I've used so many different apps
for drafting blog posts, managing
email calendar events, remembering
to-dos and bills to pay, and
all the things in between In my
lifetime as an Apple software user.
Over the last few years, mainly because of
needing to keep in sync with family, I've
been slowly moving back to Apple's default
apps of Reminders and Notes so we can
share lists and documents without having
to manage subscriptions to other apps.
But I still have Notion for blog
posts and various ideas, as well
as client episode management.
And Fantastical for
calendars slash to-dos.
On top of that, I also use Day One
for journaling, and I have been
experimenting with Obsidian, again,
as a possible replacement for notion.
I like using the various apps I have
right now, but it's a lot of my stuff
all over the place and sometimes
trying to remember where a document
is, or a note I wrote about a client
takes longer than it should, and I
just give up and start a new one.
I first stumbled on
Rahul Chowdry on Threads.
Say what you will about algorithms
ruining the world, every so
often they do surface someone or
something that's perfect for me.
And the quick tips he posts about
how he uses apple's stock apps on
Threads are one of the main reasons
I keep checking my Threads account.
For example, this tip on using
a sleep timer for automatically
turning off music or video that
you're watching on your phone.
It's a simple tip that many of us,
if we've been using iOS devices since
they first arrived, would already know.
But there are so many people who
have no idea about all the shortcuts
and quick little quality of life
improvements that they could have with
the built-in apps on their iPhone.
Which brings me to the point
of this whole long blog post.
You really should check out Chowdhury's
Back to Basic series on his website.
Currently he has one for
Notes, Reminders, and Mail.
And just a warning that about
halfway through the article, it
prompts you to subscribe to Hulry
Plus for a one-time fee of $49 us.
You can decide for yourself if it's
worth it or not, but based off the
care and attention Chowdhury puts into
what he shares on social media, I know
you'll get your money's worth out of
the tips and shortcuts he's written up.
Side note, I believe he's running the
site on Ghost and it's a fantastic demo
of the power of Ghost to run a blog
as well as a membership in a way that
would make Substack users drool with
jealousy over not having to use Substack.
Back to Reminders and Notes?
Which brings me back to the thought I had
before I started writing this blog post.
Maybe I could ditch Notion,
Fantastical, and whatever else I'm
using and save some money by going
all in on reminders and notes.
I really like the idea of keeping my words
in text files on my computer somewhere,
which is what Obsidian would allow for.
But the reality is I don't have time
to fiddle with an Obsidian based setup.
And for as long as I'm gonna be
using a computer, I'll be on a Mac.
And Notes is only gonna
keep getting better.
And when I read Chowdhury's tips,
I know there's so much I'm not
doing with them that I could be.
So find me in six months
and see where I'm at.
I set myself a reminder.
