4 Simple Lists Everyone Should Have In Their Notes App
If you add the right lists on your notes app, you'll unlock a whole lot of efficiency you had no idea was sitting at your fingertips.
The goal of efficiency is a never-ending one.
We all have some level of desire to be more efficient with the things we do.
Doesn't matter whether you're a teacher, soldier, president, or bank robber.
When you learn to be more efficient at your craft, you get more results without expending as much effort.
That's great.
And the only proof I need is the staggering 42.9 billion dollars people spend on productivity software in the U.S each year.
That's a big market.
And big markets mean lots of companies competing to capture all those dollars.
But the truth is, in the world of productivity, less is more.
There will always be some new shiny app that turns tasks into yellow bars that send to one hundred different people and fades into a green glow when tasks are completed.
It probably costs your left rib and will take you a few months to learn as well.
There's nothing wrong with investing in these new tools.
Some are great for being .01% more efficient. And others are great at making us FEEL more efficient.
But in my experience the most efficient tools of them all is just a simple little notes app.
They come pre-installed on pretty much EVERY device. (I wouldn't be surprised if my microwave had a secret notes app buried behind the defrost menu.)
You don't have to shell out any extra coins because they're all free.
And the best part of all...
You already know how to work a notes app. (If you don't, I have no idea how you figured out how to read this email.)
I love notes apps.
And you should too.
If you add the right lists on your notes app, you'll unlock a whole lot of efficiency you had no idea was sitting at your fingertips.
These are the 4 simple lists everyone should have on their notes app.
The Forever Term Memory List
As humans, we suck at remembering things.
I mean all things.
I kid you not, two seconds ago I asked my girlfriend how old I was.
My age, which is a simple two digit number, slipped my mind.
Why on Earth would I rely on this old rusty thing called a brain to remind my about all the things I'll want to remember one day.
I shouldn't.
Now I'm not saying you should go writing down your age in a notes list. But you should take the time to write down anything you know you want to remember later.
A friend's favorite food.
Your dogs birthday.
A funny joke you want to retell your coworkers.
Keep A "To Remember" list in your notes app and it'll free your mind to think about the here and now.
The Ideas List
This one is obvious.
You have a crazy billion dollar idea, you should write it down.
Sadly, you'd be surprised how many people don't have an ideas list.
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And most times it because people don't think they're creative.
You are.
And that's why it's important to make this it's own standalone list.
The more your list grows as you write down crazy, novel, weird, and exciting ideas... the more confident you gain in your creativity.
Plus, you never know when you'll run into a billion dollar investor in an elevator and she asks you for a 30 second elevator pitch of your best idea!
The Inspiration List
The inspiration list is my favorite list of them all.
For me this started out as a simple quotes list.
Whenever I heard a friend say something that was impactful, I wrote it down.
Over time the list grew and expanded to nearly a hundred quotes.
That's when I realized there are inspiring things happening all around me on a daily basis.
Not just quotes.
So I expanded the quotes list into anything that inspired me.
A powerful ad, a sad short film that made me cry, impactful quotes, and thought-provoking questions.
And this list has become a banger for starting up interesting and memorable conversations with friends.
Or at the very least, I'm always prepared to share something cool in a dull or awkward moment.
The Master To-Do List
The greatest list of them.
Realistically speaking, all the previous lists are super fun to start.
But it's highly unlikely they'll increase your efficiency in anything.
And that's exactly where the master to-do list comes in.
We all have things we can be doing to further our goals and ambitions in life.
It could be extra credit for a tough class.
Or maybe cleaning out our car.
Or maybe something as simple as calling our grandparents to check in on them.
There are always things we want to remember to do but it slips through the cracks.
Life just moves so fast...
Until it doesn't.
When we have the time to finally work on what we want, studies show, that we waste majority of that time brainstorming WHAT to work on.
That's insane.
The master to-do list is our holy grail of productive tasks we can do.
It doesn't matter how short, irrelevant, or non-urgent the tasks.
If we have a master to do list, we'll always have the things we want to do, ready to be done, when we want to do them.
If you only takeaway one thing here, let it be this... Make a master to-do list.
And when you start kicking ass, add the task "Create 3 other key lists in my notes app."
Trust me. You'll know what that mea...
In progress,
Tim Lightwork.