Just Use Apple Notes.
Summary
TLDRThis 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
- ๐ Sticking to one note-taking app can improve productivity rather than constantly switching between apps.
- ๐ Changing apps frequently is akin to moving house frequently, which is disruptive and unproductive.
- ๐ Apple Notes was the speaker's choice due to its availability across all Apple devices and even on Windows via iCloud.
- ๐ ๏ธ Starting with a simple note-taking system is crucial, as complex systems designed from scratch often fail.
- ๐ The speaker initially used a single 'things to do' note and later categorized tasks into 'life buckets' and 'interests'.
- ๐ Consistency is key in forming a habit; the speaker used the same note-taking system for 30 days without changing it.
- ๐ Switching apps can lead to decision fatigue and loss of productivity due to the learning curve and potential data loss.
- ๐ฑ Apple Notes offers user-friendly features like syncing across devices, voice input with Siri, and document scanning with OCR.
- ๐ฅ Collaboration is facilitated with Apple Notes' ability to share notes with family and friends.
- ๐ Taking action by consolidating tasks into one app can reduce stress and improve focus on actionable items.
- โฐ 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
๐ 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.
๐ 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.
๐ 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.
๐โโ๏ธ 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
๐กProductivity
๐กNote-taking apps
๐กApple Notes
๐กParadox of Choice
๐กDecision fatigue
๐กDigital workspace
๐กSimplicity
๐กHabit formation
๐กActionable tasks
๐กMindfulness
๐กOCR (Optical Character Recognition)
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
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