My Ultimate Productivity Tool & An Updated Workflow for 2024: Plan with Me in NotePlan

Stacey Roshan
4 Jan 202423:09

Summary

TLDRThis video offers an in-depth tutorial on utilizing the NotePlan app for comprehensive life organization. The speaker shares their experience using NotePlan for daily and project notes, calendar integration, and syncing with Apple reminders. They demonstrate core features like templates, drag-and-drop organization, and time blocking, while also showcasing the app's flexibility in handling to-do lists and habit trackers. The video emphasizes NotePlan's ability to serve as an 'everything app,' streamlining daily planning and task management with a user-friendly interface.

Takeaways

  • 📝 NotePlan is used as an all-in-one organizational tool for daily and project notes, calendar integration, and reminders.
  • 📆 The app allows for free-form note-taking, combining to-do items, paragraph text, and time blocking within a daily note.
  • 🔍 NotePlan includes a revision history feature, enabling users to view and restore previous versions of their notes.
  • 🔄 Users can quickly capture ideas and tasks using shortcuts like 'Quick Open to Today' and 'Quick Capture' for efficient note entry.
  • 📑 Templates are supported in NotePlan, allowing users to create and save custom templates for daily or meeting notes.
  • 📊 The app differentiates between to-dos and checklist items, with to-dos being prioritized and automatically checked off when completed.
  • 🗓️ NotePlan offers a calendar view with options to view one to seven days at a time, enhancing daily and weekly planning.
  • 🔗 The app syncs with Apple Reminders and Google Calendar, integrating reminders and calendar events within the notes.
  • 📐 Drag-and-drop functionality allows for easy organization and movement of tasks between different days or sections.
  • 📈 Synced lines can be used to reference tasks across daily and project notes, keeping information organized and up-to-date.
  • ⏰ Time blocking is a feature that helps users schedule specific time slots for tasks directly within the app, which also syncs with Google Calendar.

Q & A

  • What is the main purpose of the video?

    -The main purpose of the video is to provide an updated guide on how the speaker uses NotePlan to organize their life, including daily and project notes, calendar integration, and reminders.

  • How long has the speaker been using NotePlan?

    -The speaker has been using NotePlan for years, indicating a long-term reliance on the app for organization.

  • What are the core features of NotePlan that the speaker focuses on in the video?

    -The speaker focuses on core features such as daily notes, project notes, calendar integration, Apple reminders, free-form note-taking, and the ability to search within the app.

  • What is a 'daily note' in the context of NotePlan?

    -A 'daily note' in NotePlan is a free-form note that the speaker uses to jot down tasks, ideas, and to-do items for each day. It can also include time blocking and different level headings.

  • How does NotePlan handle accidental deletions of notes?

    -NotePlan allows users to view revisions, showing modifications of the past at certain intervals, enabling the restoration of accidentally deleted notes.

  • What is the speaker's approach to capturing tasks and ideas quickly?

    -The speaker uses multiple desktops and Apple shortcuts to quickly open NotePlan, jot down tasks or ideas, and then close it to keep it out of sight while working on other tasks.

  • How does NotePlan support templates?

    -NotePlan supports templates, allowing users to create their own templates for daily notes, meeting notes, and more, which can be saved and reused.

  • What is the difference between a to-do and a checklist item in NotePlan?

    -A to-do in NotePlan is something that needs to be checked off daily, while a checklist item is more like a habit list where not everything needs to be checked off every day.

  • How does the speaker use NotePlan's calendar view?

    -The speaker uses the calendar view to focus on one day at a time or to view up to seven days at once, helping with planning and organization.

  • What is the benefit of using 'synced lines' in NotePlan?

    -Synced lines in NotePlan allow users to link items across different notes, ensuring that changes made in one note are reflected in the linked notes, which is useful for referencing across daily and project notes.

  • How does the speaker manage time blocking within NotePlan?

    -The speaker uses time blocking to schedule specific tasks during certain times of the day, which can be dragged and dropped onto the calendar, and will sync with Google Calendar.

  • What is the speaker's strategy for dealing with unfinished tasks at the end of the day?

    -The speaker either moves unfinished tasks to the next day or checks them off if completed, ensuring that they do not leave anything undone at the end of the day.

  • How does NotePlan help with planning on different time scales?

