there's an app for that

Using Obsidian to try to keep myself organized

Not actual obsidian, though it would be totally cool if I could find some way to make an igneous rock keep my life organized.

In this case, it’s the Obsidian note-taking app, which promises “a second brain for you, forever.” This sounds suspiciously like promising immortality, but I’ll settle for just keeping all of my notes in a single location, so my current and only brain has an easier time remembering to find things.

Why Obsidian. Well, let’s face it, it’s a new (to me) app and I like new toys, so I had to try it out. There’s a mobile version that can sync over iCloud Drive, allowing me to make notes from any device, which is convenient. So far this doesn’t sound much different from other note-taking apps like OneNote or Evernote, but Obsidian also uses a plain folder structure and text files, so everything is portable and accessible through simple apps like Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac). Because nothing is proprietary or stored in the cloud (unless you choose to put it there), your data is secure and yours alone. Obsidian also supports Markdown for quick formatting and has some features that promise to expand it beyond just a random collection of notes, such as:

  • Backlinking. Obsidian allows you to easily create links between notes, expanding what notes can do.
  • Plugins. Both core and community-made, extending the capabilities of the app.
  • Graph view. This visually shows relationships between notes.

Really, if I can just stick to Obsidian for all my note-taking, that would be a huge improvement over having to search for notes in OneNote, Ulysses, iA Writer, Drafts, the iOS Notes app, Notepad, Notepad++ and whatever else I’ve used over the years. None of these are bad programs–some of them I really enjoy using! But scattering my notes over all of them just makes it harder to find things, and stuff gets lost or forgotten. Or both. Lostgotten.

We’ll see how it goes, but I am cautiously optimistic that this is the beginning of some actual organization on my part and will usher in 2022: The Year of Really Fantastic Organization.

Scheduling myself, Part 2: Whoops on the scheduling part

In this post I said I would make a decision on a task manager/to-do app in a week, then two weeks went by and here I am, sans decision.

Which perhaps underlines the need to start using one of these apps.

Previously, I had considered these options:

  • Things 3
  • TickTick
  • Microsoft to-Do

I’ve tinkered with the trial version of Things 3, and it’s very nice, even fun, but ultimately I feel it being limited to Apple devices only is a dealbreaker. I still do a lot of stuff on my PC and will continue to do so into the future. If they at least offered a web version, I’d probably still consider it. But alas.

To-Do offers good integration with Office 365 and collaboration, neither of which are of any use to me. As one reviewer noted, it’s nice-looking and the ability to set custom backgrounds for different tasks allows you to make them visually distinct, handy for at-a-glance recognition. But this is easily the most basic of the to-do apps (I mean, look at its name), and I feel it’s just a little too simple to make it worth committing to.

TickTick seems decent enough, but in my brief time with it I didn’t really warm up to its interface. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just don’t find it compelling. It’s hard to explain.

This leaves Todoist, which I had toyed with years ago, and was reminded of when it came up in several surveys of to-do software. It’s multiplatform, including a web version, and offers a lot of functionality even before you consider the subscription version. And for whatever reason, I spent more time poking around in it and testing stuff out.

So my tentative decision has been made: I’m going to try using Todoist. Starting next week (for real, I double dog swear) I am going to start scheduling stuff and see how it goes. I expect minimal drama and no more than one instance of curling up in a ball on the floor.

I need to schedule myself

To find a good scheduler.

I’ve come to realize that while I automatically resist using scheduling/to-do apps (which is perhaps odd because I do like to stay organized), I may actually need one, since I am the sole person currently responsible for my schedule, and it’s easy to let some things slip by because I was busy doing important research on something else, such as cats on the internet.

I don’t have any strong leads yet, but my initial look has revealed a few candidates:

  • Things 3: Looks great, but it’s expensive and Mac-only (well, Apple devices-only)
  • To Do: This is Microsoft’s imaginatively-named app, which took the place of the apparently beloved Wunderlist. It has the advantages of being free and cross-platform, but it seems a bit spartan?
  • TickTick. Recommend by The Wirecutter. But Tick Tick is a seriously dumb name. Still, this one is also cross-platform and also has a web version. On the other hand, it requires a subscription to be really useful, which would ultimately make it more expensive than Things 3.
  • Just using the Notes app on my phone or something. Since I could have been doing this all along, I doubt I will actually consider this.

I’m penciling a decision for this in my head for sometime in the next week. Things 3 has a free trial, so I may start with that.

More soon™.