Beta yourself Get organised

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

■ 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. ■ 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.

■ 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.

App-grade

Try to find apps that enhance existing data. For example, Fantastical uses standard calendars but improves presentation and enables faster event creation. MAP YOUR MIND

■ Try Mindly

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.

TAKE OUT TEXT

■ Chat with Otter

Information lost from meetings and interviews can hamper organisation. But with Otter (Free, Android and iOS) you can record (with permission) and get a live transcription to work with later. Pay and you can import existing recordings.

■ Scan with Adobe

We’ve mentioned the bane of paper, right? Use Adobe Scan (Free, Android and iOS) to turn your smartphone into a pocket scanner. The app tidies up scans, and performs OCR on them so you can save the result to PDF then copy and paste the text.

APPS FOR LIFE

HABITICA

Organisation can feel like a chore, particularly with tasks you do on a regular basis. Habitica ‘gamifies’ task management, using success to power up a pixelated hero. Suitably equipped with weapons, skills and pets, your little character can then rough up monsters. Free (IAP) / Android, iOS

POWER UP CALENDARS

■ Block it all out

It’s commonplace to block meetings out in your schedule. Get into the habit of doing this with other tasks, jobs and events during your day as well, to provide a better representation of availability.

■ Book in faffage

You’re going to spend part of your day on minutiae. If you want to get properly organised, admit this and schedule it: create repeating calendar events to burn through email and social feeds a couple of times per day.

■ Add regular breaks

Downtime is important. If you work in a job where you get a fixed lunch break, block it out in your calendar and mark yourself as unavailable. It’s vital to be organised about taking time out, otherwise you risk not doing so. PICK OUT PICS

■ Flag your faves

Photos were once precious and rare, shot on special occasions and placed lovingly in albums; today they’re a constant stream. Learn to organise them, flagging favourites to later reminisce over and turn into digital takes on the old-school album.

■ Use tags and AI

Centralise photos and work with apps that let you quickly access and organise them. AI and machine learning can help you access images by theme or date. Try also using manual tagging to build collections of related snaps.

STREAKS

This habit-former invites you to define up to 12 habits (ideally just six) to track; these can include timed habits and ones you want to break. When done, you prod the big button; when curious, you can dig into the stats. The app’s sense of focus encourages good results. R100 / iOS

BFT – BEAR FOCUS TIMER

Blocking out time in your calendar to do all of the things is no good if those time-blocks are frittered away. BFT helps you train your brain by turning your phone face-down to trigger work sprints. Bear with us in this. R40 / iOS