    -NotePlan allows for daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly planning, with the ability to see references to higher-level plans (like monthly tasks in the weekly note) and to filter tasks based on different criteria.

Outlines

00:00

📓 Introduction to Note Plan and Daily Note Workflow

The speaker introduces their long-term use of Note Plan as an all-encompassing tool for organizing life, including daily and project notes, calendar integration, and Apple reminders. They emphasize the app's core features over plugins and set the stage for a demonstration of a simple daily note from December 30th. The speaker highlights the app's free-form note structure, which allows combining to-do items, paragraph text, and time blocking. They also mention the app's revision feature, which recovers unintentionally deleted content, and their use of daily notes as a 'scratch pad' for jotting down ideas and organizing them later.

05:02

🔄 Daily Note Process and Note Plan Improvements

The speaker details their daily process with Note Plan, starting with the use of templates for daily notes and discussing the new template support feature. They explain the difference between to-do items and checklist items, with the former being prioritized by the app. The speaker also covers the app's drag-and-drop functionality, which has been improved to handle subtasks along with main tasks. They demonstrate how to navigate daily notes and how to sync events with Google Calendar and Apple Reminders, showcasing the app's integration capabilities. The calendar view feature is highlighted, allowing users to focus on one to seven days at a time.

10:05

📅 Advanced Note Management and Syncing Techniques

The speaker advances to more complex note management strategies, such as using the Option key to open notes side by side and drag-and-drop tasks between days. They introduce the concept of 'synced lines' which allow for real-time synchronization between daily and project notes. The speaker also discusses project note setup for meetings, with tips on associating dates and deliverables. They demonstrate how to use command-drag to create synced lines between daily and project notes, which is a key feature for keeping information organized and up-to-date across different note types.

15:08

📝 Customization and Time Management in Note Plan

The speaker talks about customization options in Note Plan, such as creating headings for line breaks to prevent them from being swallowed in the interface. They also discuss time blocking, showing how to create and manage time blocks for different activities throughout the day, and how these blocks can be easily moved and rescheduled if needed. The speaker shares personal preferences for manual task management, such as copying and pasting tasks to be intentional about daily planning, and mentions the app's filters for managing overdue tasks and creating custom filters for different planning needs.

20:09

🗓️ Comprehensive Planning with Note Plan

The speaker concludes by discussing comprehensive planning in Note Plan, including the use of weekly and monthly notes for broader planning. They demonstrate how to reference higher-level planning within daily notes and how to navigate between different levels of planning. The speaker emphasizes the importance of ending the day with a green check mark, indicating all tasks are completed, and mentions the app's filters for managing tasks. They wrap up by expressing their satisfaction with the workflow in Note Plan and invite questions from viewers.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡NotePlan

NotePlan is an organization app that the speaker uses to manage their daily and project notes, integrate with their calendar, and sync with reminders. It is the central theme of the video as the speaker discusses how they use this app to 'organize pretty much my life.' The app allows for a variety of features like templates, time blocking, and syncing with other calendars and reminders, which are all demonstrated throughout the script.

💡Daily Notes

Daily Notes are a core feature within NotePlan that the speaker uses to jot down tasks, ideas, and to-do items for each day. They serve as a 'scratch pad' for immediate thoughts and planning. In the script, the speaker shows how they use daily notes to capture and organize their day-to-day activities, mentioning 'a sample of a simple daily note' and how it can be used for 'things I wanted to do'.

💡Project Notes

Project Notes in NotePlan are used by the speaker to track specific projects. They are separate from daily notes and allow for more in-depth organization and planning of tasks related to a particular project. The speaker illustrates how they start with a daily note and then organize it into a project note, indicating flexibility in how tasks are managed within the app.

💡Templates

Templates in NotePlan are customizable and allow users to create a structured layout for their notes. The speaker mentions that NotePlan now supports templates, which they use to streamline their daily note setup. For instance, they use a 'simple daily note' template to begin their planning each day, highlighting the efficiency this feature brings to their workflow.

💡Time Blocking

Time Blocking is a technique used to allocate specific time slots for tasks within the day. The speaker discusses how they use time blocks in NotePlan to schedule their day, mentioning 'time block my time' and giving examples such as blocking out an entire afternoon for drafting a presentation. This feature helps in visualizing and managing time effectively.

