How Do You Actually Organize Your Life?
Weekly Wheaties #2546
In this newsletter:
📝 Post: How Do You Actually Organize Your Life?
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: Streaming Updates
🗞️ In Case You Missed It: AI Updates
😎 Pick of the Week: Books and the News
📦 Featured Product: Beelink Mini PC
📝 How Do You Actually Organize Your Life?
How do you organize your life? Either personal or work-related? I’d bet it’s a mix of one of three things: to do lists, notes, and/or a calendar. At some point, you may have habits built that you may no longer need to put on a to do list or create a calendar event for, but you most certainly have used one, if not all of these methods to keep things tidy at some point.
Knowing what and when to do something you don’t want to miss, along with any extra information needed, can be very important in the game of life. Making sure nothing falls between the cracks of everyday life is getting more difficult by the day. I’m the pot calling the kettle black here. I have a habit of asking others to text or email me so I can add the [thing] to my list and make sure I don’t forget something when in the middle of something else. I also have to dos and notes all over the place (although I’m trying to centralize this). And if you’re not sure what to track, consider reading Daron Robert’s book - Microwins. He shares how to help focus on the big three areas: family, health, and work.
Next week, we’ll talk about some hardware to help with this, but for now, let’s start with the software side. Meaning - how can we go about documenting our to do lists, notes, and calendars digitally? In the past, I’ve talked about To Do Lists (in Weekly Wheaties #2414), how important it is to have a Second Brain (in Weekly Wheaties #2444), and how sometimes, utilizing a Super-App (in Weekly Wheaties #2427) can help streamline things.
For starters, and taking from the To Do Lists post, there are a litany of apps there to choose from. Apple offers Reminders, Google has Tasks, and Microsoft offers To Do. The problem, we’ll see, is trying to choose one that does exactly what we want (and expect) on the device we need it for. This can be something as simple as allowing more information to be included with our To Do, or simply having a reminder or alarm go off at the right time.
In the note taking world, there are apps you’ve probably already used or heard of before. Each of the major players have their own here, too: Apple Notes, Google Keep, and Microsoft OneNote. There are a few other players making headway that I’ve talked about in the past, too: Evernote, Notion, and Obsidian, for example. They come with their own nuances and issues keeping us from using one over the other.
Lastly, there are three major calendar offerings: Apple’s iCloud Calendar, Google’s Calendar, and Microsoft’s Outlook Calendar. However, there are also a few third-party tools here that offer an arguably superior experience, just at the cost of adding yet another app to your stack. These include Fantastical, Proton Calendar, and an app I’ve covered before, Hero AI Assistant.
As I’ve alluded to multiple times in the past, you and you alone have to determine which processes make sense for your workflow. Would you rather utilize a Super-App and just deal with the nuances of making things work together, or use a specific app for each featured offering and possibly automate some things in between?
Recently, I’ve been personally using Evernote more and more for note-taking, solely for one main feature that most other apps don’t have - global tasks. This allows me to have multiple notes across all sorts of topics and projects, but every time I add a task within that note, it adds it to a master task list showing all of my tasks. However, the calendar doesn’t work for my needs. Specifically, having a useful widget. It also doesn’t have the ability to drill down as much as OneNote or offer database-style features like Notion.
On the other hand, as basic of an app as it may be, Hulry’s Blog shares some pretty complex tricks on Apple Notes - Back to Basics. Sometimes when we stick with one app over another, we’re able to find out tricks originally not put front and center. But whichever ecosystem you choose to stick with (Apple, Google, Microsoft), you’ll also find that their apps and systems work better together. There’s no getting around that. The problem with many third-party apps is that they have to integrate with these first-party tools.
As our to do lists grow, more notes get created, and our calendars fill up, let’s not forget where Silicon Valley foresees the future going — AI being integrated in all of these areas. The verdict is still out on Apple Intelligence, but Google Gemini has the ability to create, deploy, and govern AI agents, and Microsoft Windows is evolving into an agentic OS.
If your digital tools feel disjointed, maybe it’s time to audit your processes. Are your apps working for you or against you? What are your must have apps for To Do Lists, Notes, or Calendar?
🗞️ ICYMI: Streaming Updates
It appears that Disney has reached a new deal with YouTube TV, ending the temporary blackout and allowing ABC, ESPN, and other Disney channels back on the service. While it’s hard to say who may be at fault and who’s on the verge of monopolization here, it did come out that YouTube TV is demanding the lowest rates for Disney from all distributors. Since coming to an agreement, maybe they both realize they need each other, especially with half of the homes in America not having cable TV.
Apple TV is abandoning the Extra Paywall for Major League Soccer Games to help retain its existing subscribers, while also being the exclusive broadcast partner for Formula 1.
In a digital battle for your screen time, Valve announces three new products: the Steam Frame, Steam Machine, and Steam Controller. If you were planning on purchasing a gaming PC, this may be something to look into instead.
🗞️ ICYMI: AI Updates
Last week, OpenAI continued with updates to their AI chatbot and released GPT-5.1: A smarter, more conversational ChatGPT. It removed a lot of the fluff users didn’t like with GPT-5, and also allows users to choose from the Auto, Instant, or the Thinking version of its model. On the audio side of things, Eleven Labs is Licensing Legendary Voices for ‘your creative projects’ - including possible access to Michael Caine and Judy Garland. More on the creative side, Your Google Photos just got 3 huge Nano Banana image editing upgrades.
😎 POTW: Books and the News
TIME recently released their list of The 100 Must-Read Books of 2025. Perhaps you’d prefer some ‘fan fiction’ that includes Villains, Vampires, Spies: The Best Remixes of The Great Gatsby. Alternatively, consider using TIME AI to summarize an article, translate an article, read an article out loud, or ask about a recent topic. Or, if you are looking for a mix of the news with a book, check out The Custom Birthday Book by The New York Times, which offers “The Times front pages from the day you were born, followed by every birthday in your life.”
📦 Featured Product
I always get asked about suggestions for laptop and desktop computers. The problem is that there are so many available options, it’s becoming more and more difficult to suggest the ‘one’ to purchase. Which also means there are a lot of great options to choose from. Typically, I recommend the Dell business level (or higher) offerings just because they are better quality, have a competitive price for the specs, and have a great warranty. But if you are looking for a basic desktop, the Beelink Mini PC is a great option and can be compared to the Mac Mini series from Apple.
