Just Use Apple Notes.

Summary

This video script emphasizes the importance of consistency in note-taking for productivity. The speaker shares their experience of jumping between apps like Evernote, Obsidian, and Notion, only to realize that sticking to one app, in their case Apple Notes, is more effective. They argue that changing apps frequently is akin to moving houses frequently, which is unproductive. The speaker highlights Apple Notes' simplicity, cross-device syncing, and user-friendly features, suggesting it as a solid starting point for a note-taking system. The script also touches on the psychological aspects of decision fatigue and the importance of taking action with the tools we have, rather than endlessly seeking the perfect app.

Takeaways

• 🔄 Sticking to one note-taking app can improve productivity rather than constantly switching between apps.
• 🏠 Changing apps frequently is akin to moving house frequently, which is disruptive and unproductive.
• 📚 Apple Notes was the speaker's choice due to its availability across all Apple devices and even on Windows via iCloud.
• 🛠️ Starting with a simple note-taking system is crucial, as complex systems designed from scratch often fail.
• 👟 The speaker initially used a single 'things to do' note and later categorized tasks into 'life buckets' and 'interests'.
• 🔗 Consistency is key in forming a habit; the speaker used the same note-taking system for 30 days without changing it.
• 🔄 Switching apps can lead to decision fatigue and loss of productivity due to the learning curve and potential data loss.
• 📱 Apple Notes offers user-friendly features like syncing across devices, voice input with Siri, and document scanning with OCR.
• 👥 Collaboration is facilitated with Apple Notes' ability to share notes with family and friends.
• 📝 Taking action by consolidating tasks into one app can reduce stress and improve focus on actionable items.
• ⏰ Productivity apps are tools to help decide and act on what matters, rather than just a means to list tasks.

Q & A

What was the speaker's initial approach to productivity apps and how did it affect them?

The speaker initially jumped around from one note-taking app to another, such as Evernote, Obsidian, and Notion, hoping that changing apps would make them more productive. However, this approach resulted in spending time watching tutorials and not actually becoming more productive.

What comparison did the speaker make to illustrate the inefficiency of frequently changing productivity apps?

The speaker compared changing productivity apps to moving from house to house every few weeks, which is impractical and unhelpful for becoming more productive.

Why did the speaker's parents often get mad at them when growing up?

The speaker's parents got mad at them for forgetting things easily, as their brain was like a sieve and forgot information readily.

What did the speaker realize they needed to change about themselves before using note-taking apps effectively?

The speaker realized that they needed to change their approach and stick to one note-taking app in order to use it properly and effectively.

What is the Paradox of Choice and how does it relate to choosing a note-taking app?

The Paradox of Choice, as explained by psychologist Barry Schwartz, is the idea that having too many options makes choosing difficult, and choosing well becomes even harder. This relates to choosing a note-taking app because with so many options available, it's challenging to decide which one to use.

Why did the speaker eventually choose Apple Notes as their note-taking app?

The speaker chose Apple Notes because it was the default choice on all their Apple devices, eliminating the need to migrate notes. Additionally, it was available on their Windows desktop through iCloud.com, making it accessible on all systems.

What principle did the speaker refer to when explaining the importance of starting with a simple note-taking system?

The speaker referred to the principle that a complex system that works is usually evolved from a simple system that works, as stated by John Gall. This principle emphasizes the importance of starting with a simple system to build upon.

How did the speaker initially organize their notes in Apple Notes?

Initially, the speaker had one note called 'things to do' where they put everything, including tasks, blogs, podcasts, movies, videos, articles, and emails. Later, they realized they could split the content into categories like 'tasks', 'life buckets', and 'interests'.

What is the significance of using a note-taking system for 30 days without changing it?

Using a note-taking system for 30 days without changing it is significant because it allows the speaker to form a habit. This period is crucial for understanding what works and what doesn't in the workflow.

What does the speaker suggest is the cost of switching apps frequently?

The speaker suggests that the cost of switching apps frequently includes the loss of productivity due to learning curves, potential loss of data, and decision fatigue, which deteriorates the quality of decisions.

