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My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

jeffhuang.com

41–50 of 205 posts

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#41

The key to this solution isn’t really the .txt file or the formatting. It’s the ritual. Any productivity system can be made to work once it becomes a habit and therefore your default action. I think .txt files or Org mode are attractive to devs because they feel like something we’d be doing anyway during our day. the same system will work with a paper journal or even a fresh piece of paper every morning if, and only…

Agree. I made this realization when at the end of every month I needed to submit my daily work log along with my client invoices I would cobble together notes scattered in different apps, conversations, notebooks, etc. I ended up building an app that would text myself (at the same time every day) a reminder to log what I had done for the day. After a while I didn't need the reminder, I would open up my phone a few mi…

This is quite a nice platform -- I was looking into the SMS space recently as well and thought a similar UI (using SMS to get notifications around) would work.

I'm curious, do many people use the SMS note save feature? Or is many people the wrong unit of measure for an SMS service? (I've wondered if users would have a reversion to things like this as well...)

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#43
post #18

The key to this solution isn’t really the .txt file or the formatting. It’s the ritual. Any productivity system can be made to work once it becomes a habit and therefore your default action. I think .txt files or Org mode are attractive to devs because they feel like something we’d be doing anyway during our day. the same system will work with a paper journal or even a fresh piece of paper every morning if, and only…

This, several times this. My favorite system for knowledge management is Google Docs(due to obvious advantages- online drive, WYSIWYG etc), and for metadata/task-management tasks(GTD, working things out, mind maps, todo lists, solving software problems) is a plain cheap notebook and a pen. If you study GTD the hardest aspects of GTD are sticking to routine, and it's very easy to fall off the GTD routine. Its hard to…

Until Google suspends account for no reason.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#45
Highly recommend ClipX (with "Disklog" plugin), one of the few apps I've kept for years. All clipboards go to a text file which can be easily searched.

When I need to save something I just Ctrl-C it. Its my code snippet manager I can instantly find something I wrote years ago. https://bluemars.org/clipx/

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#46
My productivity app has been pen + A5 paper pad

Advantages:

- Instant availability (no need to load up an app)

- Works offline

- I can't access it when I'm not at work (feature, not a bug)

- I can draw as well as write

- It's satisfying to tick items off

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#47
post #16

My kingdom for a fast, one-page, multiplatform notes app that could accomplish this

An app? You just need DropBox and a text editor. Both are pretty ubiquitous.

I used to find myself moving between random terminals so used curl webdav instead of DropBox.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#49

I've always kept a text file or spreadsheet of things to do, priorities, etc... My biggest problem isn't keeping a list and getting organized, it's remembering to look at my list. I tend to space out for days working on a problem and forget to look at my list. I've experienced a big productivity boost by using the desktop background of my 43" monitor as a whiteboard (blackboard actually). I have an jpg the size of my…

I do something similar for language learning, every new tab in Firefox shows a flashcard. If I'm in the middle of something I can ignore it but when my minds already wandering I tend to notice the word there, hopefully it helps.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#50
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, several times this. My favorite system for knowledge management is Google Docs(due to obvious advantages- online drive, WYSIWYG etc), and for metadata/task-management tasks(GTD, working things out, mind maps, todo lists, solving software problems) is a plain cheap notebook and a pen. If you study GTD the hardest aspects of GTD are sticking to routine, and it's very easy to fall off the GTD routine. Its hard to…

Until Google suspends account for no reason.

This comment was downvoted when I got here, but it's very very relevant. Thank the creator that I've never been locked out of an account, but I've seen it happen enough times to be terrified of putting critical infrastructure on a single provider.

GP should be diligent to download his spreadsheets periodically.

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