My life is a mess (in a good and sometimes bad way).
I'm a debate captain, officer in four school clubs, a tennis player, and a valedictorian. On top of that, I run two blogs, a YouTube channel, a marketing project, work out every day, and still sleep at least 8 hours every day.
There are days, weeks, and even months where I'm completely overwhelmed.
7 apps help me organize my life. Hopefully they can help you too.
Todoist ✔️
Todoist is simple yet complex (if you can't tell from the name, it's a to-do list app).
It's intuitive and kinda fun to use—even my non-techy friends like using the app.
At the same time, the app is extremely powerful (Tony Stark would probably use Todoist).
You can add filters, labels, and project tags to tasks. You can also specify task priority, due date, repetition schedule, description, and comments.
Todoist is also well-integrated into the Apple ecosystem: it has multiple widgets, a few Shortcuts integrations, and an iOS app (syncs automatically).
Best of all, it's free of charge for most consumers (I've never felt the need to upgrade).
Even if you want to upgrade, the "Pro" plan is only $4/month and the "Business" plan is $6/month.
GoodLinks 🔗
GoodLinks is a cool Safari browser extension that saves links for later.
It's kinda like the Bookmarks feature in Safari, but it's easier to navigate and has its own app.
Like most link-sharing apps, it has a tagging feature to organize links. On top of that, you can export, copy, or print saved webpages, as well as adjust reading settings.
One pretty cool feature is the random link generating widget (every day, a random link that you've saved shows up). This could come in handy if you're into the self-improvement niche.
GoodLinks costs $4.99. If you can afford it, get it. If you can't, the Bookmarks feature in Safari will be good enough.
GoodNotes 📝
While the Files app is where many of my files go, I use the GoodNotes app to manage the important stuff.
Though GoodNotes is (as the name suggests) a note-taking app, its annotation and import/export features also make it a decent pdf editor app.
On top of random documents, I also use GoodNotes to organize textbooks, class notes, homework, and other files from school.
GoodNotes is technically free, but costs $9.99 to unlock the full experience. I highly recommend the upgrade.
If you're a student, GoodNotes will change your life.
Notion 👨💻
While Todoist organizes many of my short-term tasks, Notion organizes my long-term tasks.
I use Notion to plan study schedules, career plans, business strategies, etc. For instance, I use Notion to plan out growth strategies for this newsletter and identify potential opportunities.
I also use Notion to journal. This lets me reflect on different aspects of my life and gives me the space to talk to myself (think shower thoughts but digital).
Notion's pricing is kinda like Todoist: most people will only need the free plan. If you do need to upgrade, the "Plus" plan is $8/month and the "Business" plan is $15/month.
Notion also offers student discounts for eligible students and teachers.
Apple Notes 🗒️
For me, the Notes app is like Notion but less formal.
Any time I need to dump general notes (like F1 predictions I made with my friend a long time ago) somewhere, I usually use Notes.
My favorite feature of the Notes app is how easy it is to search for and find information. The Quick Notes feature and tag/folder organization are also pretty cool.
The app is obviously free.
Streaks 📆
Streaks is a new-ish app I've been using to track my habits.
I used to use Pixelist (a great free alternative), but I didn't have the discipline to track my habits every night. I needed to give something up to stay invested in habit tracking (for me, this was the $4.99 fee to buy the Streaks app).
Like many of the apps on this list, it's intuitive, yet effective.
The core functionality is simple: hold a habit, and it will count as completed.
But there's so much more: you can track detailed habit history, add big widgets onto your screen, adjust habit schedules, share habits, set notifications, pick categories, and add Siri integrations.
As mentioned before, Streaks is $4.99. If you can't get it, Pixelist is a great free alternative.
Spark 🔥
Spark is the only email app you need.
It's simple AND it's powerful.
For the basic email user, it's more than enough and it's easy to use.
For the intermediate email user, it's still more than enough. At the same time, though, it's simple enough to explore and add fancy integrations.
For the advanced email user, Spark will help you unleash your inner email power.
Spark is part of the Notion/Todoist family of apps that are free for most consumers. If you want fancy stuff, "Premium Individual" is $4.99 per month and "Premium Teams" is $6.99 per month.
Final Thoughts
"Getting organized is a sign of self-respect"—Gabrielle Bernstein
Thanks for reading!
Adi