What feature of Apple Notes does the speaker find particularly useful for work and school?

The speaker finds the ability to scan documents and upload them to Dropbox directly from Apple Notes particularly useful for work and school, as it is quick and the scanned documents are searchable due to OCR text.

Why does the speaker recommend using Apple Notes for note-taking?

The speaker recommends Apple Notes for its user-friendly features, seamless syncing across devices, use of Siri for hands-free note-taking, and the ability to share notes for collaboration. It also allows for actionable tasks and reduces stress by focusing on life rather than deadlines.

What is the main takeaway from the video according to the speaker?

The main takeaway from the video is that the cost of switching apps is high and focusing on actionable tasks rather than the app itself will lead to a more fulfilling life and easier task completion.

What action does the speaker suggest the viewer take immediately after watching the video?

The speaker suggests that the viewer should open their notes app right away and start taking stock of all the tasks they have to do, as taking action is the first step to getting control over one's tasks.

Outlines

00:00

📒 The Struggle with Note-Taking Apps

The speaker reflects on their past productivity issues, particularly the mistake of frequently switching between different note-taking apps like Evernote, Obsidian, and Notion. They likened the inefficiency of this habit to moving houses frequently and emphasize the importance of settling on one app to build a productive routine. The speaker also discusses their personal struggle with forgetfulness and the need for a consistent note-taking system. They advocate for Apple Notes as a simple, effective solution that integrates seamlessly across all Apple devices and is even accessible on Windows via iCloud, thus eliminating the need for constant app migration and simplifying the digital workspace.

05:01

🔄 The High Cost of Switching Productivity Apps

The speaker delves into the downsides of frequently changing productivity apps, drawing a parallel to decision fatigue as described by Greg McKeown in his book 'Essentialism'. They explain how the process of adapting to new interfaces and features can be cumbersome and time-consuming, leading to a loss of productivity. The speaker shares their personal experience of confusion and lack of accomplishment when using both Evernote and Todoist simultaneously, highlighting the importance of consistency in choosing and sticking with a single productivity tool. They also touch on the Paradox of Choice, a concept by psychologist Barry Schwartz, which suggests that having too many options can make the decision-making process more difficult and lead to poorer choices.

10:02

🍎 Embracing Apple Notes for Simplicity and Efficiency

The speaker extols the virtues of Apple Notes as a user-friendly and comprehensive note-taking app that meets all their needs. They appreciate its seamless synchronization across multiple devices, its reliability, and the convenience of features like voice dictation via Siri and quick note-taking through the Command Center. The ability to scan documents with OCR and share notes for collaboration is also highlighted as beneficial for both work and personal use. The speaker contrasts the simplicity and effectiveness of Apple Notes with the complexity and inefficiency of trying to manage multiple apps. They reference David Allen's 'Getting Things Done' philosophy, advocating for action and value addition over mere task management, and suggest that Apple Notes facilitates this approach by helping to transform thoughts into actionable tasks.

🏃‍♂️ Taking Action with Apple Notes

The speaker encourages immediate action by consolidating all tasks into the Apple Notes app, which serves as a central repository for organizing and managing responsibilities. They stress the importance of taking control of one's tasks and life by being mindful of time and focusing on actionable items rather than getting lost in the complexity of productivity tools. The speaker also emphasizes the significance of Viktor Frankl's existential philosophy from 'Man's Search for Meaning', which underlines the importance of making conscious decisions about one's life and existence. The video concludes with a call to action, urging viewers to start simplifying their productivity systems with Apple Notes and to prioritize meaningful tasks over the pursuit of perfect tools.

Keywords

💡Productivity

Productivity refers to the efficiency with which an individual or system performs tasks or produces goods and services. In the video's context, it is the central theme as the speaker discusses the impact of using different note-taking apps on their personal productivity. The speaker initially believed changing apps would increase productivity but later realized that consistency and sticking to one app is more beneficial.

💡Note-taking apps

Note-taking apps are software applications designed to facilitate the creation, organization, and storage of notes. The script mentions several apps such as Evernote, Obsidian, Notion, and Apple Notes. The speaker's journey through different apps illustrates the trial and error process in finding the most effective tool for their productivity needs.