💡Syncing

Syncing refers to the process of updating and coordinating data across different platforms and devices. In the context of the video, the speaker highlights how NotePlan syncs with their Google Calendar and Apple reminders, ensuring that all their tasks and events are up-to-date across all their devices. This is crucial for maintaining an organized digital life.

💡Drag and Drop

Drag and Drop is an interactive feature in NotePlan that allows users to move tasks and notes around with a simple mouse or finger gesture. The speaker demonstrates this by showing how they can 'drag and drop' tasks from one day to another or onto the calendar for time blocking. This feature provides a flexible and visual way to organize tasks.

💡Checklists

Checklists in NotePlan are used to create a list of items that need to be checked off, often used for habits or recurring tasks. The speaker differentiates between to-dos and checklist items, explaining that checklists are more flexible and do not necessarily need to be completed daily, unlike to-dos which are prioritized.

💡Revisions

Revisions in NotePlan allow users to view and restore previous versions of their notes. The speaker mentions this feature when discussing how they can recover accidentally deleted content by viewing 'revisions' and restoring an old version of the note if needed.

💡Apple Shortcuts

Apple Shortcuts are customizable actions that can be created to automate tasks on Apple devices. The speaker refers to using Apple Shortcuts to quickly open their daily note or capture information into NotePlan. They mention community-contributed shortcuts, which enhance the functionality and efficiency of using NotePlan.

💡Filters

Filters in NotePlan enable users to sort and view their tasks based on specific criteria. The speaker discusses using built-in filters to view overdue items or create custom filters like a 'this week' filter to see what needs to be done. This feature helps in managing tasks based on priority and time.

Highlights

Introduction to NotePlan as an all-in-one organization app for daily and project notes, calendar, and reminders.

Demonstration of a sample daily note and workflow basics.

NotePlan's free-form note feature allowing combination of to-do items with text.

Time blocking capabilities within the app.

Revision history feature to restore accidentally deleted notes.

Use of daily notes as a scratch pad for quick jotting and later organization.

Utilization of project notes for specific projects starting from daily notes.

Shortcuts for quick note capture, such as opening today's note and capturing memos.

NotePlan's template support for daily and meeting notes.

Drag and drop improvements for task management within the app.

Differentiation between to-dos and checklist items for habit tracking.

Calendar view options for focusing on one to seven days ahead.

Syncing capabilities with Apple Reminders and Google Calendar.

Side by side note comparison for planning and organization.

Use of synced lines for referencing between daily and project notes.

Creating and managing project notes for meetings and deliverables.

Using URL to heading for direct access to specific note sections.

Line break techniques to create visual separation in notes.

Time blocking integration with Google Calendar for scheduling.

Manual process of copying and pasting for intentional task scheduling.

Filters for viewing overdue tasks and custom filters for specific needs.

Yearly, monthly, and weekly planning features for comprehensive organization.

Final thoughts on the NotePlan workflow and its effectiveness over years of use.

