In the past few years, I’ve simplified what applications I’ve been using, and in a few ways gone “backwards”.
I switched back to Apple’s native mail application last year using IMAP, and finally achieved #InboxZero. After living over a decade on the more and more bloated Gmail site, I was surprised how much faster it was to easily sort, unsubscribe, delete, etc. Gmail has been steadily adding features, but it was almost like my brain had forgotten what a simple native app can do to streamline an experience. It’s email, it doesn’t need to be convoluted with chat integrations, calendar integration, etc.
Note-Taking
By now, I’m sure I’ve shared my love of Obsidian. After being a longtime Evernote evangelist, Obsidian has done something most note-taking apps can’t/won’t do: scale. My need in note-taking is being able to capture information, so that whether if I need it in the future, it’s available and easily searchable. Note-taking was something that I found to be a superpower once I developed methods that worked well for me. There are several applications, and methodologies that will force you into a particular pattern for note-taking, and none of them are wrong per se. Some can be good starting points, such as the PARA method. The best practices are the ones that work for you because usually, you’ll be taking notes for yourself.
The silly thing about Obsidian is it strips out most features of big name note-taking software. Every note is just a simple txt file using Markdown. Markdown has been very effective for me because it strips out formatting and focuses on content. Content is ALWAYS key1. When I fled Evernote, it became apparent to me that the format my notes were in was not sustainable for the long term2, and good notes are the ones that you’ll be holding on to a long time.
RSS – Feeds
RSS never died. RSS is one of the backbones of an Open Web. Google Reader died, but the social web took over. RSS is how I still keep up with multiple news sites, blogs, etc. Many services filled the void when Google Reader was murdered in cold blood in a dark alley. But today, you don’t even need to rely on a service and can just pull feeds directly to your device, and keep them in sync between devices using cloud storage such as iCloud. The advantage here is that many feed reader services poll certain sites more frequently based on how many of their users subscribe to a certain feed. But you can cut out the middleman now. So now I just pull feeds directly using Reeder, but there are several options available.
Summary
As the subscription model of web services continues to increase and applications get bloated with features you’ll never use. You’d be surprised that if you go outside the mainstream, there are many enthusiast apps out there that will streamline and simply your technology usage, keeping things focused. That’s how I’m viewing my journey.
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