💡Apple Notes

Apple Notes is a note-taking app developed by Apple Inc. for its ecosystem of devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and iWatch. The speaker endorses Apple Notes as a simple and effective solution for all note-taking needs, highlighting its seamless synchronization across devices and user-friendly features as key advantages.

💡Paradox of Choice

The Paradox of Choice is a psychological concept that suggests having too many options can lead to decision fatigue and reduced satisfaction. In the script, it is mentioned by Barry Schwartz to explain the difficulty in choosing a note-taking app amidst a plethora of choices, which can hinder the decision-making process.

💡Decision fatigue

Decision fatigue is the phenomenon where the quality of decisions deteriorates as the number of choices we are forced to make increases. The speaker cites Greg McKeon's book 'Essentialism' to explain how frequently switching apps can lead to decision fatigue, impacting productivity negatively.

💡Digital workspace

A digital workspace refers to a virtual environment where individuals can access tools, applications, and files to perform their work. The script compares changing note-taking apps to moving from house to house, emphasizing the disruptive nature of frequent changes in one's digital workspace.

💡Simplicity

Simplicity in the context of the video refers to the straightforwardness and ease of use of a system or tool. The speaker argues that a simple note-taking system is foundational for building more complex productivity workflows, as suggested by John Gall's principle that complex systems that work well evolve from simpler systems.

💡Habit formation

Habit formation is the process of developing a routine behavior that eventually becomes automatic. The speaker emphasizes the importance of using a consistent note-taking system for a set period, such as 30 days, to form a habit, which is crucial for effective productivity.

💡Actionable tasks

Actionable tasks are specific, concrete actions that can be taken to achieve a goal or complete a project. The speaker advises using Apple Notes to write down tasks in a way that makes them actionable, which means they can be directly acted upon in a realistic amount of time.

💡Mindfulness

Mindfulness in the video refers to being aware and attentive to one's actions and decisions. The speaker suggests that productivity apps should not just be about figuring out what needs to be done but also about making mindful choices about what one chooses to do, as explained by Viktor Frankel in 'Man's Search for Meaning'.

💡OCR (Optical Character Recognition)

OCR is a technology that converts various types of documents, usually scanned documents, into editable and searchable data. The speaker mentions this feature of Apple Notes as an underutilized yet valuable tool for scanning documents and making them searchable, which aids in productivity.

Highlights

The speaker suggests sticking to one note-taking app for productivity rather than constantly switching between apps.

Switching note-taking apps is compared to moving houses frequently, which is inefficient and unproductive.

The speaker's personal experience with Apple Notes as a default and effective note-taking app across all Apple devices.

The importance of starting with a simple note-taking system to build upon, as advocated by John Gall.

The speaker's initial method of organizing notes into broad categories like 'things to do', 'life buckets', and 'interests'.

The significance of using a note-taking system for 30 days without changing it to form a habit.

The cost of switching apps includes decision fatigue and potential loss of productivity.

The recommendation to avoid switching apps frequently to maintain consistency and reduce stress.

The advantages of Apple Notes' user-friendly features, such as seamless syncing and voice commands.

The underutilized feature of Apple Notes to scan documents and make them searchable with OCR text.

The ability to share notes in Apple Notes for collaboration with family and friends.

The principle that productivity apps should help with actionable tasks rather than just organizing to-dos.

The advice to take action by consolidating tasks in one app to reduce stress and increase focus.

The notion that productivity is about choosing what to do, inspired by Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning'.

The final call to action for viewers to start using their notes app immediately to take control of their tasks.

The emphasis on being mindful of how we work and the importance of not wasting time with unnecessary app switching.

The conclusion that focusing on actionable tasks and not the app itself leads to a more fulfilling and productive life.

