BETA YOURSELF
GET ORGANISED The supercomputer in your pocket won’t only rob you of countless hours – it can also give some of them back. Stuff offers tips on using tech to bring order to your life… THE BASICS
■ Collaborate and share
Most people don’t live in a vacuum. Normalise inviting others to your setup, to avoid duplicated effort and wasted time. Share family and social calendars. For shopping, set up a shared to-do list with your household that’s a single source of truth for what’s needed – a deft way avoid accidentally buying seven roasts next Christmas.
■ Get a routine
You need good habits and routines to stay organised, even when armed with tech. If you start using to-do or GTD (Get Things Done) apps like Things, go all-in rather than arbitrarily adding tasks. Deal with documents and emails swiftly. Just because digital doesn’t involve paper, that doesn’t mean there’s no mess.
■ Be consistent
Search engines can (in theory) rifle swiftly through countless documents and bring to the surface what you need. But searches are simpler if you file things properly in the first place. Do so with email and elsewhere, and ensure you give items keywords (including dates) that will help you find them later.
■ Make data accessible
Ensure your files are readily available and secure. Three steps can make that happen. Put your documents – neatly filed – on cloud storage, so you can even get at them using a phone. Back up that storage regularly. And with paper, digitise documents you receive and then organise them alongside your other digital files.
■ Use the right apps
Which apps you use is less important than the principles behind them. Ideally, choose ones that are cross-platform, so you can stay organised and update lists and documents wherever you are. Open source isn’t important, but the means to transfer and export documents is. Most importantly, use systems and apps that work best for you.
MAP YOUR MIND ■ Try Mindly
App-grade
Try to find apps that enhance existing data. For example, Fantastical uses standard calendars but improves presentation and enables faster event creation.
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Lists are fine, but freeform organisation can be useful for figuring out more complex challenges. With Mindly (Free, Android and iOS), you kick off with an initial idea and branch nodes from it. The result can be shared as a PDF.
■ Try MindNode
If you’re keen on ‘mind maps’ but think in lists, MindNode (R43/m, iOS) gives you the best of both. You start with a bullet-point list that you convert to a mind map with a tap. You can then switch between outline editor and mind map modes.
