How My Productivity System Works. [Part 1]

[@themaddrummerofficial]

I've been waiting on this video for MONTHS! Thank you so much for clearing up the curiosity between Apple Notes vs Evernote. Another great video Carl. 🙏

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Glad you found it cleared things up for you.

[@annjohnson8765]

This was a great video. I sat down with sticky notes and wrote the apps I have and how I used them in the different areas and was able to see the bigger picture on what is working and what is not. I have a lot of "black hole" items that I need to clean up and use more efficiently instead of trying to find something new. Thanks again.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're welcome, Ann. Glad to have helped.

[@garywilson4579]

I'm an Evernote diehard. It runs my life for me. Other apps come and go, but Evernote is always there. Recurring tasks and lots of other new features mean it is fast becoming an all in one system you can rely on for everything. Web clipper is the most important tool in my productivity arsenal. Thanks for the insights Carl, great video as ever.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're right about Evernote. Once you have it up and running how you like it, it does become a mainstay in anyone system.

[@toranshaw4029]

How I use Evernote is pretty much what you're using Apple Notes for, as I'm using it as my storage for ideas that may (or may not) happen sometime in the future. I use Obsidian for my active projects, with Logseq being my log and journal along with being my main Readwise repo!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Nice.

[@JasonMonty]

Great post Carl. I’ve been an Evernote user since 2008. However, over the lasting few years I’ve found myself using OneNote. What I really value is the ‘infinite canvas’ of the pages. Also I like the ability to assign tasks directly on onenote through to Microsoft ToDo. All that said, I’ve been very impressed with Apple Notes quick and simple to use…

[@Carl_Pullein]

Good point, Jason, sometimes another app omes a long that meets our needs better that a trusty failthful.

[@Han-dle598]

At work, I use OneNote because Evernote isn't sanctioned, so I don't want to put any confidential information there. What I struggle with on OneNote is that the search is not as good as Evernote.

[@modestbukowski]

Hey Carl. Long-time follower and someone who enjoys your 8+2 methodology with ToDoist. You say every system looks complicated on the back-end or by default when you look at it at first. That might be true, but as several people have pointed out here, this system is kind of all over the place. The reason it works for YOU is because it's designed by you and. you are used to it by now. But that doesn't mean it's not complicated or are room for improvements (simplification). As a long-time follower I've also noticed you seem somewhat reluctant to try new, improved apps and holding on to things like Evernote - who frankly has been passed by so many new apps today. I realize you have a history there but there are export/import functions. And the threshold to learn new apps isn't that big of a deal if you know some apps already, so the argument of the time it takes to switch apps isn't really valid. It's almost like you want to switch to writing in Ulysses because Apple Notes becomes chaotic when you do the collecting there. But why don't you get Craft docs app, where you can set up different spaces (Personal, Work… or you could set up collect, do etc)? It's super modern, fast, sync with iCloud (which seem to be one of your arguments why you like Apple Notes to be in the Apple Eco System). I hope you take this the right way and maybe consider there's some truth in what several people are saying. Keep up the good work.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Joakim, Just for reference, I spend around two hours a day testing new apps--it's part of what I do for my clients. Knowing what they are using so I can help them build their own systems, and while there are a lot of nice new shiny apps out there that promise a lot, most rarely deliver on those promises. To answer your points, this week's blog post expands on many of my answers in this thread. www.carlpullein.com/blog/keeping-things-simple-through-complexity/17/8/2022

[@plgl76]

Thanks for explaining your system was very useful for me, specially when you explain when you use Instapaper and Apple Notes vs Drafts, to understand the reasons and the workflow was very useful

[@Carl_Pullein]

Happy to have cleared things up for you.

[@ritchiewlc]

thanks for sharing, Carl but i think personally after experimenting for years i think apple notes + todoist can do most activities for your three stage system tho definitely appreciate the clarity of capturing, organising and doing :)

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, that's why it's important to build system that work for you.

[@ogdanem]

People are struggling with 'system' because at work they are working with Microsft and at home can have another computer or even separate phone. The other problem is people are overwhelmed; thus they search for the one app that will solve all their problems. The magic app.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're right, Isaac; there's certainly a problem there. But broken down, where are all the inputs coming from, where are they going, and how are you getting the outputs out? Within that, there will always be a system.

[@atlanticx100]

Thankyou for all your work and useful information.

[@Carl_Pullein]

You're very welcome, Martin.

[@devarni]

If you had to produce the latest album for A&B now, would you use a Kanban board for such tasks? So to track the individual steps for the production of a song, for example? That actually works well for videos or similar content where you work in stages/sections. I find that it doesn't work as well in a note-taking app like Evernote or Craft and quickly becomes very cluttered. I use Craft more for the "big planning" and quick notes (that daily notes feature in Craft is excellent and very quick on the iPhone).

