Productivity Hacks - Apple Notes
- Timothy Phillips
- Jan 3, 2021
- 7 min read

Throughout 2020, COVID impacted so many people across the world in many different ways. Personally, my travel plans, work arrangements, and expectations for the year were completely altered. As a result, I spent a significant amount of time reading, developing a website, and trying to understand how to use the time wisely. This exercise over the past 10 months allowed me to begin eliminating bad habits and improve upon the beneficial habits that I previously developed.
Now that 2020 has finally come to a close, 2021 brings brand new experiences, adventures, and opportunities for development. As discussed in my previous post Productivity Hacks - Apple Reminders, the Apple Reminders app has been an extremely beneficial app that has helped me to organize personal goals, tasks, and gift ideas for various people. Due to it's interconnectivity with other devices and awesome features, the app has been a vital piece in my self improvement journey.
With 2021 upon us, the search for useful tools that can aid in replacing old habits continues. This article dives into the Apple Notes app, a tool that I have found to be fundamental in my personal productivity journey.
The Idea that Turned into a Note
In my previous productivity hack post, I dove into the mental dilemma that thousands of apps pose when trying to pick an app that works for your situation. Keeping this in mind, I looked to identify other areas of my life that could be positively impacted by tools/apps. One such area was my note taking.
In the past, whenever I learned a piece of information that I thought was note worthy, I quickly jotted it down by whatever means was present to me at the time. This meant scribbling the note on a napkin, texting myself the note, or even trying to remember it. At a later date, I would end up going back through the notes to reflect on them. This process hardly worked for me, and was inconsistent in its efforts of storage. I understood that advice and valuable information could come at any moment, but I didn't have a tool that could provide me with record keeping in a moments notice. It just wasn't practical to go get a piece of paper and a pencil while sitting at the beach, or while reclining on a chair watching a show.
Nowadays, most of us are carrying a phone with us at all times. Our phones can store a seemingly endless amount of information on them, and are easy to use. The iPhone finally presented an opportunity to make note taking much more efficient. However, the problem transformed itself from how to take notes into deciding which note taking app to use. I didn't have to go far until I discovered that I was already using one of the best apps for note taking. The Apple Notes App.
In order to ensure that Apple Notes could meet all of my criteria for the perfect productivity improving note taking app, I wanted to compare this application to some of the others. Like I said before, there are a ton of apps on the App Store, all claiming to be the best for note taking. I found apps that were visually appealing, apps that had all kinds of features, and apps that were simple to use. After testing out the options, I realized that it was important to have my knowledge stored in the same location as all of my other documents and data. I didn't want to be searching for notes separately. I also found it important to have an app that could transmit data onto other devices. That way, if I found something interesting on my computer, I could add it to the notes app that was also on my phone. What I came to understand is that the cheapest, simplest, and most compatible app is already installed on everyones iPhone. There is no need to go searching anywhere else to find the ideal note taking app.
Optimizing the Notes App
As someone who likes to learn, it is important for me to have a place where all of my thoughts and information can be stored. Being able to organize notes in respective folders is a necessity for future reference and learning. Having organization is what fundamentally leads to productivity. The folders must also be functional and personal. This is clearly achieved through the features that Apple Notes provides, and some of the folder ideas that I have developed.
One feature that I love about Apple Notes is the ability to pin notes. When pinned, the notes will appear at the top. By pinning these important notes, they will be subconsciously viewed each time the app is opened. This will reinforce the idea behind each note whether you actually read it or not. In other terms, it makes seeing the really important notes easier. Another nice feature is the ability to lock specific notes. This is perfect for notes that contain sensitive information. The ability to transcribe voice into text is also a very useful feature. When taking notes about a book, I use the microphone instead of typing. As I am talking, the app will transcribe what I am saying. This makes it very easy to take notes while reading, as it allows me to keep my train of thought. The search bar in the app even allows you to search through every single note to find that specific piece of information that you may be looking for. There are a ton of other useful features that I won't get into in this post. The best way to find them is to jump right into the app.

As I said before, the organization of folders is extremely important when looking to increase note taking productivity. An example of the general folder scheme that I have developed can be seen in the picture to the left. Some of the folders worth noting include information pertaining to "Career," "Ideas," "Memories, " "Important information," "Lists and Processes," "College," "Volunteering," and "Workouts." These folder names can easily be altered to personal preferences, but it is highly recommended to create a few that represent the overarching ideas of individual notes. Just remember that too many folders can be overbearing and hinder your productivity. Try to limit the folders to what is necessary and see where you get. The outcome may not be perfect at first, but over time will pay large dividends as updates and improvements are made to the structure.

Most of my notes come from information that I have learned throughout my life. Therefore, the folder where most of my notes are contained is the "Learning + Information," folder. Under this category, I created sub-folders for specific notes involving finances, podcasts, learnings, books, meditation, real estate, and stocks. The outline for this concept can be seen in the picture to the right. Such detailed separation allows for the user to obtain information that pertains to a specific subject quickly. For example, if I am trying to find information about real estate, I could easily go to the real estate folder and find all of the notes that I have taken related to real estate.

Similar to the organization of folders, it is also of use to create note pages for important topics. The notes that I have pinned can be seen in the picture to the right. When I open up the app, these are the notes that I see first.
One note that I think everyone should have is called the "Dream Journal." The purpose of this note is for recording dreams from the night before. The writing doesn't have to make sense, and it should be whatever comes to your head immediately after waking up. It is that easy! A few days later, you can then go back and look at all of your past dreams. Besides being cool to see, your dreams can also depict the underlying issues that you may be dealing with.
I also highly recommend making a list called, "Future Goals," so that constant improvement can be at the forefront of your journey. As the name implies, this note contains all of my goals. The categories for goal setting that I have been using include physical, career, financial, mental, personal development, family/relationship, and health. I will dive into goals and goal setting in a separate post!
The note, "Bucket List," contains the places where I want to travel and ideas that I want to accomplish. By having it pinned, I am constantly reminded about these bucket list items, which helps me work towards completing them. Another important note I use is the, "Daily Goals for the day." In this note, I write down 3 goals for the next day before going to sleep. This allows me to create a plan of important tasks for the day ahead. I can't forget to mention my workout note which I update constantly with current weights and times. It is great for keeping yourself on track in the gym.
Additionally, I have created notes for movies/shows that I have seen, books I've read, personal inspirations, and much more. I even have a note where I write down all of the places that I have traveled to, so I can remember the experiences when looking back.
All of these folders and specific notes are essential to boosting my productivity. I understand that to some, the folder names may not fit your style. This whole idea may even seem like a lot. However, I encourage you all to be creative and take the step out of your comfort zone. As I like to say, Just Do It! The hardest part is getting started. When you take that step, who knows where it could lead you! The key is to make folders and notes that will benefit you and your personal style. Have some fun with it.
Overall, I would definitely recommend using the Apple Notes (and Apple Reminders) app. There is so much that can be done with them and they can greatly contribute to you taking control of your life. The key to using both apps is to refer to them as tools instead of something that takes up your time. Fill each app with useful information in order to develop beneficial habits, and you will quickly realize just how productive you can really be. My ultimate goal was and still is to use what I have learned to replace old habits with positive habits in order to boost productivity in my future self. With its simplicity, usefulness, and connectivity, Apple Notes has helped me along the way. I hope that it can help you too!
Until next time,
Tim Phillips
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