Transcripts

play00:00

hello everyone it is 2024 so I thought

play00:03

it was time for me to make an updated

play00:06

video about how I use not plan to

play00:10

organize pretty much my life it is my

play00:13

everything app I've continued to use it

play00:16

for years now I use it to organize my

play00:20

daily notes my project notes it

play00:22

integrates with my calendar with my

play00:25

Apple reminders everything is housed in

play00:28

note plan it's all searchable there and

play00:31

today I want to start by showing you a

play00:34

sample of a simple daily note and then a

play00:37

bit of my workflow and I am going to do

play00:40

my best to keep this video down to more

play00:43

or less the basics there are some power

play00:47

features in notep plan if you want to

play00:49

get into the plugins I do use some

play00:52

plugins that have been created by

play00:54

various developers they're wonderful but

play00:57

I want to keep this video const

play00:59

concentrated on the core features that

play01:02

are built into note plan so let's get

play01:05

started by just looking at a sample day

play01:07

from December 30th where I didn't have a

play01:10

lot of projects going on but I still had

play01:12

things that I wanted to do things I

play01:14

wanted to reply to so let's get started

play01:17

there note plan continues to be my

play01:19

everything app for my daily notes my

play01:22

project notes having my calendar my

play01:25

reminders everything in one spot before

play01:28

diving into the content the video itself

play01:30

let me start by showing you what a

play01:32

sample day for me kind of looks like

play01:35

what I love so much about not plan is

play01:37

that it's really a free form note so I

play01:41

can combine to-do items with paragraph

play01:44

text that I might want to jot out I can

play01:47

also time block my time which I'll talk

play01:49

about later I didn't on this specific

play01:51

day you can see that I can make

play01:53

different level headings I can create

play01:56

whatever section I need for that

play01:58

particular day I'm not conf to A system

play02:01

that only lets me do check or only lets

play02:03

me use the titles that I've used in the

play02:06

past every day I have this free form

play02:09

note that I can just pull up and when I

play02:11

want to jot down things quickly during

play02:13

the day as I'm thinking I just jot it

play02:15

down in my daily note and then I'll

play02:16

organize it later maybe I'll need to put

play02:19

it into a project note or maybe it was

play02:21

just a note on the spot and I can delete

play02:23

it something else that's really nice

play02:25

speaking of deleting sometimes you might

play02:27

be tidying up your note a bit too much

play02:30

and you delete something unintentionally

play02:32

you can actually view revisions here and

play02:34

that will show you all your

play02:36

modifications of the past it saves it in

play02:39

certain intervals so that you can pull

play02:41

up an old version of the note in case

play02:44

you need to go back and restore

play02:46

something that you accidentally deleted

play02:49

and you can choose the new note or in

play02:51

this case I'm just going to cancel out

play02:52

of that so again I really use my daily

play02:55

note as a scratch Pad it's not just

play02:57

about tasks I can draft out email ideas

play02:59

as brainstorm list or just use my daily

play03:02

note as a catch all for whatever is on

play03:03

my brain and then I can organize that

play03:06

content later and I do use project notes

play03:09

to keep track of specific projects but a

play03:12

lot of times I just start it in my daily

play03:14

note to get it off my mind and into the

play03:16

system in the moment so I don't have to

play03:18

think too much about where this should

play03:20

go speaking of quickly capturing what's

play03:23

on my mind I typically use multiple

play03:25

desktops so on my desktop one I tend to

play03:28

have note plan open and my calendar app

play03:31

on desktop 2 is typically where I'm

play03:33

working my workspace and then desktop 3

play03:35

is like slack for example so while I'm

play03:38

working on my main desktop I'm not

play03:40

looking at note plan I don't like to

play03:42

look at it all day I'm working on a

play03:43

specific task but sometimes you need to

play03:45

jot something down or you're in a

play03:47

meeting you need to jot something down

play03:48

and so I have some shortcuts which I

play03:51

actually got from the note plan

play03:53

community and I'll leave a link in the

play03:55

video description to a bunch of

play03:58

community contributed Apple shortcuts so

play04:01

I have one that's quick open to today

play04:03

and sorry I didn't want to show you my

play04:05

today note so I navigated to a different

play04:07

day but it pretty much just opens up I

play04:10

can jot down whatever I need and then I

play04:14

can quickly close it so all I have to do

play04:17

is quick open to today and then that

play04:20

just shows me my today note and I can

play04:23

quickly get that out of mind into note

play04:25

plan or I can quickly reference

play04:27

something there's also this quick

play04:30

capture and I can either clip a memo to

play04:32

my daily note if I have something in my

play04:34

