For quite a while, I’ve been committed to using Apple’s ecosystem of apps like Notes, Calendar, and Mail. My thinking has always been that keeping everything in one place might pay off in the long run, especially with the potential development of a smarter Siri or some form of Apple Intelligence.
Like many people I know, I have a problem when it comes to personal task management apps. I’ve tried everything—starting with Things 1.0 by Cultured Code– to the likes of Todoist, Trello, and several others—but Reminders was never something I could get myself to fully embrace.
I recently read a couple of articles by Joan Westenberg and Rahul Chowdhury. They’re both great – I highly recommend everyone read them. But for me, the most important takeaway was: use as few lists as possible.
If you’re familiar with productivity methods like Getting Things Done (GTD) or PARA, it’s easy to fall into the habit of creating intricate structures—folders for different areas, lists for projects, and tasks then scattered across multiple lists.
Normally that would be fine, but that doesn’t quite work with how Apple Reminders is designed. The app just isn’t built for that level of complexity, and trying to force it can create more frustration than organization.
Here’s what’s been working for me:
1. Create one list for each major area of your life. This could be as simple as a “Work” list and a “Personal” list.
2. Put all tasks related to that area into the respective list—don’t worry about breaking them down into further sub-lists or folders.
3. Use tags to organize tasks. Tag tasks based on the area, project, subproject, team members – tag extensively, with abandon.
4. Use Smart Lists to filter tasks based on tags. These lists are essentially “virtual” lists that automatically gather tasks with some set of criteria. This way, you can still view tasks related to a specific project or context without the need to manually organize them.
Bonus Tip: Use the built in options for priority and flagging to highlight importance of tasks or a blocked status.
For example, in my “Work” list, I’ll tag all tasks related to “Project A” with the same tag. Then, I create a Smart List that pulls every task with that tag into one place. This allows me to focus on Project A when needed, while keeping everything streamlined and in one place.
It’s not a perfect system, and I’m sure there will be adjustments along the way, but this streamlined approach has been a major improvement over the more complicated setups I’d tried in the past.
Now all I need is for Apple Intelligence to actually get more useful. I’ve been told it’s coming.
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