and even random sayings I make just to laugh at later. It too is travel-friendly, glitch-light, and even lets me design (or edit) straight from my phone. On YouTube, I often see the ‘this other tool is even better than Canva’ videos, and it could be true. And while she may be free, she ain’t broke.
And now for the, umm… oh… oof, ones. If they work for you, I love it!
Evernote–I have documents in here that are so old, when I randomly peek at a file now and then, I’m like who wrote this? Damn, I need to do some serious deleting. But I rarely crank this puppy open. I’m not in the headspace to go through the umpteen documents, so will let them happily collect dust and hold some sketchy writing examples by some weirdo who apparently is me. I’ll also deny ownership of every one of those files if I’m ever put on the stand.
Notion–Something’s off with me, ‘cos I don’t get it. I thought I did, hoped I could, but I don’t. From Etsy, I bought a PLR to try out, as it looked so smooth and too cute. But I just don’t get how to move things around properly and adjust things without me messing up some other layout or section. My tech skills in that area are kind of nice, if I say so myself, so it’s not that. Plus, I’m sure a mid-level YouTube course could set me straight, but on this day – the commotion of Notion is on pause.
Asana–A YouTuber I adore talked about how she was about to get into Asana, and when I heard they had an always-free personal plan like Trello, I was like, yes, me too! But Asana is great for project/program managers. My day-to-day work. And it felt exactly like that… work. Not me running my passion projects, which are still work, but different. I could have used it for longer than my trial, but it felt more like a creativity killer than a booster. I’m a visual HOOMAN, and this was too stiff for what I was desiring.
The foundation of my “Fab Four” rests on these three factors:
- It had to be Simple. Remove Clutter. No Distractions.
No convoluted hierarchies that got in my way. A central note dump (Notes), a visual board for planning blog posts, paid writing or short stories (Trello), a dedicated writing space for my book (Scrivener), and a design sandbox (Canva). - It had to be a Traveler. Just Like Me.
Laptop or no laptop, I can access everything on my phone or iPad. I often take my windows laptop on trips, but I’m not forced to drag my whole “setup” just to record a decent thought. Strolling the length of a stunning sandy strip, fedora-sunhat and bikini adorned, while voice-recording directly into Apple Notes, to drop that idea into the right folder – is my definition of Productive-Prowess. No extra steps, and not the “I’ll organize this later” lies I used to tell myself. - It had to be Something I Needed or Replace Something Not Working. I have Magpie tendencies. I see it; I like it; I want it. But I’m no longer playing around with trying to force a ton of unused apps into my current flow. They become dusty distractions, and like my sis Bee says, any and every chance she can, “If it doesn’t add up… subtract.”
Now my workflow feels like it’s actually working. The clutter is at a minimum. I know where things go and where to look. What’s a random idea versus becoming something real.
I’m dipping my big toe into content planning and scheduling tools like Buffer and Metricool. Since I have Canva Pro, I know it comes with its own built-in posting scheduler too. These tools are solidly on the back burner for a deeper review before I make a choice. But for now, I’m taking baby… no, toddler steps.
Tried any of these? Drop your favorite (or your scheduling horror story) in the comments, I’m all ears.
Knowing me, I’ll always have some form of cleanup to do (remember the 4,000+ notes). I’ll always look to adjust or upgrade to a better version of something, as long as it makes sense. But thankfully, I recognized I needed to stop wasting energy moving around my want-to-dos between so many apps for no good reason, like they’re on a digital worldwide tour. I’m clearly slacking on my bouncer security duties.