clipboard I can dictate I can share a

play04:38

memo or I can type a memo directly to

play04:40

the Daily note so let's type the memo

play04:42

and then you can just add in a note that

play04:47

you need to take done and that would

play04:50

then add that to your daily note so if I

play04:54

click open to today that added right to

play04:58

the top of my list there okay now that I

play05:01

gave you that quick preview of how I get

play05:04

some of my stuff from my head into not

play05:06

plan let me take you through my process

play05:09

on a daily basis and share a little bit

play05:11

more about why I continue to love note

play05:14

plan and some of the improvements I've

play05:16

seen in the past year to get started not

play05:19

plan supports templates now and you can

play05:22

create your own templates and save them

play05:25

you'll see that you can have a template

play05:27

note and meeting notes because there's

play05:29

two different things in note plan there

play05:30

are the calendar notes which are daily

play05:33

weekly monthly there's quarterly which I

play05:35

have turned off yearly and then there's

play05:38

a notes section and the notes section is

play05:41

a blank page where you can keep things

play05:43

organized by folders whereas daily is

play05:45

going to obviously create a new note for

play05:48

each day so you can see that these are

play05:51

by date I can navigate them with the

play05:53

calendar or with these arrows here

play05:56

versus my notes which are all in folders

play05:59

like like that and I can have Pages

play06:02

within those folders so on a daily basis

play06:04

I really run off of a daily note a lot

play06:07

of times I'll start at the weekly level

play06:09

and then plan by day but I'm just going

play06:10

to take you day to day in this example

play06:13

that I'm going to show so I can start

play06:15

here by inserting a template and let's

play06:17

just go with my simple daily note which

play06:19

is how I usually get started I can just

play06:22

put in my tasks for the day task one

play06:25

task two you can tab over to do a

play06:28

subtask

play06:30

with a plus sign you can now do

play06:32

checklist items as well those can also

play06:35

be indented however you'd like

play06:38

everything does also work with drag and

play06:40

drop so I can drag and drop and move and

play06:43

indent there's been a lot of

play06:45

improvements with that in the past year

play06:48

when I move a main task it also now

play06:51

moves subtasks so I really enjoy the

play06:54

improved experience there I tend to just

play06:57

write out whatever I need to do if if

play06:59

you're wondering the difference between

play07:01

a to-do and a checklist item a checklist

play07:04

item is more something like a habit list

play07:07

where maybe you don't need to check

play07:09

everything off on a daily basis and not

play07:12

plan prioritizes your to-dos so when I

play07:15

check off all my to-dos for today you'll

play07:16

see on the 22nd right now there's an

play07:18

open circle right there because I

play07:21

haven't finished everything as soon as I

play07:23

check off all of my to-dos that open

play07:26

circle turns into a check mark it

play07:28

doesn't account for the check list items

play07:30

because technically those don't need to

play07:32

be carried out and done every day again

play07:35

you can use a checklist more like for

play07:36

your habit tracker a packing list

play07:39

something like that where it's fine if

play07:40

you leave things unchecked you still

play07:42

finished and completed your day it's

play07:44

nice to have those two different levels

play07:47

of to-dos versus checklists okay so let

play07:51

me just set up a little bit more here

play07:53

maybe I'll have some reflection prompts

play07:56

in some of my templates I have some

play07:57

prompts that I carry over some times I

play07:59

just copy and paste them between days

play08:02

again I keep things pretty simple and

play08:03

then a lot of times I do draft my social

play08:05

media content and I tend to use if you

play08:08

do the triple back ticks I tend to put

play08:10

it in this coding block and the reason

play08:13

that I do that is because then when I

play08:15

use at mentions and hashtags it doesn't

play08:19

get picked up in my mentions and

play08:20

hashtags list which I want to keep for

play08:22

search purposes I don't want it to get

play08:24

cluttered with my social media post tags

play08:27

I usually keep that or organized by

play08:30

drafting my social media content in a

play08:33

code block and again you trigger that

play08:36

with the triple back tis like that

play08:38

something else that's really nice is the

play08:39

calendar view you can choose if you want

play08:42

to just see one day at a time to focus

play08:44

on one day or you can do 3 days I find

play08:48

really nice to use but you can go all

play08:50

the way up to 7 days so let's go ahead

play08:52

and leave it at the 3 days like I had it

play08:55

what you'll see here is this is a

play08:57

calendar event actually I made it in my

play08:58

Google calendar a reminder of a birthday

play09:01

this right here is a reminder so it's

play09:03

sinking with my Apple reminders here and

play09:06

this again is a different calendar event

play09:09

different color because it's on a