Transcripts

if I could go back in time and change

one thing about what I was doing for

productivity it would be to stick to one

note-taking app instead I jumped around

from app to app I went to Evernote to

obsidian to notion and I thought that if

I just changed my app I would become

more productive however the opposite

happened I was stuck watching tutorials

on how to get started on notion for

three plus years before it finally got

to me that I needed to stick to one

note-taking app in order to become more

productive think about it like this if

you're changing an app you're also

changing your digital workspace it's

like if you were moving from house to

house every few weeks it doesn't make

sense and it's definitely not helping

you become more productive whatever that

means growing up my parents always used

to get mad at me for forgetting things

my brain was kind of like a sieve and it

forgot information really easily so I

knew I needed a note-taking system to

help me get on my my feet but before I

did that I didn't realize that I needed

to change something about myself in

order to use those note-taking apps

properly in this video I want to explain

to you that Apple notes is the app that

you should be using for all your

note-taking needs and how it can help

you in the long run

when you're first starting it can be

daunting to choose a note-taking app

what app are you going to choose largely

this is dictated by the Paradox of

choice as Barry Schwartz a psychologist

from Swarthmore College explains

learning to choose is hard learning to

choose well is harder and learning to

choose well in a world of unlimited

possibilities is harder still perhaps

too hard the good part about Apple notes

was for me it was the default choice on

all of my devices I use the Apple

ecosystem so I had the Mac the iPhone

the iPad and the iWatch so I didn't

really need to migrate any of my notes

anywhere to top it all off you can even

use Apple notes on your Windows desktop

on icloud.com so I really didn't need to

switch because it was available on all

of my devices anytime that I needed it

any system which starts up has to be

simple or else no other complexity can

be built on top of it the same goes for

your note-taking system as John Gall a

pediatrician in the 20th Century who had

a side hustle for studying how systems

function as a whole had this to say

about simple systems a complex system

that works is invariably found to have

evolved from a simple system that works

the inverse proposition also appears to

be true a complex system designed from

scratch never works and cannot be made

to work if you're trying to add multiple

apps to a productivity system it's never

going to work if it's too complex you're

never actually going to do it seeing

others with a complex workflow may feel

like you need to have a complex workflow

as well to keep up with them however

this can't be further from the truth if

I was to get the same shoes car and

lifestyle that LeBron James has I

wouldn't be LeBron James for the simple

fact that I can't do what LeBron does on

the court and off the court in the same

way that he does it the way that I

organize my notes when I was starting

out was that I had one note called

things to do and based on that note I

put everything in it everything that I

was consuming everything that I needed

to do when on that particular note all

of the blogs the podcasts the movies the

videos the articles that I needed to

read my work emails my personal emails

everything went into that note then

after looking at it again I realized

that they split into categories it went

my tasks so I put that in things to do

then I made two other notes called life

buckets and interests and I put the

things that were relevant to my health

or productivity or car payments or

anything that needed to go around my

life in the life buckets note and then

in the interest note I put all of the

things that I wanted to do but I have

never gotten around so all of the things

that I was going to read I put into the

interest bucket so things that were

areas that I needed to do more research

on for example if I was interested in

the productivity system for note-taking

I would put an article that I had read

from Ali abdal or someone else into that

particular note then I used this note

taking system for 30 days and this was

the most important part I did it without

changing or without editing this

workflow this is what I needed to form a

habit you don't need to do exactly what

I did but you need to have one place

where you're capturing everything in

order to then delegate and make

complexity along with the simple tactic

that you used at the beginning in order

to truly make a very formidable

productivity system principle 2 don't

shift around like I said before

switching apps comes at a cost it's like

moving from one place to another it's

not easy and you're probably going to

lose some things along the way also when

you're coming to a new app you're

probably dealing with an unfamiliar

interface and new buttons that you're

gonna have to adjust to when you need to

add tasks or remove tasks so it makes it

very hard to switch this comes to a head

when people are forced to choose a

productivity app there's so many that

it's hard to choose so you look at your

favorite productivity Guru and you you

choose what he's using until the next

video when he comes out with another app

and a few weeks later you want to switch

to that one but knowing what I've just

told you that comes at a cost and this

cost is readily apparent when you go

through the new app and you're not able

to find any of the things that you need

to in your previous app and you just saw

it in defeat saying that it's not for

