TL;DR: Consistency

Being consistent with the app you choose is the only thing that really matters in the long run. I’ve tried and tested hundreds, if not thousands, of productivity apps in the last few years. Whether you use some niche start-up to-do list or a perfectly organized PKM second brain system — the best app will always be the one you use regularly.

If you don’t trust your to-do app to remind you when you need to grab milk, you won’t actually be getting tasks out of your brain.

If it’s near impossible to find last week’s meeting notes in your high-tech note-taking app, you’ll eventually switch to a pen and paper.

I regularly get asked for app recommendations and the best methods for organizing your digital life, but it really comes down to what method YOU specifically prefer. There are always going to be other apps with better features, the newest AI model, and the cheaper price tag — shiny object syndrome will always be working to steal your attention. Picking your preferred suite of tools and sticking to them until they fall apart might be the best productivity tip I can give you.

You can buy the most expensive, highest recommended, highest rated running shoes in the world, but unless you wake up each day and go for a jog — those shoes will never be helpful to YOU.

We so often expect the apps we seek to be a solution to problems that are not theirs to solve. Write down what features you actually need, consider what elements are the most important for your workflow, and then pick a dang app.

I’ve been part of the problem in the past — recommending the next big thing or sharing my current workflow without proper disclosure. I don’t do this to try to persuade you to try the next new thing but to give you options when you consider setting up your system. Take this as my promise to be very clear in the future that you don’t NEED the apps I’ve reviewed if you have a system that works just fine as it is. I never want to suggest that one specific app will be the fix you’ve been dreaming of. And I promise to be intentional about this moving forward.

The best app is the one you use consistently — so stop shopping around and start using what you already have. And maybe consider what other areas of your life this advice could also apply to 😉