Articles
Blog relaunch
I started preparing a relaunch of this website. When I started this, I planned an ambitious project to do long-form reviews and app tests, discussing workflows and setups. I wrote a couple of really intense reviews, up to several thousand words each. However, I quickly burned out as this took quite some of my time. This is just a side project as I am a full-time academic, and thus my motivation quickly dropped. Following, I have not been giving this website much attention for the past years.
Thus, I relaunch this website as a productivity blog. From now on, I will mainly put quick and dirty personal thoughts on apps, workflows, and setups. Basically I want to convey my experiences with workflows as an academic. I want to highlight what worked for me and what did not.
For now, I will refrain from any long-form reviewing, in-depth setup guides or similar kind of contents. In hope, I can more regular update this. I have lots of fun ideas to implement, but I will most certainly lose motivation if I start too much at once again. Maybe I can extend this project little by little, if it gains attraction, rather than the other way around.
Read More...Setup in 2021
Currently I am comparatively happy with my app setups, which I basically have finetuned during most of my PhD degree. It will probably change at some point, but well.
Read More...Creating OmniFocus projects from templates and calendar events
Today I want to showcase one of my most favorite automation workflows I am regularly using on my iPad.
When preparing regular events or projects in your task management, it might often be helpful to create templates for frequently occurring tasks.
For example, if you need to prepare some materials for every group meeting, why not have a preset or a mock-project from which you can copy-paste an instance every time you need it. This way, you won’t forget some small task which might be forgettable yet essential.
In this article I’ll go over the process to create templates for new OmniFocus projects, and how to connect it to calendar events for more conveniently creating new projects based on new calendar entries in one click.
Read More...Exporting Markdown from OmniOutliner
Both for my day job as a researcher, as well as for this website, I often prepare papers and articles by first writing an outline. In an outline, it is easy to structure articles, re-arrange sections or subsections.
One of my favorite apps in the past has been OmniOutliner. It can export documents to text, XML, word, and others. Unfortunately, it is missing an exporter to Markdown. Luckily, there is OmniJS, the automation scripting language developed by OmniGroup.
In the following, I will showcase one way to use OmniJS, by creating a Markdown-like document from an outline, and exporting it to another app. The scripts works on both iOS and macOS.
Read More...On OmniFocus 2 vs. 3
And there it comes, a new major release for OmniFocus: The task management suite which is available since 2008 gets into its third release cycle. The predecessor is award winning and one of the most recommended productivity suites for the Apple ecosystem. So, what’s it all about?
I have been a regular user of OmniFocus for many years (since OF1 days,) so I’ve seen many iterations and new feature upgrades. The version 3 comes with many new features and an updated look-and-feel.
I have been testing the new version since the beginning of closed beta and discuss some thoughts on how OmniFocus 3 improves over 2.
Read More...Getting the most out of the Apple Pencil
The iPad as a 9.7 to 12.9 inch tablet is a great companion in daily life, including work. Many productivity applications like task management tools and writing apps can make it a great replacement for a laptop for light work and in meetings.
The Apple Pencil, which is now available for any iPad (non-Pro bought after Spring 2018 or any previous iPad Pro), is another great addition to this. While often discussed along the lines of art and drawing, it can be used for handwritten notes, document annotations, and more.
In this article, I look at five recommended apps for different use-cases. I take a look at something to replace traditional handwritten notebooks, something for directly working with PDF files, and then some integrated solutions for larger projects and notes spanning multiple documents or notebooks.
Read More...Ways to use the iPad (Pro) for your productivity
The regular new release of a new iPad has just passed, and people pick up their new gadgets. Or maybe, you are just thinking of picking one up? The iPad is a great tool for entertainment, watching movies, playing games. A leisure device. But can the iPad also excel for productivity purposes?
After the release of iOS 11 and iPad Pros, the introduction of peripherals like the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, the market of Apple tablets gets more and more professional. Apple markets the device as a laptop replacement. With it, developers try to fill the gap between 99 cent Candy Crush clones and Professional Grade software.
We take a look at recent advancements in this field, and how the tablet can be a great companion throughout your working day.
Read More...Evernote web clipping plus todo lists as read-later tool
There are often things you read in web, which are actually interesting, but just come in the wrong moment. Directly before a meeting, or when actually searching for something completely unrelated.
It is still important to keep track of these things, ideally in a way that is archived, so even when the blog post in question disappears from the web, you can have access to this knowledge. Web clipping and read-later tools come to help.
This article will discuss a way to first use the Evernote web clipper efficiently for this purpose. Then, to not forget clipped items, it will look into ways to automate the workflow from web clipping an article to a reminder in your task management tool, and the right tagging to be able to actually retrieve older clipping.
Read More...Sleep and Productivity
Your body plays a big and important role in life, and also in your work. If your body disagrees, you won’t be able to focus, and won’t be able to do efficient work.
A crucial factor is sleep. If not well rested, concentrating will feel hard. While possibly being able to physically come to work, the actual work will definitely not be very efficient, or as efficient as it could be.
Try to improve your productivity by having a good sleeping schedule and hygiene. There are many smaller things which can help with this. Tracking your sleeping time will give insight on what to improve. Using a smartwatch, like the Apple Watch, can help further.
Read More...Creating reminders for the long term
Sometimes, there are tasks which are rare or only relevant in the long term, but still important – even in daily life outside of work.
For example, home maintenance: Spring cleaning, washing curtains, washing bedding. The small things, which are often forgotten way too quickly. And before you think about it, you sleep in months of your own sweat. When using task management, think in the long term.
This article will go over on how to efficiently use task management in the long term to not forget even the rarest occasions.
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