todoist

  • Automatically Sending Tasks in Bear Notes to Todoist

    There were two notable things I did this weekend: spend it with my kids, as it was my wife’s weekend to work (she’s a nurse and must work one weekend per month), and build a series of clever automations using Apple’s Shortcuts app.

    I love using the Bear Notes app for most things, like quickly logging tasks. This includes my 5 Critical Actions for the week, and any open threads I have at the end of the day*.

    But Todoist is my main task manager, with reminders, subtasks, and the whole 9 yards.

    So I ended up building 3 Shortcuts to send tasks from Bear to Todoist:

    1. Process tasks specifically in the 5 Critical Actions note. I did this so I can properly label the tasks as such…Todoist doesn’t let you create create labels on the fly.
    2. Process any note via the Share Sheet
    3. Process every note, looking for tasks in all of them, and creating the tasks plus a link back to the original note for context.

    I’ll share the first one with you here…the other two are reserved for members.

  • How I Keep my Email at Inbox Zero

    One of the tenants of the No Spend Month my wife and I are doing is decluttering. We’re going through all of our stuff and donating what we don’t need. We’ve already gotten rid of bags of clothes, hundreds of DVDs, lots of books, and toys.

    See, those who knew me growing up might be shocked by this, but I hate clutter. If I have a lot of stuff around me I can’t focus. The same thing goes for my digital space. Too many notifications, badges, and messages gives be agita; so I try to keep my devices clean. I have no badges turn on except missed calls and overdue tasks. Very few apps have notifications. I have a focus mode where only my wife can send notifications to my phone.

    And I keep my email at near inbox zero at all times. Here’s how.