[@Carl_Pullein]

With something like that, multiple people would be involved, so I would share a board in Todoist and manage it from there.

[@daviddruce7787]

Easy quick efficient, love C O D 🙏 Carl

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thanks, David. Glad you like it.

[@carl-eduardmeyer894]

Congratulations, Carl you are probably fast typing guy, with hardly any mistakes, I am totally the opposite and so dictating this for me the best development of past years. I would like to share one other handling option, I use my apple pen for my navigation on the iPad. The pen is pretty accurate, so I can quickly correct a mistake. Hi favorite app for the day is “Day One”which I am using every morning with a cup of tea. All the best

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha a lot of mistakes. But I can correct these when I process

[@cmgmac]

Brilliant video Carl!

[@Carl_Pullein]

Thank you, Christopher.

[@carl-eduardmeyer894]

Hi Carl, I Watch musst of your Videos an Podcast and I like the way you describe your work Flow. I have to add major Point from my Perspektive, ein dictate almost 99 Percent of my Content into my iPhone, So I could work with out a keyboard, and I’m very fast, most text ist without typing mistake. I start the morning with A detailed text on yesterday in my Diary Day One, plus minimum one picture…..😀

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ooh, I do use dictation when I am walking my dog, or driving (Hey Siri), but I prefer typing (for some strange reason).

[@ISayMusicIs4Life]

Carl , I have been following you from quite long time now and your videos , courses, tips and tricks has really helped me a lot to increase productivity. However would like to share my feedback on this video that if someone who hasn't been following you regularly, might can get really confused with this video. Although you are just sharing your system with others , but being your followers , we tend to adapt what you do and it does seems complicated. I would request if you can pass on the word to Evernote team to come up with lite version of the app enabling taking notes on mobile fast , I guess that would resolve lot of issues. Once again , Thanks for sharing all the advice.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Ankur, I can see that. When I put on a slide how things come together, it looks complex. However, this is reality. All systems are complex at the backend. Apps and ways of working become intertwined. I would hate to give a false picture of that. I do take your point and will be publishing a blog post this week adding some context to this.

[@JamieElgie]

Good video and seems similar to what I do. For Evernote, your project page screenshots in the video were intriguing. Is there a video where you go into more detail on that?

[@Carl_Pullein]

I do have a template I shared. www.evernote.com/shard/s14/sh/002083c5-1447-f2dd-390d-711306707d46/2ae0d108e73f00d2170ef826e609b840

[@hilairelegouellec2863]

Been waiting for such crystal clear set up slide and explanations. Thanks Carl ! Carl i still remain sceptical about the first enemy of « capture » : where / what to use decision making process. With. That many apps, how do you do this ? We’d love to see you in real situation. Sale for organize, when and how do you sort everything with that many « inboxes » in todoist, draft, evernote, apple note. Hard to keep up and exhausting

[@Carl_Pullein]

I really only have one collection tool - Drafts. That sends everything to either Todoist, Evernote or Apple Notes with the tap of one button. All I need to do is decide where it goes. If I get an idea, I automatically reach for my phone and tap the bottom right icon. (Drafts has been there for over 7 years now) The only inbox I clear each day is Todoist (and email). Anything in my notes app is never going to be urgent, so I clear that inbox on a Saturday morning--it always surprises me what I collect into notes each week. I find I delete around 40% of what I collect there. LOL

[@hilairelegouellec2863]

@@Carl_Pullein the delete part of your comment is gem - i trully believe people feel bad about deleting these notes taks or article. They perhaps feel it’s a waste of time, or that something might went wrong in their capture process. And keeping poses other sorts of problems such as fitting them in a cabinet that becomes saturated. I think you should do a video about the power of « deleting » - why it is good, why it’s not wrong, where is the value in it

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@hilairelegouellec2863 Absolutely, I love that delete key.

[@chaskinsnc]

I appreciate your content and I always can take something away. This system works for you, but I need simplicity due to work using office 365 and I am on Apple for mobile. I am paralyzed waiting for the perfect system.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Ah, there's no "perfect" system. The best you can hope for is a system that works for you that compliments the way you work. Tools are a distraction. To simplify things, find a way to collect on your mobile phone (Drafts would be a great tool for that as it works with OneNote), set aside some time each day for organising what you collected, and make sure you spend the majority of your time doing the work.

[@kemistrypops]

Thank you for the clarity. I was wondering if Evernote was overthrown by apple notes. I keep going back to Evernote after trying notion and other apps. Evernote is just too expensive though

[@Carl_Pullein]

Evernote is such an integral part of my information system now. For what it does for me, $50 a year seems excellent value for money. It's an app I use every day for a little under $1.00 a week. Can't really beat that for value.