you as author Greg McKeon explains in

his book essentialism psychologists call

this decision fatigue the more choices

we are forced to make the more the

quality of our decisions deteriorates

switching apps comes with a cost of

losing features that you loved in the

previous app and porting over to the new

app and straddling the two trying to

keep features that you love from both

and this breeds indecision about which

app you're going to continue to use in

the future this happened to me when I

was using Evernote and todoist in the

same month and I couldn't remember where

I put my tasks on my list in todoist or

my list in Evernote and needless to say

I got nothing done that month because I

didn't know where my tasks were so I

didn't know what I needed to complete

principle three why Apple notes I like

Apple notes because of its user-friendly

features and it does everything that you

needed to do out of a note-taking app I

needed to sync between many different

devices from my phone to my laptop to my

tablet and my watch and it does that

seamlessly without me even thinking

about it I've never had it once crash on

me in all of my time using it and I've

been using it for over two years I can

also use Siri to jot down a quick note

while I'm driving riding my bike or even

taking a shower I can use Command Center

to write down a quick note when I'm

thinking by pulling down Command Center

hitting the quick note button and just

jotting down my thoughts one of the best

and underutilized features of Apple

notes is the ability to scan documents

and then later upload them to Dropbox

this has been a lifesaver for work in

school because I'm able to quickly scan

a document and then upload it to my

Dropbox and send it to whoever I need to

just with a tap of a button and also

it's searchable because it has OCR text

attached to it Apple notes also allows

me to share my notes to family and

friends so that we can collaborate this

has been especially useful when I'm

trying to plan trips with them in order

to update them in real time on things

that we need to pack Apple notes has

everything you want in a note-taking app

and it's really helpful for me because

it helps me write down my tasks into

something actionable because then I can

act on it and do it in a realistic

amount of time rather than just spending

time organizing my to-do's which I did

with all of the other apps that I had

David Allen in his legendary book

getting things done write this use your

mind to think about things rather than

think of them you want to be adding

value as you think about projects and

people not simply reminding yourselves

they exist you are the captain of your

own ship the more you act from that

perspective the better things will go

for you understanding that our approach

to productivity may be different than

others is important I'm not suggest

suggesting that you have to use Apple

notes but it is a good starting point if

you're looking for something simple and

effective principle 4 take action now I

want you to open your notes app right

now and start taking stock of all of the

tasks that you have to do this may seem

hard because your life is spread across

all different apps but taking action is

the first step to getting that under

control this step will be really

informative because it'll allow you to

take steps on the things that matter and

forget about the things that you don't

want to remember writing things down and

taking it out of your brain and into

Apple notes will be really beneficial

because you know that you can just

search Apple notes to remember the

things you do and it'll lower your

Baseline levels of stress remembering

that you need to do something but you

don't actually remember what the task is

that you need to do then separate all

your tasks after this day what went well

what went bad and remember if you just

don't want to keep some of the items you

can always delete it the cool thing

about this is that you don't need to tag

or put into organizing folders you can

just copy and paste text wherever you

want to put them if you want to make

another note with all of your tasks that

are for a specific project you can do

that and you don't need to worry about

color coding or adjusting text or

anything it's all the same text because

it's Apple notes the most important

thing that we need to realize is that

productivity apps are not just a way

that we figure out what we need to do

but it's about what we choose to do as

Viktor Frankel explains in his novel man

search for meaning man does not simply

exist but always decide what his

existence will be what he will become in

the next moment live as if you are

living the second time and acted as

wrongly the first time as you are about

to act now if we're not being mindful of

the way we work then we're going to be a

slave to our task if we don't take

action now then we're always going to be

pushing off the things we want to do to

later

time is the best resource that we have

and productivity apps are just a vessel

if you're not being mindful of your time

then you're just going to waste it and

it's not going to work out for you my

solution for this was Apple notes

because it allowed me to focus on my

life and not the never-ending stress and

deadlines that come from school or work

if there's one thing that you take away

from this video it's that the cost of

switching apps is tremendous and just

focusing on actionable tasks and not the

app itself will make your life much more

fulfilling and your tasks much easier to

complete thanks for watching the video

if you're interested in more content

here's a video of me living like Ali

abdal for a week thanks again and see

you in the next one