play09:10

different calendar I can use the side

play09:13

timeline and I can add to any of my

play09:16

calendars that I have in my Gmail or in

play09:19

my iCloud or I can add to reminders and

play09:23

I can add it to any Apple reminder list

play09:26

that I have so that was something that

play09:28

Drew me to note plan in the first place

play09:30

was that sync with apple reminders and

play09:33

my Google Calendar obviously it works

play09:35

with your Apple calendar as well when

play09:38

I'm working on the day I tend to just

play09:40

look at the one day at a time view like

play09:43

this but at the end of the day say I'm

play09:46

at the end of Monday January 22nd I

play09:49

finished this task I only finished part

play09:52

of that task let's go ahead and

play09:54

highlight both of these and press

play09:55

command D to just check them both off at

play09:58

the same time let's check this off as

play10:01

well what I like to do is I press option

play10:04

and I click on the 23rd and that opens

play10:07

the two notes side by side when you

play10:09

click option it opens another note in

play10:12

another tab the same thing actually

play10:14

works with your project notes as well so

play10:16

it doesn't just have to be daily notes

play10:18

it can be your project notes that open

play10:20

in another tab I tend to then insert my

play10:23

same template first and then I can drag

play10:27

this to tomorrow so so I might just drag

play10:29

the entire thing maybe I want to

play10:31

reference the task that's already done

play10:33

some people are very very particular

play10:35

about seeing what they did on each day

play10:37

in that case maybe you want to copy and

play10:39

paste I don't care as much about that I

play10:41

just want to know what I need to do so

play10:44

that's how I might use this and again

play10:46

you can drag anything from one day to

play10:49

another day I drag and drop quite a bit

play10:52

if this subtask you know you wanted to

play10:53

really leave it on this day just go

play10:55

ahead and do that drag and drop and now

play10:57

only what you need to do is there

play10:59

another thing that you can do with drag

play11:00

and drop is you can even move it

play11:03

entirely just drag it onto the calendar

play11:06

and you can move it you can link it or

play11:09

you can copy it if I link it let me open

play11:12

another tab then it just shows up in my

play11:14

reference area like this versus let me

play11:17

undo that if I copy it then it schedules

play11:22

it in a different way so that these are

play11:24

not actually linked and you can add on

play11:26

but it's in your main note here and the

play11:29

last option that you had was move which

play11:30

will obviously move the entire thing

play11:33

another thing when we're talking about

play11:35

going from one day to another is synced

play11:38

lines which are really cool so you can

play11:40

again just go over here copy synced line

play11:44

and then if I go to another day and I

play11:46

paste in that sync line then they are

play11:48

legitimately synced so if I add on on

play11:53

one day it's just going to take a couple

play11:55

of seconds and it will syn anything that

play11:57

I do so that's that's a really nice way

play12:00

if you want to reference maybe in a

play12:03

project note and in your daily note

play12:06

using those synced lines is a fantastic

play12:09

way to do that let's go ahead and make a

play12:12

project note so I can show you how I use

play12:15

these a lot of times I'll use them for

play12:16

meeting notes so what I might do is say

play12:20

that I have a meeting on January 23rd I

play12:22

might set it up in

play12:24

advance like that and then I use the

play12:27

arrow to say that it's going to be on

play12:29

January 23rd that makes it so that on

play12:32

January 23rd I'll see the project note

play12:35

here and I can just quickly open it up

play12:38

so that's how I kind of Link things then

play12:40

I might put in the agenda notes for

play12:44

meeting and then say I have another area

play12:48

for my to-do items in my to-do items

play12:51

that's where I would put everything I

play12:53

need to do and then I can associate

play12:56

dates with this so let's do this on

play12:59

January

play13:00

23rd let's do this on January 24th our

play13:06

deliverable let's say is January

play13:09

26 now let's just go ahead and open up

play13:12

instead of January 22nd let's move over

play13:14

to January 23rd and January 24th side by

play13:18

side so that you can see here how it

play13:20

looks and they would be in my references

play13:22

area a lot of times when I'm working I

play13:25

like to actually see that in my project

play13:27

note my today so let me go ahead and

play13:30

just put in my template again here I

play13:32

might actually make another heading and

play13:35

say that I'm working on you know this

play13:37

sample project and what I can do is you

play13:40

can drag and drop if you do that it

play13:43

actually moves the item I don't like

play13:46

that because then it removes it from my

play13:48

project note I never like dragging and

play13:51

dropping instead what I like to do is

play13:54

command and drag and then what it does

play13:58

is it drags drags it in as a synced line

play14:00

I love that because then if I need to