[@robmckendrick6871]

Thanks for sharing this insightful video. In managing your information, where do you use PARA or GAPRA type knowledge management. I've been setting myself up and I'm worried that I need to implement GAPRA in multiple places (Apple Notes, iCloud, etc). I noticed in the screenshot that you don't use it in the "DO" part for Ulysses for example.

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hi Rob, Over the last year, I've found trying to manage all my stuff by placing them in convenient folders is rapidly becoming obsolete. Apple, Microsoft and Google have been working very hard over the last five years to make this task easier by using system wide search. That's generally how I find things now.

[@robmckendrick6871]

@@Carl_Pullein Thanks Carl. Looks like I need to re-take my "Create Your Own Apple Productivity System" course and remember the differences between the Notes and iCloud parts

[@PaulCopcutt]

Any reason the Evernote tasks feature hasn't tempted you over Carl? Always great info, thank you

[@Carl_Pullein]

Todoist does a better job. Evernote is a notes app with tasks as an added feature. Todoist is a dedicated task manager.

[@timbushell8640]

@@Carl_Pullein It is improving - and rather depends on if you're task driven in process terms or the nice EN item is task(s) inside of notes... even as bookmarks as "worked/read to here", and so just the simple ability to pick up from where you were last, is a nice touch. But until there is full stack, notebook and tag control of tasks within EN, and the ability to push selected one back out to your calendar, and things like no board or KanBan view... then ToDoIst, Trello or Asana, etc. will have that bit of the territory from EN... ... but I do find - effectively jotting down 'notes to one's self - tasks' in a decent size note or group of notes in EN is a boon, for research/longform writing, a bit more collectable and manageable than say the 'comments' post-its in Word or similar word processors.

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@timbushell8640 Indeed, definitely getting better.

[@canadusa1]

You mentioned ‘Asana’ in one of your recent video’s as a tool you’ve been using for seven years.Are you still using it ?I don’t see it mentioned above.Thanks for all your posts-I’m starting a new business and inspired my your workflow strategies

[@Carl_Pullein]

Asana is still in my toolbox, but I am not collecting or organising anything there. It's just a board that shows me where my content is in terms of development.

[@johngough4626]

Thanks Carl for the video. Do I use too many apps? Yeap! Moreover, there is no way to persuade my company to install the apps I want but I have the internet (most of them are available). Need another strategy. This is not the problem, the key point here is how to use them, how they are linked, how do I process/organize them. It is so frustrating when it took a while to found something you know is somewhere in your system (you collect it last week, my friend...gosh!). The expectation is too high and the result is inefficient. You do not trust in your own system and back to take notes using whatever is available without any order. I have three main areas in my live: personal, my rugby club and my job (employed). Following Carl's example, I have included these areas and seen how many tools I am using on a daily basis (be honest!). Note: I also included in "Collect" the physical inboxes and email accounts. My goodness! So, this is my plan: 1. Reduce the number of apps per section (area/activity). For example, I collect ideas (personal stuff) using Todoist, Apple Notes, Notepad and handwritten notes. Can I have just one? Maybe two? 2. Can I use same app for more than one area? 3. be consistent for a period to see/confirm everything works. Less apps = save time. 4. See the connections among the apps for my three main areas = fine tuning the system. 5. If I am lost, back to point 3, never point 1 or 2. 6. Review the system in 6 months, for example. Can I improve something?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Very happy to see I've got you thinking, John. In a way, it's not so much the number of apps you are using. What matters is you know where to look for whatever it is you are looking for. Evernote, for instance, contains information I want to keep being that important links or numbers etc. It also contains my research. Think more in terms of how you collect - can you make that faster?

[@aardening]

Nice. However, I’m missing 2 crucial components in your COD ecosystem. Email (collect and do) and Calendar (organise). Is there a reason you keep these outside your system (assuming you do use them 😄)?

[@Carl_Pullein]

Apologies, Ron, My email is Apple Mail, and my calendar is Apple's Calendar. I didn't include those because I don't "collect" there--whatever's in there is usually sent to me or is scheduled by me (or through my scheduling service) - they don't have much impact on my work.

[@Abdullah-zl9ub]

Why do you use todist instead of apple reminders. Also why not use apple reminders instead of apple notes ? Don’t you think its a bit confusing to use all these apps?

[@Carl_Pullein]

If you look at a system on 'paper', it will always look complex. It's not about how it looks on paper, it's how it works in the world. And I can assure you this works beautifully fast, and very effectively.

[@RichardMackenzieaus]

Evernote provides fast access to notes on my phone via the widget. Carl-Dare I suggest you move to an Android phone? 😀

[@Carl_Pullein]

Hahaha, the time it would take me to learn how to use an Android device would not be a good investment of my time. I have 13 years experience of using an iPhone. Over those years I've learned a lot.

[@timbushell8640]

... been telling him for years to grow up and stop using toy computers and the like, but... ... : )))))

[@Carl_Pullein]

@@timbushell8640 Hahahahaha