Paul Little: The best apps to organize your life

Remember the beginning of the year? All those changes you were going to make? How were you going to get super organized and on top of things? But then… Covid and all that?

It is not too late. You can always rise above and take control now.

Whether you’re a cog in a corporate Ferris wheel or someone who works alone from home, we’ve put together a list of apps, tips and sayings to help you keep work and life in order. .

The best apps keep the basic functions you bought them for front and center and the little bells and whistles, of which there are likely to be many, tucked away out of sight where they won’t bother you.

EVERNOTE

An ever-growing number of note-taking apps are doing work that was once done on the back of an envelope. With Evernote, your notes on one device are automatically updated wherever you have Evernote, and your notes are accessible when you’re offline. Scan and save documents, customize the homepage so what you use most is what you see first, cut and keep website pages. It has an excellent voice-to-text note-taking feature and there are good and regular updates to the core app.

TRELLO

A next-level to-do list, Trello lets you break down a small task or a large project into as many components as you want. Drag your information between the columns labeled “to do”, “doing” and “done” as you progress. In sections, you can break down a job into smaller components, and it’s designed to be used by teams as well as individuals. Flexible enough for users to adapt to their preferred ways of working.

CALENDAR

Removes the “you” from “you need to arrange a meeting”. Calendly is a transparent appointment organizer. It knows when you’re free (because you say so in advance) and sends a link with your available times to everyone you want to have a meeting with. They pick a time when they’re also free, and Calendly sends a meeting schedule telling everyone when you’re meeting, why, how (Zoom, Teams), and for how long. No more back and forth “it’s not good for me but Thursday at 3 a.m. work, is it good for you?”

LAST PASS

Use this instead of an easily lost (and found or stolen) list of passwords on a piece of paper. The app stores all your usernames and passwords securely and automatically fills in your information when you log in to sites and apps. No more stressful countdown of the three attempts you have left before being excluded from a site. Only one master password to remember. Also uses Face ID.

DROPBOX

You’ll start with Dropbox as a way to secure your documents from loss with its cloud storage. You’ll stick around because it also provides a great way to organize those documents into folders, lets you access them anywhere, and lets you securely share large files with others.

GOOGLE EVERYTHING

Since Google Docs was added to the mix, the world’s default search engine has become the world’s default everything. Hardly anyone under 30 writes with anything other than Google Docs, which is also the standard for educational institutions. Gone are the days of having to save your document every five minutes, Google Docs does it for you automatically, so you don’t lose your words. Add to that Google’s synced Chrome browser, calendar and Gmail and most of your everyday organizational needs are covered.

OLD SCHOOL COOL

Once synonymous with 1980s yuppiedom, the Filofax is a pre-digital tool for many of the functions we want in our electronic organizers – especially the ability to organize and store information. It cleverly uses a pen instead of a keyboard, dividers instead of folders, fingers instead of cursors, and paper instead of GB of memory. According to its website, Filofax has moved with the times. The traditional black cover is now available with a distracting confetti design and the team is “always looking for ways to improve our carbon footprint”.

The Filofax accompanies you everywhere, but a desk diary is an equally essential stationery. Highly recommended is the W1 Diary in cross-grain Panama leather, “handcrafted by our artisans” in a choice of five colors, from smithyson.com. Yours for NZ$550.

And just so you always have something to write in that journal, throw in a crocodile leather pencil case for NZ$336.

THE VACCINE CARD

A great time saver and the most useful tool for getting haircuts, workouts, restaurant meals and a host of other activities.

SIX GOOD HABITS TO DE-CLUTCH YOUR ONLINE LIFE

1. Stop getting emails and notifications you never requested in the first place. Take half an hour to go through your inbox and unsubscribe from anything you don’t want.

2. No one wants to be seen working after hours, but it can save you time if you write that great email when inspiration strikes. Use Gmail’s “Schedule Send” feature to delay the transmission until you know it’s most likely to catch the recipient’s attention. It’s usually around 8-8:30 am, before they start most of their working day. You’re much more likely to get an instant response from them at that time as well.

3. There’s so little paper to file now that the easiest and most organized way to deal with it is to have a pile in the corner of your home or office. Simply place items as they arrive and they’re automatically listed in reverse chronological order. If you need to refer to one, there’s only one place you need to look.

4. Accountants love any app that scans receipts, but you can also do it by taking pictures with your phone and storing them in an album called Receipts.

5. Now your emails are well organized. Add the finishing touch by doing a weekly roundup of the few unanswered questions you have left. Fix or reply to them and you’ll keep your inbox backlog to a minimum.

6. Instead of jumping from screen to screen looking for apps you’ve added to your phone in no particular order, use folders to organize them into categories like “Finance” (Paypal, your bank’s app, Xero, currency conversion) or TV (Netflix, TVNZ, YouTube) or “Travel” for all the apps you will use if you are allowed to travel again. Aim to get all folders on your home screen.