play14:03

add on to item

play14:05

two then it syncs and it stays in my

play14:09

project note and it's also in my daily

play14:11

note here I can also option drag and

play14:15

that creates a copy but that doesn't

play14:19

sync it and so I personally like command

play14:23

plus drag from the reference area to

play14:28

create that sync the reason that you

play14:30

don't see anymore the arrow with the

play14:32

date is because it's not in my reference

play14:34

area on January 24th it's actually in my

play14:37

note for me that works out just fine

play14:39

because when you click on the aster here

play14:42

which it's synced you can see what day

play14:43

it synced with so you can easily jump to

play14:46

the day and see what day it's

play14:47

referencing so I don't need that tag

play14:50

there again just click on it and you'll

play14:52

see that same thing if I click here then

play14:54

I'll see which note it's synced with so

play14:57

again I think that just works Works

play14:58

fabulously well that's pretty much how I

play15:01

handle taking my notes when I take a new

play15:04

meeting note I usually have like one big

play15:07

note for the sample project for example

play15:10

and then if I have another meeting I

play15:11

just put it on top so then I have

play15:14

meeting with person name again maybe I

play15:17

would have that on January 26th so I

play15:21

just have the most recent always sitting

play15:23

on the top and that works out really

play15:25

well for me another thing that I use

play15:28

very often if I don't want something to

play15:31

show up in the reference area but like I

play15:32

want to go directly to my to-do items

play15:35

like all of these to-do items what I use

play15:37

here is I copy the URL to this heading

play15:41

and then I'll say here as my item work

play15:45

on Sample project too items instead of

play15:50

option click let me command click

play15:51

command click opens a whole another

play15:54

window and you can see it just takes me

play15:56

to that specific heading so so I love

play15:59

that again you can copy the URL to The

play16:02

Heading the difference between copy link

play16:04

to heading if I do that let's say paste

play16:07

it here it does nicely show the note

play16:11

title and the heading that it's on the

play16:14

problem for me is that then it creates

play16:16

all these references at the top that

play16:19

gets really bogged down for me I prefer

play16:21

not to have it that way so instead I

play16:24

really rely on like I was showing before

play16:27

here and then copy URL to heading if you

play16:30

want it to carry over the name look into

play16:34

a masterful plugin that is link Creator

play16:38

but I said I wouldn't talk about plugins

play16:40

in this video so I want to stay true to

play16:42

that to create some visual separation a

play16:44

lot of times I do line braks just triple

play16:47

Dash and you will get line braks you can

play16:50

collapse down on the heading level one

play16:53

hack that I have here because it does

play16:56

actually swallow the line line bre which

play16:59

I don't love that it swallows the line

play17:00

break so you can make the line break a

play17:02

heading of its own let's make that a

play17:04

level two heading then it's not going to

play17:07

get swallowed up anymore so that's how I

play17:10

tend to do things whenever I make a line

play17:12

break I make it into a header and then

play17:16

again it won't get swallowed up just

play17:17

make sure that you're using the right

play17:19

heading level the last thing that I want

play17:21

to show is time blocks I do like to time

play17:24

block a lot of my days so let's go on

play17:27

the 23 here I'm going to close out

play17:30

everything else and let's say here time

play17:33

blocks decide that I want to do this

play17:37

from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. you'll see that

play17:42

it creates a Time block over here and I

play17:45

can choose what calendar I want my time

play17:47

blocks to go to so that will actually

play17:50

show up now in my Google Calendar also

play17:54

really really nice let's go ahead and do

play17:57

something else let's draft this

play17:59

presentation and we are going to block

play18:01

out the whole afternoon for that I can

play18:03

also drag and drop onto my calendar I

play18:06

can add a time block like this and then

play18:08

I can extend it out so say it's going to

play18:11

take me the whole afternoon so that's a

play18:13

way that I can also time block I can

play18:15

actually just drag and drop onto the

play18:18

calendar you can also move things around

play18:21

as time blocks do move during the day

play18:24

and you can see everything just sinks

play18:26

seamlessly there let's go ahead and move

play18:28

it back extend it out when you're done

play18:31

it will get checked off which is quite

play18:34

nice and on your Google calendar it will

play18:36

also show a little check mark so that's

play18:39

quite nice if you're wondering if you

play18:41

can move things let's say that I didn't

play18:43

finish this so let's uncheck it I could

play18:45

move it to the next day like that if I

play18:48

move over to the next day now you'll see

play18:51

that my task to item shows up here

play18:53

