I Got Rid of My Notes App (Finally): Here’s My New Productivity Flow for Getting Work Done

I first wrote about my workflow back in 2018, sharing how I take notes and prioritize to-dos in this article.

Surprisingly, it gained momentum here on Medium and people found useful tips to implement in their own workflows.

Since then, my setup has changed enough that I decided to create a follow-up, sharing my new approach to notes and task management.

So, here it goes.

1. Capture everything using Todoist

For years, I relied on Evernote as my note-taking app. However, I found that most of what I capture usually has a related action, hence a task manager like Todoist is more suitable.

Sure, it lacks rich note-taking functionality such as saving whole articles, taking screenshots and annotating them on the spot.

But for my workflow, these occurrences are so rare that they don’t justify using an advanced note-taking app. Over time, I learned to simply note down, in plain text, a quick reminder about the given thought, idea or to-do I want to capture.

Since I was already using Todoist as my task manager — and it has a built-in Inbox folder — it was a natural choice for me.

Still, I kept Evernote for a long time, despite using it rarely, as I was heavily invested with all my existing notes already.

Eventually, this changed as well.

2. Store notes and files in Google Drive/Docs

I fully migrated from Evernote to Google Drive just a few months ago. Fundamentally, there is nothing that Evernote or another note-taking app does which is not available in Google Drive and Docs — at least as it relates to storing and finding information.

Certain features around tagging and organizing files are missing, true, but there are simple alternatives to this in Google Drive — such as starring files and color-coding folders. And I honestly don’t even use that. The old-school hierarchical folder structure is enough for me.

I’d like to add a quick note here — Evernote is still a great product and has been developing quickly in the last couple of years. Other note-taking apps like OneNote or Google Keep are also good alternatives. But none of them are able to replace Google Drive/Docs, whereas the other way around is possible as I have found in recent months. Hence, I opted for simplifying my setup and removed note-taking apps altogether through Todoist and Google Drive.

3. Keep tasks in Todoist

Any task or project I simply keep in Todoist. That is, items I have captured that have a related action and likely a due date.

So, as part of my daily review of the Inbox folder, I clarify the task details and move it over to a “Processed” folder. I know the task will show up on the relevant date so this reliably frees up my mental capacity.

4. Events go in Google Calendar

I still use Google Calendar for all events – that is must-do activities with a date, time and expected duration.

Over the years, I tried using my calendar for time blocking deep work and forming new habits but this approach never works for me. I find that life gets in the way too often and I end up rescheduling these activities.

Ultimately, I always revert to using my calendar for fixed events such as meetings, flights or fitness classes.

Recap and examples

For many years, I advocated for 3 tools you need for personal productivity: a note-taking app, a task management tool and a calendar.

While the essence of this holds true, there was a 4th addition for most people which was file management – typically handled by Google Drive or Dropbox.

My new system replaces note-taking using a task management app and a file storage tool, effectively removing the need for a notes app.

The complete workflow looks like this:

1. As you go about your day, quickly jot down reminders about any task, idea, note or thought you want to remember. I use Todoist for this but any other medium is fine as long as it’s available on your smartphone. Some examples of items I capture: to-dos, expenses to log and calorie intake.
2. Review everything you have captured on a regular basis and clarify the details. Is it a note to store, such as your insurance policy number? Or a task/event to attend on a given date and time? Give your raw notes a proper form and send them to the right system (in my case: Google Drive, Google Calendar or Todoist). This usually takes a couple of minutes or less per day.
3. Now, simply execute. Knowing that any important thought is captured and will show up at the proper time and place frees your mind to do hard work. A quick note here is to pay attention to the given day and focus only on your agenda for those 24 hours, not beyond. Lastly, I find many of my tasks are now automatically recurring on a daily/weekly/monthly basis so this reduces the need to add and manage repeating tasks.

This is the simplest workflow I have used so far and it’s hard for me to reduce it further (if you have ideas, please share in the comments).

Of course, there is more to personal productivity than your workflow – things like maintaining your energy throughout the day, good sleep and, most importantly, the work you’ve chosen to pursue.

However, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by a growing to-do list so a structured approach invariably brings more clarity, motivation and confidence in your ability to handle whatever life throws at you.

And this is where I’d like to conclude – I hope you have enjoyed this article and found at least one thing to try in your own work today.

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