because it's like rescheduling in this

play18:56

way meaning that it will show up in your

play18:58

your references area again as you heard

play19:01

me say before I prefer that things don't

play19:03

show up in my reference area so I don't

play19:06

use that method personally if I wanted

play19:09

to move this event I would either copy

play19:11

and paste onto the next day or I would

play19:14

drag it just like this to move it and

play19:17

that to me works out much better I like

play19:20

it like that then I would just move it

play19:22

into whatever header that I need to move

play19:25

it into again if I was getting into

play19:26

plugins here there's a way to move to a

play19:29

specific header but I wanted to just

play19:31

stick with the simple stuff in not plan

play19:34

all the buil-in features that's my dayto

play19:37

day a lot of times instead of inserting

play19:39

a template I might start with a day if I

play19:42

have a generic type of day that's kind

play19:44

of repetitive for the week A lot of

play19:46

times I'm working on the same type of

play19:47

things for an entire week it might take

play19:49

me so I would just select all copy and

play19:52

then I would option click the next day I

play19:55

always do the side by side planning like

play19:57

this sometimes I have multiple days you

play19:59

can have as many as you want as many as

play20:01

your screen will hold right you can

play20:03

close them out just like that command V

play20:06

and then start with that so say I didn't

play20:08

finish my task 2 delete it here but it's

play20:12

still here you know just like that I

play20:15

find quite easy I do a lot of copying

play20:17

and pasting I do a lot of manual stuff

play20:19

the reason that I actually like doing it

play20:22

so manually like I do it is because it

play20:25

forces me to be intentional and think

play20:27

like do I have enough time tomorrow to

play20:29

finish it it doesn't just automatically

play20:31

schedule it for me tomorrow when

play20:32

tomorrow might already be a full day or

play20:34

I might already have a ton of stuff on

play20:36

my calendar ton of meetings on my

play20:37

calendar so don't want to give myself as

play20:39

many tasks so I really like that manual

play20:42

process of copying and pasting from

play20:44

day-to- day personally every day I make

play20:46

sure that I get my green check mark I do

play20:49

not like this red leaving anything

play20:51

opened that's not done yet at the end of

play20:53

the day I either move things over or

play20:56

check them off that's how I am

play20:58

but there are great filters that are

play21:00

built in here that you can see any items

play21:03

that are overdue you just click on your

play21:04

overdue filter and it will show you

play21:06

everything that hasn't been done you can

play21:09

create your own type of filters like I

play21:11

have a this week filter that just shows

play21:13

me this week what needs to be done I

play21:15

have a today filter that I can choose to

play21:18

just have certain projects in you can

play21:20

create any type of filters that you want

play21:23

and you can choose the Search terms for

play21:25

it but this is really just how I use the

play21:27

daily note not then your weekly notes

play21:29

that's a planning area for your entire

play21:31

week so that would be like for my week

play21:33

four here it would allow me to plan

play21:36

anything for the week so if I have

play21:38

something like need to do one need to do

play21:40

two let's go ahead and option click on

play21:42

January 22nd if I then show my week

play21:46

section then you'll see my weekly notes

play21:48

show up here you only see one level in

play21:51

advance so if I click on my monthly note

play21:54

for example you'll see that I do not see

play21:56

my monthly to do in my daily note but if

play22:00

I instead click on my weekly note and

play22:04

then I open up this January area that's

play22:07

where you're going to see the next level

play22:10

of things so when you're in the weekly

play22:12

you'll have a reference to the monthly

play22:13

when you're in your monthly you'll have

play22:14

a reference to your yearly there's also

play22:17

a quarterly I have it turned off in my

play22:20

preferences so I'll never see that

play22:22

personally so that's really nice I

play22:24

definitely do yearly planning monthly

play22:26

planning sometimes do weekly planning it

play22:29

depends on what the week looks like all

play22:31

right hopefully I've kept this pretty

play22:33

simple that was my goal to show you some

play22:35

of the updates in note plan and just how

play22:37

I'm doing a simple day which really

play22:39

consists of opening multiple notes side

play22:43

by side and copying and pasting and

play22:45

moving things around as I need to and

play22:47

then time blocking on the calendar also

play22:50

obviously syncing with my calendar and

play22:53

with my reminders also which I use and

play22:56

um yeah I love that workflow so this has

play23:00

continued to work for me for years now I

play23:02

hope you found this helpful if you have

play23:04

any questions please do leave them

play23:06

that'll be it for now bye

Rate This

5.0 / 5 (0 votes)

Related Tags
NotePlanProductivityOrganizationCalendar AppNote-TakingDaily PlannerTask ManagerWorkflowSyncingTemplates